Update 12/14/2011- One year, cell phones, staff, transfer and 3 week vacation!

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Update: 11/25/2011

Its been almost a month since I updated last so I figured it was about time again. First off I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I spent a couple hours with my family before I had to go to work. Thankfully it was a very quiet even though it was a late night.

Things have been rather hectic and crazy at work lately. There have definitely been a lot of ups and downs with the people I work with. Mainly just two of them. But even with it being just two of them, that still puts a huge strain on the rest of us. We are working through it and coming together to form a "family" the best we can. In there we need to know without a shadow of a doubt that everyone has our back if something happens. The inmates can always sense when there is even the slightest rift in the relationship of us officers.. They can tel if one hates the other or vice versa and they feed off of that.

Other than the aggravations with the people I work with, its been not too bad to go to work. so many people I work with cant figure out why I love my job so much. Do I feel like I'm making a difference? No. Not even a little. But every morning when I get off work I feel like I earned my paycheck. Does this job challenge me? No way. But I have learned so much more than I ever thought I would by taking this job. This leads me into an update about the job apps.

I still haven't heard anything from Richmond yet. I'm assuming they are still doing the background investigation. I haven't heard anything to let me know any different. Since I have gotten no word from them, I did go ahead with the application to the Washington DC Metro police. They start out making an insane amount compared to all the surrounding areas plus it will get me close to the Federal level which is where I wanna end up anyway. I'm actually proud of myself for following through with all these jobs and applying instead of just telling myself I'm gonna do it and then stop short. I go to take the test for DC Police in December. Looks like another road trip is in store. That's ok though.
I've also decided that at the end of the year I'm gonna go ahead and put in for a transfer to a prison facility closer to home so I can try and actually save some money. With spending almost $600 a month in gas, its killing any chance of saving I might have. So I'm gonna start all that paperwork towards the middle of December as well. The administration at Nash has been awesome in this whole process. They have been behind me 100% and have offered to help in any way they can. I hope they are offering because they consider me a great employee to pass on to another facility. Who knows. i just know that I'm definitely gonna miss my Sergeants, Lieutenant and Captain when I leave Nash. They have taught me so many things.

Update

Last week I made the third trip to Richmond to take the long dreaded polygraph test. Of course I passed it with flying colors. Everyone keeps asking me if I have heard anything since then. To answer everyone at the same time, no. I am surprised to an extent and at the same time I'm not. I knew from the start this was going to be a long process. They started out with over 600 applicants. I know it has to take a lot of effort to narrow the field down the fill the 25 open vacancies in the next academy. In a way I'm really happy that I haven't heard anything cause that means that I still have a shot. On the other hand it's rather aggravating to not here anything cause I'm not sure what the next step is. I know if I was meant to get this job then everything will work out. Several people don't wanna see me move back out of NC, but I have to do what makes me happy and if getting this job makes me happy, then that's what I'm gonna do. Hope everyone is having a great week. I have 3 more days in my vacation. Im gonna spend them doing nothing. I'll update again next week or sooner if I hear anything.

Back to the grind

After 4 weeks in Basic Training for Correctional Officers, and an extra week off just because I wanted to, I finally returned to work this past Friday night. I lucked out and was A-section first half which meant I was able to just walk around and help where needed. When I finally made it into the block, and the inmates seen me back for the first time, there were numerous gasps for air. Several inmates even yelled out "oh no, Burns is back", throughout the block. I took this as a sign that they just love me when I work haha. For the first hour or so, I kept hearing those same things over again. Several inmates came up and asked me how my vacation was. I of course told them it was awesome! It was definitely a little weird getting back into the swing of things after being gone for over a month. There were so many new faces of inmates that had transferred in from other camps, from other units, and even from the other block. I know its gonna take me a while to get used to it all again. Its almost like starting over except for the few inmates who hate me even more now that I'm back. It's ok. For me, that just tells me that I do my job right, the way its supposed to be done, and the inmates hate that. That sucks for them I guess. Just makes me look like a better officer when they complain about me. The weekend ended up going by pretty fast. Saturday drug my at a snails pace but Friday night and last night flew by. Thank goodness. It was nice to see my co workers again after being gone for so long. They were, surprisingly, happy to see me. Even the one that I haven't really gotten along with since I got there welcomed me back. It was kinda nice. also waiting for me at the Unit was a letter from the Superintendent of the facility congratulating me on my accomplishment. This kind of positive energy is what makes me so happy that I left my former job and came to work with the state. It makes you feel appreciated in everything you do and accomplish. The first weekend has come and gone and it's now my short week. I was feeling a little tired already after 3 days, so I decided to take the week off lol. Yes, you read that right. I was at Basic Training for 4 weeks, took a week off, worked 3 days and now I'm taking another week off. The best part is, I'm only having to use 12 hours of vacation time, which in the end will come out of my holiday comp time bucket. That means I'll end up using no vacation time at all! Haha! Love it. Now, it's time for me to go relax at my moms...for a week!

Polygraph outta the way

Today was the big day for the polygraph test for the Richmond Police. I was really nervous going into it because I have never taken one before, therefore I had no idea what to expect. The examiner I had was completely full of himself and "tooted his own horn" for nearly the entire 2 hours. He was the best, he had been on TV, he knew all the cheats, etc. Blah, blah, blah. After that went on for a little while he kinda chilled out. Started talking to me about Buffalo cause he realized I had lived there. Come to find out he was from North Tonawanda. What a small world. In the end, all that talking made me feel a lot better. He went over a lot of my background stuff againjust to see if i had given the same answers as before. He gave me the test twice. I didnt complain. In the wnd, I ended up passing it. Now its on to the next step I suppose.

I'm Certified!!!

This past week was one of the hardest weeks of the four. It was 5 days of just straight power points and lectures. I wasn't sure that it was ever going to end. We had to learn so much information, plus we had to review for the final exam. There were so many things this final week that I was afraid I was gonna forget because we had such a short time to retain it. I have never been a person that does a lot of studying. This was no different. There was only one night out of the entire 4 weeks that I came home and studied. Is that something to brag about? No. But, it just goes to show, paying attention in class makes a huge difference. It seemed everyone else was there to make friends, be buddies, have a lunch pal, etc. Me, I went there to learn and that's what I did. There were two women in the class that aggravated me more than most of the inmates I deal with. They were both older and just plain B$#@es. Is that mean to say? Of course it is but the truth hurts. They were the ones that pretended to know everything about everything the entire four weeks. They hated me. Which is fine. I didn't like either of them either. The other day the oldest one asked me something and I gave her an answer. She then asked me what unit I work at and my response to her was, "the it ain't none of your business unit." She got ticked off and said that was rude. Really? I thought it was the sweetest comment I could say. Either way, neither of them liked the fact that I never studied, yet I was always answering questions. So when it came time for testing I was sure they were both gonna make higher than I did because of all the studying they did. The testing session came and went and I was the 4th one done out of 21. Is that a good thing? Not necessarily. But I was pretty confident that I passed. After it was all said and done, we lost 2 people who didn't pass the test. I ended up getting an 86. The highest score was a 92. I definitely gave myself a pat on the back for that one. After the test was completed we had to have graduation. Since I wasn't sure whether I was gonna pass or not, I didn't invite anyone to the ceremony lol. My Sgt. told me that he was gonna come. That meant a great deal to me cause I have never worked for someone that cared about the employees like the 2 Sgt's I work for. They have been supportive in everything that has gone on and even with the things I'm trying to accomplish outside the DOC. There were also 2 other Administrative people from Nash that came to the graduation. It really meant a lot to me to see them showing support for the officers that complete training. Now that training is over I have a full week off. I don't go back in to work till next Friday. I'm gonna make the best of it and just try and make up for some of that lost sleep. But I can now walk back in that facility next Friday and hold my head high and say that I am now a North Carolina Department of Corrections, Certified Correctional Officer.

