Reflection Paper Over New Jack by Ted Conover

The book talks about the relationship between inmates and correction officers as well as how recruits are trained to be correctional officers. From my thinking after reading the book, the relationship is based on the officer in charge of the correctional facility. Sometimes the officer is too harsh while sometimes they can be too lenient to the inmates. Some stereotype construed about prisons are true because prison is a place where there is too much torture of inmates. I beg to agree with the stereotype because most of the prisons across the world are not friendly to the convicts. Prisoners are subjected to hard work that cannot be done by a normal person. They are not given time to engage in recreational activities like playing and watching movies. Inmates don't enjoy their basic needs while serving their different terms in prison. They have limited access to clothes in that they have one pair of uniform for easy identification. Prison structures are made of tall walls without good sewers which put the health of prisoners into risk. Nonetheless, prisoners are put in small cells without consideration of health conditions of an individual. It is wise for correctional officers to establish health conditions of prisoners before they put them into cells to control the spread of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis.

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Police training is always harsh and unwelcoming, and therefore, an individual should be prepared to face anything such mistreatment by trainers and another official. Correctional departments should not allow mistreatment of recruits since they continue to cultivate the vice on the upcoming generation of officers. The residential areas of police officers or rather correctional officers are messy. The officer is always subjected to environ thus dirty threatening their health (Farrell, 2015). Arguably, correctional officers, as well as another police department, conceal unlicensed weapons that could endanger their lives and the lives of the public. Police tend acting as though they are above the laws of a country thus exhibit all kinds of indiscipline while at work. The take advantage of living in residential police houses to hide weapons. High-rank correctional officers incessantly use abuse language to their juniors. This is bad behavior for a police officer since he or she would not be able to discharge his or her duties as required by law. For instance, they cannot rehabilitate a convict of hate speech and abuse because they don't serve as a good example when they abuse junior officers and the recruits in the correctional department.

In correctional training centers, recruits undergo a lot of torture and mistreatment from their tutors. For examples, sometimes they are left to guess what they should do when given a particular task by the trainers. Recruits find it extremely hard to adjust in the new hostile environment. Correctional official ought to treat recruits with the respect they deserve. I tend to belief recruits escape correctional centers before they graduate for the job because of the harshness and ruthlessness of correctional officers (Farrell, 2015). The excesses of the officers should be looked at by an independent body to protect recruits from mistreatment. The rules in the correctional training are also inhuman and once you break a single one you are ruthlessly dealt with. In my opinion, the rules are made to prepare the recruits to deal with inmates to ensure the objectives of the state are achieved. Recruits in prison departments should be taught how to deal with convicts without harming them humanely. They should also be informed that the core objective of correctional facilities is to reform and rehabilitate criminal but not to punish them.

Maximum prisons are often guarded by correctional officers who incessantly lock and unlock cells for convicts. The main task of correctional officers is to move prisoners to and from different places. Manning a prison poses a security threat to an individual because the prisoners may turn against you once they feel they have been offended. Correctional facilities should be manned by several fully armed officials to prevent them from unanticipated attack from criminals in the cells. Officers guarding cells should be trained how to be careful to protect him or her from losing imperative things like documents and keys to the cells. Lost keys could fall on wrong hands thus causing insecurity both correctional officers and the public. Moreover, if a crucial document is lost, it could cost an officer his or her job because capital criminals may access them to hide evidence of their cases. Correctional officer job is tedious and stressful, and therefore, an individual should undergo pre-training guidance and counseling to prepare him or her for the job (Farrell, 2015). A well-guided officer would be able to overcome correctional stress hence improving his or her performance. Correctional officers may lose their tempers around their family members such as children and wife. Losing tempers can pose a security threat to the family owing that the correctional officers are always armed. A correctional officer should not transfer his or her anger from prison to his or her home.

Correctional officers should be trained how to handle convicts when in prison. They should be made aware not to violate the rules of the correctional facility such as ignoring minor inmates. An officer may assume that a minor convict is not a threat to the people around him or her, but eventually, he or she may turn to be violent to other inmates and officers (Farrell, 2015). Correctional officers should be guided by rules and regulations while at work to prevent them from misbehaving. Some of the misbehaviors they exhibit are brought drugs to inmates and mistreating and mercilessly beating them. A correctional officer should neither be good nor bad to the inmates. He or she should be neutral at all times. The experienced correctional worker should not be biased and therefore, should show his or her professionalism and work ethics.

Conclusion

The swelling number of prisoners has been addressed by consequently increasing the number of correctional officers. The existence of criminals in society signifies the economic decline of the entire country. Therefore, the best way to increase the economic development of a nation-state is to increase correctional officers and correctional facilities. Growth in the economy reduces crimes in society because most crime perpetrators are occupied with jobs hence the decrease in the number of inmates. Inmates should be allowed to worship; go for the gym; attend school while in prison and access treatment in hospitals. Being in prison does not mean that prisoners are lesser human beings. Correctional officers should not view prisoners as rejected individuals in the society but people under rehabilitation and correction from committed crimes.

References

Farrell, V. L. (2015). The Effectiveness of Training for Correction Officers in the Performance of their Job.