Why Do People Become Prison Guards?
I believe there are two reasons
Have you ever wondered why someone would ever want to be a prison guard? As someone who was on the inside, I found myself wondering that often after watching how some of them were treated. After five years of observation and inquiry, I believe I now have a pretty good understanding of why.
We’ve all seen clips from the many shows on TV depicting life inside a prison. The assaults, the verbal abuse, and the planned attacks by bodily fluid are all commonplace in a maximum security prison.
No matter what your position is on authority, you can’t deny the Hell that prison employees go through. You see all this abuse and then hear about criminal masterminds manipulating female staff members into committing crimes for them. Seeing a woman who works for a prison get arrested for smuggling in drugs and sent away so she can go to prison herself is disheartening.
The lists of cons associated with the job can be so serious they’re literally life-threatening. And how many pros can there really be when you consider the low wages, miserable working conditions, and high-risk environment? The pros associated with other jobs are simply not part of being a corrections officer.
So why would someone pursue this position? I think there’s an inspiring reason and a sinister one.
We’ll start with the inspiring one.
State prison have signs on the sides of highways with messages about the difference you can make or being part of a greater purpose. They send out what I think is the exact kind of message that speaks to most potential prison guards. They know that many people want to make a difference in the lives of others and that these people may see working at a prison as an ideal way to do it.
These are typically the guards you see coming in and acting awkward during training. The whole “being-inside-a-prison” thing finally hits them hard when they’re around a large group of men that are all sizing them up. But their kind nature is quickly identified by any prisoner who’s had to deal with all the varying personalities of guards prior to that moment.
Having a heart is almost impossible to hide in that environment.
One officer that comes to mind as I think about this was also a preacher in his hometown. He felt the need to remind us all to overcome the Devil that tries to destroy us within our minds. He told us that no matter how many years we had, God would always be with us.
I remember cursing under my breath at the time. The extreme stress of prison has a good way of turning you into an ungrateful person. My friend humbled me by reminding me that he could’ve told us to go screw ourselves or to go choke on the mystery meat at chow instead.
He was right. Even though I didn’t believe what the officer believed, I came to recognize that he was only trying to help — maybe even hoping to save some souls along the way. It makes me sad to think about how some of the other inmates would save all of their rage to unleash upon officers like this.
But that’s how prison is. Despite what convicts want the world to think, they look for weaknesses, not strengths. They’re not what they claim to be. Convicts almost always avoid situations where they don’t have the upper-hand.
So the nicest guards end up either quitting with a higher turnover rate than a fast food restaurant or they become nasty themselves. If they weren’t as nice in the beginning, they wouldn’t be as likely to end up this way. But one can only take so much degradation.
I always tried to keep in mind that many of the so-called d***heads and and c***s working there used to be friendly. The environment forced them to make monsters out of themselves.
So what did prison guards have to say when I asked them why they chose to start working there? Most of them said things like….
- “I believe we all deserve second chances, so I like being able to contribute to someone else’s second chance.”
- “Most of these men and women have never had any guidance, so I try to come in here and provide them with whatever I can to help them see the light.”
- “I didn’t have a father growing up and since prison is sometimes the reason kids don’t have fathers, I wanted to see if I could flip that around for someone.”
Notice the commonality in these three statements. They all include the desire to help.
Ultimately, why people become prison guards just depends, but I think it comes down to two general reasons: (1) they want to help people, or (2) they want to control people.
Now it’s time for the sinister reason.
Just like caring people are drawn to those who need help, controlling people are drawn to vulnerable people. This is Personality Magnetism 101. It doesn’t mean a controlling person looks at that prison employment billboard and thinks, “I like to control people, so I think being in control of a bunch of prisoners would be the perfect job for me.”
It’s usually subconscious processes that lead us to circumstances that reveal our underlying personality traits.
The power of the outfit, the ability to lock someone in a concrete box, and the opportunity to lie and get away with it are all appealing job features for manipulative individuals. This is why such people also choose to become police officers.
Charles Manson — as insane as he was — actually made a good point when he said that prison guards are attracted to the job because they want to have somewhere to unleash all their hatred. He was only partially true, since he should’ve had enough sense to say that only some prison guards are like this. But when you’re so full of hate, you have a hard time believing in the goodness of others.
People can say all they want about police officers and prison guards, but after studying their behavior for years, I’ll be the first to tell you that most people can’t even begin to comprehend what it’s like to be a member of law enforcement. I only scratched the surface of corruption amongst prison guards, but I only scratched the surface of compassion amongst them also.
Prison guards are human beings too. And just like every other occupation in the world, you have the good people and the not-so-good people. I would never advise a compassionate person to become a prison guard, but I am truly grateful now for the kind-hearted ones I came across.
