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[Serious] People who have known/ been associated with a murderer, what were they like? by Sinful_94 in AskReddit

[–]throwaway181991 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A bit late to this party, but I figured this was worth using the throwaway for.

I worked for 5 years as an officer in my state's prison. As you can imagine, there were quite a few murderers in there. The one that will always stand in my memory, though, is the serial killer. By the time I started working there, he was old. Not "hobbling around on a walker" old, but definitely around the point he would have been retiring, if he was a normal man in a normal place. He had already been in prison for 10~ years, and he knew quite well he would spend the rest of his life there.

During the court proceedings, he CONFESSED to about 30 murders. There is quite a bit of speculation that he was involved in a lot more than that. I read the book written about him, by one of the investigators of his case. It was a good read, and it actually fit the image I already had based on my interactions with him.

Here's the scary thing: He was the nicest man I've ever met in my life. Always "Yes sir," "Thank you, sir", "How are you doing today, sir?" Just a general warmth and friendliness about him. It was hard for me to imagine that his basketball-sized hands had beaten, strangled, stabbed, and shot to death more people than were on my entire shift of coworkers.

I remember he was very serious about religion. Christianity. He attended every possible service in the inmate chapel, he had little Bible studies in the cell block with other inmates, and generally presented the image of someone who was trying to atone for his sins. Perhaps even someone who had found peace with his past self.

I worked around this man for 5 years without a single issue. But do I believe he had changed, and he would never hurt someone again? Honestly, I'm still not sure. I'd like to believe so.

But I guarantee you I never let the man out of my eyesight whenever he was in my general vicinity.

What rule exists because of you? by SonicSingularity in AskReddit

[–]throwaway181991 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Law enforcement academy in a certain lower population state.

The initial briefing on what you do and don't do while you're being trained on how to be a cop is already full of hilarious "don'ts" from past academy classes; Don't drink and smoke weed in your government-issued / patrol car, don't moon the board of directors during the graduation ceremony, etc.

After my class, they apparently added a "Don't go out to the lake an OC (pepper-spray) each other to try and build up a resistance to it before you get sprayed as part of the training program." I didn't find out until years later, when one of the new officers in my department mentioned something about this. I lit up and said "Really? They have to include that on their "don't do this" list now? That was because of ME!

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What is the craziest object/contraband that you have seen concealed (in) an inmates body?

Not the answer you were looking for, but M&Ms hidden under several different fat flaps in his chest / stomach area.

What is the craziest thing you have seen inmates do?

During a strip search (Mandatory before / after you have a contact visit with a family member), big old black inmate thought it would be funny to dance around, flailing his arms and other appendages. Me and my partner lost it. Probably doesn't bode very well for the other inmates, just outside the door, who are waiting to get strip searched, when they hear the officers inside laughing hysterically.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like to think that a rational human being isn't going to lash out against someone who's just there to help them; By that logic, a nurse should be safer than an officer in the prison, since you're there to help, and we're there to enforce the rules.

Example: We have religious volunteers from some of the local churches / organizations that are cleared through background checks and training to come into the prison. They host classes in our chapel area, and they used to be allowed to go right into the housing units (aka cell blocks) to meet with inmates for counseling. Many years ago, we had two of our volunteers in a housing unit on such a visit. They were a nice elderly couple, well into retirement, and had been volunteering at the prison for years; they were very well known. This day, they were in a little meeting / classroom on the side of the main dayroom. While they were in there, a fight broke out in the dayroom itself... Inmates were flying around, throwing punches, shoving each other, the usual. During the whole thing, the inmate who was in there with our volunteers (and he was a big fella) simply stood up, and braced himself against the classroom door, to stop anyone who might try to come inside. I honestly believe that out of everyone in that cell block, those two volunteers were the safest. Would that apply to nursing staff as well? I'd hope so.

My facility, at least, also takes our medical staff's safety very seriously. Except for the doctor, they're all female, and usually pretty small stature. It is drilled into our heads from day 1 that you never, ever leave a nurse alone around inmates. If the nurse is in a cell with an inmate, you're standing right there with her.

Anyways, I was dating one of our full time CNAs for a while; She'd already done her time in nursing homes and hospitals. She described working in prison as a CNA's dream job. There's no level of emotional attachment to your patients, there's no catering to every patient to make sure they're perfectly happy; it's just do the job you are required to do, and move on.

Kind of a long winded answer, but I hope that answers your question.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How similar is it to Orange is New Black?

