Wasted Honor -- - Say What you Need To Say......: Correctional Officers

Wasted Honor -

Carl R. ToersBijns is the author of the Wasted Honor Trilogy [Wasted Honor I,II and Gorilla Justice] and his newest book From the Womb to the Tomb, the Tony Lester Story, which is a reflection of his life and his experiences as a correctional officer and a correctional administrator retiring with the rank of deputy warden in the New Mexico and Arizona correctional systems.

Carl also wrote a book on his combat experience in the Kindle book titled - Combat Medic - Men with destiny - A red cross of Valor -

Carl is considered by many a rogue expert in the field of prison security systems since leaving the profession. Carl has been involved in the design of many pilot programs related to mental health treatment, security threat groups, suicide prevention, and maximum custody operational plans including double bunking max inmates and enhancing security for staff. He invites you to read his books so you can understand and grasp the cultural and political implications and influences of these prisons. He deals with the emotions, the stress and anxiety as well as the realities faced working inside a prison. He deals with the occupational risks while elaborating on the psychological impact of both prison worker and prisoner.

His most recent book, Gorilla Justice, is an un-edited raw fictional version of realistic prison experiences and events through the eyes of an anecdotal translation of the inmate’s plight and suffering while enduring the harsh and toxic prison environment including solitary confinement.

Carl has been interviewed by numerous news stations and newspapers in Phoenix regarding the escape from the Kingman prison and other high profile media cases related to wrongful deaths and suicides inside prisons. His insights have been solicited by the ACLU, Amnesty International, and various other legal firms representing solitary confinement cases in California and Arizona. He is currently working on the STG Step Down program at Pelican Bay and has offered his own experience insights with the Center of Constitutional Rights lawyers and interns to establish a core program at the SHU units. He has personally corresponded and written with SHU prisoners to assess the living conditions and how it impacts their long term placement inside these type of units that are similar to those in Arizona Florence Eyman special management unit where Carl was a unit deputy warden for almost two years before his promotion to Deputy Warden of Operations in Safford and Eyman.

He is a strong advocate for the mentally ill and is a board member of David's Hope Inc. a non-profit advocacy group in Phoenix and also serves as a senior advisor for Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council in Chino, California As a subject matter expert and corrections consultant, Carl has provided interviews and spoken on national and international radio talk shows e.g. BBC CBC Lou Show & TV shows as well as the Associated Press.

I use sarcasm, satire, parodies and other means to make you think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Correctional Officers – Life with Armor

Correctional Officers – Life with Armor by Carl ToersBijns – making a video on this but not ready yet ~

Life inside the darkened corridors and artificial sunlight places is not without risk or danger of death. There are those that believe that entering such a dungeon like setting resembles the old crusader days where knights wore armor to protect themselves from injury or death but also in many ways served a purpose to hide their true identities to avoid retaliation or harm to their families.

Such conditions still exist within maximum custody prisons and metropolitan jails that serve as containment places for those evil doers that seek out the weak and destroy those that serve justice in any shape or form.

Living a life without armor is reckless and ill-advised when you are assigned to these death chambers or dungeons of ill repute and snake bit venomous individuals preying on any moving object to strike and harm them without cause or just to heighten their social or predatory status among those that share the cellblock or pod they live in. When assigned to work inside a detention unit, behavioral medication program or death row requires the wearing of armor to compensate for the serious injuries and other harmful acts sustained while doing this job.

Body armor was designed to maintain and protect the officers from harm. It also serves a psychological purpose of exuding an air of intimidation and control designed to send a message that this is a zero tolerance violence zone and offenders will be dealt with accordingly.

Wearing body armor is what warriors wear whenever on duty inside these corridors of darkness. Although some adorn themselves with such heavy armor the purpose for such construction was to serve the need to prevent injury or death when walking the beat without a weapon depending purely on physical and mental strength and personal vitality.

You might say the armored suit provided a level of confidence that serves much like a life support system. You are relatively free of movement and it upgrades your personal safety to a higher degree while allowing you to move around to do your job. It is a low maintenance item that can be donned on rapidly and taken off easily to resume normal movement and duties outside these danger zones.

Although partially encased and protected it gives the officer a level of protection that allows no skin to be burned, no flesh to be cut and no projectile to enter. It is an effective way to cope with this situation inside these darkened chambers. With helmet and goggles donned, the vest is somewhat claustrophobic but is serves the purpose well to protect you while engaged with dangerous and violent offenders.

Not comfortable to wear in 110 plus desert temperatures they do not breathe as easy as you sweat off about ten pounds in an eight hour day. Being dependent upon this armor, there are times when they are left off and making the officer vulnerable to predatory beings looking to harm or kill someone.

Stab vests and armored suits are designed to be intimidating and fearsome. Donned with a black helmet and shield the officer is a highly profiled individual that embellishes the look from the Darth Vader era and coming in from the dark side. Underneath the helmet some wear a balaclava that hides their identity like a ninja fighter but serves the purpose to protect them from personal retaliation or attacks on or off duty. Thus the neck, face and eyes are protected as a precautionary measure to be injured in the line of duty by those caged individuals that serve the only purpose of harming others while incarcerated.

The vest is padded and designed with ribbed materials to deflect potential energy blows onto the body and thicker part of the upper torso. It serves as a protective skin layer to avoid penetration of needles or other sharpened objects, projectiles or biohazard liquids thrown to inflict a communicable disease or virus such as Hepatitis, HIV Aids and many other forms of diseases that fester inside these joints.

Machine washable, they are assigned and designed to individuals that risk their lives daily while walking some of the toughest beats inside a jail or penitentiary. In some cases, officers wear respirators and other breathing devices to cope with smoke, chemical agents or other hazardous vapors or gasses. Combined with the helmet, the armored vest and other protective gear, the officer is encased in a partial protective layer that gives the appearance of a dark knight ready to engage in battle.

This interface makes them less vulnerable to harm and keeps them focused on the tasks before them to remove, extricate or restrain violent non-compliant offenders from their cells, their housing area or their chosen stage for battle with those who have chosen to enforce the laws and institutional rules and regulations.

Sometimes the breathing is labored under certain conditions including heat. There are no evaporative heat dispensing units attached and filtered tubes implanted into the vest to allow easier breathing under duress conditions. Likely not for everyone, wearing an armored vest and interfaced equipment requires a highly conditions body and mind. It is not for the weak and meek as it impairs breathing to some serious and uncomfortable uniform choices.