Temptations
I’ve been asked about the temptations staff face while working in a prison.
There are so many, it is scary.
Boredom can become the entry point, just talking to someone to pass the time
on a long night at work, night after night. You soon find out that you and the
co-worker you’re talking to may be having the same problems at home. Husbands
or wives just don’t understand what you are going through. As time goes on,
talking on the job turns into coffee after work or before work. You start
looking forward to getting to work and on and on, until something really bad
happens. No, I didn’t go there, but I have had offers and have seen so many
others get involved.
Here are some of the crazy things I’ve seen happen to staff. While at work, a
staff member was called one night on the phone by a lady Officer he hardly
knew who told him some things she liked to do that only her husband should
have known about.
Another Officer was called around three in the morning by a female Officer at
another Prison and asked if he would father her child.
An Officer saw another Officer off duty at a gas station and said, "Want to go
grab a beer?" When told no, that he was on his way to see his wife, the other
Officer became very upset.
Officers have left their families, giving up everything for a co-worker. The
worst thing is that most of the time the new relationship does not work out.
Everyone comes out the loser.
Attachments between both male and female Staff with inmates of both genders
are another source of temptation. The Staff member is the only one to get hurt
99% of the time. What can the inmate lose? Some of them even brag about the
number of staff they have taken down (got fired) while doing time. There have
been inmates that have taken down more than one staff member. The civilian
staff can get into just as much trouble. Inmates are very, very good at
finding weaknesses in a person. They can tell if someone is lonely or sad and
can be very comforting, very understanding. Always remember that some of the
inmates are so slick, they should have run for office instead of a life of
crime.
Even after being warned in training and by co-workers, some staff still get
caught up in this mess. I remember a new staff member who was having problems
at home. An inmate picked up on it, and went to work on her. The result? In
spite of warnings from her peers, she lost her job and almost did time for
bringing in contraband for this inmate. The inmate had called her at home
(yes, she gave him her home phone number), and asked her to bring in specific
items. What she didn’t know was that, at the time of the call, the inmate was
sitting in the Investigator’s office. This incident gave the inmate bragging
rights. It was a feather in his cap and status in the joint.
If Staff never remembers anything else, they need to remember this: NO INMATE
IS EVER SUPPOSED TO BE YOUR FRIEND.
An inmate told his housing Sergeant one time that he needed to talk with the
Warden about something serious. The inmate told the Warden that Officer
so-and-so was carrying out contraband when he got off shift that day. (It
turned out that the Officer was taking out a letter for an inmate.) When the
Warden asked the inmate how he knew, the inmate replied, "I gave it to him!"
The Officer was a very kind person. He lost his job. The inmate got bragging
rights.
Inmates will sometimes take years to try to set a staff member up. They have
time. If you leave, they will start on someone else. For three years I had an
inmate try to be very friendly with me and always want to help. I had been in
corrections for ten years by then. The only thing he accomplished was to get
my curiosity going, as by then I didn’t trust any inmates who tried to
befriend me. Finally one day, while talking to me in my office, he brought up
the subject that he sure missed having some good iced tea and how nice it
would be if someone would bring him in some. I had thought it was going to be
something good, and had already told my friends in IIS (Internal Investigation
Section) about the inmate trying some kind of game. I looked at him and told
him, "It’ll taste even better if you stop playing games and get out of here."
The inmate never talked to me again except when it was required. Staff have
been offered all kinds of things to bring something in to the inmates. Guns,
cars, boats, money and even girlfriends. The list is endless.
Bottom line: Watch out for boredom. And remember: As long as there are
prisons, there will always be inmates trying to take advantage of the staff’s
basic instinct to be nice to their fellow man.
Take CARE, stay AWARE!
The Old Screw
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