96: Best of the Prison Officer - The Basics - Success in Corrections

In this episode of the basics, I talk about what it takes to have Success in Corrections. The Basic, common sense attributes and work habits of a good correctional officer.  Listen as I talk about Correctional Basics every rookie should know, and every veteran officer should already be doing...who knows...everyone needs a refresher sometimes.

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Chapters

• 0:43 Succeeding in Corrections
• 12:07 Building Bonds and Being Professional

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:43

Well, hello and welcome back to the final episode of the Basics. I wanted to spend a little bit of time. You know some short podcasts just on the basics of working in corrections. You know what someone needs to know or sometimes what we need to review and what we need to think about. Um, you know, sometimes we'll do this for five or 10 years and we'll get uh, uh, getting some habits. So sometimes it's good to review just the basics of how we do this job and that was kind of what my intention was. And, uh, we put out eight episodes. They were very successful. I will tell you, I've gotten a lot of emails from several people who are going through the Academy, several emails from people who have just started a job in correction somewhere, so I was very happy about it. I did put out a post last two weeks ago asking if anybody had any more ideas for what we should do on the basics. No responses, so I'm going to go ahead and finish up today with you know some of my thoughts on how to succeed in corrections and some of the basics of just being a good correctional officer. I've already written this down before, if you haven't taken a look the Prison Officer Podcast Job Guide Information and Guidance to Start your Career in Corrections. I've already written this down before. If you haven't taken a look. Uh, the prison officer podcast job guide, uh, information and guidance to start your career in corrections was a book that I wrote. Uh, in 2021, and then in 20 and then this year. Uh, we've updated it and so it's got new information in it. But, uh, anyway, I'm going to take some of this, you know, straight from the book, because these are are some of the things that make a good correctional officer, and a lot of that has to do with, you know, treating each other with respect in in many different ways, and I'm going to cover a couple of those.

Speaker 1: 2:34

Being a good officer doesn't always mean coming down hard on inmates or coming down hard on each other. Some of it is growing up and realizing that the world isn't just a punching bag. You don't have to fight your way through it. You can walk your way through it with your head high, carrying yourself in a manner that you would carry yourself anyplace else, whether it's on the street, whether it's at church, whether it's, you know, a party outside, whatever.

Speaker 1: 3:05

A lot of people want to change when they come into corrections and that's probably the worst thing you can do. You need to be who you are and hopefully, who you are is a good person to start with. If you're not a good person, then okay, I'll agree with that. Maybe you do need to change. But if you're just a good person who wants a job and wants to, you know, move up in a career, make some friendships, retire, have health insurance you know the basics of what we're all after um provide for your family. If that's who you are, then go to work like that. You don't have to go to work to try to beat down the world, and I've worked in penitentiary, so you're not going to tell me anything. I haven't already been through and walked through and you're not going to change my mind.

Speaker 1: 3:55

I know there's a lot of crusty people out there who are mad the minute they walk into work and they're mad when they leave work and they take it out on everybody, staff and inmates included, while they're at work and they just make it a hard place to work. And I will tell you that I've had as many staff who made my life hard at work as I have inmates, and there's no need for that. We're all on the same team. It's us and them. There's no in between. There's no us and them. And then you the best thing you can do is get on board, get on the team and then start treating people like you want to be treated. You know the golden rule when whether whether that's inmates or whether that's staff but I'll get off my soap box there for a minute. So here's some of the ways to succeed in corrections, some of the basics of succeeding in corrections, and I think I'll start with one of the biggest show integrity. Daily you know I cannot stress enough to a new employee Integrity cannot be bought or borrowed while inside a prison.

Speaker 1: 4:59

It belongs to you and you only, and you should protect it at all costs, because once it's lost, you'll never get it back. You can't bring back integrity. Once people don't trust you, it's gone. They may get to where they can work with you again, but you're never going to get that full trust back that you started with in, but you're never going to get that full trust back that you started with. So you need to protect that. That needs to be, that needs to be the number one thing that you do every day is wake up, protect that integrity, work with integrity, treat other people with integrity. There's no reason to lie, there's no reason to make up stories to make yourself look bigger, there's no reason to forge paperwork, all that stuff. And I've watched it. I've watched it for 30 years. I've watched a lot of people who thought that they were going to get by with stuff and it came back around on them and once that happens, you lose everybody's trust, not just, not just a staff, but you also lose the inmates trust. And if you can't have a certain level of trust with the inmates you work with, then you're ineffective as a correctional officer.

