PRISONER EXPRESS

Disregard for procedure is an unproductive mindset that we all fall victim to. It's an irresponsible tendency that hinders order every day in every part of our society. I've even seen officers make the careless mistakes of disregarding institutional policy.

It's an officer's duty to police the effects of nihilism, not perpetuate them. Not even with the smallest infraction. Corrections officers are supposed to be the champions of proper procedure. This way an institution's penal system can deal with the convicts when we get caught circumventing rules. If you've got officers who create cracks in the procedure, their jobs in enforcing it become a burden.

For instance, I've witnessed officers allow inmates to break rules such as access to a cell outside the allotted time. Although this may seem harmless on the surface it is an infraction with negative contingencies aplenty. The inmate could be a burglar, assailant, or assassin--someone who doesn't even live in that cell.

Usually, breaches of security or procedure lead to future disrespect for authority. After inmates are given the green light for breaking a small rule, the illicit requests continue. The moment a corrections officer starts denying those requests, he'll be insulted, his authority disrespected. All due to his initial deviation from procedure.

I've observed some officers in this institution who carry out their duties strictly according to procedure. This commonly induces groans, cursing, and insults, but those reactions should never deter an officer from doing his or her job. In fact, that response coincides with a sudden obedience to the rules amongst inmates whenever a strict by-the-book officer patrols.

An officer who follows procedure must also be conscious of inmates' rights; a relevant component of institutional policy. A strict adherence to the rules of privileges-such as recreation and dayroom hours; proper responses to impropriety- is something that generates inmates' respect for an officer's authority.

I've seen brutal resistance of authority amongst inmates opposing blatant defiance of proper procedure pertaining to inmate's rights. It's the type of disregard that has resulted in corrections officers' injuries time and time again.

A couple of years ago, such an unfortunate event occurred on the unit in which I am presently housed. There was a rule at the time that prohibited inmates from bringing cups to the dayroom. As it often happens with the rules of small magnitude, it was disregarded by prisoners and most officers. One evening an inmate was casually watching TV and drinking coffee in the dayroom, when an officer ordered him to give up his cup. He refused. She reissued the order and he refused once more. At this point he was disobeying a direct order. In such a situation it is the officer's duty to obtain the identification card of the inmate, and then use it to write a misconduct case. Instead, the officer snatched the cup (spilling the coffee everywhere) and received a flush combination of blows to her face. What ensued was a temporary cease to dayroom activities, an assault case, and a female officer's sadly sore face. That whole scenario could have been avoided by a correctly executed procedure.

Officers' slights of procedure sometimes occur as a reaction to inmates' illicit behavior. Frequently officers will improperly infringe up on inmates rights as punishment. This has always bred hostility in correctional facilities, i.e. - the aforementioned coffee cup incident. What some officers don't realize is that we are imprisoned as punishment, not to be unjustly punished in prison. The penal system contains layers of punishment. An inmate's infraction is assessed, reprimanded, recorded and punishment is administered by a high-ranking official during a hearing. Subsequently, solitary confinement or commissary restriction is imposed. Good time served is taken.

Too many corrections officers falsely believe it is their job to impose punishment creatively before and without a proper hearing. This is unacceptable. It is unprogressive for an officer to disregard the rules in response to a prisoners conduct. There must be an adherence to procedure on the officer's behalf so that the system's mechanism of order can function properly.

In an optimistic perspective, by following the rules, inmates can assist in thwarting officers from improperly imposing punishment. In reality though, a large number of convicts have a problem with rules for some reason. Amongst us, complete obedience to the law just isn't very popular. Although there is an aversion to the strict observance of procedure amongst inmates, the need for order is understood nevertheless. There's a penitentiary proverb in reference to that: "If you're gonna be a police, be a police." In other words, although we may dislike it, sensible convicts expect good corrections officers to do their jobs. But, we can't be counted on to be the enforcers of propriety. Neither are we paid to do so.