How Did Jim Bruton Write The Big House

I will have an internship with the Department of Juvenile Justice in Chicago during this summer, so this book provided examples of how to approach the prison environment. The case histories which impacted me, mainly was the Case Histories I, which illustrated Mrs. Chase and her interactions with the inmates. I feel this case influenced me because I am also female with no experience, who is about to work in a juvenile facility. I will face some of the same obstacles as Mrs. Chase since some of the juveniles are not far from my ages. However, this book taught me ways to hinder the interaction with inmates into a professional only demeanor. For instance, when approaching me, I will make it clear that I will only be addressed by my last name, and will not respond anything other than my last name. Additionally, I will not disclose any personal information to the inmates; however, I will provide information if it’s appropriate for the situation. Moreover, I want to build a relationship with the inmates to show that I am here to help them, better themselves, but not for personal reasons, such as intimate relationships or outside

“What I Learned as a Kid in Jail” is a speech given at a TEDTalk convention to a group of young men and women delivered by Ismael Nazario, a prison reform advocate where he does work for The Fortune Society, a non profit organization. Nazario was arrested when he was just under eighteen for robbery and sent directly to Rikers Island where he spent 300 days in solitary confinement, before ever being convicted of the crime. Nazario’s goal in delivering his speech to a group of younger men and women is to make them aware of the way correctional officers treat younger inmates and how inmates should be spending their time doing productive activities and understanding they do not have to go back to the life they were living. Nazario accomplished this goal by sharing personal stories from his past experiences.

This book is an honest account of life in Leavenworth Prison, Kansas based on interviews with notorious inmates and numerous other individuals. The book begins with introducing inmates such as Carl Bowles, Dallas Scott and William Post and offers insight information on the cultural aspect inside the prison itself. Once the basics are known to the reader, the author Pete Earley, develops the character of the prisoners and thus of the penitentiary as a whole.

Newjack is Ted Conover’s personal memoir as a correctional officer in one of New York’s famous maximum security prisons: Sing Sing. The job of a correctional officer consists of long days locking and unlocking cells, moving prisoners to and from various locations while the prisoners beg, aggravate and abuse them. After a short time at the academy and a brief period of on-the-job training, Conover found himself working, often alone and always unarmed, in galleries housing sixty or more inmates. He heard of many stories that happen in prison. Stories include inmates beating inmates and burning their cell house, an inmate who was beaten by correctional officers after striking an officer in the head with a broom

Ted Conover’s book, New Jack, is about the author's experiences as a rookie guard at Sing Sing prison, in New York, the most troubled maximum security prison. He comes to realize that being a correctional officer isn’t an easy task. This is shown from the beginning when he is required to attend a 7 week training program to become a correctional officer. He comes to realize what inmates have to endure on a daily basis. Throughout his experience into a harsh culture of prison and the exhausting and poor working conditions for officers, he begins to realize that the prison system brutalizes everyone connected to it. New Jack presents new ideas of prisons in the United States in the ways facilities, corrections officers, and inmates function with

The Hot House Life inside Leavenworth prison was writing in 1987-1989 by Peter Earley. Leavenworth has been one of the oldest and most dangerous maximum security facilities in the nation. The author introduces us with 6 prisoners and a couple of wardens. The book captures all the problems prisoners came across and experiences they had to go through.

The story of former rising political star and Missouri Senator, Jeff Smith, presented a unique experience of his time in federal prison. First, when watching Smith’s Ted Talk video: Lessons in Business…From Prison, Smith highlighted immediately that experiencing prison first-hand as an inmate himself greatly contradicts to what he would watch on television of federal prison stories. For example, he discusses the story of his fellow inmate named B.J. The brief story of B.J. discussed by Smith acknowledged how B.J. had a vision of dreams he wanted to accomplish of starting some sort of pornography with women and him owning his own website to start his business. B.J.’s story presented by Smith maybe seems to considered wild at first; however,

In the book NewJack: Guarding Sing Sing, the book discussed the life of a guard. Most people feel that the guards are bad guys in the criminal justice system and with the politics of the criminal justice systems there are many assumptions of the way in which the stereotype of prison guard’s life should be. The author Ted Conover explains first hand on the experiences behind the scenes that many guards experiences throughout their careers that is an untold story of the truth in the prison system. Conover was curious about the subculture of the prison guards’ duties and wanted to know the truth about if the assumptions that most have about the prison guards is truthful. Conover entered the Academy with many other young men and a few women who wanted good jobs with security. The training was modeled after boot camp for the military. Those who had been in the military fared better than those who had not been so initiated. Once Conover crossed the training hurdle, he was tossed over to Sing Sing for his first assignment.

