Prison Life: An Correctional Officers Point of View

It's time to hear the truth as I see it, and not the way movies or the news portrays prison life. Life behind the wall or fence is not a movie. The things that goes on are real and sometimes hard for me to believe what one human being can and will do to another.



You will find that the correctional officer subculture is similar to the police subculture in that the correctional officer may view the administration in a very different light, not as someone that has their backs, but someone that places inmates needs before staff. The culture also dictates that at the end of an officer shift, that they do not leave any unfinished work for the on coming officer to deal with, and that they should support each other and not make a fellow officer look bad in front of another inmate or suspected felony. This group of officers tends to maintain a solidarity against those that are not part of their established group and/or bond. These officers have developed "es sprit decor" among themselves. The correctional officer backs up his fellow officers, and tends to look unfavorably on officers that snitches on another officer. I believe that this subculture creates ethical issues by the way that inmates are treated on a daily basis. When dealing with inmates, we as correctional officers are supposed to be firm, fair, and consistent when interacting with them, which is not always the case.