Anyone else work in a "correctional setting"? (Jail, prison, "crossbars hotel", etc)

[mycrofft]

I know there won't be much revolving around ambulances..or will there?
Working with inmates means seeing many of the people you see on the street only with officers nearby and the Supreme Court watching.

Many come in with longstanding problems, many previously undiagnosed; few are totally cooperative and/or are just uneducated; some are smarter than you are, nonetheless.
And if there was ever a place to practice "scene safety", this is it.
So...any others?

 

[mycrofft]

Guess not

:sad:................

 

[ffemt8978]

I used to work as a jailer, but don't any longer. That's why I didn't reply the first time around.

 

[mycrofft]

Thanks ffemt8978.

............

 

[BOPDCTEMT]

I work for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

 

[mycrofft]

BOPDCTEMT, welcome to the forum.

The other members have a small idea of what work is like in a correctional setting (well, some may have more than they want to admit...that didn't sound right). Are you a line medical person, a correctional officer, or administrative/staff?

 

[BOPDCTEMT]

In the Bureau we are all CO's first but my primary mission is medical. I'm also on the Disturbance Control Team as a tactical EMT. I really enjoy it, it's quite different than working the streets for 7 years prior.

 

[mycrofft]

Dang, good deal.

Our County lockup holds five thousand in two facilites, split about evenly. Mine holds nearly two hundred State and enroute inmates for the money. Our medical is seperate from the deputies, although the took us back over a few years ago after some poor service. Our officers are instructed not to go past basic first aid, and I'm trying to teach my folks that dragging a patient around the facility while waiting for the paramedics to come doesn't help the pt whan you can have all the tools on scene and everyone's locked down for safety.
Welcome!

 

[BOPDCTEMT]

Our officers are pretty good at leaving them alone until I get there if its something serious, otherwise I just get a phone call "hey I'm sending you one he says hes sick". Most of the time its b/s.

 

[VentMedic]

I worked as a CO in a max security prison to supplement the income while waiting for a FD job to come up. The ambulance service I worked for also had the prison contract.

The one thing I learned, regardless of your level of medical training, is if your job title is CO, and not medical officer, you have a responsibility to yourself, the other COs and the safety of the inmate population to consider. If you get too involved in the medical care, you may leave your back and the other CO's back wide open. For that reason, medical personnel was separate. We would secure the inmates until the injured inmate could be safely moved or do what we could to get the inmate out of harm's way. In no way were we to be distracted from the safety of the scene by getting too involved in patient care. It is too easy to end up being a dead CO if you can't get the priorities of your job straight.

 

[traumateam1]

Oh Oh! My dad works in a jail!! lol. Does that count?

 

[MMiz]

Oh Oh! My dad works in a jail!! lol. Does that count?

Creating license plates doesn't count

 

[traumateam1]

Hehe!! haha.

Actually he works in E Wing. The serial murders and rapists... Not such a nice place to work. I suddenly remembered how much I LOVE my job lol.

 

[mycrofft]

traumateam1, I got your green mile.

Actually, simple murderers tend to be fairly easy to get along with.

 

[mycrofft]

Over 80% of prison escapes occur in conjunction with Medical.

Either during an off-campus appointment, or with stuff they stole from medical sources, or with the help of medical personnel.

Our Critical Event Response Team has some latent frustrated impulses to develop an organic EMS/tactical rescue capability, but the admin says "no".

 

[traumateam1]

Thanks mycrofft!

This is true, for EMS workers. It's a lot different when you are the guy keeping them in there for another 20 years, minimum.
But yes that is true, they are pretty dang easy to get a long with.. we talk about dead people.. they talk about dead people.
Ok but seriously... some of the stories he's told me.. I wouldn't wanna work in a jail full time. Having to break up "jail time fun".. if you know what I mean. Having to stop a guy from somehow lighting himself on fire. Having to find a guy half beaten to death because he's a minority, or because he's "new meat".

But true mycrofft - they are easy to get along with. lol.

 

[mycrofft]

I'm talking simple murderers, not serials, psychos, or others..

...who kill as part of their business. Sorry, no cure, no parole.
You don't work there twenty years or keep inmates in twenty years, you do it one day at a time. I'm treating the grandsons of patients I took care of when I started.

 

[BOPDCTEMT]

Its cost prohibitive. $65,000 min for one ambulance, $25,000 to stock it, insurance, maintenance. Versus $0.08 for a bullet to stop the escape.

And as far as getting along with them.... I'm easy to get along with and all the thuglets know this but they also know that I will not hesitate to take one of them down if necessary. I have responded to Officer assist calls and shown up on the range with a less lethal weapon. You must keep in mind these are inmates and all they have time to do is try to think of ways to manipulate and escape.

I'll get off my Officer soapbox now and turn back into an EMT.

 

[mycrofft]

BOPDCTEMT, I meant a CERT member with EMT trraining and aid kit, maybe SKED.

I'm busy trying to detune our EMS "system" to a lower manageable level.
I tel folsk these are the same folks you see on the street only without guards, and on the lockup they are pressurized.

 

[BOPDCTEMT]

I can see the point of freeing up the local system.