Poll: Would you work at a prison? / LJWorld.com

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Response		Percent	Votes
No		51%	258
Yes		41%	205
I already work at a prison		7%	35
Total	498

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rockchalker52 2 years ago

Oh, hell, no. Maybe once I would have, before I grew a brain. Best o' luck to your incarcerated soul, but, at this juncture, you'd just end up harshing my middle-aged mellow.

Flap Doodle 2 years ago

If I were in charge of tolchocking the plennies, that'd be real horrowshow! Do you pony, malchicks and devotchkas?

RoeDapple 2 years ago

tolchocking the . . . okay, I never could watch that show all the way through. Music was kinda cool though . .

riverdrifter 2 years ago

I believe I'd pass on working in a Turkish prison.

Just sayin'...

A friend of mine is a college instructor. She had a bit of a surprise one day when she learned on the first day of a class she was to instruct that everyone enrolled was an inmate that was incarcerated in the Leavenworth Penitentiary.

But there was a guard there, and every single one of the prisoners was very, very polite, and there was not a single unpleasant event that occurred, although she was a bit nervous at first.

The reason was that the prisoners that were allowed to take college classes was strictly limited to the ones that had the very best records for behavior, and they had been picked out of hundreds, or perhaps thousands, that were very interested in taking college classes from a real college instructor.

Every single one of them knew that it would take less than one second for their permission to be enrolled permanently revoked. There would never, ever be a second chance to be enrolled again if they messed up, even just once.

She told me that the prisoners were the very best behaved students that she had ever had. But, considering what they had to lose for one single mistake, that's not at all surprising.

Ron Holzwarth 2 years ago

The pay is relative, I suppose. It's better than minimum wage, and it certainly appears to be one of the very few growth industries in the economy today. Clipped from: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos156.htm

"Median annual wages of correctional officers and jailers were $38,380 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $29,660 and $51,000. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $25,300, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $64,110. Median annual wages in the public sector were $50,830 in the Federal Government, $38,850 in State government, and $37,510 in local government. In the facilities support services industry, where the relatively small number of officers employed by privately operated prisons is classified, median annual wages were $28,790.

Median annual wages of first-line supervisors/managers of correctional officers were $57,380 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $41,740 and $73,630. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $32,300, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $86,970. Median annual wages were $57,050 in State government and $57,300 in local government.

Median annual wages of bailiffs were $37,820 in May 2008. The middle 50 percent earned between $26,730 and $51,470. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $18,750, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $61,500. Median annual wages were $32,690 in local government.

In March 2009, the average salary for Federal correctional officers was $53,459. Federal salaries were slightly higher in areas where prevailing local pay levels were higher."

1029 2 years ago

Maybe a women's prison, if the inmates were hot.

jhawkinsf 2 years ago

I would not choose to work at a prison. However, if that was the only job available, and I needed a job, then I would.

George_Braziller 2 years ago

I know four women who work or have worked at a jail or prison. A guard, med tech, and two teachers. Other than having to go through the security procedures to get into and out of the building they all said it was just like any other job.

One of the teachers worked at a women's prison after having worked as a grade school teacher and loved it. The women in her classes were working on getting their GEDs. They wanted to be in the class so they were motivated and worked hard. She said it was one of the best and most rewarding experiences of her teaching career.

curmudgeon 2 years ago

With the unemployment rates as high as they are and the economy the way it is, can anyone afford to be picky? Besides, there are much worse jobs out there, such as shoveling animal feces at the zoo. I assume people would rather sit on their butts and pretend to look for jobs that don't exist to receive money though, right?

George_Braziller 2 years ago

Everything IS relative. I worked as a janitor at a nursing home when I was in high school. Cleaning up a big pile of that type of animal poo four or five times a day was routine. The worst time was when I had to use a ladder to clean the poo that had been thrown at, and stuck to, the ceiling. It was the only time I about lost my lunch.

I'd take the prison job any day over another poop cleaning one.

Easy_Does_It 2 years ago

If the bulls made me I guess I would. But mostly I would lay in my rack and think big thoughts.

rockchalker52 2 years ago

I used to work for Captain Clean. We'd take a vacuum truck to KC, drop a couple hundred feet of hose off rooftops, hook up to the truck & suck pigeon poop out of the gutters of office buildings & places like the Folly Theater. And this is years before anybody ever heard of Mike Rowe. I thought it was just a dead end job, but look what he did with stuff like that. Sometimes, you make your own prisons, I guess.

Charlie Bannister 2 years ago

Many years ago I worked in two different male prisons--one state prison in Kansas and the other a private men's prison (U.S. Marshall holding center) in Leavenworth, Kansas. I can tell you that they were both the absolute worst experiences of my life. Most of the inmates absolutely belong there, and the political correctness that has to be adhered to in order to do your job makes the job nearly impossible. Then you have what I find to be just reprehensible, and that is guards who take bribes from inmates to bring in contraband and do favors for them--many times being compensated by family members on the outside. It is truly a different world, one in which I would never pursue a career in again.

vuduchyld 2 years ago

I've done some volunteer work at the max prison in Lansing and I have to say, it was pretty rewarding. I'd say I've been 7-8 times for a total of maybe 15-20 hours inside. Had a couple of moments where I was slightly uncomfortable, but that was ME, it wasn't that the situation was particularly dangerous. I mean, anything CAN happen, but I was there helping people who wanted help.

Like jhawkinsf, it wouldn't be one of my top choices, but if I needed the paycheck, I wouldn't rule it out.

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