Correctional Officer

Correctional Officer

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.

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Last Answer on February 10, 2022

Best Rated

Hey dude why do so many cops sound the same?

Asked by Gene about 6 years ago

We have to take a class in that.

Recently I asked you if you
regretted an innocent prisoner being jailed or executed. You remarked that you thought about it for just about a minute. Isn't that rather cold to feel that way about an innocent person. How come?

Asked by Neal Bracken about 6 years ago

Perhaps I am just cold. Also, perhaps I realize that the job of the DOC is to incarcerate persons committed to it by the courts for the period of time required by law. I have never personally sat on a criminal jury so I feel no level of personal responsibility at all. I think that when such things happen it is regrettable and that the system should take appropriate steps to ensure this happens as little as possible, preferably not at all. That being said if you worry about things like that you will soon be unable to do the job.

Are officers issued PPE for this virus?

Asked by asdfasdf about 6 years ago

Damned if I know. I have been retired for 15 years. Back in the day we did issue gloves but I strongly suspect anything that needed PPE equipment would be handled by medical, not custody.

What do you think of SHOCK treatment and victim impacts panels? Do you think they help people change or just throwing tax dollars at people who are unwilling to change

Asked by Robery about 6 years ago

A shock treatment is a medical procedure. I have no expertise in that area, though as a moderately well informed non-medical person I think they are of dubious benefit and, as far as I know, are no longer used anywhere. (Unless you mean something else I am unfamiliar with.)

I have no practical experience with Victim Impact Panels. I suspect the bad guys don't give a diddly damn about victims, if they did they wouldn't be bad guys.

Was there ever COs that would do things for inmates that would not be okay? What?

Asked by John about 6 years ago

Happens all the time. Staff, including C/Os, are jacked up or fired for all sorts of things. Smugglng things in or messages out is not wildly uncommon, IN appropriate relationships, including sexual relationships, are not unknown. Passing confidential information to inmates is not unknown.

Hello, I’m wondering if inmates can still purchase items from commissary while on C status? I’ve read they can, but only $35 for the month, and I have also read 1/4 the usual maximum can be spent with authorization. Not sure what that all means.

Asked by DL87 over 6 years ago

It has been a LONG time since I have worked in the system but..... Back in the day inmates on A status could spend a full monthly draw assuming they had the money on the books. The more of a screw-up you were, the less money you were allowed to spend. An inmate on C status could spend just enough to buy some things like tooth paste, deoderant, shaving cream, etc. Of course they COULD still spend in on fig newtons and soda. It was, and presumably still is, a flawed system. Like many privileges it gave staff a handle, something to take away if the inmate screwed up. A very modest carrot-stick approach.

Question! How has the prison system changed to your knolage since you retired

Asked by SMart cookie over 5 years ago

Yes. Quite a bit. The population has gone down very considerably due to "realignment" and changes in sentencing laws. Inmates are serving shorter sentences and the Covid infection has impacted things considerably towards staff and prisoners both. The death penalty is suspended (not that it has really been operational for almost 20 years anyway) and the politics of the system has swung very much towards the "warm and fuzzy" model of corrections.