Behind the Badge: The Valor and Vigilance of Corrections Officers

Step inside the walls of correctional facilities with me, Harriet West-Moore, as we honor the unsung heroes in public safety. Through vivid storytelling, I bring you the raw and often unseen realities that corrections officers confront daily. From the heart-pounding moment of waiting for an all-clear signal after an inmate count to an encounter with unexpected violence, these stories encapsulate the courage and steadfastness required in this line of work. Feel the tension alongside my colleagues and me, and gain a newfound appreciation for the intricate dance of control and care that defines a corrections officer's role.

Further along, we delve into the broader sphere of public safety professions, paying tribute to the resilience that binds us all, from law enforcement to social work. Our conversation shifts to focus on how we navigate the heavy emotional toll these careers exact, while preserving the confidentiality and dignity of those we serve. Listen as I tease an upcoming narrative from a social worker's lens, preparing you for a comprehensive look into the lives of these dedicated individuals. Together, we'll explore the challenges, triumphs, and uncompromising spirit of those who uphold our communities' safety and well-being. Join us for an unvarnished glimpse behind the badge and beyond.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Welcome to Women in Public Safety, where real-life events meets raw truth. I'm Harriet, your host, and I'm also a state parole officer dedicated to unraveling human complexities through true-life cases that we will call Case Chronicles. So join me weekly as we explore gripping narratives from the front lines of law enforcement and social services. From triumph to despair, we will uncover resilience, vulnerability and, of course, justice. Don't forget to subscribe and follow us on social media for the latest episodes and join the movement for change. Hey everybody, welcome to another week of Women in Public Safety Podcast. This is the podcast where we discuss the triumphs and the challenges of women who work in the public professions, such as law enforcement corrections. Who work in the public professions, such as law enforcement corrections, firefighters, emts, social work or human services and the like. So welcome again. My name is Harriet Westmore, I'm the host and the creator of the podcast, and so, before I get started, today is going to be the third Case Chronicle study that we do three times a month, every month. So before I get started to today's Case Chronicle, I wanted everybody to hit that like, share and subscribe button if you are watching the video by YouTube or if you happen to be listening by audio or any type of podcasting form. Please hit the like and subscribe. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 1:46

All right, today's Case Chronicle I'm going to talk about my time as a corrections officer and I want to dedicate this true case study to all the corrections officers who are working in city, county or in state care detention types facilities. That could be a challenge in any of itself. You are working close quarters with inmates and offenders, in a supposedly secure setting, I should say. And that dealing with the everyday challenges of, you know, supervising adult offenders or even youth offenders I can't even say just for adults, but youth detention centers, anything you know that has to do with working with them and seeing them on a daily basis and making sure that they're doing what they're supposed to do inside a secure setting, is very challenging. So this story today is dedicated for all my fellow corrections officers.

Speaker 1: 2:54

This didn't happen to me. This particular incident I'm going to talk about. It happened to me personally, although it could have. It was just by sheer luck that I wasn't assigned to that particular post that day. I worked for the state prison all male prison. I was female CO, but this one particular incident occurred during a time when it was during count, and if anybody who knows what count means, that means every certain times of the day you have to count and make sure that all offenders or inmates are accounted for. If you miss a particular count then it's a problem. So during that time, the count, stage of count, all prisons, all the jails, and everybody is locked down inside their jail or inside their dorm. However the setup is until and then the officer will have to physically go and count each cell to make sure that all inmates who are supposed to be in that particular pod, in that particular cell, is accounted for. And this particular incident happened the first Sunday of the month I cannot recall what day or what month it was, but it was also every first Sunday of each month the inmates were allowed to receive a free envelope so they can write home or whatever. The state will provide them a free envelope.

Speaker 1: 4:40

So this particular officer who was assigned to this particular pod, like I said, it was just by a fluke on a certain day that I was not assigned to this particular pod, because otherwise it was really my regular assignment during a week that I would be assigned to this particular pod, and it just happened on a Sunday and that was assigned in another unit. So it wasn't me that was assigned to this pod, but it was during count and once you count your inmates and make sure everybody is in their cell and right where they're supposed to be, you are to call in to the count office, which is in the administration part of the facility, and you give how many inmates that you have in that particular pod and it should match, their particular number, should be in that particular unit and if everything matches then you are considered to have a good count. If you have a bad count, you got to go back and recount cells again and anybody, like I said, anybody who knows who works in corrections, understand exactly what I'm talking about. This particular pod, I think the average was 123, uh, inmates in a all-in-one pod to one officer. So you had top range and you had bottom range.

