Fwiw, as an outsider but someone who has paid attention to developments in systems outside the USA I do think there is a world of difference between a punishment-based ‘do the time’ regime and a progressive rehabilitation-based environment. Re-offending is a huge cost to society.
I’ve read nothing to make me think the USA is a good place to be in this business.
He buzz cuts his scalp. Facial hair is verboten, in fact he was sent home to shave at lunchtime his first day on the job. He had shaved the night before and had a little shadow going by lunch.
No facial hair, no piercings (he removed his septum and ear gauge jewelry), frequent drug tests.
He is employed by the state (I asked about this specifically, having binged the Orange/Black series).
I was surprised by the age range of the inmates. He told me about elderly prisoners who have spent most of their lives locked up. Stereotypic old black men who call him “Boss”.
Read Ted Conover’s Newjack, about a year he spent as a CO at Sing Sing. Pretty eye-opening - a rough job, but routine.
My solution: if they can’t pass a G.E.D., no parole.
Don’t base your opinions on what you see in movies and TV shows.
If you’re a believer in progressive rehabilitation-based environments, then you want to work in the USA. American prisons have always been in the lead in developing new rehabilitation programs.
The age range of prisoners is moving upward but not by all that much - it is widening, along with the severity of offending.
Offenders range from around 12 years up to around late 30’s, but what we do find is that although fewer, violent offences are becoming more serious - with 12 year old boys and girls being guilty of murder.
In the UK we do not tend to lock up all that many for full life terms, although some sentences do effectively mean that some offenders will die of old age prior to release. A whole life term is intended to be final from date of sentence, whereas a 60 year old given 15 years may, or may not be released alive.
As for rehabilitation, although we have a mantra that ‘every contact matters’ because who knows which specific interaction with prison staff will change the outlook of a prisoner, the reality is that certain roles are geared almost exclusively to rehab, and others have a mix of role.
My role is partly to pass time, and partly to train and educate - the mix of roles does change from the type of prison, some prisons are very high security and the prisoners therein tend to also be on very long sentences, others are very low security - more like closed hostels with work in the community - these are for those on very minor offences or close to release and can be trusted in such an environment.
The idea of conditional release can only be applied within the law, you cannot arbitrarily extend a sentence because someone has not learned a certain level of academic attainment, only a judge can change a sentence in such a way, and that has to be based on legally permissible submissions with the various safeguards - I cannot imagine the US constitution could allow it, the EU convention on human rights certainly would not.
casdave, most of the responses here talk about Corrections Officer as a job. Could you elaborate on the career aspect? How the OP’s son can progress from being a trainee grunt to becoming a prison governor?
The US is completely different to the UK in prisons and in sentencing, the structure of the organisations is so different that it is very hard to make a comparison.
The only thing that can be said is that both places have very hierarchical organisations, and probably have similar accelerated promotion schemes.
There will also be certain specialisations that are extremely popular, such as dog handlers, and PE instructors, specialised search teams, in the US there will be firearms trained staff, in addition there are staff trainers such as for control and restraint.
There will also be many associated roles that will not be part of the correctional hierarchy, from procurement, safety specialists, counsellors, maintenance.
In other words there are a very wide number of other roles, and it depends upon how the management line is structured as to how it is possible to move onwards or sideways to other jobs.
It really depends upon the sort of person you are, handling prisoners is likely to be the longest and most numerous chain of command - so that’s where the career prospects are likely brightest - that’s where the prison governors will mostly drawn from. However there are different circumstances in handling prisoners, some are much more adversarial all are controlling but in different ways, from physical through to my type of work which is about getting prisoners to carry out your instructions in a (slightly) more cooperative way.
Being a prison governor, at any level - there will usually be several different levels of governor - is an extremely responsible role, lives depend upon the decisions that you make , other staff can submit reports and recommendations, but its the governors who are the responsible persons. When it goes wrong they are the ones held accountable at inquest, they are the ones who make public protection final decisions about what to do with offenders.
In addition the offences of some prisoners can amount to being of public confidence issues, what happens to them can become small p political, and a full on riot is always likely to make it into the news, and questions may well be raised at national political levels - I personally know one prisoner who claimed compensation and won, it directly resulted in questions being asked in parliament - I cannot go into the case, however it was extremely newsworthy.
Frankly that’s not a level of responsibility I would have.
So in short a career in prisons can go from simply night checking patrols through to national executive levels, and yes it can happen for a basic grade officer to make it all the way up to Chief Executive, I have seen it done.
You can pretty much go as far as you like, the only thing you will be extremely unlikely to do is to use it as a springboard into political office in the UK, however the US might be different.
Not like that matters to HM Prison Service anymore…
But yeah, that would have to be a precondition of the sentence, I’m thinking. Not something levied after the fact with the intent of keeping some guy in prison longer.
Even at that, I can’t imagine the defense attorneys wouldn’t appeal that one as high as they possibly could.
Sidenote observation:
In Jefferson City Missouri their is a now closed prison that is open to visitors.LINK
What is interesting is just who leads the tours. When we did it the tour guide was the former prison warden. When others did it it was former prisoners or guards.
That was an awesome tour. We got two former guards. In the opening minutes of the tour, one of the guards unrolled a blanket and spilled out his collection of shanks. “Every one of these,” he said gravely, “Has stabbed a man in this prison.” :eek:
So, someone with insufficient intellect to read/write would be denied parole?
Thanks! Found the kindle version.
The OP lives in Pennsylvania so Eastern State Penitentiary would probably be a more convenient tour.
If someone is so impaired that they literally can’t pass a G.E.D., AND have committed a felony, then they probably ought to be under lifetime guardianship. In any event I was thinking of the imbecility of paroling people who are manifestly unprepared to hold down jobs on the outside, and who haven’t done anything to try to prepare. Parole is supposed to be an incentive and at an absolute minimum ought to make literacy a requirement.
Unintended consequences.
The law is about the protection of the rights of citizens, requiring a certain level of academic attainment merely to be allowed to live in a society is pretty dangerous.
The GED is not a “reading and writing” test, it’s a battery of exams which are supposed to demonstrate mastery of the equivalent level of education of a high school diploma. Failure to pass the GED is not evidence of intellectual disability. Severely intellectually disabled people often do require lifetime guardianship of some sort, but that’s way beyond failed-the-GED territory. And prison sure as shit isn’t a good way to provide such guardianship to people who are truly disabled.
Didn’t America have that problem a while back with racially-discriminatory voting restrictions?
Just a single data point. I grew up in Folsom California (Folsom prison) back when it was a Podunk town and the prison and Areojet were the largest employers. A slew of my friends fathers were guards, and honestly when I graduated high school at least 10% of the graduates became inmates or guards.
Alcoholism amongst the guards was a big issue. A buddy of mine worked the graveyard at a 7 11, and there would always be a line of guards that had just gotten off shift coming in at 6:00am grabbing cases when beer could start being sold for the day