Week 3 complete

Week 3 has come and gone. It wasn't anything special really. Most of the week was spent in the classroom except for Wednesday we had to qualify with the standard shotgun used by the DOC which is the Remington 870 pump action 12 guage. Since I really had no experience shooting a shotgun before I was kinda worried I wasnt gonna qualify since everything was timed. But in the end it wasn't that bad at all. We received 7 rounds for the shotgun. Each round is a 12 gauge 2 3/4 inch 00 buckshot with 9 pellets in each. To qualify, you have to get atleast 36 holes in the target. You have a potential to get 63 so you wouldn't think it would be too hard. Well for some people, it was. We were shooting at distances of 25, 40 and 50 yards. For someone who has never shot a shotgun before it was rather easy. At the end of the day, I came out in 2nd place of our class of 21. I had 58/63 and the guy who beat me had 60/63. That's not too bad if you ask me. If you feel you can do better while being timed, you let me know and I'll be happy to let you prove it. At the end of the day we had low/limited light training. They let us fire the handguns again as well as a few more rounds with the shotgun. I did pretty well on those too. We finally got outta there at 8pm. It was a long day for sure, and picking up brass on the range with flashlights wasn't fun at all.

To the right is the shotgun Target from last week. I picked a white guy this time cause someone mentioned I had shot all block guys prior to this one. Now I am a racially indifferent shooter :)

CRDT in the books!!

Well this past week we had CRDT training and expandable Monadnock baton training. I have to say that this was some of the most intense yet fun training I have ever went through. There were so many things we had to learn. It took up the entire second week but I'm sure we could have spent much more time on it.

The first part of CRDT or Control, Restraints and Defensive Techniques, we spent learning the nerve points on the body that we can use most effectively. The nerves that we learned to use were the suprascapular, common peronial, femoral, superficial, brachial plexis, radial nerve, mandibular angle and the jugular notch. A lot to remember right? I personally don't care about learning the names till it's time for me to write a statement about a use of force where I used one of them and I need to know the name. The main thing I wanna know is how to use them. With the training we got in that short week I can control almost any type of inmate or even a person on the street that's being aggressive. There is a little bit of something for everyone. And not only did we learn all those types of techniques, but we learned multiple ways to administer them. That's where the fun part comes in.

For each one of the moves that we learned throughout the week, we had to partner up with another officer to practice on. They wanted us to make sure we understood how to do each technique effectively. Me and one officer worked together for the first couple days. Both of us felt the same way. We wanted to make sure we did the moves hard enough so that the person receiving it felt the pain on a smaller scale than the inmate, but still enough so as to leave a lasting impression. The brachial plexis and the radial nerve are the two that stand out the most on lasting pain. These two regions hurt for several days after we did them just because he and I were doing it at about 50%. When I say it hurt...there were times where we took each other to the knees in pain. Not only did we want to know what it felt like, but we wanted to make sure we were doing it properly. Whats the point of learning something if your just gonna pretend to hit the other person and not know if its effective or not. You haven't learned anything at all.

The femoral nerve and the common peronial nerve one the ones that had a lasting impression as well. Obviously the femoral nerve runs along the inside of your thigh. The common peronial runs along the outside of your leg about 2 inches above the knee. When hit properly, the pain is excruciating. That is not an understatement. One guy managed to get hit in his manhood one good time. What was funny about it was he had just said an hour before how he never wanted kids and that people who had kids were selfish. Well guess what...a couple more shots like that and you won't have to worry about having any kids. For each one of these nerves there were several ways to administer them. We learned and practiced them all...the most effective in my opinion was the knee spear. It hurt like a b*%$@!! Especially when the person hit you harder than they were trying to.

The mandibular angle is one that I couldn't resist trying on my nephew when I got home that day. These are the nerves right behind the ear at the base of it. There is a little indention there and you just have to press your fingertip in there and it will almost make a grown man cry. I know for a fact that it's not something I want someone to do to me again anytime soon.

We learned several blocks and other defensive moves. One of which was the arm bar take down. By the end of the day I felt like I needed a new shoulder. If you have never had it done to you before, try to avoid it. Bouncing off of those mats when you get taken down for an hour was a serious workout and made my entire body hurt. Not to mention the guy I was having to take down was like 6 inches taller than me and 90 more pounds than I am. It was definitely fun to learn though.

One of the last things we learned in CRDT was how to perform the guard in and guard out technique. This was by far my favorite because we performed it to its full potential.I ended up partnering with a 5'3" 200lb officer. We practiced all the different holds and learned them. Each one we had to perform it almost 10 times to make sure we could do it and it be effective. Finally the did role playing and told one officer to be the inmate and have the officer in the guard. I happened to be the officer that was in the guard. We were directed to utilize all the techniques we had learned that week to get out of the guard. We took this task very seriously. He had me locked in and I was literally fighting for my life. To understand the difficulty of this you have to understand the positioning. The person performing the guard is on their back with the other person locked in between there legs in a type of headlock. The guy that had me in the guard was all muscle. He was doing everything in his power to keep me locked in. I was trying all the pressure points and nerves to get loose and nothing was working. I even grabbed skin on the side of him and twisted and pinched trying to break his grip. Nothing worked. He had me so tight that i was within a few breaths of passing out. I actually lost hearing completely because he had cut off the blood flow and oxygen. I was so close to passing out. Finally the instructors came up and hit me and tried to boost my confidence. Out of nowhere my adrenaline kicked in even more. I managed to get an immense amount of strength and pick this guy completely up off the ground and slam him back on the mat to loosen his grip. I did a few more nerve techniques and finally I broke loose of the hold and stumbled away ready to pass out again. By then, we had gotten the attention of the entire class because we were taking it to the highest end of the realism spectrum. We were both completely physically exhausted after that for almost half an hour. Looking back I'm so glad we did that because it showed me just what I was capable of when put under a stressful situation such as do or die. It don't get much closer than that.

The training we got in CRDT is immeasurable. There are so many things that we learned that we can take with us and use every day if the need arose. Im so thankful that I had the chance to do all of those things.

C-R-D-T...We LOVE CRDT!

Well this week we started CRDT (control, restrain, defensive tactics). It has been so awesome so far. I have learned so many new things that before this week I never thought about. The insructors told us last week that we were gonna be feeling pretty sore by the end of this week. So far I've been able to handle it pretty well. Its been a lot more high impact things tha anything else.

Monday we learned the basic principles of a defensive stance and ways of moving defensively around an aggressor. They taught us things where to bring our hands when we begin to defend ourselves. We learned the different zones around a person and which ones to stay out of. The most physically challenging part was the break falls. Learning how to fall properly so you dont get hurt is actually harder than you think. And when your falling on concrete, you want to make sure your doing it properly. At first I watched the instructors do it and thought no way is that gonna work. Step by step they showed us how to fall backwards and not bust our "coconut" and and make it explode like a "watermelon" on the floor, and little by little it became evident that it works. Those were the words that the instructors chose to represent our heads. By the end of the day my butt was killing me from doing close to 100 falls backwards. Even though they teach you the proper way to roll when going back, that initial impact is what gets ya. But, I'd rather my butt hurt a little than my head hurt a lot.


Today we got a little further into the training. We learned some basic first aid which I knew fairly well from my last job. After that we were back in the workout room beating ourselves up. We learned how to break a fall while falling forward today. It goes against basic instincts to let yourself fall forward. At first it was difficult to make myself do it. For those in the class that are large and in charge....I can't even imagine what they were thinking. After several attempts and a slight headache later, I was able to, break my fall correctly while falling forward and felt comfortable doing it.

The next thing we learned were the proper blocking techniques that should be used when someone is attacking. Prior to this class I had never really thought about things like this. I thought when your in a fight, you are just supposed to fight and that's it (yeah I haven't been any fights...call me lucky I guess). Who knew there were that many blocks and ways of avoiding your opponent. Now that I ;earned them though I'm gonna make sure that I don't forget them.
Lastly we learned a few ways of making someone comply with only minimal force. The first way is whats called the mandibular angle. Let me just tell you... if done right, it hurts like hell! It will bring a grown man to his knees in a split second. It wouldn't take me but half a second of that pain before I did anything someone asked of me. The second one we learned which was for a more aggressive person actually had no effect at all on me. The Jugular Notch as it is called had no effect. There is a ittle hole above your breastbone and if you use sudden pressure on that spot while pulling the aggressors head down its excruciating pain....for me it just felt like a little pressure. Me and one other guy were the only two that it didn't effect. Seeing how everyone else dropped to their knees immediately, I'm kinda glad it didn't work.

