Author’s Note: The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
There was a time when prison was just that: prison. It was a dark, violent place that housed some of the world’s worst criminals who were warehoused until their debt to society was repaid. Fast-forward to today: Our prisons are dark, violent places that house some of the worlds most dangerous criminals, who are educated, nursed and taught a vocation by an extraordinary group of citizens that put themselves in the middle of this mess.
 Both custody and non-custody staff tend to get fixated on their specific mission. (AP Photo) |
“Free staff,” as I call them here, are professionals who work inside our prison walls to accomplish specific tasks. Most contemporary prisons have teachers, doctors, nurses, maintenance mechanics, engineers and legal staff on-grounds. These folks receive no real training on self-defense, yet are expected to rehabilitate or otherwise help our nation’s criminals. Each has a specific mission related to his or her specialty.
What they may forget is that they work at a prison. This is where we come in.
During an extended lockdown in a prison I was assigned to, life was chaotic. The inmates had attacked staff members repeatedly and seriously. All inmate movement was frozen with the exception of emergency medical situations. Officers were tasked with searching every single cell thoroughly for weapons or communications indicating further attacks.
The idea was to eliminate the troublemakers by sending them to Administrative Segregation, and restart our program. With over 4000 inmates to search, the task was daunting.
While we were busting our backs searching, our warden found out there were over 50 non-custody staff members, such as teachers and librarians, that were without work> These folks still came to work every day, but without inmates, they had nothing to do. The warden ordered these employees to report to the buildings to help the officers. We all groaned when we heard this. We expected them to fight them every step of the way to get help.
We were pleasantly surprised. These staff members helped us with paperwork related to the searches, and even helped us prepare the meal trays for cell feeding. They took weeks off the searching process and hours of paperwork for each officer.
This was the first and last time I had seen such cooperation between free staff and custody employees. Our warden recognized that although these employees had nothing to do with custody, they were still employees of the department, and therefore charged to help in situations like this. We worked together for months, and both sides gained a lot of respect for each other.
Mission blinders
Exceptional teamwork aside, it seems to be the tendency of both custody and non-custody staff to get fixated on their specific mission, not taking other people’s duties into account. A teacher can get so fixated on his or her duties to teach inmates, that they completely ignore basic security protocol. This is our fault.
People who come to work inside of a prison, regardless of their job, needs to understand that they are part of a team that shares one common goal:
To keep the inmates in prison, and to protect the public.
A nurse or engineer may have seen a situation that we missed. Often though, they neglect to mention it because we don’t take the time to include these people into our daily routine.
Imagine an inmate coming to the prison hospital, complaining of abdominal pain. The cause of this can be viral, bacterial or a shank in the “suitcase” that is causing damage. A good nurse or doctor can let us know when an inmate comes into our clinics with these complaints – this is information we will potentially act on.
Working with more closely with other staff members (getting to know them) means the entire facility will run more smoothly.
I’ve known many non-custody staff members who are resentful because they feel they are part of a separate group of employees that is not respected by custody employees. Frankly, they are often correct.
Often this lack of respect has come from a general opinion that rehabilitation or increased medical care is a waste of time for most inmates, and has little to do with the specific staff members. But many of us refuse to accept that prison is changing. The goal of many departments is to try the rehabilitation approach to corrections. Whether you agree with this mission change or not, you are sworn to carry it out. We need to recognize that these new employees are part of our team, even if their mission is different from ours.
There may be a small part of the inmate population that is truly committed to bettering themselves. I still feel they are few and far between, but regardless of our personal opinions, all inmates are now getting the opportunity to better themselves. This is often where the non-custody staff comes in.
These employees will spend many hours with inmates, and can be integral in identifying which inmates are taking advantage of programs and which inmates are truly trying. This type of information can be critical to us to prevent disorders or escapes, yet it goes unnoticed because we often do not communicate with the non-custody employees.
I don’t think I have to pull out a flow chart to show most of you how this could work. The question is how to start this procedure without compromising security. When was the last time you said more than “good morning” to any of these staff members? Try it, and you maybe pleasantly surprised to learn that the vast majority of these employees are not as naïve as you may believe.
There will be times when you will butt heads with some of these employees; this often happens when your mission of security and their specific mission collide. In every one of those situations though there is a correct way to resolve your differences, and it will not include the words “because I said so.”
This type of conversation will only lead to bitterness, and will not enhance our mission whatsoever. If the employee is so angry or disgusted with custody that they won’t talk to them, we may miss critical information that they could provide. To succeed in our mission to keep the public safe, we need to use all our resources.
The next time you run into one of these situations where two missions collide, take the time to explain to the employee why we cannot do things the way they suggested. Take them out to the units (if allowed) and show them how their proposal or idea would affect security. You can stand there and talk until you are blue in the face, but showing these employees how prison works can often lead to a better working relationship later. How many of these employees have never seen the inside of a cell?
How can we then expect them to understand our security concerns? Let’s all take the time to educate the non-custody branch of our prison team about what prison is like outside of their work area.
Now a note to the free staff: As an employee of your department, there are certain things you must recognize. First and foremost, the primary goal of most departments is still to protect the public from the criminals it is tasked to keep. You are in no way excluded from this mission. If you see an inmate doing something that could compromise the security of the institution, it is your duty to report it. The words, “it’s not my job” should not ever leave your mouth when it comes to security.
Understand that no-one is asking you to jump into a fight, or physically intervene yourself. You have not received the proper training for this, nor do you have the tools to defend yourself that the officers have. Call for help, it will be there every-time. No matter what you think of the custody branch of your institution, I can assure you that every one of those officers will take extraordinary risks to protect you from the inmates you work with.
If you are one that does not like Law Enforcement as a rule, do us all a favor and find a different job. No matter what your classification is inside the prison, at some point you will have interaction with custody officers. Chances are that you do not feel this way, and you are simply frustrated and feel that custody staff members are doing everything to make your job hard.
I assure you they are simply trying to keep you safe, nothing more, nothing less. Like I have advised the officers in this article, communication is key.
Take the time to get to know even one officer personally. They can be your resource to draw from when you do not understand why a request was denied or a procedure that affects you is changed. Always remember that the day may come that you will be asked to work well outside of your classification. This is a great opportunity to learn how our systems work, and I encourage you to enthusiastically volunteer to work with custody to complete whatever your mission may be.
Any problems you may have from staff are most likely not because they do not like you personally, but because they are having a hard time accepting the new direction of Corrections. This is not an excuse, but an explanation. Officers, especially those with some time in the department, are feeling very frustrated with the changing department. If you get to know them personally, you will find your job is made much easier.
Many of you are thinking you could not possibly have an effect on this ongoing situation. Remember that your colleagues, be they custody or not, will follow your example. Instead of complaining about your counterparts, take the time to get to know each other.
One last word on co-operation: It is critical that when there is a disagreement between custody and non-custody employees that it is kept away from inmates. Robert Allen, author of “Games Criminals Play” noted in his book that a feeling of exclusion by an employee could be taken advantage of by a manipulative inmate. No one wants to see an employee turn “dirty” because we allowed them to feel excluded.
I have repeatedly emphasized in my articles that the key to a secure, safe institution is the unity that comes from working together as a common entity to keep the criminals in prison, keep the public safe, and provide rehabilitation to those that seek it out. I encourage all of you to share this article with your fellow staff members as a way to start the discussion.
Our prisons are a great experiment, and regardless of how you feel about the current state of our system, it is our duty, both custody and non-custody to carry out the departmental mission with professionalism and a dedication that has always been unique to correctional employees.