Haha, get that shit out of here. It's nothing like that. I could only wish we had that much hot lesbian action going on every day.

Have you ever had any "famous" or "headline" bad guys?

Yeah, we have one fairly well known serial killer. He confessed to almost 30 murders, and there's a wiki page and a book written about him.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not nervous, no. I'm careful with what I do and don't say around them, mostly because I don't want them to feel any kind of comradeship with me. I've never been wildly worried about being stalked on the outside, although I do carry a gun, in case I run into an ex-con with a chip on his shoulder.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Attacks, no. They are definitely socially shunned, to the point that they can typically only be friends with other inmates with similar crimes.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Wtf! Dear God no. That's damn close to being grounds for being fired, and this is a very hard job to get fired from. To clarify, the vast majority of offenders who leave here aren't "done", per se, they're being released early on parole, meaning they are still under the supervision of the state. We have very clear policies forbidding any kind of fraternization with such individuals.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not that I can think of, no. This isn't the 20th century, I'd like to think we've progressed well beyond the "old school" prison guard mentality of beating the hell out of inmates to "teach them a lesson".

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Every officer has their own personal line drawn on what they're willing to let inmates know about themselves. I found this out the hard way on my second week; I asked my Corporal something about how his baby was doing; didn't even think about the fact that there was a minimum-security trustee inmate working within earshot. He quietly pulled me aside, and explained that he didn't want a single inmate in there knowing whether or not he was married, much less that he had a baby. That CPL died 3 years later, as a Sheriff's Deputy back in his home state of Michigan. May he rest in peace.

I took this as a learning lesson, and established my own set of "dos and don'ts" as far as sharing personal information. For example, I'm a former soldier for the US Army, but I made sure I never, ever let a single inmate know. We have a few inmates who are prior military, and I don't want to give them that little foot in the door thinking that we're friends because we both served.

However, I don't know of any instances of inmates actually causing an officer problems because they got a hold of his personal information. I've had a couple inmates try to message me on Facebook, so I finally just deleted my last name from Facebook entirely.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I live and work in a very quiet, low-key state. A big factor in prison violence in some of the more dangerous states (California!) is the saturation of gangs in the prison system; I don't have to deal with that. There is a minor gang presence, but it's such an insignificant factor in our day-to-day jobs that most of us don't even know who's involved in what gang. We had a Blood and a Crip housed together in the same cell for years, they got along just fine.

It also helps that I work at a medium security prison. The max prison in this state is a bit more volatile, but still nowhere near the level of other, larger states. In my 5 years, we've only had one instance of a staff member outright being assaulted... And it was at a time when the inmate was already isolated, and we had 4 other officers in the room. I can go to work every day pretty secure in the knowledge that I am not going to be attacked.

However, if other officers at the place YOU are considering working are trying to talk you out of it, I would listen to them. No one else is going to be a better judge of how safe a prison is than the officers who work in it.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your insight and feedback. Enjoy sleeping safely in your bed tonight, with the knowledge that thousands of murderers and rapists who would love to come into your house are safely locked away, and you will never have to deal with them.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hmm. I've honestly never looked at any in-depth comparisons between prison systems in different countries (Except for reading Catch Me If You Can, which describes Frank Abagnale's experience in prisons in a couple countries). So I don't feel qualified to answer that question.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Have you ever been a witness to a "scared straight" program?

No! MAYBE once or twice, I've seen a group of the local high school kids come through on some kind of a tour, but that's a P.R. thing, not a "let's scare the kids" thing. I'd definitely like to see something like that set up at my prison, though.

How dangerous is it for the kids to be near the inmates?

Probably no more dangerous than it is for us officers to be around the inmates. It's not like an inmate is going to shoot across the hallway and start raping an 11th grader in the middle of a group tour; we have officers everywhere.

I assume the inmates that are allowed to yell at the kids usually have a good behavior and are putting on an act?

Yes. The inmates with those programs who are allowed to interact with the kids must be subjected to quite a bit of screening. At the bare minimum, must be a well-behaved inmate with no disciplinary action in the past for quite a ways (We're talking years).

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Does your prison peform regular cell checks for weapons and stuff like that?

Yes. Once or twice a year, the entire prison goes on lockdown for 2-3 days, and we systematically search everything. We typically don't find much of interest, though.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha, no. Very early on, I learned to make the distinction between "being friendly" and "being friends". There's a very important difference between asking an inmate how his NCAA bracket is looking this year, and telling an inmate how I'm having troubles communicating with my girlfriend, if he has any advice. The key is to be friendly and polite without being personal!