After reading the book I have gained a new understanding of what inmates think about in prison. Working in an institution, I have a certain cynical attitude at times with inmates and their requests.

Most of his time at Sing Sing was consumed being in close contact with the inmates, in dining halls and housing galleries, doing strip searches, searching cells, writing disciplinary infraction reports, and confiscating inmate contraband. In addition, because they live in an enforced state of near powerlessness, answering to inmates who required support with a seemingly endless range of personal complications occupied much of Conover’s time. Conover’s account of the correctional officer’s role is consistent with those opinions offered by others who have firsthand experience of prison life. Virtually all serious, firsthand interpretations of correctional work define a gap between the training and the realism of the job, official policies and procedures that require routine avoidance, poor associations between line officers and administrators, and the undermining power of stress on professional conduct and personal life.

He discusses the unfair treatment these children who are locked up receive as well as the employees who so desperately fight to keep their job rather than help the children. Gatesville, a institution in Texas is described as having “job interviews that last ten minutes [as well as the] techniques to screen out potentially abusive applicants, such as screening, not being done” (Wooden, p.15). Another issue addressed in these sections is the fact that most, if not all children when sent to an institution, do not get a psychological evaluation. These children can come in, learn to obey the teachers and guards and be released without any psychological treatment to deal with the issue that sent them to the facility in the first place. Wooden also addresses the issue of the employees who work there need the facility more than most of the children do. This causes a problem which leaves more employees than children. Although there are many issues with these facilities themselves, how these children got into these facilities is Wooden’s next

At any given time, a single corrections officer, can expect to be outnumbered by upwards of 400 inmates (Conover, 2011). It can be chilling to work in the midst of hundreds of inmates, some of which initiate attacks and inappropriate relationships. However, other issues have impacted the psychological health and physical safety of the staff. Detrimental factors have included heavy workloads, the prisons physical structure, and a lack of support from both peers and superiors. Each workplace issue has been in addition to role problems, specifically role ambiguity and role conflict (Schaufeli & Peeters, 2011). It is believed that anyone of these undesirable facets of prison should be enough to deter the public from attempting to enter such

A prison warden is the chief executive of the institution and oversees the entire operation within a prison system. A prison warden needs to possess an array of skills that is capable of managing “large groups of employees, and to operate facilities in a way that keeps inmates, staff, and society safe” (Clear et al., 2013, p. 321). Studies from Clear et al. (2013) further indicate that today’s prison warden must function effectively despite decreased autonomy and increased accountability” (p. 321). The role and responsibility of a prison warden are comparable to a police chief’s because it requires extensive knowledge in administration, and experience in various areas within the department or institution.

When arriving at Florence State Prison Jimmy Santiago Baca’s life changed. Upon resaving a letter from a man named Harry he became interested on learning to read and write. Harry’s letter gave Jimmy some sense of belonging. He stated his feelings on the letter, “I was eager to communicate with someone to alleviate the boredom of the dungeon.” All it took was a paper with words to take someone away from that place they despised. Harry had sent Baca a dictionary so he could learn new words. To Jimmy this opened a new world to him. This gave him an opportunity on having control over something the prison couldn’t take from him.

This week’s reading focused on prisons. The Society of Captives was written by Gresham M. Sykes in 1958. He conducted a study on a maximum security prison in New Jersey. Chapter 1 focused on the prison and its settings. The author goes into detail about the size of the cells and what the prison actually looks like. He also writes about how the prisoner is no longer seen as man but as a number. My Sunday school teacher visits prisons to teach about the bible. He has commented to me that is exactly how certain correction officers see the prisoners. They are nothing but a number to some individuals. This can lower their self-image (Sykes, 1958).