Alex O posted a wonderful comment on an article I wrote that I titled They’re Prison Guards, Not Correctional Officers.
I’ve written so many articles over the years that I can’t remember every sentence, but I remember writing that article because a reader once berated me for not respecting prison guards by calling them correctional officers.
I don’t write to disparage anyone or to bring anyone down. Certainly, I understand that many decent Americans pursue careers in the criminal justice system. According to Professor Joan Petersilia, an author and professor at Stanford Law School, the corrections system employs more than 700,000 people. Indeed, 1.5 percent of the nation’s entire labor force now works in criminal justice. Those who work in the prison system, however, don’t correct anything. They guard.
What I don’t understand is why readers disagree. The title of correctional officer may have a euphemistic softening but it doesn’t change anything. If corrections were taking place would our prison system continue to churn out failure, manifested by high recidivism rates? If corrections took place would I still be in prison—two and half decades later—for the bad decisions I made in my early 20s?
Calling the system “corrections” doesn’t make it so. It’s a prison system and the people who work in it guard both the prison and the people it holds. They conduct strip searches. They scour the prison for contraband. They send people to the hole. They count us like inventory repeatedly throughout the day and night. They guard the visiting room, and everything else. But no guards correct anything. If a prisoner chooses to make positive changes, those changes originate from within. I have not found that the prison system has much influence to change things for a prisoner with regard to advancing his release date after the prisoner is corrected; but I’ve seen guards issue infractions on numerous occasions that make life far more onerous and retard release dates.
Alex O’s July 24, 2010 comment to the article added more insight. I appreciate his perspective. Obviously, he has more information than I have, as I see the guards as a part of my life—I’m indifferent to them. My focus remains on preparing for the challenges that await my release.
Ran 10 miles / 5,265 miles in 591 days
Monday, 26 July 2010
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One Response to Prison Journal: Day 8,386
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Though I have never been incarcerated myself (and do use the term C.O.) I could not agree with you more or have said it with greater clarity. I have met another person living “on the other side of the glass” as I call it, being that is how this journey began for me, who carried the tittle of “Correctional Officer” at one point and yet agrees that there is no correction or rehabilitation in the system. However, this person continues to work in that field regardless of the lack of correction, their relationship with an incarcerated person, or the fact that they were terminated from a previous position for refusing to turn someone in for attempting to socialize after their release. The reality is that most of America is the product of some sort of system, and it is very difficult to change a system you are a product of. No matter where you are no one can change for you anyways, as you said that change comes from within.
It is wonderful to hear such strength in your words and to see another supportive family. Stay strong!
Maya McCroskey
The Other Side of the Glass