Speaker 1: 6:05

Lead others and how important is that inside how? How important is leadership? It's something I've talked about, it's something I speak on. But leading others correctional officers are some of the best leaders. That's because we do it. It's almost instinctual for us after a while, because even if you're not in charge, you're not a sergeant or a lieutenant or whatever ranks in your agency, you still lead inmates, you set an example for them, you get work done by getting people involved and moving towards the same goal, and that's leadership, whether that's inmates or whether that's staff.

Speaker 1: 6:46

But there's a lot of staff out there that need leadership. I hear the grumblings these days all the time with these older staff. They're like these rookies don't listen, they don't do. That's leadership. It's time for you to step in. If they're not listening, then you've got to pull them aside. You've got to bring them into the fold. You've got to bring them into the department, into the job and show them why it's important. And if you can't, I mean I really I haven't ran across that many people in my career that I was not able to help improve themselves or to become a better correctional officer. There were a few. And if you run across that one or two that you know they're just not made for this, they won't listen, then it's time to work on, you know, getting them out the door towards another career. But I really believe that there's not that many of those. Everybody has the capability to do this job.

Speaker 1: 7:45

The thing that makes correctional officers good correctional officers is the same thing that makes good employees anywhere. We've talked about the first two integrity leadership you can take that anywhere, but if you take it inside prison, you can make a difference. So that's one of the first. You know you're going to find out that you're naturally becoming a leader. If you're a new rookie that's come into this system. You're going to find out that you're becoming a leader, whether you know it or not, and you're going to start noticing that the you know, your local church has tapped you on the shoulder to run some Sunday school classes, or maybe the school wants you to come coach some little league classes, or or maybe it's just a community thing. Um, you know, leadership works in all areas of our lives and we get to hone it daily as a correctional officer.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Another one is uh, you know, learn from your mistakes. Uh, that's a hard one for a lot of people. It's a hard one for people who cover up who they truly are with a lot of ego. You know, when you're open to criticism and when you're open to feedback as a way to improve, you're going to go a long ways in whatever career it is. But in corrections you can go a long ways. You've got to understand that you don't immediately know it all, and there are people there who can help you take those steps, who can point out where you can become better.

Speaker 1: 9:09

And I was resistant to that for many, many years. So I'm talking from experience here, and it was later in my career when I realized that I wasn't perfect, that I wasn't doing things perfectly and that there was a lot of room for improvement. And I started reaching out to those mentors around me and some of them have been reaching out to me for a long time, but I wasn't listening and so I started listening and I started reaching out and learning from their mistakes, learning from their experience. And if you'll do that, if you show respect to a person that gives you constructive criticism, you'll be rewarded with their respect also. And that goes a long ways in this career, and I know that probably I'll get a few raised eyebrows on this one, but you can learn from constructive criticism of inmates too, and I remember, early on in my career, a couple of inmates talking to me about how I talked to inmates in general, and, um, I was resistant to that, but I I did eventually learn that a lot of what they were telling me was correct. I didn't have to run in there, you know, with this big ego threatening to throw people in the hole. Communication goes a long ways. Integrity goes a long ways, um. So there's another one learn from your mistakes. And here's one that, um, I think is very important and I, and here's one that I think is very important, and it's probably as important now as ever, and that's be there for others, be there for others.

Speaker 1: 10:46

There's a lot of people that you work with who have things going on at home and they hide it when they come to work, and we all get caught up in our own lives and we all get caught up in you know what's going on around us that we don't take time sometimes to listen to the staff around us, and I know if you've been in corrections, you know very long, uh, just about any agency you've probably already dealt with. You know staff suicides. It's just going crazy and I don't know if it's because of where I sit or because I hear from more people these days, but there's almost an epidemic of staff suicides going on, and these aren't people who outwardly look like they have a lot of problems, you know. They look like they've got some pretty decent lives, but somewhere deep inside they don't feel like life's worth living anymore and that's sad, and I really do think that a lot of that could be solved. Just by when you ask somebody in the morning, you know, hey, how you doing today. You know that passing, uh, making, making conversation. Take a second Listen, see what they say. Don't just make it a passing conversation. See if they do need to talk to somebody. See if they do need someone who's you know there for them a little bit.

Speaker 1: 12:08

And in corrections we need to know that we're never alone. You know we're outnumbered from the moment we walk into work to the moment we walk out, and some of the best bonds I've ever built relationship bonds happened at some of the best bonds I've ever built. Relationship bonds happened at some of the roughest prisons that I've worked in, because there's no room for little squabbling, there's no room for these little problems. When you're dealing with big problems every day you build tight relationships. You get close to the people around you because when you're on the bottom of that dog pile, those are the people that are running to help you and that means a lot. And if you haven't experienced that yet, you probably won't know it fully. Until you do experience it, it'll change the way you look at everything.