Its been a great week so far. Hopefully the week will continue to be the same way until Friday when we have baton training.

Week 1 in the books

First week of training has come and gone. I learned so much more in the first week than I thought I would. There is so much more information associated thank what i have learned in the last 10 months of working at the prison. I'm learning why certain policies are in place, what rights the inmates have and just gobs of more info. Before this week, I had no idea why inmates had certain rights, or even what those rights are. It makes you look at things in a completely different way. Even though we lost a lot of people who failed to qualify with the firearms, I'm still making plenty of friends with the officers that are remaining. There is only one that I try and stay away from. I guess you have one like that at any job. I know there is definitely one in the Unit I'm already working at, so being able to ignore comes naturally. I can understand someone being a know it all at a young age. But to be a know it all in a job where your a new hire is completely different. They think just because they worked at a prison up north that they know everything. Wrong! If you knew it all, move back up there. I'm going through this training with a completely open mind in trying to learn all these things from scratch and trying to forget some of the things I know.

I've decided that once I get back to the unit after training, I'm gonna apply to be on the P.E.R.T team. It won't be for any extra pay, but its one more thing I can put on my resume. The PERT team travels all over the eastern part of the state doing shakedowns, searches, track down of escapees, etc. The more experience I can get while I'm at the DOC the better off I will be and the better chances I will have in advancement.

Range Day with the Smith and Wesson MP .40

Today was range day. We got to the range around 9am this morning and didn't leave till 7pm tonight. Yeah, that's what you call a long day filled with gunpowder, lead, mosquitoes, gnats, flies, humidity and smelly people. Factor all that in together and it makes for a long day...trust me. When we got to the range today there were still 30 people in our training class. For several of the people, this was there second time coming through the training cause they failed the handgun qualification the first time through training and they were sent home. Not much changed this time around. By the end of the day, there were only 17 of us left in the class. One person was sent home within 15 minutes, one was injured and 11 others failed to qualify after 3 attempts.

This is my qualifying target for today...------------------------------------>>>>>>

All week so far the instructors have harped on safety, safety, safety. The #1 priority on the firing range or anywhere a weapon is present is safety. One person must not have gotten that memo. When we, the first group of 10 had our weapon and ammunition (50 rounds), we were told to stand at a certain spot, take the magazine from the pouch, insert it into the weapon and chamber a round. The most important thing they told us, which is common sense, is to never have your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot at the target. Well this particular individual forgot to keep their finger outside the trigger guard while loading the gun. When they loaded the magazine into the weapon, the released the slide to chamber a round, they had their finger on the trigger. When the slide slammed forward inserting a round, they flinched, pulling the trigger and discharging a unexpected round. Needless to say, there were several of us who had to check our pants...including the instructors. She was removed from the firing line immediately and sent home. They were not exaggerating at all when it comes to how serious they take safety on the range.

After all that got cleared up we got to fire our 50 familiarization rounds. After this I was somewhat disappointed because several of my rounds were not going where I was aiming...at all! I knew was I was doing, I just had to correct it during qualifying. So after that 50 rounds was wasted into the hill, we got 50 more to qualify with. Qualifying was a little stressful cause it was all timed. After the first magazine of 12 rounds was empty and we were reloading, I was counting the holes and somehow or another I lost a bullet. Either it went through another hole perfectly or it went so wide it didn't hit the paper. Either way I'm not sure. I finished up the qualifying and ended up with a 94/100. For the second time ever shooting a handgun, I'd say I did pretty well. After everyone had gone their first time, I had the highest score out of the entire group, minus the unsafe person. Several people (11) had to shoot a second and a third time to try and qualify. All of them ended up still not being able to qualify. Out of 4 of us from NCI, I'll be the only one continuing on. I hate it, but that's how it goes.

At the end of the day, almost 4000 rounds of ammunition was fired. Which meant that we had to walk the firing range and pick up all the brass that was left behind. That too 30 minutes on its own. All in all it was a great day. I'm way more confident in my shooting ability, and I know who NOT to stand beside at the firing range. On to the next day of training.

Handcuffing amd Firearms

Today was day #2 of the training. By far it was WAY better than day #1. Today we started out with the handcuffing techniques and proper ways to escort the inmates while they are handcuffed if they are not being compliant. We all partnered up and performed each one on each other. Since Jones and I started at NCI in the same class together, we decided we would team up and tackle this together. So far we learned four types of handcuffing techniques....all of them are very effective in, A: nearly breaking your wrist if your not careful and B: bringing a grown man to his knees no matter how big he is. It was fun to go over it though and be familiar with the cuffs since all we had done prior was just tell the inmate to out their hands behind their backs and put the cuffs on. Along with the techniques we of course had to learn more policy. Policy that tells us why we have to have certain hands here or there to prevent this or that. It was actually very interesting.

According to the instructors, the NCDOC is gonna start incorporating a physical fitness agility test prior to them hiring you. Which after looking at the size of some of the men and the women...I can see why. There are numerous people that have no business in the DOC because they cant perform their job duties efficiently. I have seen it so many times already. It aggravates me to know that if I need backup, and I have to depend on them, they will either pass out on the way there, stop 50 times to catch their breath, or stop when they get there and be so out of breath they are useless. Is this mean of me to say? Sure it is. But its the truth. Fat/unhealthy/out of shape people do not belong in the DOC. Yesterday was a prime example. While working with the firearms, one of the officers went down on one knee to practice shooting and couldn't get back up, then proceeded to fall over. Sorry but in my opinion, they should have never passed the physical.

The firearms functionality test we had was pretty simple yet very informative. The instructors are very serious about safety as they should be when it comes to firearms. A handgun is not meant to be babied, yet so many of the officers felt the need to ride the slide back ad forward cause they thought they were gonna hurt the gun. Nope, definitely wrong.Your not gonna hurt it. I mean there were people that were jamming the gun when you do the slap, rack, ready. How is that possible? I have very little experience with handguns and even i ADD to the max Kevin, was able to follow instructions. We also learned all the basic parts and actions of it. Tomorrow were gonna spend the entire day at the range. It should be fun. Were supposed to have a couple hours to practice then we have to qualify. After that were supposed to do our low/limited light or night fire. Yeah that means were gonna be there till 10om if all goes accordingly. Oh well. It should be fun.

Training has commenced

Today was the first day of training. And in true Kevin fashion, I managed to do something dumb and show up an hour early. But hey, punctual is a good thing right? Even if stupidity isn't. The day started out with them drilling it into our heads that they hate for people to be late/tardy etc. yet someone still managed to be late after the first break that was given. That's just from a lack of caring. The rest of the day was filled with policies and procedures. Most of the training will have a lot of that. I did find the excessive and lethal force section pretty interesting. There are some things you just don't think about till you have the policy explained to you by someone who knows and understands it. It definitely made me feel more knowledgeable in when are the correct times to use lethal and non lethal force and the policies that guide those decisions. We went over several other topics as well but that was the one that i showed the most interest in.

People at NCI don't realize just how good they have it. Me included in that list. After hearing how other officers are treated at other facilities it makes me so happy to work at Nash. Some people never get a break the whole shift. Some have to stand the entire shift. All the facilities had different stories and ways they were run. Just makes you appreciate how good you have it when you hear how much worse it could be.

Tomorrow were gonna be doing handcuffs and restraints and then working with the handguns the rest of the day. Like any guy should be, I'm looking forward to that and then being on the range all day on Wednesday. Hope everyone had a great Monday and a great start to their week. Now its time for me to go and shine my boots, press my uniform and study my notes.

