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.
I am GUESSING that IA is internal affairs and HR is human resources. Internal Affairs specifically investigates wrong doing, including possible criminal activity, by department personnel, usually peace officers. Human resources is responsible for personnel management. This includes hiring, firing, tracking promotions and investigating some sorts of internal complains, like sexual harassment. This of course varies tremendously from agency to agency.
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I don't know. There average educational level is substantially less than the general public, that doesn't mean they are stupid. Since I am fairly well socialized and in the age bracket that I am I tend to equate good education and normative behavior with intelligence. Therefore my opinion is likely to be biased.
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The only person in the Department that HAS to kill someone is the executioner at San Quentin. For all the rest of us it is merely a perq of the job.
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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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Why does gang formation and racial segregation happen so much in prisons?
Not so as I remember. In this forum my job is to respond to questions, not ask them.
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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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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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