My son has had problems with only a few COs, also. He says they purposely make difficulties for him and other inmates. He says they're just unhappy people, stuck in low-paying jobs, who have no hope or happiness within. Some guards are criminals themselves, in the ways they treat inmates. My son says the really bad ones will often get killed inside. He says these people are just really stupid, because they're walking a thin line in a very dangerous environment.

The CO's want to feel superior, so they treat the prisoners like crap.

They like to power trip. Hear a co only has to of passed year 9 in high school so in some cases the guys who are doing the time are smarter then the co's so they pick on the ones they think will let them get away with it. Just my take on it.

Unfortunately, there are individuals in this world that feel a lack of control in their own life that they use the power they have to bully others so they feel in control. We see this in prisons, in employment, the Internet, and in virtually all aspects of life.

While some argue the old adage of "life isn't fair" this is to surrender ones self and proclaim that you cannot change others so just accept what goes on. I do not prescribe to such belief systems because I do not hold the belief that those with authority are above everyone else.

As in any group, some people are rude, obnoxious, cruel etc. There are also many who are professional and are doing the best they can every day to support themselves and their families. If you're completely honest, COs often have to put up with incredible amounts of abuse FROM inmates. It's a miserable place to have a miserable job.

As far as some of them not being educated, is there a reason that uneducated people can't have jobs?

My ex was a CO, in a town that was supported by a college and the prisons. He wasn't a ray of sunshine before he started there but it changed him before my eyes. He kept going every day, and overtime, to pay the bills and provide health insurance for his daughter.

Maybe some of them do want to feel superior, but the great majority of them are just trying to make a living like everyone else. And frankly, I wouldn't want to do it. How many of you would?

worriedmompa, I'm sorry your son is having to deal with that. Hopefully they'll leave him alone soon.

I cannot speak to other states and what goes on in their prisons, but here in Missouri prison guards are more of a perpetrator than they are a victim and whatever victim status they want to claim is often the result of their own speech or conduct that victimizes others.

I deal with the prison system every day and years ago, I use to be a correctional officer so I know all too well what goes on and how abusive guards are towards inmates. Those with a conscience will not and do not last as correctional officers because of what goes on - what the public is not told about that goes on in prisons.

It is not that unskilled / uneducated people cannot have a job, but here this class is put in trusted positions paid for by public tax revenue. The public has a legal right to see a positive return on its financial investment and apart of that is seeing guards who are qualified to work in the positions they hold.

I agree legally, those who have a heart, won't make it long as a CO. Most want to make then inmates lives miserable. Refuse to provide basic needs for prisoners, watch as inmates beat up another or worse, place an inmate in a cell to ensure they get beat up. A friend of mine was made to walk around naked (becuause they said they didn't have any ready) for a couple of hours a couple of months ago as he was being processed in reception, freezing his butt. When he finally got clothes, they were 2 sizes too big and didn't provide him a blanket. His cell mate had to help him get the necessities. If I call to complain, they will make his life hell.
There have been a couple of good ones, but not many.

I do agree ksestler, that inmates don't treat the CO's good, but to get respect, you have to give it. If the inmates don't give the same respect, then I understand treating them harsher, but my hub is the easiest inmate (or one of), and is treated like scum, even though he does what he's told and doesn't cause problems.

In dealing with the prison system and those who work in such I have learned how hypocritical they are in demanding what they themselves flat out refuse to give. When you treat people like animals then you should not be surprised when they act like animals, as the saying goes, and I have seen all too often the harassment that prison guards zealously give to inmates and even to those involved with inmates.

Prison rules are arbitrarily enforced and never on the side of inmates for in prison they are wrong no matter what and just because some guard says they are wrong. And let us not forget that unlike inmates who have to free will to leave prison, those who work in the prison system do so by their own choice and free will.

I'm not sure COs need to show respect to inmates first to receive it. My boss doesn't need to show me respect first before I show it to her. Of course it's always nice to do that and usually gets good results, but it's not required.

First, let me say I realize that I do not have this direct experience and that I'm not going to change anyone's opinions. : ) I also realize that people going in w/SO status face extra challenges.

Second, I believe that I have a unique perspective in that my ex was a CO for 13 years and is a cop now, while my husband was in and out of prison most of his adult life until we met. When they first met, neither was particularly happy about it. My ex was barely civil and my husband went out of his way to be polite and to assure my ex that he would be the best stepfather he could. It took a while, but they have become friendly. My ex even told CPS investigators that he had no worries about my parenting, my husband's stepparenting or the safety of his daughter in our home.

My husband does have good social skills and makes friends easily, but I'm having a hard time understanding why his experiences over (unfortunately) 15+ years in two states known to be difficult are so different from what you're describing.

As far as will-to-work, technically you're correct. But let's not be obtuse--- people stay in all kinds of jobs they don't like very much because they have obligations to meet. And allowing for those falsely accused and those mentally ill or otherwise unable to make good choices, the majority of inmates made choices that got them there.

@ksteeler I was referring to Australia prisons I don't have issues with uneducated people haveing jobs I work with a few. But would you like someone who hasn't done much in the way of school or dealt with people before looking after guys who for the most part have complex iusses? It happens hear a lot not only are they rude to the guys doing the time but to people like me as well.
The good officers who have been in the system for years are now leavening by the truck load because of the new co's and the massive amounts of overcrowding that in the prisons hear. When they tell you its going to h#*% that's when we worry.

Do I like it? Nope. Is there money to train them or to pay more-qualified people more? Not here, at least. I didn't realize you're in Australia-- thanks for letting me know.

Since I really despise the system, it would be fashionable for me to portray prison guards as terrible human beings who enjoy making life miserable for inmates. But I cannot do that.

In my experience in all the years I spent in prison, most COs are just there to do a job and collect their paycheck and support their families like most other people who work for a living. Most COs had no great love for inmates, that is for sure, but they did not go out of their way to make it hard on them either.

At least that was my experience.

For sure there were some that thought they were some kind of super junior FBI agent and wanted to be a hard ass all the time, and many were write up happy.

I did not necessarily expect a CO to like me--- or even respect me---as I just did not care, but the one thing I wanted out of a CO was for him to be FAIR. He can be a stickler for the rules, but if he was fair, I had no gripe.

rewdiazepam

There have been a few really bad co's that we have dealt with but are a few good ones but there now fair few between.

@ksteeler: Actually, yes, CO's are required to treat inmates with respect. Now that does not mean they do but they are required to do so. The fact you feel you owe your boss respect even if she does not treat you with respect, is a far cry different from the prison environment.

The point I was making about their choosing to work in the prison environment dealt with the claim that they are so abused by inmates, as if society should feel sorry for them. They get to go home and no one cares when a CO abuses an inmate, but for some reason we are supposed to feel sorry for CO's.

I agree that the majority of inmates are in prison because of choices they made, but once in prison they are then at the mercy of CO's and the system itself. But this does not equate into a right of CO's to treat them as they do, any more than it equates to a right of inmates to treat CO's with disrespect.

As a guardian of a person in prison, I am privy to things society is not, except by hearsay information from what an inmate reports after the fact, whereas I see it and I am involved with things as they happen. And while inmates do their share of wrong, CO's are not the "innocent by-standard's just trying to do their job" malarkey that they want others believe.

The fact remains CO's are paid by public tax revenue and work in trusted positions and yet, many rape and beat inmates; some even kill inmates, but then are given a free pass to avoid criminal charges because of the blue wall of silence that refuses to criminally prosecute them. In my book that makes them worse than any inmate in prison.

AMEN Legal!!!!