Is Correction officers job just babysitting?

Question

Is Correction officers job just babysitting?

Answer 1

I doubt it.  I watched a few shows on the toughest prisons, scared me to death. They have to stay on top at all times.  The criminals are so crooked and manipulative you have to be very careful.  They can cut in a second, hid stuff in areas you would never know.  No, they have it very tough.  Forget the riots that go on!

Answer 2

A lot of the time it is. But in certain places you can be different things. I work as a correctional officer in a minimum security and sometimes we have to act as disciplinarian, counselor or just plain observer. As I said from the beginning it depends on what part of corrections you work.

Answer 3

Truthfully, it would depend entirely on what security level institution an Officer works in. An honor dorm or level 1 camp is far less stressful than a level 5 ( supermax).

I am in a max security facility for the last 19 years. I deal with inmates who are serving star wars years for the most part. The fact that they are incarcerated doesnt stop them from trying to pull every imaginable stunt possible.

On an average day, I will run at least 12 shakedowns in my block. I am in what is called a seperation unit. This is where they send inmates who have proven they cant exist within general population. I usually find homemade weapons (shanks), hooch, gambling paraphenalia, extortion paraphenalia, gang related items and every type of contraband known to man and beast alike.

Because of the unit I am in, my uses of force are numerically higher than other units within my facility. This is not to say I ride roughshod. I am held highly accountable for every action I make and each sentence I state. I am dealing with the misfits that cant get along with rules, regulations, policy, procedure and orders. ( what I jokingly refer to as "job security".)

As I tell new Officers, inmates have 24 hours to think of things to do and I have 8 hours to catch them doing it.

To answer your question, in a max facility, it is definetely NOT babysitting. It is a constant state of alertness. To watch, listen and question every single thing that goes on around me.

I hope this helps and you can find it useful

Answer 4

Not by a long shot!

They are watching over full grown men and women, in many cases larger than they are.  Every one of the inmates is a convicted criminal.  

It is a tough, demanding job!  Let's face it ... upstanding citizens do not go to prison.  Gangs, contraband drugs and weapons (some "home made" right in the cell), discipline problems, fights between inmates, abuse of smaller inmates by larger ones.  The CO's are also seriously out manned!

There is no correlation to babysitting!

Answer 5

watch green mile