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"My Four Months As a Private Prison Guard" Journalist writes about time undercover

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M

MadLaughter

Member
They weren't interested in the details of my résumé. They didn't ask about my job history, my current employment with the Foundation for National Progress, the publisher of Mother Jones, or why someone who writes about criminal justice in California would want to move across the country to work in a prison. They didn't even ask about the time I was arrested for shoplifting when I was 19.
Click to expand...

I spend free moments leaning up against the bars, making chitchat with prisoners about their lives. I tell one, Brick, that I am from Minnesota. He says he has friends there. "We got to hook up!" he says. I cultivate these relationships; having gray-haired, charming inmates like him in my good graces helps me because younger, harder prisoners follow their lead. I do favors for others—I let a cop killer outside when it's not yard time because he seems to have influence over some of the inmates. Guys like him and Corner Store teach me how to win inmates' respect. They teach me how to make it in here.
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According to CCA's contract with Louisiana, 36 guards are expected to show up for work at 6 a.m. every day. Twenty-nine of them fill mandatory 12-hour positions that require a body in them at all times—these include unit floor officers, front-gate officers, perimeter patrol, supervisors, and infirmary officers. I make a habit of counting the number of security staff at the meetings. Some days there are 28, some days 24, but there are almost always fewer than 29.
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http://www.motherjones.com/politics...tions-corporation-inmates-investigation-bauer

This article is 35,000 words, and FASCINATING. Heartbreaking, too. My eyes were wide for the whole thing.
 
A

Aureon

Please do not let me serve on a jury. I am actually a crazy person.
That's some damn fine journalism. Reading now.
 
A

AlphaDump

Gold Member
reading now


She warns us repeatedly, however, that to become corrections officers, we'll need to pass a test at the end of our four weeks of training. We will need to know the name of the CEO, the names of the company's founders, and their reason for establishing the first private prison more than 30 years ago. (Correct answer: "to alleviate the overcrowding in the world market.")
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holy shit
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
Halfway through and this is already riveting. I've read about privatized prisons before, but never from the guard perspective. They really do throw people into lion's den for barely above minimum wage.
 
M

MadLaughter

Member
On the morning of the audit, we wake everyone up and tell them to make their beds and take any pictures of women off their lockers. Two well-dressed white men enter Ash unit and do a slow lap around the floor. The only questions they ask Bacle and me are what our names are and how we're doing. They do not examine our logbook, nor do they check our entries against the camera footage. If they did, they would find that some of the cameras don't work. They do not check the doors. If they did, they would see they need to be yanked open by hand because most of the switches don't work. They don't check the fire alarm, which automatically closes smoke doors over the tiers, some of which must be jimmied back open by two guards. They do not ask to go on a tier. They do not interview any inmates. They do a single loop and they leave.
Click to expand...

This whole article, man...
 
M

MadLaughter

Member
Just finished reading the thing. Man, it's a saga. I wonder how the writer chose this place. It seems like the perfect shitstorm.
 
DietRob

DietRob

i've been begging for over 5 years.
I don't have time to read this article now but I am very interested so I want to post here now to put it in my subs. Thanks for the link.
 
M

Maiorum

Member
Only a few paragraphs in, but I can tell this is going to be a fascinating read.

Private prisons are hellholes, but man, it goes way deeper than that, to a cultural mindset that thinks of prisoners as subhumans to be punished.
 
M

Manmademan

Member
ah, yes. interesting article.

but the fact that private prisons are a clusterfuck is not exactly news to those of us in the industry and the trend is away from this, not ramping up.

there is a very, very, very big difference between how private prisons handle their business (which is about 10% of the population) and how state and federal do (which is the other 90% and rising).
 
M

MadLaughter

Member
Maiorum said:
Only a few paragraphs in, but I can tell this is going to be a fascinating read.

Private prisons are hellholes, but man, it goes way deeper than that, to a cultural mindset that thinks of prisoners as subhumans to be punished.
Click to expand...

Yeah, at one point in the article a prison employee refers to them as cattle, in another section one employee says that beating the inmates raises their IQ.
 
