Surviving Behind Locked Doors

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     I have spent approximately three years behind the locked doors of a county jail.  I learned how to survive and who to trust.  What was my crime you ask?  I committed no crime, but I have been employed at a county jail for six years.  So considering the hours I worked I been inside the same locked doors as a person who is incarcerated for three years.

     I was once asked why I preferred to work in the jail instead of working as a road deputy.  I can best explain it this way.  Being a road deputy is like playing a game of baseball.  A great game with moments of action but a lot of watching and waiting.  Being a guard is like playing hockey game, constant action from the moment you hit the ice.    As a guard you are the often forgotten group in the law enforcement world.  Although you wear the same uniform, have the same training, and are sworn under the same oath.  The guard is hidden behind the tall fences and locked doors. You have to be a certain  type of person to willingly put yourself in jail several days a week. 

     For the guards and the inmates the daily routine includes a wide range of emotions and requires a great deal of mental and physical strength.  All in a days work a guard might have to be a nurse, a psychiatrist, a friend and always the enforcer of the rules.  A guard must understand the language used by the inmates.  Words such as kite, canteen, and fishing have different meanings on the inside.  A guard may start his or her day serving breakfast to a man accused of murder yet you must treat him the same as a man who had one to many drinks at the company party and was arrested for driving while intoxicated.  Every man or woman, no matter the crime have the same basic rights behind the locked doors of a jail or prison.  Along with the all the daily tasks and routines a guard must at all times be ready for anything at any time.  Becoming relaxed could cost you or someone else their life.

     On the other side is the inmates.  For a person to survive as an inmate he or she must adapt to the enviroment around them and learn the written and unwritten rules.  While an inmate is serving there time they must choose alliances and recognize those who might be a threat.  They must also decide what type of inmate they are going to be.  One who follows the rules or one who causes trouble for the guards and other inmates.  No matter the person most find it easier to conform at some point.  Yet there are those people who will not conform to life on the inside and those are the ones that truely do hard time.  Often locked alone in an 8 by 10 cell for 23 hours a day.

   As a guard or an inmate the name of the game is survival.  Before you fill out that job application or steal that car.  Think am I strong enough physically and emotionally to survive behind the locked doors.