Читать книгу Prison Puzzle Pieces 3 - Dave Basham - Страница 62

If you compiled a list of all of the skills needed to do everything the state requires to be a good corrections officer, it would be extremely long.

First you would have to be crazy to go in there. This should be stressed to anyone applying for the job. Normal people quit rather quickly. You can identify their level of craziness by how long they stay. The more normal they are the quicker they quit. A lot of money is wasted by the state hiring and training people who just aren’t crazy enough to hang around for a while. The guy that was warden here when I started said that if they got two years out of us, they would be happy.

You have to have secretarial skills. Using computers and being able to type are important, even for those guys with hands as big as a gorilla. If your finger tip touches 4 keys at a time, tough luck, you still have to type up reports.

You have to be part psychiatrist in order to deal with all of the dysfunctional nut jobs in here; that includes inmates, officers and bosses.

You have to be a doctor and a nurse. When these guys come to you with a medical problem, you have to help them. The basics you need are first aid training. You have to know when to go to the higher ups when Health Services doesn’t take care of the problem. You have to put yourself on the line at times in order to get these guys the care they need.

You have to know how to keep safe and clean up biohazards.

You have to know how to protect yourself and others by using your wits, speaking skills, skill with weapons and be able to handle physical confrontations.

You must be correct in your decisions or you will be sued. You will even be sued at times if you make the right decision.

You must be able to handle boredom one second and be able to respond to dangerous violent physical situations the next.

You have to be a janitor and a mechanic.

You have to deliver food to inmates and clean up after them.

You have to be a magician. One boss will tell you to do something his way and another boss will tell you to do it a different way. Other bosses may insist on other ways. You have to be a magician to pull it all off. I guess that would make you a juggler too.

Oh, yeah! I almost forgot. You also have to be a prison guard and maintain the security of the facility, the offenders, your fellow officers and yourself.