Bob Walsh
Stockton, CA
Male, 60
I worked for the California state system, starting as a Correctional Officer and retiring as a Lieutenant in 2005. I now write for the PacoVilla blog which is concerned with what could broadly be called The Correctional System.
Lately not much as I have been retired for close to ten years now. The biggie in California is the population cap which has forced the state to release about 40,000 felons from custody. The federal takeover of the inmate health care program has also caused operational problems within the department.
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Of course a Correctional Officer can buy stocks. Why wouldn't they be able to? If you buy low and sell high you can make money. If you do it the other way around you lose money. That is how it works. Investment strategy really isn't my field of expertise.
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It depends. Assuming the former bad guy is genuinely trying to go along with the program AND the people who are supervising and helping him are genuinely interested in doing their job, it can be very effective. It has both a carrot and a stick. Under the current economic conditions (poor job prospects) the carrot is sometimes lacking. With the current prison and jail crowding the stick is sometimes underutilized. I guess my final answer is that in theory it is fine, in actual practice, especially in California and especially of late, it is lacking.
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There are two ways to go, Civil Service and private. For civil service you have to jump through the hiring agency hoops. Virtually all civil service employers large enough to operate a correctional facility have a web site and you can get a lot of information there, things like age limits, Minimum Qualifications, academy location and length, etc. In fact the California state system only takes applications off the internet now I understand. There are two large private prison operators in this country, and probably several smaller ones. GEO and CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) are the biggies. They also have web sites with salary information, employment opportunities, etc. The Internet is definitely the place to start for either pathway. (I highly recommend Civil Service employment if you can manage it. It pays much better, is much more secure, and tends to offer better promotional opportunities.)
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Geek Squad Agent/Supervisor
What's the biggest scene a customer's ever made in the store?
CBP Officer
Why are so many customs officers huge jerks?
Correctional Officer
Were there a lot of suicides in your prison, and what's the most common way prisoners do it?
No idea. First I ever heard of it. My GUESS is they want to make real sure you bring whatever paperwork they sent you with you and maybe want to try to make sure you are actually coming from the address they sent the paperwork to. It doesn't really make much sense to me. Sorry I can't be of more help.
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You don't. They recruit you generally speaking. You can let them know you are interested, but you can't just "join."
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It does on occasion happen at the infirmary at the institution. As far as I know inmates are not transported off grounds for such things, but that doesn't mean it never happens. I suppose it is not impossible to do one on an inmate who was at the hospital already for some reason or other, but I don't know that the hospital staff would do it for custody purposes and custody staff do not do intrusive cavity searches, at least in CA.
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