Update 9-18-2011

The past few weeks have been rather crazy at NCI. We finally got all of the inmates shipped back out to Pamlico. The downside is they are bringing 95 more inmates in from Hyde correctional this coming week. They were only there for about 3 weeks. It seemed so much longer. Lucky for me, I starting training tomorrow and I'll be there for a month. Which means 1 whole month of working day shift. The main thing I'm gonna look forward to is only having to drive 28 miles to work instead of 72. Big difference.

Once training is finished, I'll be putting my transfer in to the close custody facility closer to home. Its gonna be a huge difference from where I work right now. Sometimes I ask myself if I'm ready to be in fights every day with the risk of getting hurt. Sometimes i call myself crazy and even stupid for wanting to go there. But, life is all about trying new things.

I went to Richmond last week for my interview. All went well from what I can tell. I was asked to sign a conditional offer and allowed to move ahead in the process. Next step I have to take is taking a polygraph test. I know I will have no problem passing it. I'm trying to be optimistic about this entire thing and not get my hopes up just in case I don't get the job. Something can always go wrong. But, I also know that this is an amazing opportunity. One that I would be crazy to pass up.

9-07-11

The past couple weeks a lot has happened at NCI. Two weeks ago, Hurricane Irene hit the east coast and damaged several prison facilities on the NC coast. One of the facilities hit was Pamlico Correctional. They suffered damage to several of the roofs. Well since I'm relatively new with the DOC and haven't worked through hurricane season until now, I didn't realize that they evacuate the prisons near the coast as the hurricanes come close. Well the weekend of Irene, I was in Bristol instead of working so I wasn't there when they brought in 100 inmates from Pamlico and stuck them in the gymnasium to sleep on the floor. NCI is already over crowded as it is. There is only supposed to be 680 or so inmates at the camp. On a normal day we have 980. Now we have over 1080 inmates at NCI. Since the guys from Pamlico are staying in the gym, they finally got bunks to sleep on, they have to send them 8 at a time into the blocks of the 4 units to get showers and make phone calls. What they really dont like is that to get it all done faster, we make them go into the showers 2 at a time. Right off the bat we were told if they refuse to go in with another guy, no shower for them. Its kinda a sticky situation because we have to shut down the showers for our normal inmates so these new guys can get in and get out quicker. Its been kinda hectic the first few days getting these guys in and out. On certain days there is a lot going on already with clothes exchange, canteen call, medication call and other stuff. Now we are having to add in the task of getting these guys in and out of the block as quick as possible. It definitely adds a whole new level of stress if you let it.

In other news, I start basic training in a couple weeks. Its gonna be a month long all during the day. Im definitely looking forward to that.

Change of Scenery

This is the target from the shotgun....




This past week I had to go to the range for pre-firearms training before i go get certified as a C/O next month. The two guns that the state uses are the Smith & Wesson M&P .40 and the Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun. Prior to going to the range I had never fired a shotgun and had only fired a handgun once. After we finished with the handgun practicing, the instructors came by to look at my target and couldn't believe I had no prior firearms training. Needless to say I did VERY well according to them All of my handgun rounds hit the target in a close group except for two. The second have of the range time we got familiar with the shot guns. How to load, unload, clear, etc. We each got 10 shots with it. All 10 of my shots hit the target at 25yards and were in the zone which we were aiming. At the end of the day I was very happy with how well I had done with having no prior shooting experience.

After the day at the range, I had to work the next night. That is where i received my "change of scenery" news. As most of you know, I drive 65 miles to work...each way. It takes about $450 in gas each month. My shift premium that I make for working nights offsets most of the cost of my gas. I got a call informing me that after I get certified, I would be getting moved to day shift. I wasn't happy. Not only would i still be driving the same 65 miles, but i would also lose all that extra money I had been making. We did some negotiating and come to the agreement that I will transfer to another facility at the end of October or November, closer to home and I'll still be on night shift. Its a win win situation for me. Ill be traveling at most 25 miles to work, and ill still be making my shift premium for working nights. Here is the downside.... They prison I'll be transferring to is whats called a close-custody facility. Where I am currently is a medium custody, None of the inmates at our facility are handcuffed and can move about somewhat freely. At the new place, every inmate is escorted around in full chains, handcuffs and leg cuffs. There are way more fights and it's just an all around much more dangerous type of criminal to be around.

I'm gonna approach it with an open mind and don't judge it before I get there and see how I like it. I like a challenge. I thrive on a job that can test me mentally and physically and this just might be what I need.


***In the middle of writing this I got an awesome phone call of a great job opportunity that I have been pursuing. I hope that things pan out and i can start on a new path. I know that GOD is leading me where I'm going right now and that's all I can ask for.

Update from NCI.....7-31-2011...

I figured it was about time to do another post. I hope you have all enjoyed reading the blog so far. I have been pretty slack on keeping it updated. I'm gonna see if I can work on that. The past couple weeks have been a little hectic. I had some drama with a coworker last week, and if you know me, you know I hate drama. But just like my Sergeant told me, karma always comes back. Wouldn't you know, 3 days later he was right. Neither of us believed it would come back so fast. The situation they were placed in, gave them an opportunity to see the type of person I really am. I defended them, and helped to correct their mistake. They realized I'm not there to file complaints, write grievances or get them in trouble. I wear the blue uniform just like they do. When were locked in the Unit together we are a team. Were a family that has to stick together no matter what imperfections we each have. They seen that even though they tried to get me in trouble, possibly fired, three days before, I still had their back. Things are much better between us now and I believe that is what it took for us to have a better understanding for each other and the way we do things.
Cell phones have become a hot commodity this year. I just cant understand what causes an officer to want to jeopardize there job for an inmate. The going rate for a cell phone right now is $500. In the month of July alone they have found 5 cell phones. Three of them were found just the other night. One inmate was stupid enough to actually be talking on the cell phone while laying on his bunk in the day room...are you kidding me!?!?! Did he really think the officer wouldn't notice him holding a phone to his ear? They keep finding these phones left and right, which means that officers are bringing them in just as fast as they are found. It just don't make any sense. I know we don't make enough to be rich, but risking a state job, for a guy who committed a felony, and will tell on you the first chance he gets, just don't seem worth it. Maybe I just don't understand.
The other day an inmate (who hates me no less) told me that I had no common sense because I worked at the prison and that obviously I couldn't get a better job than that. Its times like this where I have somewhat learned to keep my mouth shut. He tried arguing his point for the next 10 minutes but I easily ignored his 6' 5" 300lb ugly gorilla lookin self. Instead I decided to make a point. So when my Sergeant walked in the hallway I stopped him and pointed at the inmate and told him that the inmate said that because we worked at the prison, we didn't have any common sense. Seeing as how my Sergeant has been with the DOC for 18 years, he didn't take to kindly to that. By the end of their conversation, he made the guy feel 6" tall instead of 6'. Later on I told my Sgt. that the inmate must be sadly mistaken, because he is the one in prison letting a 25 year old tell him what to do (mind you this guy is 50-55 years old)because of his lack of common sense, and poor judgement, yet I'm the one with a stable job, steady income and a clean record (other than my Virginia incident). Obviously the inmate had no merit to anything he said. It's days like that, that you have to have very thick skin and just let it roll off your back. I guess that's one thing that makes this job so easy for me is that no matter how much trash talking these guys do, no matter how many times I'm called gay, an no matter how much they try to belittle me for who I am and how I do my job, at the end of the day, I'm walking out that door and headed to my truck while they get ready for chow call.
I also found out that I'll be doing my pre-firearms training this month. That means I'm gonna be one step closer to being certified, and that all important 5% pay increase. Once i go to training for a month, most likely in Greenville, I'll be fully certified by the state.

6 months come and gone

Its been a few months since my last post and a lot has gone on. There are so many things that I have learned while working at the prison. My attitude toward so many things has changed. Some for the better and some for the worse. After having a glimpse into the prison system, it makes you see things in a whole new light. You see things that people on the outside will never see, therefore never understand.

