PRISONER EXPRESS

That is not how it works out more times than not. See, here in Texas the officers are taught and trained at the academy. They are taught that we are trash and considered an enemy against the officer. The academy teaches that inmates will kill you because they are animals and not humans. A lot of guards believe this and come into the system with a chip on their shoulders. Then you have the racist people who come in the system just to have control over people who cannot defend themselves. They are control freaks who can't call all the shots in the world but can come to work and have supreme power over a large group of people.

A good officer is someone who can think for himself--a person who is honest and willing to do what is right without regard to who it helps or hurts. The good officers are the ones who will talk to you with respect regardless of your place or standing in life. The good officers are the ones who are made fun of, called names if they do something in favor of the inmate. They are the ones forced to quit because they don't want to lie for another officer or disagree with his actions.

Like I said, the leaders will determine the behavior of the officers by the policies they make. One policy is that correction officers cannot disagree with each other on behalf of an inmate. The administration also teaches that the office is always right no matter what the evidence is or if common sense that shows the officer is lying.

In my opinion a good officer is a trusting person. This means a person is hired to be a trustworthy, honest and truthful. They are to perform a public service for the state. As you can imagine a lot goes on in a prison, but the way to keep things cool is to have someone trustworthy, honest and truthful. He or she should perform their duties faithfully, help in any way they can and refuse to feed into dishonest activities. They should not lie for the sake of lying. Some people will lie to you simply because you are an inmate and in their opinion you don't need to know the truth. A good officer will not lose their human emotions when hired. A good officer is a real human being in a sometimes inhuman place. You see, they don't thrive on or condone human suffering or misery. When they see it they try to stop it. They understand that all misery in prison is not physical. Most of time an inmate is just feeling sorry for himself and the choices he made. So at times a talk with a person with a different view of prison and the world will help.

You have to understand that this is prison; there are some bad souls here, but you can't put everybody in the same mind frame. I say that most inmates are truthful because there is not much room to lie anyway. A good officer will give an inmate the benefit of the doubt and will use common sense. Most people have the mind set that you will never tell the truth under any circumstances other than snitching for the law. Under those circumstances your word is as good as the words of Christ.

Another thing that plays a role in all of this is what people consider good and evil. To most of them just by being convicted of a crime you are evil and deserve the harshest punishment. On the other hand I cannot tell you what a good inmate is. A lot of people would say a clean, disciplinary record. I disagree because a case is too easy and enemy officers are too hard to shake.

So a good officer compared to an evil one in my experience is an officer who is honest to him or herself, sound of mind and able to think on their own. A person who is not easily misled or swayed into doing something that they know is wrong and against what they believe to be good. A person who can retain reasonable thinking and human emotion while working in harsh conditions and under verbal assault.

Then you have the infamous evil officer who thrives on human pain, misery, and the power that comes with the job. The evil, hated officer that will lie, steal and assault, and in some cases even rape an inmate. This is the type of officer that makes people believe that there is a war between officers and inmates. I could not understand how a person hired to protect me was my enemy. But these few do slip into the system and do major damage before they are caught. These same officers who condemn you for being a criminal becomes one to hurt you and make you suffer. That is the evil officer.