I work in a military prison. Ask me anything.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Most of the inmates confined have lost all pay and benefits. However, the GI bill is not one of the benefits they lose. The inmate must pay for college up front, but can get reimbursed through the GI Bill. They don’t get any retirement benefits, however they can invest a portion of they pay they earn while in prison towards retirement.
Most inmates will do some college while confined, if for no other reason, it looks good to the parole board, and almost everyone will learn a job skill.
Our inmates are different. I have heard from people that have either worked in or been sentenced to a federal prison. The inmates confined at the USDB have a baseline level of intelligence and a level of discipline and respect that you don’t find in the federal prison.

The most common offense is child sex offenses. We don’t see a lot of short sentences. Of course, we don’t get a lot of guys getting death sentences either. I have inprocessed a few with a life sentence for murder, and one who got 12 years for murder. So, the sentence range has a lot of variation. We do have a pretty diverse population. We do have a few with mental disorders, and a few with personality disorders, but for the most part, not a lot, because they would not have been qualified for enlistment anyway.

Generally, if a person is on active duty when he commits his crime, the military will get the first shot at prosecution. There are times where both the military and the civilian side will get charges on a person, which would mean that when they get out of the USDB, they may have a sentence in a state pen. I don’t really know how it is decided who get to prosecute for what.

Apparently not. :smiley: I got no idea what you are talking about.

SFC Schwartz

22

When sentence is passed, most of the inmates are discharged from the military. The few who are not, still owe whatever time is remaining. The time a person is confined does not count toward military service. So, if a person got sentence to ten years, and was not given a discharge at the court martial, he would do the ten years in prison, and then go back to active duty. The inmate is not a civilian until the sentence is served. There have been a few that have been transferred to a federal prison, but I don’t think that is what you are asking.

I got my bachelors degree prior to enlisting, but the Army has a job in mental health. The Army provides 20 weeks of training at Ft Sam Houston in Texas for this career. The inmates do get psychotherapy. Most will do some sort of group therapy that is crime specific (AA, NA, sex offender therapy, for example), they will also meet with a mental health worker at least every 90 days. Mental health care is available to the inmates round the clock, and we all take turns going on call for the inmates needs.

Thank you. We have over 400 inmates. Not a lot on max security, we have a lot on medium and a few on minimum, there are even a handful of trustees who don’t even live in the prison. For the most part, the inmates are well disciplined. You don’t see a lot of fights, and rape is almost unheard of. As the inmates say, you can get raped if you ask for it, but it isn’t forced on you. The older inmates and the long term inmates try to keep things quiet by teaching the new inmates how things are done. There is still enough of that military mindset where the new inmates want to do the right thing.

SFC Schwartz

23

What’s the recidivism rate like?

You said that you do risk assessments of new inmates - what risks are you assessing? Likelihood of violence, escape, suicide, other? How do you determine if someone is low or high risk? What might lead you to make a mistake in that process? Small questions, I know. :smiley:

24

Thanks for taking the time to do this! I, like many other Dopers, greatly appreciate the opportunity to learn about interesting professions and environments.

My question: What are some of the more unusual crimes that have landed folks in your prison? With this I am assuming that you learn of the specifics of the crimes during the initial assessment. If that’s not true, what do you learn about the inmates?

Edit: Also, thank you for serving the US. Too easily do I forget that the people who make civilized life possible are, in fact, real people.

25

You … were an interesting child. :slight_smile:
Is smoking banned?

What do the inmates DO all day? Is there a gym? library? basketball court? TV room? Are they confined to their cells all day? You mentioned classes - do professors come to the facility to teach? What about interenet access?

(This is a fascinating thread - thank you so much for starting it!)

26

Wikipedia indicates that commissioned officers are confined at the USDB, while only enlisted personnel with sentences greater than 5 years are confined there. Is this correct? Why not house officers in the other regional facilities?

27

Color me shocked. Is this more about service members having sex with underage girls who are physically mature and just haven’t hit their 18th birthday, or is it honest-to-god child rape ala Penn State?

And as others have said, thank you for your service.

28

I am assessing the inmates risk of harm to self, others, and to the community when they get out of prison. What I do specifically, is use the Hare Psychopathy checklist to determine if the inmate is a psychopath. If so, that makes the inmate ineligible for therapy or treatment groups. Their mental health needs are still taken care of, but they would only learn how to be a better criminal if we put them in treatment groups. The Hare is a semi structured interview, and my assessment is reviewed by a licensed provider, so there is not much of a chance of error.

Thank you.
I learn the specifics of the crime before the inmate arrives. One of the things that I do is review the charges, investigation information, and the result of the trial. One of the ones that I had was almost textbook, word for word, a Chris Hansen type of predator. I had another one who beat his wife to death with a bat, then cleaned her up, and out of love, he says, he had sex with her corpse for the next two days before he turned himself into the police. Not a lot of guys that do fun crimes.

Smoking and all tobacco products are banned inside the USDB. They banned it about five years ago, without a huge outcry. Most of the inmates have jobs. Some of the jobs available are in the dining facility, laundry, woodworking, and metal shop. So, they get up in the morning, go to work, and then at night they can hang out and watch TV in the common areas if they want to. There is a gym, library, jogging track, and basketball court. There is also a music room where the inmates can learn to play an instrument or sing. So the only way they should be bored is if they really try to do nothing.