The inmates get free education while they are locked up. By free, I mean that you and I pay for them to get an Associates degree in whatever they want while they are locked up. Even with it being free, they still find a reason to complain. I had an inmate complain a few months ago that when he tried to go for his third, yes HIS THIRD degree while in prison, he was mad that it was so difficult to get into the program cause it was in high demand. Are you freaking kidding me? Were paying for these guys to go to school, get an education and yet they still find a reason to complain. They get it for free, while I had to spend $30k on mine. It just makes me sick to see and hear how they act about things like that. Its the same way when it comes to them getting medical attention for their petty problems. They will claim a "medical emergency" for the most childish of problems. But, it only costs them $7 so why do they care. And if they don't have the money, the state just keeps a running tab on them so when they eventually get out they can get their money back. I just find it unbelievable how easy they have it yet they find it easier to complain. Some of them have legitimate reasons to see the nurse, doctor, etc. but for every legitimate one there are 10 that are just plain stupid.

The amount of contraband that comes in to the facility is absolutely crazy! Since i have been there, they have found 10 cell phones or more, hundreds of cigarettes, pot and cash. Almost all of it is being brought in by the officers looking for some quick cash. I just don't understand why someone would risk their career and even jail time to help these inmates get this stuff. One of the inmates actually had a phone with Internet, started a Facebook page and had posted pictures of himself in his cell and around the prison! Are you freaking kidding me! But I guess the officers that bring that stuff in just don't care. Oh well, its their job they are risking...not mine. I know I'm clean and that's how I'm gonna keep it.

I have been at the prison now for 7 months. The respect that I'm getting from some of the inmates is something I never expected. At our last Unit meeting, our Unit Manager made it known to everyone how they had no worries about me because all the inmates hated me and the way that I ran my blocks. I make the inmates follow the rules that the lazy officers never do. Not because I like being in charge, but because that is my job and I'm gonna do it to the best of my ability. When i talk about the respect that I'm getting, here is what i mean. In the past 2 months, I have several inmates come up and get in my face, cussing, yelling and being completely pissed off at me because of something that has happened whether it was my fault or not. In each of the instances, the inmates came up to me either later that night or the next time I work and apologized for the way that they acted and the things they said. This has taken me completely by surprise. Its just not something I expected to happen. The inmates are finally beginning to realize that I'm being exactly the same to everyone and my attitude is consistent every day that I work. The first thing they tell you when your in training is to be firm, fair and consistent. I do my best to be all three. When I come to work, i leave all my personal feelings and drama at the gatehouse. When i leave, i leave all the prison drama at the gatehouse. The inmates know how I am gonna respond to things they say or do. and they respect that. They may not like it, but they know I'm gonna do my job.

The people i work with also has its own challenges from time to time. Some people i work with are awesome, some not so much. At the end of the day though, they are wearing blue just like I am. No matter what is going on to make me mad I still have to have their back if they need me and the same goes for them if i need them. There have been a few times that this has been questioned. No matter where you work there is always gonna be people that you don't get along with at work and the prison is no different. When you work with the same 4 people for 12 hours on a regular basis, you find each others weaknesses, strengths and things that can aggravate the crap outta you. Like every job, your coworkers are gonna gossip and talk crap about you to one another. This job is no different. The good thing about the prison is the speaker/intercom system in the Unit. You can hear it all. I've never been one to bite my tongue if something bothers me, and ill speak my mind in a heartbeat. And working here is no different. Though my coworkers may hate that I tell them how it is, they will always know exactly where I stand on something. And from the way they act when I say these things, I can tell they aren't used to having someone speak their mind without reservations.

According to several people, the month of August should be my month for going to training. Ill be so ready for it when the time comes. A Mon-Fri work week and only during the day. Its gonna be so nice. After working nights for 7 months it starts to take a toll on ya but that's life. I'm not gonna complain cause there are plenty of people who would be glad to take my place. During training I'll get handgun, shotgun and rifle training as well as hand to hand combat and baton training. Should be a good month...not to mention ill get lots of OT that month.

To sum it all up, I love my job. The schedule is awesome and I enjoy what I do. I'm not necessarily making a difference but I like it.

Transfer Status

A few months ago I got word that NCI would be losing 30 Correctional Officer positions due to the fact they were gonna ship 500 inmates to another camp. I had spoken to everyone in my chain of command from my Sergeant all the way up to the Asst Superintendent of the prison (there are 6 people in between) letting them know that I wanted to be first on the list to transfer out as soon as the process got started so that I would have a shorter distance to work (its currently 65 miles each way). When we first got word, it was supposed to start this month and be finished by the end of May. We noticed 3 weeks ago that no inmates were leaving the camp so we figured something was up. Two nights ago the Lieutenant came into the block and spoke to me about the situation. She informed me that they are no longer going to even consider moving the inmates until at least 2012. So this has obviously put me in a sticky situation. Right now with gas prices what they are, I spend about $450 a month on gas alone. I wanted to transfer so I could try and save some of that money. The Lt. asked me if I had turned in my transfer request papers yet and I informed her I hadn't since I didn't know when I needed to. When I told her this she expressed that she and the Capt. would like for me to stay at NCI. I must be doing something right if she comes in and asks me to not transfer. So as of right now I'm not going to transfer from NCI. But after all of this, it has sped up the process of my secondary plan. Im gonna start working on that at the end of the summer now instead of waiting till next year. I cant wait around for things to fall into place if I can help them fall a little faster. So I guess for right now, I'll continue using 3 tanks of gas each week until other things can happen.

Almost to 6 months

Well its now coming to the end of April and i have been working at NCI for almost 6 months. So much has happened in that short time period. I have slowly learned the ins and outs of how things are run without having to ask too many questions. Not that I don't still ask plenty of questions. There are so many things to learn when it comes to policies and procedures. They always say to read your policies and procedures books. Its kinda tough when its 6 inches thick.
There have been so many eye opening experiences since I started. So many things that i just sit back and shake my head at in disbelief. I wonder how in the world can this really be happening. Then i remember that the system is broken everywhere. Not just in politics is it broken, but even down to the prison system. Why do inmates have the right to watch television. Didn't they forfeit all their rights when they committed the crime and were sentenced to prison. How pathetic is it that the administration makes exceptions and bends rules just to make the inmates happy. How did we go from the days when inmates were made to do hard work and had nothing, to allow them to eat all the chips, cheeseburgers, candy bars and soda that they can buy and have their own personal am/fm radio that they constantly are able to listen to. Inmates are not in prison. So what if they cant leave out the front gate like I can. They have it made. They get to choose what they want to watch on TV each week. They get 3 meals a day plus anything they buy from the canteen. They get free education paid for by you and me. When i say education...one inmate is working on his 3rd associates degree, while im $32,000 in debt for the same degree. I will be the first person to admit that I resent inmates. They go from a life where they took anything they wanted, to being given anything they wanted. It makes no sense. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. But it just aggravates me that people can be so blind as to what goes on behind closed doors. These shows people watch about prisons are a joke. That may be what its like in Super Max or Max, but not everywhere is like that.
Earlier this month I was working and an officer came over the radio with a "code blue", meaning i had to run to that Unit as assistance. When i got there i was met at the block door by an officer telling me that i would need gloves. This obviously meant blood was present. As i go down the block where everyone was I looked into the cell and couldn't believe what I seen. An inmate had been upset cause he had no one to talk to. So, in an attempt to talk to someone he proceeded to use a razor blade and cut his leg open. Its an image that I'm sure will never leave my mind. I just couldn't believe that an inmate had attempted to kill himself all because he wanted someone to talk to. It just surprised me that even though the inmates have it so easy, they see to believe they have nothing. I guess you don't really know what you have until its taken from you.
Another thing that i cant quite wrap my head around are how many officers risk their job, benefits and families to help get things for inmates. There have been at least two officers that i know of, who have been walked out of our prison in handcuffs because they got caught up in the lies that the inmates tell them, not to mention the several others from prisons elsewhere in NC. What do the inmates have to offer you? They are in prison. They don't have jobs. There is nothing that they can give me that i cant get myself. I guess the other officers just didn't see it that way. Officers are bringing almost anything these guys want in. So far they have brought cell phones, tobacco, marijuana and even sent the inmates money orders. Are you serious? I just get amazed at all the stories I hear about stuff like that. Is what they are giving you really worth the risk of going to jail? Getting a speeding ticket wasn't worth going to jail for me but i sure spent a night there because of one. But that also isn't permanently on my record for the rest of my life. When these officers get caught, not only do they get fired, they will never work for the state again and they will have to put it on every job application they turn in. So I guess that $500 you got for sneaking in a cell phone and tobacco just isn't worth it if you look at it that way. I value my job too much to do dumb shit like that.
This job isn't hard. Matter of fact, its pretty easy unless you make it hard. At the end of the day i still love what i do. Not everyone is cut out for this job and i know that. Some people only last one day after training, one guy lasted 2 hours. This job has made me appreciate things even more now when it comes to the things i have. I see things in a whole new light.

