Correctional Officers – Old School
There is an old expression that many of us have heard for
years and quite likely misunderstand in many ways as it might be the wrong word
for dealing with the problems today. Old school is defined as a group of people
favoring customs and traditions of the past along with ideas and conservative
or concrete practices. Old school is based on multiple and generational
knowledge and has been lost or adapted or modified to meet today’s needs.
Some say that old school no longer exists. Some are saying
we need to bring old school back but many know that it would be impossible to
do that. One of the many things that has been lost in the trade of running
correctional facilities is the ability and the knowledge how to run a prison without
the use of high tech or modern devices. The fact is that today, manufacturers
have pretty much wiped out many of the
old customs and practices and replaced them with high tech equipment and work
related tools that have been enhanced and are either operated automatically or
semi-automatically reducing the need for human intervention. Hence the focus is
on learning technology and not people.
Prisons and large jails have come a long way from the old
days of the Yuma Territorial prison that was made of clay, large stones and mud
reinforced with steel and heavy lumber. No longer are cells built by the
prisoners themselves and chained to the stone on the floor. Looking at the Old
School ways we like think we can still grow things, make things, and fix things
and then share them with you through an informal technique of on the job
training and a show and tell process – all with a nod to what’s realistically
doable in your everyday tour of duty inside the prisons. It was certainly a
challenge in the prison world to do all those things and still be able to
improve the way we run prisons as time goes by and
The posting of the prison guards carrying weapons around the
perimeters has been replaced with infrared beams and night and day surveillance
technology. All technology requires an officer to do is shake the fence and see
if it trips the alarms and sensors as designed. No longer are we required to
walk an endless tour around the sand pits and razor wire to make sure nobody
escapes from the grounds.
Look at the way we have improved the restraint equipment and
how shackles that were once solid steel and heavy as well as very cumbersome to
carry have been replaced with electronic bracelets and stun belts that are
hidden but very effective when the need to incapacitate is required.
No longer are keys required to afford a secure ingress and
egress. All can be done with electronic locks that can be scanned with a card
or opened or closed remotely from a secure control center that maintains
vigilance through the use of a closed circuit television system that covers
square miles and never goes to sleep.
The list is endless but one thing hasn’t changed – People –
people haven’t changed as they are still configured the same way as they were a
hundred years ago but what has changed is the mindset and the way they think
and do things on the job. Time has brought us a lot of different generations
that work inside these prisons and they are all capable of learning how to deal
and manage their prisoners in a manner that resembles old school but in a
manner that has been modified with new communication techniques and practices
that makes them comply with existing rule of law and updated correctional
practices that have been deemed safe and practical in such a setting.
Customs and practices have come a long way and some for the
better and some for the worst. There appears to be a change in the mindset more
now that before that creates hardships at the workplace as the old school way
was to never get personal with the prisoner and just be fair, firm and
consistent.
It appears today there are less restrictions in how you
treat the prisoners and how you are allowed to interact that is much more
relaxed that years of before. It threatens the way of life inside of prisons
and although change can be good, changing things to give the advantage to the
prisoners or take a direction to make prisoners more important that the staff
endangers the entire prison structure and defeats sound thinking, decision
making and morale.
The challenge of old school versus the new school is based
on how your see and do things on the job. One has to be aware the difference
between sympathy and empathy. There has to be complete awareness that
interaction does not mean intercourse and personal conduct or information
should be refrained from while professionalism should flourish and be the rule
of thumb that includes a method or procedure based on experience and common
sense.
Generations’ interpretations of such standards have been
difficult to understand and while nobody is perfect, inside a prison it is most
important that whatever is required to get the job done, it must be done in
concert with the rule of law and sound correctional practices. There is no room
for adaptation or modification in the role of being a correctional officer as
the only technology required for the job is to just do it the way you are
trained and nothing more.
A correctional officer cannot and should not be used as a
psychologist or a health provider. Those are specialized occupations and
require special training and education. A correctional officer can train to be
reliable and efficient on the job but must be given the right tools to get the
job done. Resources should be dedicated to ensure job stability and career
building that allows an individual to grow and become better at what they do.
Experience, abilities and skills should be taken into
considerations when promoting and although education and politically correct communication building is
very important there should be a balance of how someone that can do the job
effectively and more than satisfactorily has an equal chance to be promoted
with those that have less administrations today.
At the same time, administrations should allocate sufficient
resources whether human or logistic that enhances the job at a cost effective
manner and take care of the correctional officers as they endure the war inside
the trenches that many have endured and often been injured or killed doing
while on duty. Focusing on the workplace and how stress impacts character,
personalities and attitudes is also very important. Old School had a way of dealing
with many of these issues before they became major concerns.
Dealing with people should be emphasized and the old school
way is to learn and know the names and positions of those you work with and
learn to trust them and defend them so that they have the confidence to get the
job done. Avoiding the use of the email internet system and bringing back the
face to face meetings can resolve so many different issues that are
miscommunicated through the wireless world and technology. Being fair and giving
someone the benefit of the doubt is more important than instilling harsh
discipline and frequent sanctions. Old school means going back to the basics
and build your foundation on common sense and courage.
