Prison Guard vs Thugs
In my last few chapters, I have been talking about the abuse and all of the madness that goes on here at the United States penitentiary, and at the federal correctional institution in Hazelton West, Virginia.
This November I have been here for two years, and I cannot begin to explain the craziness of how the staff conducts themselves. Not everyone that works here is bad, but the overall treatment from the guards is bad. Most of them act like thugs. I have always tried to look at things from both sides. I understand that a lot of the reasons why the guards act the way they do, is because a large part of prisoners are idiots, and are very violent. Especially in the United States penitentiary next-door. Life over there means little or nothing to the prisoners. And many guards and other staff members have witnessed brutal assaults, tons of stabbings, and countless murders. A lot of them have been on the receiving end of the assaults, stabbings, and murders. And of course, I can understand their frustration, anger, and hate. It’s natural for the guards, ranking officers and people in administration to feel this way. I get it. Like I said, “I try to look at things from both sides.” But my question is, has anyone ever really thought about a solution? I mean it’s not just the prisoner’s fault. I’m sure many people may believe it is, but that just isn’t the truth. Prisoners get fed up with the abuse both verbally and physically. The majority of inmates are out of the way, they are not trying to cause any trouble. But because of the way prisoners get treated by the thug-like mentality guards, it causes a lot of tension. And over time it eventually causes trouble. A lot of the trouble inside here is drug related. Who is the cause behind that? I mean it’s definitely not the prisoners. We don’t have any contact visits. No one workers outside the prison. All of our email is copied, so there’s no way the prisoners are bringing drugs in. They are guards, or someone in administration. And those guards deal with the gangs and cause a lot of problems in here. If someone tries to stay out of the way, or doesn’t want anything to do with that anymore. They’re looked at in a bad way by these thug guards.
If a prisoner tries to use the grievance system, he is told,” what are you a snitch?” These officers believe they can treat every prisoner with disrespect, and if the prisoner tries to talk with their counselor or case manager about the issue, the inmate is told to “stop snitching,” or “to shut the fuck up.” So, overtime prisoners get fed up and end up assaulting the guards, or even worse, stabbing them or killing one of them. Then when that happens, they beat the prisoner, and punish the entire prison by locking us down for weeks or months. But, like I said, “has anyone ever asked a question, is there a solution?” Because it’s not just the prisoners. If everyone is honest with themselves, they will see that it’s both the prisoners and the people who work for the federal prison system.
I am sure many of who work for the prison system will say, “I don’t bring drugs in, and I don’t act like a thug.” That is true, not everyone who works for the federal prison system brings drugs in here, and not everyone acts like a thug. But how are you any better if you are aware of what goes on and haven’t done anything to change things? Because if I see someone about to rob and kill someone and don’t do anything, how am I any better? I have seen countless of guards stand by and watch another guard verbally abuse, and physically assault a prisoner and do nothing to stop it. I have seen our counselor cuss and threatening an inmate right in front of our caseworker, and he refused to do anything. I’ve seen the same prisoner try and talk with our warden that same day, but was told to just forget about it. So, whether you are a guard, ranking officer, or a warden, if you allow corruption to go on, how are you any better? Because wrong is wrong, you cannot justify doing wrong just because you were a guard. Like I said earlier, I do understand the frustration of the guards in the administration, but I also understand the prisoner’s frustration too. For a lot of the ranking officers and wardens, their outlook on guards doing something wrong is oh well. I believe they have seen so many guards doing wrong that it’s not that big of a deal to them anymore. Or maybe they are involved in the corruption themselves. I believe if a prisoner does something wrong like fight, get caught with drugs, or whatever else should be punished. But I also believe if a guard, ranking officer, or warden do something wrong, they should be punished. I also believe if you are a witnessed to a staff member doing something wrong and don’t report it, or do anything to stop it, you should be punished as well.
Let’s face it, the safety of all the prisoners is in your hands. If you see a prisoner being abused in any type of way, and do nothing, you are no better than the other staff member. Once again has anyone ever really thought about a solution? Because no matter what, nothing will ever change unless someone comes up with a solution. There is always a solution, it just takes one person with some backbone to step forward and admit that the system is broken.
The very first solution is accountability. Everyone should be held accountable for his or her actions. Because once that happens, everybody would understand that from now on you will have to answer for what you do, or don’t do. Life is full of choices, and just like it was my choice and everyone else’s choice to break the law and come to prison. There needs to be consequences for the people who work here that violate the rules of conduct. How can there be any hope for change if there’s no accountability.
Another huge question, why do things stay the same in these prisons? Because no one, and I do mean no one, is doing their job as far as rehabilitation is concerned. Once again, the staff is not being held to any accountability. Look at it this way, if a mirror company or business was to never have any profit whatsoever, in fact, the owner could see that his is was getting worse, what would happen he would be holding someone accountable. That is what’s happening to these prisons, there is never any improvement. The recidivism rate is the highest in history. And it’s going to get worse. Why? Because there is absolutely no accountability. The staff can do whatever they want. And from what I see, their job consists of nothing.
The guards come in and make a statement. “I don’t give a fuck what you do, I’m going in my office, don’t fuck with me.” The guards go into an office and play on the computer, watch TV, or just go to sleep. Our counselor’s office is in here, he is supposed to be here eight hours, but I doubt if he is ever in his office one hour a day.
Our case manager does a little more than our counselor. He will talk to you, but only if you are coming up for a security review. Other than that, we never see him. I will be honest enough to say, he is pretty nice man.
Our unit manager, we only see him when he comes in and leaves. I still don’t know what his job consists of. Until someone comes in and starts holding these people accountable, the prison system will never change. Prisoners will be abused, and the prison system will only get worse.