Busy Week

Well this week has been busier than normal and its not even over yet. By now all of the inmates know that they are moving all of the bunks out of the prison and are getting kind of anxious. So far this week we have had 2 fights in our Unit alone. The first one was on Tuesday right before our shift came on. This one involved to gay guys none the less. One of them was the guy that refused to give up the cardboard box a couple weeks ago. He was the instigator in that right. He didn't do too much to the guy except give him a couple cuts over his eye. For as built as he is I would have figured he broke the guys nose. I guess having a lot of muscles means nothing if you don't know how to fight. Then yesterday we had another fight right before shift change. I'm walking up the sidewalk to the Unit and all the other officers start running past me headed inside. I instantly knew what was going on. But this is where I made my mistake. After seeing 25 officers run in there, I didn't follow them right away. What I should have done is dropped all my stuff and ran right behind them to help. My train of thought at the time was that it was probably only two guys i there fighting and all those c/o's should be able to handle it. Its not that I felt I wasn't at work yet, I just assumed they didn't need me. I assumed wrong. No matter what I should always run in there and make sure everything is ok instead of just assuming. It could have been a riot in the cell clock and here I am just taking my sweet time. But i know better for the next time that even though I may see 20 officers run in there, they may need officer 21 to help finish taking care of the problem. Its not something i thought much about at the time. Later on I spoke to a fellow c/o who is my age and has been there for 4 or 5 years. He filled me in on what I should have done so I know for the next time.

The funny part was when they were walking the guys out in handcuffs, the guy who got punch first was talking about how painful the spray was. He told the officer that after that experience, the next time an officer tells him to "stop!", that's exactly what he would do haha. I know first hand how much that OC spray hurts so its def in their best interest to not get sprayed. When i got sprayed, I was able to wash it out immediately. These guys had to wait almost half an hour before they were able to wash it out. Serves them right.

Lets just hope that tonight and tomorrow night are a little less eventful. There is always so much more stress in the blocks after a fight cause the adrenaline is still pumping and everyone is fired up. Hope you all have a great night. Time to get ready for work.

Update

So it has been a while since I last updated this thing and I apologize. I have been pretty busy and haven't really had the time to sit down and clear my head. There has been a lot going on at the prison over the past several weeks. We most recently found out that they are opening 4 new prisons here in NC and that almost all of the inmates that are on bunk beds at the facility will be leaving. This will be great because it will take close to 50 inmates out of each block. The only downside to this will be they will be losing about 32 c/o positions at NCI. So most likely I will be getting shifted to another camp closer to where I actually live. If that is the case it with be to a close custody camp outside Snow Hill. I'm gonna like it and hate it at the same time. I have become good friends with several of the c/o's I work with and now I will be starting over again. The plus side to the whole thing is that I wont be spending so much on gas. Right now I'm spending about $400 a month on gas just going to and from work. That's a lot of money on gas no matter how you look at it. So the move is gonna have its advantages and its disadvantages. Ill also be going from a medium custody camp to a close custody camp ---> http://www.doc.state.nc.us/DOP/prisons/Maury.htm
Close custody is gonna be much different than the environment I'm used to now. There have been plenty of stories that I have already heard that's getting me prepared if I do end up going there.

A couple weeks ago i came into the block to relieve another officer for break. I noticed a particular inmate had a cardboard box (considered contraband because of fire hazard). So i told him to bring me the box. Instead of doing so, he said "no, you aint gettin my box", and took it and put it under his bed. Like that was really gonna stop me from taking it. So the other officer went on break and I just waited till the right time. Just before he walked back in to take the block back over, I went over to the inmates bunk and took the box. I was going to take it to the Sergeants office and search it then give him his stuff back and keep the box. Well as I'm walking out the inmate jumps up out of his chair at the front of the block and gets in my face and takes the box back from me all while the other c/o is just standing there. I recognized this and didn't want the situation to get out of hand all because of a cardboard box. So I called up the Sergeant and the situation was handled later that night. Later on the Sergeant told me that I should have OC sprayed the inmate when he did that because he took something from me and that's considered assault. I didn't know that then, but I sure do now. He also had a talk with me and the other officer pointing out that to the inmates its looks as though that officer dont have my back and how dangerous that could be in future situations.

The box incident was probably the most tense situation I have been in since starting there. There was almost a fight the other night between two inmates but I got over there before any punches were thrown. Its absolutely amazing to see the things these guys will fight over when they have nothing. The smallest thing will set them off and its downhill from there.

Another side note, I got my permit to purchase a handgun finally so im hoping that ill be able to get one sometime soon.

I will get better about getting back on here and updating on a regular basis. Again if anyone has any questions about things please just leave a comment and ill answer the best I can.

And yes, i realize there a A LOT of grammatical errors haha.

Respect

In the past few shifts I have worked, I have come to realize something very important. Growing up our parents have always said that to get respect you have to give respect. Never before have I seen it so evident than I have at the prison. Each night i have to deal with 120 boys/men, alone. Sometimes it can be hard, sometimes its very easy. Even though these guys are inmates, they are still men. They may have done some very bad things, but, they are still men. From the start I had the opinion that they were inmates and I was an officer. I felt I was better than them in some way. Yes, i am a c/o, and yes, I kept my self outta jail, but I'm still just another man in this world. Where they made bad choices, I made better ones.

Over the past couple weeks, I have realized i have been treating them only as inmates and not as inmates and men. I haven't given them the slightest bit of respect. There are only a few situations where the inmate was able to understand where i was coming from. I made a mistake the other week and accused an inmate of not doing his job. The inmate has been incarcerated for more than 30 years. The job he does, is one he has had for a long time. I was in the wrong once I realized what had happened. Instead of me doing nothing about it, the next day i went right no his cell and apologized. I was wrong and i was man enough to admit it. That night he told the c/o who relieved me how much respect he had gained for me, by me being a man, and owning up to my mistake. Two nights ago after lock down, he made a point to come up to the c/o's desk and tell me that he hoped I had a great rest of the night and a safe drive home. That is one of many stories I have already of times where i have found out how far respect will get you. To the normal person you might say I'm crazy, or even stupid. But you must remember, at any time these guys can turn on me and it would be 120 to 1. And believe me, the OC spray wont knock down 120 guys. Respect truly does go a long way and I'm slowly learning that. There are other stories i could tell and im sure there will be many more new ones. Maybe tomorrow ill tell ya how a 21yr old changed his tune.

