My Life in Law Enforcement: A True Life Story #15 Jail House Blues
Hey guys! If you read my last post where I have finished rookie school and I'm getting my feet wet in a detention center, you probably picked up on the feeling that I don't like working in a jail. You can see that article here if you missed it: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-14-doin-time
It didn't take long for me to despise going in to this place. Just imagine going to your place of work and it being like this... It's was hot in the jail, there was no air conditioning throughout the cell blocks. The only air circulating was from windows that we could open that had a mesh screen covering them. Okay, now combine the heat and stuffy air with the powerful "musk of man" scent from hundreds of male inmates. The inmates were forced to take a shower once they were originally booked in but after they're housed in a cell, it's pretty much up to them to wash their own ass. But as you could imagine, several inmates avoiding taking showers for several days for different reasons, resulted in a very smelly environment. There was only one shower per block so you can imagine it wouldn't be the most pleasant experience in the world but it would beat having to deal with the extreme body odor and drama that it would cause. Some inmates would avoid the shower due to fear of being sexually assaulted, fear of being seen nude and fear of what might be stuck to the walls or floors inside the shower.
It wasn't uncommon for inmates to either inform us about an inmate that desperately needed to shower or the inmates would sometimes take matters in to their own hands by giving the inmate an ultimatum. There's been many times where I've had to take an inmate out of his cell and force him to shower...not very fun, guys. I've also had to move inmates out from a block that had been beaten due to refusing to take a shower. You can't blame the other occupants of the cell block, the smell would get unbearable and I wouldn't want to live like that either. Having to force an inmate to take a shower sucked pretty bad. Often they would let their body odor get so bad that they would be ashamed of themselves and pride would take over, resulting in a combative emotional state.
Okay, now that you've got an idea of what the smell and temperature is like going in to work, now imagine hundreds of men yelling and raising hell as soon as you walk through the door. This isn't a resort in the Hampton's, it's a hot, smelly cluster of cages with a bunch of pissed off men inside them. The inmates are pissed off for many different reasons. One person could be mad because the television isn't working properly and the other could be pissed because he just received a life sentence. When you combine all of the heat, smells, testosterone and emotions from every man in there, you get the perfect recipe for a huge bomb to go off. It was almost guaranteed that as soon as I went in to work, I would have to go do a cell extraction on a violent inmate.
The photo above shows a text book and ideal cell extraction. Unfortunately for me, we didn't have protective gear and extra officers to conduct a proper and safe extraction. I would often attempt to go get a violent inmate by myself but if it was too dangerous, I would wait for an additional officer and the only weapons we had were our hands. We were extremely short staffed just like most of the detention facilities in North Carolina are. We recently had some prison guards murdered by inmates and it was deemed that the prison was too understaffed at the time of the murders. Tasers weren't out at the time, or if they were, they weren't as popular. We did have OC spray but we rarely used it because often we would get contaminated ourselves and it would make subduing the inmate more difficult. But yeah, it was like this pretty much every day when you first go in and it didn't stop with just one unruly inmate. As the evening went on, so did the tempers...
This completes another installment of My Life in Law Enforcement: A True Life Story, a series of chapters talking about my real life experiences going through rookie school and pursuing my career in law enforcement. I will post links to the previous chapters at the bottom of this page if you would like to catch up to speed from day one. Many thanks for your time!
First post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-1
Second post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-2
Third post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-3
Fourth post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-4
Fifth post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-5
Sixth post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-6
Seventh post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-7
Eighth post https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-8
Ninth post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-9-felony-stops
Tenth Post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-10-subject-control-awkwardness
Bad Cops 10 a https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-experience-with-some-bad-cops-a-true-story-chapter-10-a
Bad cops 10 b: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/blackballed-by-the-cops-a-true-life-story-10-b
Eleventh Post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-11-firearms
Twelfth Post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-12-firearms
13th Post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-13-graduation-day
14th Post: https://steemit.com/story/@bluelightbandit/my-life-in-law-enforcement-a-true-life-story-14-doin-time
Congratulations on reaching Rep 60 @bluelightbandit!
Way to use a very negative experience in your life as a learning opportunity that would serve you very well in understanding how the criminal mind can or does work. I am certain that this has allowed you to hone better negotiating skills, just to name one benefit of this real world education.
Thank you, Rebecca! I feel like a big boy now that I have breached the next level of reputation lol! You're right, even though I hated working in the jail so much, I wouldn't take anything for the experience that I got or the skills developed.
Hi bluelightbandit,
LEARN MORE: Join Curie on Discord chat and check the pinned notes (pushpin icon, upper right) for Curie Whitepaper, FAQ and most recent guidelines.
Thank you!
I can only imagine how much it sucked brother. I’ve been busy as hell at work, so I have a bunch of catch up reading to do.
No worries man, I know how it is. Thank you though!
The reads have been very interesting so far. Thanks for sharing. Will be caught up by tomorrow
I don't know if I'd have the balls to face an angry,
violent inmate all on my own. Being short staffed
and under equipped in a dangerous environment
is just asking for trouble, thank goodness nothing
happened to you, like the other officers.
If I survived that kind of environment, I don't think
there would be an awful lot that would scare me.
But what do I know...
It takes a special person to be able to do that job effectively. It takes a very special person that can do it and like it. I think you can see why starting an officer off in a jail can be an effective tool to see if he/she will have the certain personality and skills to become a road officer. Because if you can't make it in the jail, you probably won't make it on the road. Thank you for reading and commenting!
Definitely. I guess I just don't have what it takes to be a road officer.
You would be surprised what you can do sometimes, ya never know. I'm a firm believer though that everyone was put on this earth to do a specific job. Some people were made to work in the medical field while others were made to build houses. I believe I was made to work in law enforcement. I'm not anything special, it's just was I was meant to do.
Understaffed, overcrowded and rampant drug use seems to describe most jails these days. You could probably add underfunded as well. Hats off to those who actually like the job. It is not for everyone. Sort of like psych hospitals are not everyone's cup of tea either.
Oh, you are so right! I have taken several patients in to several different facilities across the state and I quickly realized those guys have a very unique and important job that I wouldn't want to do.
Perhaps it is a good thing that we all have jobs that nobody else wants! LOL
Yo brother I tell ya, I absolutely could not do that job with the atmosphere like that. My hat is off to you sir!
It sucked man, I'm not gonna lie. Thanks man!
Tough job, I couldn't do it. Nice to see the view from someone who works there.
Thank you!
Thank you for your continued support of SteemSilverGold
We need prison reform there is so many people incarcerated for because the Courts gave them no choice but to plead guilty. The more prisoners the more the more money there is to be make by those who run the prison system. I'm aware of the very dangerous individuals that for the sake of the public need to be lock up for good. I promoted your post and I thank you for sacrificing yourself by working in a place that most of us would like to ignore, but the ironic of it all is that Christ asked us to go and visit those who are in prison, perhaps because he knows that there is so many people in jail due to crooked judges.
I know it's different for every jurisdiction but in my area, the court system is very lenient and often suspends sentences for non-violent crimes. It's so lenient that it makes it difficult for cops to do their jobs effectively. A cop can arrest someone, spend hours on paperwork and spend his/her day off in court just to see a dismissed charge or suspended sentence, it's a waste of time and money actually. Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!
*Excellent post thanks for sharing........SIR