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Potent plagues, widening war, rampaging nature, marauding meteors, alien attacks – And you thought that corrections had enough to contend with.
Despite our many challenges, we must acknowledge that we do not operate in a vacuum. Events from the outside will impact our operations, even if they never come to pass. Forecasts of the end of the world seem to prove this point.
Whenever a contraband item is removed from a corrections setting, security becomes enhanced. This is true whether a weapon or a simple betting slip is taken out of circulation.
Of course, the weapon is a more obvious threat than the betting slip. However, small things can be traced to larger, seriously dangerous enterprises. It remains that all contraband has the potential to present peril to staff and prisoners.
Without question, security is the paramount goal of corrections. This is true regardless of the size or location of the worksite.
From the smallest local lockup in Alaska to the largest maximum-security facility in Florida, contraband’s ubiquity remains a dangerous truth.
The importance of decision making in corrections is clear. How we operate on the job impacts the lives of our colleagues and those housed in our institutions. And while safety inside our facilities is important, the public is also a factor. Our vocational performance can be viewed on the backdrop of public safety.
There is no escaping the fact that all of us are faced with scores of decisions every day. Therefore, it behooves us to consider how we face decisions and what really motivates us.
Author’s note: If you were to receive a message from the future, you’d surely wonder how or why it could happen. For the purposes of this essay, Dear Reader, let us dispose of any theological, metaphysical, and time/space continuum considerations. Focus instead on the content of the message.
Imagine that you receive a message from the future. More alarming is that you recognize the writing style as your own. How would such a message read? Here is one possibility. Read more…
Thoughts about scrutiny and self scrutiny
Monitor
Observe
Analyze
Predict
In corrections, that is what we do. It does not matter if your niche is custody, support, or administration. If you have at least a few years on the job, you should be able to detect carefully masked flaws in others. From there, it is easy to plan ahead for any moves that the object of scrutiny may make.
For example, off the job, I know someone who seems to operate best when telling lies. Elements of his oft told stories grow more and more fantastic with each rendering. It is oddly entertaining. Rather than yell, “LIAR!” in his deceptive face, I listen with care. Perhaps he will come clean some day and tell the truth. But I am more fixed on the possible embellishments with each telling. Read more…