**** Lock Down- All inmates must go to their assigned bunks or assigned cell for the night. Lock down ends at 5AM.

Jan 25, 2011

The last week and a half has been crazy at work. But what can you expect with 120 screaming babies. Im finally starting to get into a rhythm of how to do things in the block and the inmates hate it. They hate it because most of the other officers "don't see things" that the inmates don't want them to see. They will look the other way just so the inmates don't get aggravated. Well if you know me, im all about doing it right. If that means that i make rounds every half hour like i'm supposed to then that's that i'm gonna do. I am constantly looking around the block trying to spot things. Or "policing" the block as they call it. Many of the inmates will yell to sit down, "who am i the po-lice", and so on when i make my rounds more often then what they want. If you make too many rounds your keeping them from doing what they want. Many of them have told me on numerous occasions to just sit down and relax, that they can police themselves. Well if that was the case, and they are just so responsible, why are they in prison. Must not have done a very good job policing if you ask me. More and more i'm seeing new things and catching more people in the act. Like yesterday for instance. There was a group of inmates playing cards at the table and they were using "poker chips". I didnt say anything at first. I went up on the opposite side of the mezzanine and made a round, ending up where the card table was. As i got back they just so happened to be finished haha. Yeah right. So i stopped at the table and asked them to see the poker chips they were using. They played dumb and acted as if they were just regular cards. I told them i wasn't stupid and to just let me see the cards. They handed over only a few of them, just in case i was gonna take them, and i looked at them to make sure there were no stamps attached to them. They know they aren't supposed to have them but some of the guards don't care and let them do it. So i gave the cards back and told them that i dont wanna see them using them anymore on the table and walked away. Well, about 10 minutes later the same 3 idiots were standing at a cell door right next to the table passing out their stamps (winnings) in plain sight. That kinda pissed me off cause they knew i was watching. So i walked over there and they tried hiding them like i didn't know what it was. I made them pull all the stamps out so i could count how many had been dispersed. If they hand out more than 20-30 we can take them cause they aren't allowed that many in the first place. I counted them and handed them back and gave them a warning. That was one thing i better not see again period. If i cant see t i don't care. But i better not be able to see it. Well that pissed the guy handing the stamps out off. He said that maybe i needed to stop looking and just go sit at my desk, and again the old "we can police ourselves" line. I told him that i am doing my job and if he don't like it and wants to continue to do things where i can see them, then ill just write him up. After that , that situation was over, till get back in that block and see it again.

****poker chips- old deck of playing cards that have been colored to show they are chips. They all have a value which they know and we don't. They bet the chips in the card games in exchange for stamps as their winnings.

****stamps- postage stamps are the only form of currency in the prison. No money is allowed. So when the inmates play cards they use the stamps as a bargaining/betting chip. They are also used for various other form of payment. Using stamps to gamble with is illegal in the camp.

Jan 10, 2011

My second day in Unit 2 started the same as the first except for the winter weather outside that was expected. We had out normal pre-shift lineup where we went over all the memo's and the happenings of the day. At the end we were all asked if we would be willing to stay over in case someone from 1st shift couldn't make it in. Since i could use the OT or the time off i volunteered. After that we all headed to our post.

Tonight i was in B-Block which i don't mind too much. I prefer to be in either Control Room or C-Block but i cant always get what i want. The inmates seemed to be much more calm today. Who knows for what reason but I'm not about to complain when they are quiet since it rarely happens. As soon as i get in to the block on my shift, i always make a round just to see whats going on. As i got up to the upper mezzanine, two of the older inmates stopped me and asked if i had served in the military and talked about the weather. When i told them i had not been the in the military, the commented on how young i looked. I always find this so funny that a 24 year old is "running" a prison block with 90% of the inmates being older than be by 20 years. I personally don't care that i look young. Its gotta be hard having a person that is sometimes 30-40 years younger than you telling you what to do.

Later on i had to get started on my cell searches. I honestly love doing searches, especially when i can find something. Just last week they found a cell phone in another unit, one that an officer had brought in. Not very smart on his part. I like doing cells more than i do bunks because the guys in cells have more stuff to look through and places to hide. Only thing were not allowed to look through/read is legal mail. Everything else is fair game. Normally depending on how much stuff is in the cell ill spend 15 minutes in there looking through it all. I open every book, magazine, folder, notebook and package to see whats inside. You look under thee bunk, under the mattress and inside the pillow case. You also make sure that they don't have any more clothes than what they are supposed to. In another Unit they also found a tooth brush that had been filed down to make a shank. Its crazy how creative these guys can be. After i took a few cardboard boxes out the searches were over. The rest of the night went by pretty fast and without anything major happening.

After i left the block i went to A-Section. It is by far the absolute easiest job in the entire unit. You do so little you wonder if its considered volunteer work and why your getting paid for it. The main job of the A-Section is to float around the the 2 blocks, relieve people if they need it and escort any inmates that need to be taken places after 8pm. Which in my Unit, there are only 3 people that go out at 9pm and 3 that go out at 4am. That's it! So needless to say i did a lot of nothing the last half of the night.

Catch Up

Most times when i make a new post, im trying to play catch up. Rarely on my long week do i have time to take a breather on my 2 days off let alone have the time to write out the blogs i have written. I have a lot of time at work to write, so most of the time ill write the blog post on a sheet of paper then ill put it on the blog the next chance i get. Sometimes it may be a few days but they will all be up here. I may not include everything, mostly because some days can be very repetitious. BBut like i said before, if anyone has any questions about how things work in prisons or stuff like that, please let me know and ill try and answer them all. Thanks everyone for reading!

Jan 5, 2011

Today is the first day in the block by myself since moving to Unit 2 after doing all my Mentoring in Unit 3. Its been a crazy situation. All of the inmates know that i'm fairly young and that i have only been here a couple days. I mean, i just got my name tag today and i have been here since the 6th of December. Finally the inmates are able to call me by my name and not just "c/o". It makes me feel like i really work here now. As i was making my rounds early in the shift, some inmates stopped me as i was making my war around the upper mezzanine. They asked me who the block officer was and were shocked when i told them it was me. They couldn't believe that they would put a new officer in the block alone. They had no idea how long i had trained for, they just knew that i had only been in this unit for 3 days. I kept moving and finished making my round by removing all the clothes off the corner of the bunks posts. They aren't allowed to hang anything on them because it blocks us from seeing down the entire set of bunks. Not to mention it looks messy. There are certain things they are strict on in this unit. No do rags in the day room unless you are at or sitting on your bunk, keep all the closet doors locked, keep the trash picked up, no leaning against the rail on the upper mezzanine and no clothes hanging from the bunk. All these things are very simple, but inmates need t e be reminded of these daily. Like i said before, the inmates do everything. They do all the cleaning for the entire camp. They must also follow any direct order. So if i walk up to any inmate and tell him to sweep a certain part of the floor, even if its not his job, its in his best interest to go grab a broom. Same with picking up trash. One of the things they like to do the most is cover the cell doors with toilet paper and other stuff so that we cant see in. They may be smoking, have another inmate or anything else. Which is why its not allowed. Even if they are taking a poop they cant cover the window. They really hate that rule. No matter what you tell them though, even if they curse for 20 minutes and cause a scene, if they do what you tell them to do, they did nothing wrong and you cannot write them up.

A little later i noticed some trash around one of the tables. Without really considering things, i went over and asked one of the inmates playing chess to pick up the trash around the table and throw it away for me after they finished that game. I waited for a little bit and they played 4 more games with no movement. So i made a round and when i was walking back to the desk i stopped at his table and asked him more sternly, actually telling him to pick it up right them and throw it away like i had asked the first time. inmates know they can be written up for not following directions or doing what you ask them to do. A write up can lead to many things. They can have $10 taken from their account, which makes its way to a general fund for the inmates of the camp, they can get extra duties, or they can be sent to SEG if they are written up for something enough times. Extra duties are just what the word insinuates. They are extra cleaning duties and the amount of hours can vary widely from 5 hours to 25 and up. Well the inmate finally jumped up cursing and getting all pissed off but still managed to get all the 5 pieces of trash, 2 cups and a few sheets of paper, and throw them away. His chess buddy felt the need to come over and explain why his pal was so pissed. I chose to listen just to see what he was about to say. I understood his reasoning as he explained it. I had overlooked the fact that 4 of the 5 other tables had trash around them as well, yet i seemed to only worry about that particular table and not ask the other table to pick up the trash as well. That's why he was so mad. I had singled him out and he took that as me having a lack of respect. This is where having respect for the inmates and them having respect for you is crucial. You aren't trying to be buddies with them, but you do want them to have enough respect for you to listen to you when you ask them to do something. They tell you in training that if you need to speak with an inmate do it outside the block in the hall where no one can see or hear the conversation. So i went over to the inmate again and asked him to come out in the hall when their current game of chess ended. A few minutes later it ended and he met me outside so we could discuss the situation. I explained to him why i had asked him and not the other tables, simply because i hadn't even noticed the other tables yet. Whether i was right or wrong in doing this it makes no difference, i'm not trying to make a bunch of enemies. I know that i still have a lot to learn and the inmates, believe it or not, will come to you and tell you if something is out of place in the way things normally get handled. At the same time, they are convicts, and will come to you also to make you think you had done something wrong. In the end, its up to me to be able to tell the difference.

