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.
It isn't hard to make a tattoo gun. A broken guitar string and a motor stolen out of a tape player will do it. They use blue or black ballpoint pen ink. A lot of guys get Hep C or HIV from dirty tattoo needles.
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I have been gone for quite a while, but the last time I checked it was roughly 30% white, 30% black, 30% hispanic with the rest made up other American Indians, Pacific Islanders, S/E Asians, etc. Since California had about an 11% black and 19% hispanic population at that time you can see whites are significantly underrepresented in the prison population and hispanics and blacks are significantly overrepresented. There has been a census since I retired so I am confident those numbers are no longer accurate.
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Very rarely do such crimes occur in full view of staff, or other witnesses. When reported they are actively investigated. Also preadtory inmates (or even likely victim inmates) are classified as such, and are often single-celled or housed in protective custody. IN addition staff do patrol the tiers and dorms to keep an eye out for all sorts of nastiness.
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Money is most helpful and welcome. Complaints about how rough things are at home without them, or how stupid they are to end up in prison, are probably the least helpful.
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Call Center Employee (Retail)
What's the craziest unprofessional-phone-rep story you've ever heard?
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Do rappers ever stage beefs with each other as a PR stunt?
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How does a dating site get its first 10,000 customers?
Good question. I dont have a good answer for you since I was never in the hiring loop other than interviewing. I had nothing to do with background checks. I admitted to a little weed in highschool in the 1960s, more than 15 years before I hired on. They had no problem with that. I suspect they have a problem with recent drug use. Obvisouly any felony conviction is disqualifying. My guess is they would have a problem with any significant hard drug use history.
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I have no idea. They did not have a formal psych screening when I started with the department.
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Title 15 of the California Code of Regulations, commonly known as the Directors Rules for the prison system, is pretty definite on that subject. EVERYBODY, staff and inmates, are expected to treat each other respectfully as circumstances permit. I grant you it is hard to be respectful when you are trying to break somebody's arm with a PR-24, but it is there. Inmates are regularly written up for disrespect, and inmates commonly file written comalints against staff for disrespect. Most of the time inmates complaints of disrespect are BS, to them tellling them what to do, where to go, and what to do when they get their is disrespectful. Generally speaking everybody gets along better with everybody if you treat them halfway decently. MOst people in prison really want to get along, at least on the surfact. It makes life easier.
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