“Loose lips sink ships” was originally a Navy term during WWII referencing sailors talking about the wrong things such as security information or other confidential information around the wrong people. The results of such carelessness could result in their ship being sunk. The same goes for staff working in the prison system.
Unfortunately, due to the mundane and often times boring assignments, staff will engage in chatter with each other about a variety of issues ranging from personal matters to security issues inside the prison.
Inmates are always listening to staff conversations to gain knowledge into the goings on at the prison or to acquire leverage they can use on an unsuspecting staff member. For example, major security events inside a prison such as a prison-wide search are usually kept extremely confidential.
As careful and confidential as supervisors are with this information, often times the information is shared (confidentially, of course) with another officer. There’s this human phenomenon about wanting to share confidential information with someone else that is especially prevalent in the prison system.
It seems one way of elevating your status is to have information before anyone else and sharing it must do something for one’s ego. It only takes one ill-advised conversation between two staff members at the wrong place and the element of surprise is lost. Another example of “loose lips” compromising staff may involve a conversation between two staff members about another staff member in the presence (or earshot) of an inmate.
The inmate now has information he can use against the two staff members who were gossiping about another person and he has information about the staff member being gossiped about. This kind of information is just as powerful in a prison and is often the root and the start of officers being compromised.
Remember this catchy little phrase, “loose lips sink ships,” each time you clock into work your shift and the environment you work in will be much safer and more secure for everyone.
