http://video.app.msn.com/watch/video/changes-improve-officer-safety-at-monroe-prison-after-biendl-murder/1v7o7gjbn
One of the most important people within the punishment regime is: the guards; the correctional officers; the people that are actually carrying out the punishment in our society. These individuals are basically another extension of our punishment; they are free and abiding citizens of the law; yet are considered one of the worst jobs ever in our society. This clip from msn is about the death of a correctional officer, which I see is another huge problem within our punishment society. It’s not the death that is wrong, death is a part of life and risked every day, the problem is that she died while working, which shows the unstableness of the prisons and the lack of safety for the officers and prisoners. This is a huge problem for the punishment regime, if the way in which we are punishing is also hurting those working for the system, doesn’t that make for a bad system? Then there is the risk of death towards the other prisoners; granted they are criminals serving their punishments, their punishments are essentially the alternative to death; therefore if the risk of being killed during ones’ punishment, why not just kill every criminal? It adds up the same way? A great resource to this topic of what correctional officers suffer through was Newjack by Ted Conover, which takes an inside look as a correctional officer in the famous Sing-Sing prison. He not only highlights the rough and terrible working conditions both physically and mentally, but also the impact on the other parts of his life, family, friends, self-image, etc.
I would think solutions to these problems would be fairly easy to do, conceptually at least. The main failure here is lack of safety for correctional officers and prisoners; solution, improve them. Unfortunately as seen in the video, change for safety occurs as a cost of an officer. Safety needs to be at the forefront of our punishment regime, whether it is the correctional officer or the prisoner.
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