The college classes are correspondence courses, as the inmates are not allowed internet access for any reason. They can buy and use a word processor if they make it to minimum security. It makes it challenging for the inmates to get a degree that they want, as they have to find an accredited college that still uses pencil and paper assignments.

SFC Schwartz

29

Smart ass response: Because officers are a bigger pain in the ass than other inmates.

Real reason: I don’t know. Every officer I have met at the USDB has been sentenced to at least eight years. I will walk across the street on Tuesday to see if they have officers there.

As much as I hate to say it, yes, for the most part it is men having sex with children as young as 18 months. I don’t know if it makes a difference, but most of the victims are step children. There are some in my facility who got confined for having sex with mature teens, but they usually had some heinous detail. Like the 21 year old who had a 16 year old prostitution ring. He had four girls working for him.

SFC Schwartz

30

What is the most heinous, evil crime and or criminal you’ve come across? Of course, without revealing any details that it would be illegal to disclose etc etc.

31

Also, has there ever been any inmates you thought were genuinely innocent?
Do you ever form a sort of “friendship” on a professional or personal level with any inmates? Any that you have more respect for than others? Any you have less respect for or are particularly difficult?
What are the racial demographics of the prison like? Any gangs?

32

Wow. I had no idea.

Are these guys that have seen combat?

33

The one that has bothered me the most had multiple sex offenses against children over a period of ten years. The most disturbing part for me was he was having sex with his own son. I know there have been a few others that have caused me to sleep badly the night after I interview the inmate, but I try to forget the details as fast as I can.

There are one or two, that I think may have had luck in their trial. I don’t think that they are innocent. I think that they did something that the jury believed deserved a conviction.

I don’t make friends with the inmates. There is nothing they can offer in terms of friendship. I’m not rude, and generally the inmates like me, but they do know that there is a line of professionalism that is not crossed. The first time I warn them, the second time I recommend disciplinary action. The inmates know what the limits are. As they are all former military, it is the same level of professionalism they would show their leadership.

I do have respect for all the inmates. I give them the same respect I give all human beings. There are a few that I give a bit more courtesy to. Those are the ones that have been in for a few years and have stayed out of trouble, or they will take one of the new guys who is slipping up and make sure he is set in the right direction.

There are no gangs. Gang members are disqualified from enlisting. Generally, after people enlist in the Military, gangs don’t want them anymore. There are racial lines. Mostly because it is the easiest way to divide up the groups. The inmates self segregate into black, white, and hispanic (other). So Native Americans and Asians are usually in the Hispanic group. There are three TV’s in each housing pod, as an example, and there is no reason why a white guy can’t watch the black TV, and some do. But a white inmate will never hold the remote for the black TV, even if there are no black guys watching it.

The racial divisions also make it easier to make sure that the inmates have a check and balance system if someone gets out of line. If a Hispanic inmate has been stealing, for example, the leader of the Hispanic group will usually talk to the leader of the white and black group before anything is done to the thief. Not that it has to be done, just to make sure all the race leaders know what is happening and can make recommendations.

Thanks for all the questions so far. I am having fun with this.

SFC Schwartz

34

About the same percentage as the military that is not in prison. Some have, some haven’t, and some were not in long enough to have the opportunity to deploy.

SFC Schwartz

35

Did you ever run across people you suspect may have been railroaded in order to cover up the greater crimes of their superiors or to obfuscate the reality of an ugly war, à la Fields of Glory or Breaker Morant?

36

Not intending to argue, and I know you see what you see, but you know there are reports this isn’t the case. According to some of the less mainstream media sites I’ve read, some gangs even encourage enlistment by members in order to take advantage of the weapons and tactics training received. Just saying . . .

37

How does this work? He just sits there by himself wishing he could change the channel but he won’t pick up the remote? Wht am I missing?

38

So is my neighbor still there - the squid who killed off his wife in Norfolk VA and stashed her body in the bath tub, and kept borrowing other peoples bathrooms because ‘his bathroom was screwed up’ for a month :eek: back in the 80s?

39

That sounds good in movies, and there is an inmate who killed an Iraqi detainee. He tried to pass the blame on to his subordinate. Didn’t get away with it. I don’t think any Soldier could come up with a good enough conspiracy and get away with it. The main reason people end up as my guest is because the weren’t smart enough to stay out of prison. Put a bunch of these guys together and you get more evidence to convict. :smiley:

They told me the same thing when I was out in recruiting. It made it a pain in the ass to put in anyone with a tattoo. I am sure some gangsters have tried to join, and there maybe a couple of gangsters in the military. I don’t think there are enough to make a difference.

Take a scene where a white guy is sitting in the black section watching Real Housewives of Atlanta (for some reason, the black inmates love that show). The black inmate with the remote gets up to take a shower. He would take the remote and put it in his cell. Another black inmate could go get the remote, but the white inmate would not be able to change the channel. Even if the remote was left out. The white inmate would not change it. It would be one of those rule violations that would get you at least talked to. If he wants to watch something different, he has to see what the other sections are watching.

SFC Schwartz

40

No doubt, but I think he was asking about staff.

OK, I’ll go back to reading the thread quietly now.