Bob Walsh
Stockton, CA
Male, 60
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.
Verbal deescalation is not something I have been trained in, but I developed some skill at it along the way. In this particular environment it mostly consisted of explaining the obvious, that the inmate was NOT going to win a test of force and that if things got physical they would end up in the hole and with administrative charges against them, possibly criminal charges as well. The problem is the inmate often WANTED to go to the hole or would rather "face the music" rather than face his homies if he didn't go thru with being a dick. It was actually common for inmates to manufacture a light-weight situation just to get locked up.
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He is probably already pretty miserable. If you can PROVE he owes you money you can file a small claims action against him and when / if you get a judgement you can attach his canteen account, meaning he won't be able to buy any goodies at the canteen until he pays you. That's the only thing I can thing of that would do the job and is also legal. Most other stuff could get you in as much or more trouble than he would be in. The staff CAN read incoming mail except legal mail, but they seldom do. Takes too much time and not enough staff to do it.
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I have been in the middle of a couple of full-fledged riots. That is very scary. Even if you are not a specific target it is completely possible to get hurt. I was't, but it was still scary.
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there were not a lot of overt homosexuals in GP while I was working. remember, i have been out fifteen years. they were a significant management problem then. must be much worse now. they are still trying to figure out who is "male" and who is "female" and what the criteria is and who goes where.
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School Teacher
Do you think teachers are underpaid? Why?
Forensic Scientist
When did you know you wanted to work with the dead?
Firefighter
How can you tell if a fire was arson?
That is a good question and the issue is very much in flux right now, especially now that the courts are getting involved more and more. Under the old rules, at least in CA. it was simple. If your birth certificate said MALE and you had a penis you went to a male prison. Anything else was up for debate. Now the courts are in some jurisdictions mandating that prisoners be allowed to self-identify according to gender and the agencies housing them often are not permitted to question that self-identification. The matter will get messier before it is sorted out.
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Too many prisoners, not enough cells. It costs a LOT of money to build a prison cell and the taxpayers are not overly concerned with what prisoners want and don't want. Life is hard, it's harder in prison. Stay out of prison. It is a bad place, full of bad people, and they won't let you out to go bowling on Tuesday night. That being said they usually (but not always) put a prisoner on single-cell status after he kills one cellmate, so they hardly ever kill more than one. Hardly ever.
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I worked in an exclusively male facility. Some of the "liberal" notions have been long-term helpful, some not. The idea of forced integration of cells is stupid, it is an idea pushed by people who have never worked inside a prison. I am also bothered by some of the issues with medical care. Spending $1.2 million for a heart transplant for a death row inmate is IMHO stupid. Also, forcing the state to buy name brand (rather than generic) drugs for prisoners is a significant cost for no good purpose. It is still too early to sell what issues gender identification / gender identity may bring to the system. It was of course easier in "the old days" when prisoners had zero rights and the courts did not stick their noses into prison operations. Easier was not necessarily better however.
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