No, we have some people in law enforcement, but I don’t think anyone who works directly in the prison system.
Oh, really?
What you point out is indeed what little “good” someone in such a position can do, but I think it’s far outweighed by the bad aspects. A prison guard is, literally every minute he’s on the job, part of the system of oppressing and warehousing people in the name of the State, holding them captive, punishing many of them for victimless crimes.
And, it must be added, had
zero part in putting the person there in the first place.
When I got to meet Ron Paul at a campaign event, I told him I wanted him to eliminate my job. I was serious, and remain so. If our government were constrained to the Constitution, my job wouldn't exist. It's a trade I would gladly make.
A law enforcement officer can ignore a lot, “look the other way” when he sees laws he disagrees with being broken. He has discretion over whether or not he’ll issue a ticket or a warning; whether or not he actually saw the law being broken. That doesn’t seem practicable within the prison system—if you start letting prisoners get away with things, if strict order isn’t maintained, wouldn’t the whole place go to hell in fairly short order?
The last part of your statement is identical to the usual argument against anarchism. A prison is a society akin to a city, with residents (admittedly, involuntary residents), a "government" with a "mayor" (warden), police force (officers), schools, maintenance department, hospital, and even businesses. There are official businesses like the commissary, but many more unofficial businesses like stores, loan sharking, gambling, prostitution, and suppliers of contraband.
There's a whole lot more "looking the other way" inside the fence than out. And by that, I don't mean overlooking serious matters like rape or assault, but the myriad administrative rules. Maintaining peace and order often requires "looking the other way".
More magazines than policy allows? Your room is clean and you cause no problems, so I don't care.
Smuggle out some leftover food from the chow hall, so you can make soup or nachos to sell in the unit later that night? Feh. It was going to be thrown away anyway.
Break into another inmate's locker and steal his stuff? Sorry, you're going to Seg, because you stole someone else's rightful property, and I'd be really ticked if he got in trouble for kicking your ass over it. Best if you just go serve your 30 days and get transferred.
Attack someone else --staff or inmate, physically or sexually-- and you're going down as hard as I can make you go. ZAP is as applicable inside the prison walls as it is in libertopia, and violators should suffer the consequences of their aggression.
Find true love in the showers? If it's mutual and consensual and private, I'm not going to be looking to bust you in the act, because it's something I really don't want to see. If it's forced, coerced, or on open display in such a way that other inmates are likely to kick your ass over it, then I'll shut you down.
It's not a pretty world, but prison is a society much like the world on the outside. It is an artificial, government-created society. It does have some unique rules, but so does every society.
And let me reiterate: I wish the prisons, and my job, would simply disappear.
Kevin
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Topic: Correctional Officer--Dover (Read 12041 times)