"Americas brutal prisons". A documentary by british channel 4 TV.

10 minute synopsis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwVQRQuULsk
Whole film (heavy loader): http://blogleak.blogspot.com/2008/01/torture-americas-brutal-prisons.html

I would assume this is less endemic than portraýed.

But also that it is much more common than it should be. And that it could easily turn into an 'in prison' culture where newly arrived correctional officers become more or less brutalized and end up liking their job.

Some users here have told of being correctional officers, please tell:
Is this local to particular areas or prisons ?
Does management show signs of caring ?
How do you rate the documentary ?
Do the 'bad guards' believe such treatment aids rehabilitation ?

regards JakobA

You can assume, however you would be wrong, but I say that with one caveat depends on where you are at. I will cut the COs where I was at a break though most of them were decent, had a few AHs on power trips. But in the long run with the ones I dealt with if you stayed low and out of their proverbial sights, you could do ok.

The women's prison I was in for five years 8 mos was well I will be honest I don't want to revisit that part of my life.

Like all professions you have your good and your bad COs. It is I think more pronounced when you have a rotten CO.

I could not even watch the synopsis, though it was a men's unit, well I frankly do not want some of my memories dug up.

Frisco

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FriscoLady01,

I will say this my time in the military helped a hell of a lot. I took the attitude that I was going to make it through that time of my life, I was not going to give either inmate or CO any grief. I was going to do my time and go home, that was my only goal.

Believe me you are tested, even in a women's facility by other inmates so it is not all on the CO's shoulders.

The best thing is to keep to yourself, don't for God's sake ever snitch, don't volunteer, or get into others business. And when you do have to stand for yourself don't backdown.

There is much difference between the levels of security as well, Max, Close, Medium and Min. I went from Close to Medium and you are dealing with mentally ill inmates, to people like me who just wanted to get it over with and go home.

Not all prisons are a like, they are like anything else you have some bad one and you have some decent ones - I won't say good.

I will say this about one CO, she was the 2nd shift Sgt. she was tough but fair, she was retired Army she always treated us the same, frankly I don't know if I would be typing this if it was not for her, because suicide crossed my mind a couple of times in the beginning. I know totally opposite of what I said in the first para of this post, but in the end when I finally bucked up and decided since I had to do it, I was going to do it as best I could, my only goal was to come home.

Frisco

quote:

Originally posted by FriscoLady01:
I will say this my time in the military helped a hell of a lot. I took the attitude that I was going to make it through that time of my life, I was not going to give either inmate or CO any grief. I was going to do my time and go home, that was my only goal.

Believe me you are tested, even in a women's facility by other inmates so it is not all on the CO's shoulders.

The best thing is to keep to yourself, don't for God's sake ever snitch, don't volunteer, or get into others business. And when you do have to stand for yourself don't backdown.

There is much difference between the levels of security as well, Max, Close, Medium and Min. I went from Close to Medium and you are dealing with mentally ill inmates, to people like me who just wanted to get it over with and go home.

Not all prisons are a like, they are like anything else you have some bad one and you have some decent ones - I won't say good.

I will say this about one CO, she was the 2nd shift Sgt. she was tough but fair, she was retired Army she always treated us the same, frankly I don't know if I would be typing this if it was not for her, because suicide crossed my mind a couple of times in the beginning.

Frisco

You pretty much summed it up.

Opfor,

I was not going to say anything other than my first post, but I am glad I did. Sometimes it helps to let it out.

Take care of yourself,

Frisco

Frisco, you got mail.

Any prison system where prison rape is joked about and tacitly endorsed is a brutal one.

quote:

Originally posted by PeteCDR:
Frisco, you got mail.

Pete, I just saw your mail I went to bed right after I posted this. The synopsis back some things I did not want to remember. Could not see the whole thing. Will respond to you tonight. Working on four hours of nightmare peppered sleep!

Have a good day!

Frisco

Prison guards will always have a job. They will always be in demand. Every year they will get a pay raise. They will have a very good dental and medical plan. An outstanding retirement plan also. I could have put in 23 years with the prison system and came out better benefit and pay wise then serving in the Military as a NCO. We better wake up in this country and start building bigger and better prisons in our states. Less prisons, more prisoners = continued abuse. Why can't these educated idiots in Washington see this?

quote:

Originally posted by Duster6:
Prison guards will always have a job. They will always be in demand. Every year they will get a pay raise. They will have a very good dental and medical plan. An outstanding retirement plan also. I could have put in 23 years with the prison system and came out better benefit and pay wise then serving in the Military as a NCO. We better wake up in this country and start building bigger and better prisons in our states. Less prisons, more prisoners = continued abuse. Why can't these educated idiots in Washington see this?

