Chain, Chain, Chain

Did the first lab session yesterday and had a full house, which is pretty cool because it's good to have the company during those three Saturday hours.

Here's a little more prison talk and I'm not giving away any great secrets or anything: the security at both of the prisons is pretty tight for someone like myself who walks in off the street. There are:
- Locked gates and fences surrounded by razor wire,
- Correctional officers inspect everything I carry in,
- Senior COs inside secure Control rooms,
- Towers with high powered weapons overlooking the yards I either walk by or through to get to class, and most importantly,
- The students.

Prison is mysterious to the general populace because a vast majority have no reason to go to prison, so these folks are educated by assumptions and word of mouth. Here's some myths and truths I've figured out for myself or found on the internet:

The guards are armed and deadly to the prison populace:

- In Nevada, they're Correctional Officers, not guards. A Nevada CO must be a police school graduate and must be certified by the State (POST) as a law enforcement officer, just like highway patrol troopers and police officers.

- The COs that are armed are in the towers, but the officers have access to several non-deadly weapons to keep the peace. From what I've read, only the shift manager (usually a lieutenant) will use these weapons and only as a last resort.

- If deadly force is called for, the officers are the right and freedom to protect themselves and the general populace, just like a police officer.

Murderers and rapists are confined to maximum security:

That's true at the beginning, but inmates earn good time and, over the years, can be sent down depending on their behavior and available beds. Felons with "lesser" crimes will move through the layers of the system depending on their behavior and how close they are to their release time.

Inmates are angry people:

The young ones certainly are because they remember freedom. Lifers and other long-time inmates have a more realistic view of things and know they must work within the system to gain and hold privileges. They've figured out through trial-and-error that they can and will be penalized for acting on sudden emotion. I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect the maximum security prison in Ely has a comparatively younger population than the three prisons I've taught at.

Prisons are revolving doors for escapees:

The minimum security camps have their fair share of "walk-aways," but those camps have fewer fences and controls because the inmates are close to release, anyway. The COs take security very seriously at medium and minimum because the prison in Carson are very close to houses and families. To my knowledge, there's only been one escape from a Carson medium prison in the last five years and that guy hid in a truck.

Inmates are stupid:

Not a chance. They're just like the general populace and have the same wide range of skills, cunning, and intelligence as you would find in any office. Many of them are behind bars because of a lapse in judgment that may have lasted five whole seconds or because of a long series of crimes. Don't ever think they're stupid or underestimate their ability to survive.

I'm in danger every time I go to prison:

This one represents the difference between "possible" and "probable." Yes, it is possible an inmate will attack me or take me hostage, but I realistically face more danger from the idiots on the road when I drive to the prison. The Department of Corrections policy for hostage situations is realistic negotiation to minimize the stress of the situation as much as possible, but violent incidents involving "civilians" are rare.

The reason is simple: the inmates want us in the prison to teach them. We have a product they can use to better their lives or at least suck up the time of day. If something were to happen to a teacher, there would be an incredible range of official reprisals from the Nevada legal system, but that's nothing compared to what would happen to the inmate from his fellow inmates who want an education. For his own safety, the Department of Corrections would probably have to relocate the dude to a prison in another state (which happens all the time).

That's all for now. I'll write more as I think of it. Send me questions if you got them.