Correctional officers Experience Summary

Correctional Officers Experience Summary

Bryan Richardson

CJS/255

2/8/2016

John Eckert

Correctional Officers Experience Summary

How does the prison environment influence the way you ensure security and custody in your prison?

The prison I work at is of maximum security in which inmates are secured inside their cells for a total of 23 hours a day. The reason for the limited freedom is that these prisoners are some of the most ruthless and have no respect for human life since they could outright kill someone if given the window of opportunity. With this limited amount of time inmates have outside their cells they either take advantage of a shower or they get some exercise.

Dangerous criminals such as those in my prison require correctional officers to be totally trained to deal with a wide range of convicts who have issues that may be much more dangerous than the basic run of the mill inmate, convicts such as those with mental illness like schizophrenia may need more than just a camera watching their movements, therefore a lot more attention is necessary. The three c’s are a very crucial part of a correctional officers training, especially in a prison such as mine! Everyone in this prison has the responsibility of maintaining inmates in their sector which in turn creates an environment within the prison that is like a well-oiled machine.  

What methods of secure custody do you use in your prison?

In a correctional institution there is a term used that identifies the method in which control is put in motion over offenders, that term is custody. Inside each prison the classification to the levels of custody are as follows: Maximum, medium, and minimum.

The objective of a correctional officer is to maintain control of the prison while conducting themselves professionally at all times. With professionalism come individuals who have been very well trained to communicate with one another in order to control a sometimes chaotic environment. Discipline is a tool used to maintain control throughout my prison especially when the inmates start to feel a little anxious. Prisoners need to know who is in control and that when prison rules are broken the discipline is what follows. There are several types of disciplinary actions such as loss of personal belongings, loss of personal time, and the worst is being put in a cell alone for an unknown duration of time without light which is called solitary confinement. However, the bottom line is to have the right staff that is properly trained in all aspects of this job because if the inmates start noticing that there are holes in the way correction officers in a prison handle their responsibilities then those inmates are going to exploit those mistakes.