Oh, Donna, are you glad that you're retired? difficult child inverviewed with the Warden today..

[DDD]

Oh my goodness! Yes his GFGmom says there are alot of C.O.'s who are off the wall and that difficult child would fit in just fine. To me it's downright scarey! We love the kid and he looked great leaving for the interview...dressed like he still lived with us and didn't hang out with very strange people, lol. But....I'm surprised they interviewed a young man who is on disability. He'll never figure out how to handle prisoners...he is too eager to make friends. Firearms training?? Yikes.

I figured you would be interested in this latest development. I just can't imagine he would be hired. Time will tell. DDD

 

[nvts]

DDD! Have you MET a lot of CO's? I have and half of them are NUTS!

I've had a great time with a lot of those guys/girls. Some of them are inordinately odd, but basically a good lot.

Good luck to him on the interview - I give him a lot of credit for trying.

Beth

 

[donna723]

DDD, is this a State prison? Yes, there are a lot of "off the wall" employees but actually they are extremely strict with what the employees are and are not allowed to do. They may ACT off the wall but in truth, you have to be extremely responsible and very tolerant and not let things get to you. There are a ton of rules and policies, all for very good reason, and you have to follow them or you won't be working there very long. The rules insure that nobody gets hurt and that nobody escapes.

In NO WAY is that job a piece of cake! Not everybody can do it. They learn that their lives depend on having each others backs. You have to be the type that can let a lot roll off your back and you have to learn not to let the inmates get to you because they will certainly try! Some of them are really obnoxious and know exactly what buttons to push. And they make a point to target and test out new employees and try to get them to bend the rules and do things they're not supposed to do. If they stick to the rules, if they're fair and treat everyone the same, the inmates will respect them and they usually do fine. They just have to remember that when it comes to inmates, it is strictly "us" and "them" and there are a lot of lines that you just cannot cross. You have to remember where the term "con man" comes from.

I worked around inmates for 24 years in a close security State prison with some of the worst of them, and I've known literally thousands of correctional officers. Of course, each employee brings their own personalities to the job but some of our best officers have been some of the "characters", the low key "good ol boy" types who know how to talk to inmates and know what to expect from them, but won't let them get away with anything either. It is NOT an easy job. It can be very stressful and it takes a lot of hard work and a lot of professionalism. If it's in a State facility, the pay usually isn't the greatest but the benefits are good and usually those jobs have civil service protection and lots of opportunities for advancement. Our newly hired people had to go to the training academy for six weeks of pre-service training, then another month of OJT before they actually work on their own. I wish him luck and I hope he gets the job!

 

[DDD]

Evidently he believes his interview went well. Maybe. But tonight GFGmom shared that there is one opening and seventeen applicants. Somehow I don't think I need to toss and turn tonight. He's basically a nice boy BUT with his Aspergers etc. I can not imagine he would be "slick" enough to figure out the good guys from the bad guys. by the way, yes, it is a State prison. DDD

 

[DDD]

PS: I never in the world thought GFGmom with her ADHD would be hired. I was wrong. She has been within the State system for over ten years. Just goes to show I'm not the sharpest pin in the pack, lol. DDD

 

[donna723]

I'm surprised that they would have interviews for just one opening! It's a very complicated process to hire off of a civil service register. If we had five openings, we had to schedule interviews and then send letters to everyone on the civil service register who was eligible, sometimes 40 or 50 of them. ADHD in itself probably wouldn't be that much of a problem but there are other things that would be.

Working in a prison is a very strange atmosphere and it's not for everyone. Some of the employees may seem "off the wall" but that's the type of person who can handle working there, especially in the housing units. The straight laced, up-tight, prissy types won't last two days. If you are easily rattled or easily shocked or easily offended, you won't make it either. If you can listen to profanity, threats and insults hurled at you for eight hours a day and not lose your cool or your professionalism, you might just make it. Where I worked, there was a core group of long-term employees who had been there forever who were actually very tight with each other. There is a lot of kidding around, dirty jokes, etc. and it helped diffuse the stress. When things got bad, we'd just remind each other of how we'd been through worse before and survived. And when you get a lot of these old veterans together telling stories, you can be prepared to laugh till you get sick, although a lot of it is really "black humor" that would probably shock an outsider but you get hardened to it after a while. You almost have to.

 

[nvts]

Hey Donna! I hope I didn't offend...the lot of CO's that I knew were basically from the Corrections Facility on the Island. I hope in no way did I give the impression that they weren't professional in any way. I'd actually seen them in action a few times when they had to escort prisoners to the local hospital. If I didn't know them, I think the first thing I'd think is that I wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley!

Again, I hope I didn't seem to be belittling anyone's profession - I was just saying that they were a great group of guys (and girls - one of my dear friends left phlebotomy to become a CO and ended up marrying one).

Beth

 

[DammitJanet]

I was going to say it might not be an actual CO job, maybe another type job working in a prison too. Billy almost applied for a job with the prisons working IT. Not everything is CO.

 

[donna723]

Oh Beth, no, I didn't take any offense! None at all! We always joked that if you weren't already "odd" when you hired on, you soon would be! You almost have to be to get along in there! And by the time you have as many years in there as I did, you're just ruined! No hope for you at all!

DDD, is that a civil service job? If he's on a civil service register for correctional officer, even if he doesn't get this one particular job, his name should stay on the register and he should be called to interview again the next time they're hiring. That's the way it usually is done.

And Janet is right ... there are dozens of different jobs in a prison besides correctional officers. There's all kinds of work supervisors, food service supervisors, maintenance, lots of things, but you have to apply for each position separately and get on the registers for each job. If you go to your state's website, there should be a listing of each job classification and the requirements.

 

[Fran]

DDD, did difficult child reveal that he had AS? I would imagine that his physical and past history would reveal his diagnosis. It seems there is quite a bit of testing and screening. Hopefully, he will find a job that doesn't put him at risk.

 

[donna723]

I don't think that would come up in an interview unless he volunteered that information. The way our state did it - they were interviewed by a panel of three management level staff members and they are drug tested even before the interview. Had more than a few head for the parking lot at this point! Then they were hired (or not hired) based on their interview and by the information on their application. They wouldn't get in to any medical or mental problems during the interview unless it was something very obvious. Once they are hired, they are sent to the correctional academy for six weeks of pre-service training. And at some point during this six weeks, they are given a physical and a psychological exam. They also run a background check for any criminal history and they are fingerprinted and the prints are sent through the national registries. If there is anything there, they will find it, and quite a few of them don't make it through the six weeks training.