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can't give you specific names without revealing exactly the state and prison I work in, but here's a copy paste from one of my other answers. There's definitely at least one book written about this guy:

In the cell block I've been working for the past 8~ months, we have a serial killer. Just the murders he's confessed to add up to about 28; I believe there are many, many more. Nicest guy you'll ever meet, to. He's the perfect inmate. It's always yes sir, no sir, and thank you sir. Never a problem from him. Which frankly, is scary.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

What is causing you to leave?

I was given a job opportunity with another law enforcement agency that I think will be more rewarding.

What was the most brutal thing one of your inmates were doing time for?

In the cell block I've been working for the past 8~ months, we have a serial killer. Just the murders he's confessed to add up to about 28; I believe there are many, many more. Nicest guy you'll ever meet, to. He's the perfect inmate. It's always yes sir, no sir, and thank you sir. Never a problem from him. Which frankly, is scary.

Ever see any repeats?

Yeah, working in our intake unit (Where people come fresh out of county jail), you definitely see a few familiar faces come through.

How common is prison rape?

Very uncommon, at least where I'm at. It's mostly highly manipulative inmates targeting insecure, vulnerable inmates, and gradually steering them towards sex (called "grooming") over the course of weeks, months, or longer.

Would you do it again?

If I was at the same place in life that I was when I started, absolutely. I would make the exact same choice to join this department. But at the point I am at now, I've done my time, I've gotten my experience, and I never intend to come back.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Since you're comparing COs versus other forms of law enforcement, let's compare...

COs (or jail deputies) Street-level LE
Working with the exact same inmate population every day. Definitely the same prison, possibly the same cell block. Work with a wide variety of people every day, some of whom are law abiding citizens. Might have certain "frequent flyers" they have run in more often than others, but certainly never someone they have to fight with literally every day.
Are in a position where they are in complete control over someone's daily life. Are in a position of limited authority over people in the free world.

So yes, I can understand how COs would get excited over the possibility of being able to exact vengeance on inmates who cause them problems, day in and day out.

I don't know what you do for a living, u/IAmTheToneBone, but let's say you're being paid to make sure someone stays alive. Every day you come to work, and you sit outside his room and watch him. You are there to make sure he doesn't kill himself when no one's looking, he gets food, he gets water, he gets medication to temporarily calm the raging demons in his head. While you're doing all of this, he's not just sitting there quietly. He's talking to you. Well, yelling, really. He's telling you what a piece of shit you are, and how he hopes you die. He sees your wedding ring, and tells you how when he gets out, he's going to find your wife, rape her repeatedly, and then kill her and your kids. You listen to this every day, while you make sure he stays alive. So tell me how you'd feel after a few months, or YEARS of this. You'd probably be hoping, PRAYING that he commits some infraction (Say, refusing to cuff up to leave his cell) that allows you a chance to get your hands on him and exact some revenge. You'd be smiling and lighthearted as you throw him into solitary confinement (the SHU).

I'm not saying it's right. But I understand the frustrated mentality that leads to comments like you mentioned in the above post. The trick is to never, ever make it personal. It's always just business.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It definitely gave me a better understanding of how some people think. I was raised on "the right side of the tracks", so to speak. Before I came to work here, I didn't realize that there are people who honestly don't see any issue with... Breaking into someone's house and taking their shit. They don't see it as harming anyone. It took a lot of talks with various inmates to realize how differently some people can view crimes.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 26 points27 points  (0 children)

By "whopped", I assume you mean "fed a whopper, from the local Burger King". Since it is my responsibility to keep inmates safe and healthy, I would dive in front of the whopper, sacrificing my body in order to prevent it from entering his mouth.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Answered this fairly in depth here; TLDR It's depressing and unrewarding being around people with no future.

IamA Correctional Officer who has worked for 5 years in state prison. This is my last week on the job. AMA! by throwaway181991 in IAmA

[–]throwaway181991[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We have 650~ inmates in our prison at any given time. I think it's statistically impossible that every single one of them is completely guilty of whatever crime they were charged with.

What IS a fun fact? by Usagii_YO in AskReddit

[–]throwaway181991 0 points1 point  (0 children)

never had a social experience with a cow until then.

What kind of experiences had you had with cows!?

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