People You’ll See In Hell

The thing that annoys me the most about being a Corrections Officer, other than the stabbings, is the title. “Corrections” doesn’t really describe what we do. It would be far more honest to describe ourselves as “Incarceration Officers.”

We are not corrections officers because we do not correct.

Oh, our departments go through the motions, much in the same way criminals do. Your friendly neighborhood jail or prison probably gives inmates the opportunity to go to classes designed to change their behavior. Anger management courses, alcohol treatment programs, drug programs, parenting classes, G.E.D. classes and classes designed to give inmates job and computer skills are all part of the standard repertoire available to the majority of the larger jails and prisons.

Does it help?

Well, speaking from personal experience, no.

On a weekly basis, I see inmates leave our jail on Monday only to come back on a Thursday, for either the same crime they were in for before, or something related. These are the same inmates who get out early because they write to their judge and explain how well they’re doing in their anger management courses and how they hope the judge will take that into account and be lenient.

I couldn’t possibly count the number of times I’ve seen the same person in the same class, just with a different docket number and trial date.

The defense lawyers know the score and encourage class participation. The counselors know the score and keep pluggin’ away, reveling in the same job security and accountability high school teachers have.

The offenders certainly know the score. That’s something they’ll tell you openly.

“Hey C/O!”

“What?”

“’Cause of the drug class I’m taking, judge give me 90 days, I be out smokin’ the good shit tomorrow!”

“We’ll keep your bed warm for you.”

Oh, don’t get me wrong, some (probably most) offenders never come back, at least not to our jail.

Maybe they’ve internalized the need for change in their lives. Maybe they’ve decided to stop hurting their family. Maybe they’ve decided to stop hurting themselves. Maybe they’ve decided that being unable to take a shower without being in the company of others of the same sex and the opposite sexual orientation is pretty much the lowest they’re going to go. Maybe they slipped up and they know it.

Maybe they just haven’t been caught again.

One thing is for sure. We’re not in the corrections business. We’re in the incarceration business.