Unhappy Bureau of Prison Employees

 Sorry, dear reader, I have not kept up with my posts here. This is a bit dated now, but one I hope you will find educational.

Bureau of Prisons employees union deals with both management and the inmates. Considering how many guards I heard complain about their pensions and hours, this is not a great surprise.

Shane Fausey We see the retention is an issue and recruiting is becoming an issue. I think our pay scales have really lagged behind this hot economy that we’re in the middle of. We’re not unique to any other profession. We’re challenged in that area. But I have to really emphasize the extraordinary human beings, 35,000 of them that operate America’s federal prisons. And they do such an amazing, exemplary job with extremely limited resources.

We saw many who had come to corrections from other jobs like the military, or who would not be hired by any sensible business at the same salary. 

One has to keep the party line, I guess:

Shane Fausey Our profession is so broadly described. We’re not guards, number one. We are correctional officers. We deal with real, tangible human beings. And the 80%, we’re actively trying to salvage them as human beings and get them back into society as a productive member. The other 20%, quite frankly, you don’t want them in society. They’re so dangerous. And it’s such a balance when you walk around the housing unit. You don’t see the Shawshank Redemption version that Hollywood portrays. We’re human beings interacting with 150, 200 human beings in a very social setting. Not everybody secure behind a wall or out moving around, going to the commissary to the dining hall. It’s really a unique human experience to witness, and I challenge anybody that has the opportunity to experience it for themselves.

I saw little of this dealing with us as human beings. Salvage is a word that I do not think applies to what I saw at Fort Dix; reclamation was left to ourselves. Er, walking around the housing units? Most unit officers were in their offices, on their computers, hoping to avoid anything strenuous. 

I also challenge anyone to take a look around Fort Dix FCI. They will know you are coming. The food will improve for the duration of your stay. No one will let you talk to just any inmate. Nor will you see behind the false fronts of this federally funded Potemkin village.

sch 6/25