Speaker 1: 6:15

So the particular officer that was working that pod, he called in his count and it was good. So he was able to procedure us like a first of the month Everybody gets a free envelope, so he was passing out his envelopes. He was slipping under the cell doors. Once count is clear, once every the whole facility has a good count. Once each pod has a good count, then you know it'll be announced over the control that a count has cleared and that means that you know you can pop the cell doors open and you know inmates can go about their business, they can come out of their cell.

Speaker 1: 6:57

So during the time that he called in his count they were still waiting for other the other units to, you know, make good count. So during that time it's like a downtime. So again, offenders stays, stay in their cell until it's announced that everybody is good, they can, you know, and pop the cell door open and go out. Well, during the time that it was this downtime waiting for the Declared for the whole prison, he was seated to Slip a free envelope underneath the cell door. Usually there's two inmates To a cell normally. Well, he was on top range. He had cleared the bottom range. He already Gave them their envelopes. He was upstairs on top range and, and you know he was finishing up giving everybody their envelopes he went back to his desk, received the overall announcement that count has cleared that everybody was good and so he. The cell doors were popped open, well, unlocked by a security system that he has, and he popped open the cell. Everybody came out system that he has and he popped open the cell. Everybody came out and, if I cannot mistaken, it was during time, it was almost. They were getting ready for their, for their dinner. So everybody was getting out and, you know, getting ready to go to what we call child go to to dinner.

Speaker 1: 8:28

You know well, during the time he was passing out envelopes, on Top Range something happened and he didn't realize what happened until he heard these guys calling. You know, like you know, this commotion that was going on. Well, come to find out. This one particular cell on bottom range there was an incident that occurred between two cellmates. Apparently there was an older cellmate and a younger cellmate. Apparently, the younger cellmate had taken an object from what I understand it was some kind of a rock, a rock and he beat his cellmate, the older cellmate, to death. When the door was open, like I said, nobody knew, nobody heard anything during the time the count was the ceo didn't hear anything because he was on top of range on the other side of the pod passing out his envelopes. But when they realized something was wrong with that that particular cell, that inmates were walking by that particular cell and saw complete bloodbath in that cell and when the officer got to the cell it was already too late. The older cell mate was deceased, beaten to a pulp. So obviously, once again, you know, when it's something like that, everybody go back in their cell. You gotta lock them down. Everybody had to go back and get locked down. Of course you know officials, other you know officers that came running into the pod and the perpetrator, the young inmate who did it. He was already ready, he already packed up his stuff because he already knew what was coming. He knew that he was going to be rolled out to a higher security and get charged and go through the criminal process of being charged with murder. He had his stuff packed up in his locker box and waiting for officials to come and get him.

Speaker 1: 10:42

The backstory of that was these two particular individuals. They for some reason did not get along. They always had issues when they were in another part of the prison. They were, I guess they were, in the dormitory type, which is a more open dorm unit, and they had a run in, you know before and for some reason I don't know the full history or the background of why they were transferred inside what we call the gate, because it's more secure and they're actually in cells instead of in a dormitory style type setting, and why they were paired together again inside the cell, I don't know inside the cell. I I don't know and I am from, you know, I'm just remembering what people were saying that I think uh, one of them and I think it was the younger, the one who actually killed his cellmate, you know, had already told them before they were moved to inside the gate into the cell that he wanted to be separated from this particular person because they just weren't getting along and for some reason his request and everything was ignored and they were paired up again and I guess I don't know what happened.