The second half of the night i was in the control room. It is one of the boring, yet secure places to take a nap, which plenty of officers have done. The control room operates all 7 main doors, each of the 120 cell doors and lights for the entire building. From the control room you can see 85% of each block in the unit. It can be a very hectic place in the daytime. The control room operator is allowed to open one door at a time. Since inmates are always in a hurry, they absolutely hate this rule haha. Officers are ALWAYS let through doors before inmates. Nights can also be very hectic depending on the night and what is going on in the unit or at the camp. Your main task in the control room above all else is to keep an eye on the officers in the block, and to make sure those doors are operated efficiently. The control room also initiates the plans such as getting on the intercom and telling the inmates its medication time, chow time, bible study and so on. You are the the voice they love to hear at night when its med call. Other than turning all the lights on and off, operating the doors and some paperwork, the control room is a pretty cool place to work for six hours....as long as its the first six hours in the shift.

btw, all the pictures i put on this blog of the prison came from online. Officers are not allowed to carry cell phones or cameras inside the facility. So all the pictures are from when newspapers and such came to the facility and took the photos. But, at the same time, the pictures are ALL from NCI.

Comments or Questions

Please feel free to leave any comments and questions on here. You dont have to have an account and its anonymous unless you put your name. It will help me know what people want to know about other than what i am talking about. Thanks everyone for reading it.

Jan 2, 2011

<----This is the C Block of Unit 3 as indicated on the post. The lockers and bunks go together for the 60 inmates who sleep on bunks each night. The other 60 are in the cell surrounding the outside bottom and top. Notice they are solid doors and not covered in bars.


Tonight was pretty eventful. It was my second night in the new unit. The sergeant was still letting me get accustomed to this unit so i was kinda floating around to all of the sections. The first part of the night i was in the block doing searches. Were supposed to do 2 searches in each block, each night. They wanted to make sure that my search skills were good so they let me perform all 4 of the searches for the unit that night. I had done a few searches during my training but we had not found anything. Well wouldn't ya know that the first cell we search we found some porno pictures stashed under the guys mattress. Its not really a big deal cause its nothing that is gonna cause a lot of trouble but it is still considered contraband. So after we take those we search the rest of his stuff. Well each week the inmates do a clothing exchange. They go and pick up a new set of 4 shirts, 4 pants, 4 boxers and some socks that have been washed. They are supposed to turn in the dirty clothes when they are done with them. Well we search this guys cell and find 10 pair of pants. Me and the other c/o were just amazed at how many clothes this guy had. Since it was just petty stuff that's not really a big deal, all that happened was the guy lost his porno pictures and we took several pairs of pants. The rest of the searches were clear of anything they aren't supposed to have. We had to do 2 bunk/locker searches also. So ended up being 2 cells in one block and 2 bunks w/ lockers in the other. When doing searches you check everything. You start from the top and go to the bottom. Whether its in the top of the cell or the top of the locker that goes with each bunk bed. You have to search even the dumbest things. From inside tennis shoes to unopened boxes of soap that may have been resealed to hide a cell phone. I try to be as respectful of these guys things as possible when doing searches. I make sure when flipping through the book that i ask if there are any bookmarks. That way ill know that they are trying to keep a particular page and not lose it. I try and put everything back just like i found it, almost like i was never there. The guys really appreciate that and i know it will help me gain their respect in the long run.


A little while later we had an incident with one of our officers. She is in her 60's....i think. She looks it. Either way she was walking around the unit. Well as i told you in an earlier post, inmates do everything at the prison. Mop the floors, take out trash, clean showers and bathrooms, mow the grass and take care of all the flower beds. Well an inmate had just finished mopping the floor in the hallway for C block and didn't put out any wet floor signs but had just told the officer that the floor was wet. Well the officer must not have hear the inmate and went walking through the hallway without looking and slipped and fell. When she fell she broke her elbow, bruised her knee and sprained her back. All the inmates immediately rushed to the windows and the open cell block door and started laughing and staring at her laying on the floor. We tried to surround her as mush as possible but its kinda hard to keep 240 guys from seeing something. So anyway they took her off to the hospital and that's where they found out all the medical stuff. So with that happening, it put us one person short which means that i'm gonna have to work by myself for sure on Wednesday in the block. It is gonna be an interesting night. One that i will make sure and document so that i can tell everyone about it.

New Year

Well this will be the first new post of the New Year. So, Happy New Year everyone. Work has been a learning experience every day and i expect that to continue as new things happen and i see things in a different way. The second and third weeks in Unit 3 were mostly the same as the first week. Inmates were still trying to understand me as a person. They wanted to know what they could get away with and what they couldn't. They would ask me things knowing what the correct answer was just to see if i knew it, or if i was gonna pretend like i knew what it was. I mostly just said i don't know if i didn't. They continued to ask me the kinds of things that i liked to do and what kinda sports i liked if any. That is their way of trying to connect with you on a personal level. Something they remind you over and over again about not doing too much. Its ok to socialize with them a little bit but you cant tell them too much. These guys have limitless resources due to the state giving them anything they need except computers. The more info you give them, they more they will eventually be able to use to find out more about you.

Inmates are a very rare breed of people in the way they act. Many of them have been locked up for so long they can read lips and they have impeccable hearing. A great example is the other night we were up front at the desk talking abut an inmate on the phone. He was at the back of the block and was watching us. Without talking very loudly his name came up. As soon as we hung up the phone he came up and asked us why we were talking bout him. It wasn't because he heard us but because he was able to read the officers lips when saying his name. You see crazy stuff like that all the time. And inmates love to look out for certain other inmates. They are called "hawks", because they will stand up top on the mezzanine and warn the inmates that are doing something bad when the c/o is coming so they won't get caught. This was the case just last night. One of the known gay guys was down at the end of the block giving a favor with his mouth to another inmate. Every time we would get up to get down there, one would jump up and go one way and leave the other one behind so we wouldn't catch them in the act. They cant be written up for something if we don't see them in action. But seeing as how every time he jumped up he was heading to the bathroom covering his mouth, it kinda gave it away. Finally we left them alone, and 10 minutes later that same guy was walking to the bathroom wiping his mouth off. Yeah its pretty gross i know, but it does happen. Unless we catch them in the act there is nothing we can do.

Last night was also my first experience with an inmate testing my honesty. It really caught me off guard because i was definitely not expecting it. I honestly hadn't even thought about it. I walked over to the closet to unlock it for an inmate. He had to get some trash bags out of it and we keep pad locks on everything. So after i unlocked it and he was reaching inside, he leaned over and with a really low voice said "you still gonna do that for me, right?" I was caught off guard and quickly responded with "i'm not getting anything for you". That was all he wanted to know and walked away. People don't realize that most of the contraband that gets into facilities is brought in my correctional officers. Some officers are looking to make a few extra bucks from the inmates. But, to make a few extra bucks isn't worth losing my job and serving 2 years in prison. It's not like they have anything to lose by asking so that's why they keep asking.

Ill try and continue on tomorrow morning. I still have plenty to talk about. Happy New Year!