I worked for the California state system, starting as a Correctional Officer and retiring as a Lieutenant in 2005. I now write for the PacoVilla blog which is concerned with what could broadly be called The Correctional System.
If I remember correctly Cognitive Therapy theory has been around since the 1960s. The idea is that behavior, feelings and thoughts are linked (which I expect is correct for most people) and that patients can move forward to overcome challenges and meet goals by changing emotional responses, lame-ass thinking and bad behavior. It is my belief that the overwhelming number of criminals have made conscious, deliberate choices to be criminals. They were not thrust into the position by circumstances beyond their control. I believe that they WANT to be criminals and will, for the most part, continue to be criminals until they are too old, too sick or too dead to continue. For most criminals this has been a successful mechanism, reinforced by the criminal justice system and the med-psych profession. Assuming a person's goal is be continue to be a moderately successful burglar-rapist-robber-murderer, I am unsure that we should help them overcome obstacles to reaching their goal.
That would depend a lot on circumstances.
I have no idea. However, in most states it is a peace officer position and virtually all peace officers have and need a driver's license. So my educated guess is YES.
Lately not much as I have been retired for close to ten years now. The biggie in California is the population cap which has forced the state to release about 40,000 felons from custody. The federal takeover of the inmate health care program has also caused operational problems within the department.
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My experience is in a PRISON, not a JAIL. There is a difference. In prison, the answer is YES, when we ran them through the METAL DETECTOR (not body scanner) they had to take their shoes off..
Good question. I don't have a good answer any more. You need to meet the height-weight ratio. There is no minimum height requirement, there may be a maximum one but I don't think so. You need to have decent hearing and reasonable (but not perfect) vision without corrective lenses. (You can't wear glasses under a gas mask and you need to be able to function while wearing one.) I don't believe there is a color vision test. I think there is a physical agility test, but I don't know what it is. Sorry I couldn't be more help.
It depends. Assuming the former bad guy is genuinely trying to go along with the program AND the people who are supervising and helping him are genuinely interested in doing their job, it can be very effective. It has both a carrot and a stick. Under the current economic conditions (poor job prospects) the carrot is sometimes lacking. With the current prison and jail crowding the stick is sometimes underutilized. I guess my final answer is that in theory it is fine, in actual practice, especially in California and especially of late, it is lacking.
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