B

Blackie

Member
Just finished this whole article. It's heartbreaking. Soulcrushing. One of those things that makes you lose more faith.

How can we change the prison system in the United States, whether it be the public or private systems? My guess is that most Republicans at the state or federal level don't care, but do any Democrats? And if any did enough to get the ball rolling then what is the process? Do we need to begin with public audits and research to justify legislation? Is legislation possible without jumping through almost insurmountable bureacratic, bi-partisan hoops? Can individual states block sweeping reforms, so true change would require unprecendented co-operation between federal and state governments? And even if rules are changed is it possible to change guards who are irredemable sociopaths or just temporarily changed by the environment they have been forced to work in? How much potential would there be for backsliding, like happens with so many of our best policy changes or reforms, depending on the new governments put in power each election cycle, or generation?

Reading about America's increasingly broken healthcare system is scary in a somewhat abstract way for me as a healthy person (knocks on wood), reading about the insanely polarized, corrupt and cynical gridlock of our political system is deflating for me as a person of ideals, reading about the ever militarizing, long-warped police system of prejudice and violence is intimidating even as a citizen with a 100% clean record. But there is something truly heartbreaking for me when reading about our prison system. It is perhaps our worst disgrace, is fed by and feeds our other flaws as a nation. It makes me wonder why I continue living here, not protesting, campaigning, or going door to door. These issues are REAL. They are destroying lives daily, so many lives its hard to get an accurate count.

But I likely won't really do anything much until it touches me directly, like the vast majority of people. I will continue to work my job, keep my head down, and sometimes vote for the few politicians who seem average, let alone above average. It burns me like nothing else today, but by tomorrow I will think less of it. In a week less than that, and in a month not at all for the most part until the next amazing article/expose makes it to real to ignore again. I hate it, but its reality. Damn it. It doesn't matter if we still have even ONE prison like this. One is too much, and there sure as hell are more than one. This is bullshit and it shouldn't be acceptable when we have so much money and power as a nation, especially not when we like to publicly and implicitly tout our intangible moral superiority on a world stage.
 
M

MC Safety

Member
Nine bucks an hour.

For reference, I tested video games for eight dollars an hour. And that was many years ago. And I made overtime, which paid $12 or $16 an hour.
 
R

ryseing

Member
Guaranteed 96% occupation.

And you wonder why our sentencing laws are so stupid. Fascinating piece and deserves more attention.
 
I

impirius

Member
This is a horror story of systems within systems, all seemingly designed to break every person involved.

Miss Roberts opens a letter with several pages of colorful child's drawings. "Now, see like this one, it's not allowed because they're not allowed to get anything that's crayon," she says. I presume this is for the same reason we remove stamps; crayon could be a vehicle for drugs. There are so many letters from children—little hands outlined, little stockings glued to the inside of cards—that we rip out and throw in the trash.

One reads:

I love you and miss you so much daddy, but we are doing good. Rick Jr. is bad now. He gets into everything. I have not forgot you daddy. I love you.
Click to expand...
At this point, I had to stop reading for a while.
 
C

Coriolanus

Banned
Blackie said:
How can we change the prison system in the United States, whether it be the public or private systems?
Click to expand...

One has to move the overton window.

Hills has been making some very small moves that way, but, given the realities on the ground, that's probably the best one can expect in the short term at that level.

Alternatively, just stack the SC with liberal judges that don't have their heads shoved up their asses in regards to recidivism and the problem will solve itself via judiciary brute force.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
MC Safety said:
Nine bucks an hour.

For reference, I tested video games for eight dollars an hour. And that was many years ago. And I made overtime, which paid $12 or $16 an hour.
Click to expand...

You got shanked a couple of times up at Daikatana County though, I heard. Some shotcaller threatened to make you his bitch.
 
H

Heavy_D206

Member
Amazing read.

I've been interested in private prions being run for profit for a while. VICE has done somme great reporting on it, but this is definitely the most in-depth piece I've seen written. The number of stabbings that occurred in that prison is fucking terrifying.
 