Speaker 1: 12:57

One of these days I've had it happen a couple of times to me you can look when everybody's responding to a body alarm and I've told other people this, but I think it's absolutely true If you see staff responding to a body alarm. You can see who's been on the bottom of that pile and who hasn't by how fast they're running. There's the people that have experienced that and they understand. 15 seconds, 30 seconds feels like 30 minutes, um, and they're running as fast as they can. And then you get those people who haven't experienced that and they're just jogging. They're trying not to get there too soon. Uh, soon, because they don't want to deal with it. But pay attention next time in the hallway and you will see who's been on the bottom of that dog pile and who has needed someone in the past. And that's why it's so important that you're there for others, because next time they may need you. So another one that I like talking about real quick, and this is pretty simple and easy. Uh, it seems to be a little bit more of a problem these days, but uh, uh, be on time Shouldn't be a point of discussion.

Speaker 1: 14:08

You know the impression you give when you show up right on time, or even worse, is that you don't care. You don't care about the people you're relieving, you don't care about the job, you don't care about anything, and that's the impression that you're giving. You may not realize that. But there's nothing wrong with showing up five minutes early. I will talk that. The federal Bureau of prisons, you know they got rid of the shift briefing and that was. That's a bad thing. When I was with Missouri department of corrections, we had shift briefings. We came in 15 minutes early on my, on our own time, you know, uh, so that we could catch up, so that we knew what was going on, so that we could pass on information, and that was a good thing.

Speaker 1: 14:51

I'm sorry that there are a few people and most of it's been pushed by the unions but the people that think they don't have 15 minutes for their fellow workers, uh, I'm S I'm sorry for them, I'm sad for them because, um, this job is important and the safety of everybody is important. And if me showing up 15 minutes early, it's not about giving the man anything, it's not about, you know, not getting paid for whatever, it's about me caring about my fellow staff. You know I care enough to show up and know what's going on and be ready for that shift when it's time. I know we can't do that anymore At most places. I think there's still a few that are doing shift briefings and I applaud you, but, if nothing else, be on time. It's not fair when you've had that person who's put in their eight hours and and you're running five, 10 minutes late and rarely do I run across the person who's five or 10 minutes late Once in a while you either have people who are on time all the time or you have people who are late all the time and, um, don't be one of those people. That's just pretty simple. Here's another one, and this should just be basic.

Speaker 1: 16:03

But I wonder sometimes how some of you people live at home but clean up after yourself. I tell the story I, I one quarter. I got put on a relief post where I was a rover for a couple of days. I was in a tower, uh, one day. And I was in another tower the other day and the one tower. I'd go up there and I worked with this officer and, uh, he was clean as could be. He spit, shined everything, and I'm saying you could eat off the floor, it was so clean up there. And then I'd go over to the other tower on the other day and you could eat off the floor over there too. But it's because the officer I relieved was just filthy. Uh, he literally would just pull a trash can up in front of his uh chair and just eat with stuff, dropping part of it into the trash can, part of it into the floor. And it was just nasty to have to come up there and sit in that chair where he'd been eating greasy chicken or whatever. You know, it's on the arm rests and there's pieces of food in the floor.

Speaker 1: 17:04

Don't do that to each other. Be, be an example to others and clean up after yourself. Wipe your table off when you get done, you know. Wipe your keyboard off If you've been eating your bologna sandwich while you're writing a report. That's just. I mean, it's just hygiene. It's just being a good person to each other. I shouldn't have to come in, and neither should anybody else and and clean up after you. So if you're one of those pigs, learn to clean up after yourself and I'll just leave it at that.

Speaker 1: 17:38

Um, another one is no policy. You know a lot of people don't think it's their job to study policy, to know policy, but the way I judge how successful a correctional officer is, one of the ways how successful a correctional officer is, one of the ways how successful a correctional officer is is how many people ask them questions? Do they have other staff that come to them for information or questions about how to do the job? Do they have inmates that talk to them about what's allowed or what policy is, what housing unit rules are? If you see an officer who has lots of staff who talk to them and ask them questions and look to them as a mentor, if you see staff who have inmates that come to them as an expert in policy and rules in the institution, then you see a good correctional officer, and I think that's one of the main things if you know policy, if you know the rules and if you are able to be an, you know. An example of knowledge, I guess, is the word I'm looking for to be an example of a skilled correctional officer, and a lot of that has to do with whether or not you know policy.