Just curious where is all the money going to come from to pay for this ? Is the Fed fairy going to print it up and deliver it in a package with a pretty ribbon ? Seriously ,states are already letting people out early starting with CA due to revenue decline. The prison industry consumes and will consume the same or more resources of all kinds. Resources that are getting more and more expensive daily .
I speculate that more and more citizens are going to save the taxpayers money. By delivering justice via high velocity lead in the coming years . The ability to incarcerate large amounts of people was and is a luxury of cheap petroleum/energy. 10 years ago oil was 10 dollars a barrel , now its up almost 1200 percent , the prison industry is not sustainable in its current form.
Think more like Escape from New York or Los Angeles type prisons.

Oh my, brutal prisons inhabited by brutal people, the shame, the shame, try doing a documentory on Turkish prisons, or Columbian or Russian, there's brutal.

quote:

Originally posted by joedokes:
Oh my, brutal prisons inhabited by brutal people, the shame, the shame, try doing a documentory on Turkish prisons, or Columbian or Russian, there's brutal.

You are correct. There are worse jails to be found.

But I do not see how that nessesarily lead to your implied conclusion that it is OK.

I'm not implying it's ok just that there are far, far worse prison systems in the world then in this country. documentory on those would serve us better.

quote:

Originally posted by JakobA_DK:

quote:

Originally posted by joedokes:
Oh my, brutal prisons inhabited by brutal people, the shame, the shame, try doing a documentory on Turkish prisons, or Columbian or Russian, there's brutal.

You are correct. There are worse jails to be found.

But I do not see how that nessesarily lead to your implied conclusion that it is OK.

If you are going to do a documentary of brutal prisons, why start in the middle of the list. Go for the worst ones first, then work your way to those that are better. Don't just show the one in the middle and try to make everyone think it is worst.

quote:

Originally posted by joedokes:
I'm not implying it's ok just that there are far, far worse prison systems in the world then in this country. documentory on those would serve us better.

i believe the implication of the film was to show that altho we push for fair treatment to prisoners around the world, we let barbarities go unchecked in our very OWN prisons.
not so sure i agree with it tho.

We can bail out mortgage companies and we can come up with $248 million to repair barracks that the news showed on tv but we can't build a few much needed prisons??????? No wonder men are only getting 2 to 3 years in prison for raping women or molesting children now a days.

Brubaker.

An Innocent Man.

Shawshank Redemption.

Jericho Mile.

All you ever need to know about prison. Unless you're in one. That's a different can of worms.

This is not the best link but a place to start. For those of you not familiar with this study from the 1970s, a bit of insight into the psychology of those on both sides of the bars.

Prison psychology

I am not endorsing this study as the be all and end all on this topic but it was very interesting.

Great link. Thank you.

quote:

Originally posted by nurse_attorney:
This is not the best link but a place to start. For those of you not familiar with this study from the 1970s, a bit of insight into the psychology of those on both sides of the bars.

Prison psychology

I am not endorsing this study as the be all and end all on this topic but it was very interesting.

It is worth noting though that the study was carried out with undergraduates. At that age peoples 'moral compass' is quite malleable, as needed for them to adapt to whichever peer group they might find themselves in. I would expect much firmer notions of right and wrong in people older and more mature. So I would not expect this outcome to be inevitable, particularly not if leadership were aware of the danger and actively trying to prevent it.

Then again on this board I have noticed some rather extreme 'that will teach them' admiration for what I would consider quite horrible actions ("Music to water board by", etc). Could some guards be 'primed' for adopting such behaviors before they even get the job ?

regards JakobA

We have visited this discussion before and I am glad that we have some visual evidence to go with it. Some do say that prisons are for punishment, but the punishment does nothing to stop the recidivism rate.

As I stated in the other discussions, and gave links to, the way they treat juveniles is a crime in itself. These are nothing more than children. Bad children we agree, but a kid can be rehabilitated. But it is proven that not by brutality.

We want to teach them to respect authority, but it won't happen when they see the ones in authority breaking the law. I would not want any of those monsters who do this kind of behavior living next door to me and my family.

Wrong is wrong and cannot be justified. Something must be done to end the brutality and to bring the idea of rehabilitation back into the mix. Of course you can't rehabilitate them all, but I bet we can get to quite a few.

well good if the prisons become so brutal maybe people will think twice about doing stuff to wind up there....i say the more brutal the better.... deterrence....