Speaker 1: 12:05

So you know everybody's asking well, how did he even get a, a rock, a boulder? It was like they said. Someone said it was like a boulder, rock or but it was a rock. Well, this particular prison was what we call a parent institution, which means this is where these inmates are going to be spending their serving their sentence, at this particular institution, which means, you know, you're allowed to be out on the yard and maybe one part of the uh on the ground, for some reason, he may have found a rock. That was, you know, with heavy weight, and he brought it back into his cell, seemed like he was waiting for the opportune time and because he planned it out, he pre-planned it and he timed it just right time where he felt that he could get away with doing what he did. But it was one of those things that, you know, you just never know, things can pop off in an instant and you just never know, you think. Which is why it's very important.

Speaker 1: 13:11

First of all, it's very important. I don't know, and I'm sure, a lot of corrections facilities, they have two officers to a post. This particular institution prison that I worked, was one officer to a hundred, to a pod, which you know, that in itself is putting not only the officer at risk, and especially a female officer at risk, but it's putting everybody at risk because you're only one person. You can't handle as an officer, you can't handle all these little conflicts and things that are going on. You're doing your check and you've got inmates doing something over here that you can't see about because you're probably over on the other side, which is exactly what happened.

Speaker 1: 14:01

I was, fortunate to where I didn't have any issues when I had, when I was at my post in that particular pod or any other pods the inmates were. They didn't give me a problem, I wasn't the type that would just nitpick. But you know, just do what you're supposed to do and you know I don't bother you. So I was blessed in that way that they never tried me. I had like again, you have to set the tone from from the beginning of how you are. You cannot, if you're going to be hard, if you're going to be hard, you're going to be firm but fair, then you have to, you know, maintain that same level of uh, consistency throughout your career, because if you become too soft or whatever, they notice it, because they see everything, they watch you like a hawk, because they don't have nothing else to do.

Speaker 1: 14:53

But again, this particular incident of course they had investigators coming in, state investigators, the county, because it happened within the county. And during that whole time, the following day after it happened, that Monday, I was assigned to that post and inmates were still locked down. They couldn't get out, they couldn't come out of their cells. At that point they did assign. It was a female officer that was assigned to the post and I was just there to assist her in making sure everything was kind of under control While they were still doing their investigation. None of the offenders could go out. It was like over 18 hours. You know. They were brought in their food and everything but other than that they couldn't leave. It became very tiresome for them but again, they wasn't going to allow anybody out of their cell until everything was investigated and that cell had to be cleaned up.

Speaker 1: 15:54

I do remember seeing they had to come in and clean up crew to remove all the gore and the blood and everything. And I remember in our utility closet you know we have like a sink and I do remember seeing pieces of brain matter and flesh that was the remnants of the Satan. So this was. It was a very scary experience. I'm normally assigned to that particular pod but just so happened. It happened on a day that I was assigned to another unit because you know how I would have responded. I don't know, I can't honestly say how I would have responded. I don't know, I can't honestly say how I would have responded. And seeing all that, seeing the, the aftermath, but again, this offender, he, he planned it out and he already knew what was going to happen to him. So you know he was already sitting there waiting for them to put him in handcuffs and take them on, and he had everything packed up while his cellmate laying there lodging to death. But that's one of the examples of what corrections you know officers probably have seen and have to witness and you have to deal with.

Speaker 1: 17:11

And there are plenty of more, plenty of more stories like that or even worse. If you would like to share your experience and in your profession, please reach out to me at public safety by women at gmailcom and let's schedule a initial meeting so that we can meet and talk about your story. If you would like me to tell your story on your behalf, I'll be more than happy to with you, you know, giving you the credit, or please feel free. Please be a guest on my podcast and you tell your own story of some of the experience that you have to have. You encountered Some of the stories that that sets out with you that you have to deal with every day in your jobs.

Speaker 1: 17:55

I ask that only that you know you don that you have to deal with Every day in your jobs. I ask that only that you don't mention any names or anything. Just keep it in a generic term, but make sure that everybody understands the content of your story. You don't have to get real specific People places, things like that, if you don't want to. But again, this is the stuff that you deal with when you work in public safety, especially in the law enforcement corrections field, human services and social work. That's a whole other, different type of experience, and I can give you some examples of that too, and I would probably give you a social worker case chronicle in the upcoming month of April. So in the meantime, you guys be safe and I will talk with you soon. Bye.