Speaker 1: 18:56

Policy is also what keeps you out of trouble. Knowing that policy keeps you from making poor decisions, and I'm going to encourage some of you and I teach in some of my classes. I teach a few of the Supreme Court decisions in some of my classes and I don't think corrections. We talk enough about um and I'm not going to go into it in this podcast. Maybe I need to do one just on that. But you know, graham versus Connor, what you're doing, is it objectively reasonable? You know Whitley versus Albers is another one. Um, you know a lot of those cases. Case law determine what we're allowed to do inside.

Speaker 1: 19:38

One of the things I used to bring up to those that worked with me in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, you know I'd ask people how come we serve inmates three meals a day and they go well, that's policy, okay, it's policy, but that policy is based on federal law. So you're not just breaking policy when you do something, you're breaking the law. So, to know our policies, to know our procedures, to be an expert okay, to be an expert correctional officer means to know that stuff and it means to study it once in a while and keep up on it, because it does change. That's one of the things I want to see in. A good correctional officer is someone who knows their policy, is someone who is getting asked questions by not only staff but inmates, and you'll see those people.

Speaker 1: 20:25

Um, so and finally, um, I guess the last thing I'll talk about on this one is uh, you know, just shine bright, and I'm. I have a quote here. Francis Bacon once wrote in order for light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present. And I know there's a lot of people that look at our career and our profession and they go, wow, that's, you know, dark and you know there's not nice things there and it's violent and all that stuff. But if you want to shine bright, corrections is a place where you can shine brighter than any place else.

Speaker 1: 21:02

Don't settle for eight in the gate. Make your actions, you know. Shine above the rest. Make a difference. Be the person others look to for direction, leadership and inspiration. Be the person that people look forward to seeing when you come to work. And I'm not going to tell you any of this is easy. It's not. I had many years where I had some tough times. I had tough times at work. I had tough times outside of work that probably came to work with me. But over the years I learned how important what we do is and I learned how much effect I could have on the others that I worked with. And you know this, you know. Think about just an example If that captain comes in that day and he's throwing stuff up against the wall and he's mad because I don't know that day and he's throwing stuff up against the wall and he's mad because, I don't know, his dog bit him at home, I don't know.

Speaker 1: 21:59

But he's coming into work and he's throwing stuff and he's, you know, in a rage. Or the housing unit officer. You come down there and you're you're not wanting to talk to people and you're slamming doors. What do you think's going to happen that day? I'll tell you what's going to happen. You're going to infect everybody else with your bad mood and I'll guarantee that you're probably going to have a use of force that day, that you're probably going to have a fight, that you're probably going to have something, because those moods are infectious and just the way negative moods are, positive moods are. If you come in at a good mood, you can set the stage for everybody in that institution sometimes, because it will trickle from one person to the other. So when you come into work, shine bright, bring a good mood with you, and sometimes that's tough I know been there but do it anyway because it matters.

Speaker 1: 22:55

It matters what kind of mood you bring to work. You affect everybody around you and that goes for everything that we've talked about in the last eight episodes of the basics. If you're that officer who's doing what's supposed to be done you're doing it correct, you're doing it in a way that people are proud of the profession then you're going to shine and you're going to affect others. If you're a person who cleans up after yourself in your housing unit before the next shift shows up, others will start taking care of that. They'll start paying more attention to it. If you're a person who walks in with a smile for everybody, that day you're going to see other smiles come back towards you. If you're a person who's knowledgeable in policy, if you're a person who wears their uniform proudly, you're going to see people who look to you as a mentor and you're going to see people who emulate you, and that's going to spread.

Speaker 1: 23:56

It's infectious. The same way that some of the bad things that we talk about in corrections are infectious, the good things are in corrections are infectious too. You can change a whole agency. I truly believe that. I've seen it. I've seen one person take an agency down and I've seen one person take an agency up. Uh, so be that person. That's it for me. Uh, I hope you enjoyed these episodes of the basics. Uh, we'll take a look when we get some time and, uh, maybe we'll come up with another idea to fill in, uh, our every other week schedule with the Prison Officer Podcast. If you haven't yet, take a look on Amazon the Prison Officer Podcast Job Guide, information and guidance to start your career in corrections, and I'll have that down there in the show notes. If you haven't listened to the other episodes, please jump on the Prison Officer Podcast and listen to those episodes. We've had some real good interviews in the last few weeks and we've got some more coming up. Thank you for what you do out there and watch your back.