K

Kas

Member
Prison reform is something I care deeply about. There was a Mississippi prison a few years back that had grossly violated human rights, and since then, Ive read about all these current prisons and how they're all failing.

I'll give this a read in a few. I can imagine it'll be pretty heavy.
 
M

MC Safety

Member
Stinkles said:
You got shanked a couple of times up at Daikatana County though, I heard. Some shotcaller threatened to make you his bitch.
Click to expand...

I fashioned a homemade shiv from a rolled-up Spy Magazine and ran afoul with the Glen Cove 5 Percenters over some text bugs.
 
B

Blackie

Member
Coriolanus said:
One has to move the overton window.

Hills has been making some very small moves that way, but, given the realities on the ground, that's probably the best one can expect in the short term at that level.

Alternatively, just stack the SC with liberal judges that don't have their heads shoved up their asses in regards to recidivism and the problem will solve itself via judiciary brute force.
Click to expand...

Moving the overton window seems difficult with the kneejerk opinion many still have about prisons being ok as they are because we should be cowboy tough on crime for the sake of toughness itself, as opposed to altering policy in an attempt to prevent crime by going after its root causes and also re-habilitate criminals. Criminals are still people with rights but damnit if some people in this country don't think that "criminals" are some kind of evil alien species deserving of any inhumane mistreatment even if said mistreatment is supposedly against the law.

As for stacking the SC, well, that is possible with the way demographic shifts and other factors increasingly favor democrats/liberals each year. Just gotta get em to vote and keep future gerrymandering/etc from screwing up proper representation.
 
C

Coriolanus

Banned
Blackie said:
Moving the overton window seems difficult with the kneejerk opinion many still have about prisons being ok as they are because we should be cowboy tough on crime for the sake of toughness itself, as opposed to altering policy in an attempt to prevent crime by going after its root causes and also re-habilitate criminals. Criminals are still people with rights but damnit if some people in this country don't think that "criminals" are some kind of evil alien species deserving of any inhumane mistreatment even if said mistreatment is supposedly against the law.
Click to expand...

True. Quite true. Certainly doesn't help that democrats were hesitant to push back against efforts from the other side to push it in the tuff on crime direction and heck, even made the problem worse by calling people "super-predators".

Still, is the only option. Will need a sustained effort, obv.
 
Maximus.

Maximus.

Member
I read through parts. Pretty crazy to get an inside look into the shit and mentality of private prisons and some of those involved. Pretty fucked up.
 
A

Aaronology

Member
I partially wish I had not read that entire article and instead had continued my night without a glimpse into how awful our prison system is. It's selfish, but... I feel utterly dispirited and emotionally drained right now.


Edit: That said, I very much appreciate you making this thread, Mad.
 
F

FelixOrion

Poet Centuriate
Holy mother of God. What a piece. This deserves a Pulitzer.

Hell, reading it made me want somebody big to adapt this into a screenplay bad.
 
M

Mumei

Member
Thanks for posting this. I was only able to get so far, but I'm going to read the rest this weekend. Bauer's piece on solitary confinement is also a must-read, so I was really intrigued by this.

Maiorum said:
Only a few paragraphs in, but I can tell this is going to be a fascinating read.

Private prisons are hellholes, but man, it goes way deeper than that, to a cultural mindset that thinks of prisoners as subhumans to be punished.
Click to expand...

It is a mindset that runs deep. I posted a topic a few months ago about abuses towards mentally ill prisoners in a Florida prison where you can see the same dynamics. It's a deeply-rooted cultural and institutional problem in the United States. It is the inevitable consequence of the moral logic of retribution, and until and unless we're able to confront the moral bankruptcy of that theory of punishment, we're not going to see anything better.
 
S

SeanTSC

Member
The medical part of the article is really the stuff of nightmares and makes me so damned angry.

I'm usually pretty pro-jail time for stuff that's even remotely violence-related (SWATing, Twitter Death/Rape threats, etc) but Private Prisons shouldn't ever be a fucking thing and state/federal ones need to be vastly improved. I'm sure it would help a lot if we'd hurry the fuck up and decriminalize drug possession, which would free up a shitload of room and resources.
 
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