America is the Suicide King.

America

America offers the opportunity for unprecedented rewards regardless of any perceived impediment you
might think you have. You can seize rewards in direct proportion to the amount of effort you put into
obtaining them. Legally or illegally. . . . . .

America achieved this position because it is the most recent organization {to successfully wield} the
most powerful human developed force...

nuclear bomb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . no

political manipulation . . . . . . . . . . no

brain washing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . no

cultivating brilliant leaders (ha). . . no

pursuit of happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . no

the most powerful human force is........

spontaneous cooperation.

America has demonstrated in dramatic fashion that it will and can use that power.
Sometimes America uses spontaneous cooperation to destroy.

America is the Suicide King.

Sometimes it turns that power on itself.
That is why the suicide king represents the folly of humankind.
Although it wields the most powerful force it sometimes aims it at itself.

In our setting, (prison) ((or if your political – corrections facility)) this metaphor has a unique
application.

To illustrate my point let me make mention of a background picture so as to frame this metaphor in its
best light.

It would be rational to say that if something lacks a quality to be effective in an environment or lacks a
quality that makes it harmful to its environment then one should find a way to instill that quality in that
thing so it can return to its environment an thrive. If this can not be done then it should be removed.
Nature is the best example of this.

If we identify that the 'inmate' lacks adequate social skills to keep from re-offending once released ((if
we administer no corrective action)), what then are we doing to re-educate them? We should also
examine (in my opinion) whether or not they are re-educatable.
We as a society need to measure the value in expending our resources on that endeavor instead of just
throwing money at it in hopes that “something” we are doing might work at changing them.

I see no measures on our part to gauge each individual as to their “desire”to change and their “desire”
to not re-offend.

No change will occur where there is a lack of desire to change.

The political pendulum that swings from a (punitive approach) to corrections on one side to a (medical
approach) to corrections on the other side seems to be swinging farther and farther to the medical side
of this dichotomy.

With the recent efforts to get line staff to become more like treatment dispensers, shouldn't there also be
a nursing like treatment plan. For example if we receive a convicted thief from the court system,
shouldn't there be a coarse of action prescribed to “correct” these thieving tendencies and shouldn't that
be outlined to the line staff so they can implement the appropriate treatment plan for each individual
instead of the chaos of our current efforts.

This would mean any one person after having been trained that a supervisor can go to an index file
pull up the coarse of treatment to be giving to an individual that has child molester tendencies can
provide the exact same schedule of interventions as any other person. This would eliminate the gross
inconsistencies of how we pick and choose what rules to enforce according to what will get us through
the day with as little exposure to 'risk' as possible.

I would repeat my argument about the effectiveness of doing that. As I outlined in my essay on Human
Debris. (available upon request)

They do not offer enough incentive to line staff to vigorously pursue these efforts. The only
recompense we have is monetary and it is meager compared to what a social worker receives. I bring
this to light because administration wants a corrections officer to behave like and have the skills of a
social worker.

What appears to the author to be a mindless attempt to (“do something” / or lack of spontaneous
cooperation) is in fact a smaller scale version of my Suicide King metaphor.

For what ever reasons we (as staff) seem to want to be destructive instead of constructive. I suspect
this is a symptom of a much larger problem from above instead of a festering annoyance from below.

Now from my personal point of view, I will illustrate why line staff do not attempt to make
improvements on their own.

I am going to use a simple model from economics. It is called supply and demand.

The value of an improved corrections field is apparent to me. I see the value society would place on
having the ability to provide a process to help those that failed to learn by way of our fine education
system the skills to 'get along' with others. The slogan and or motto goes like this – Build schools or
build prisons. We can't afford to build both.-
I recognize that the 'state' can not afford the level of qualified, certified and highly trained personnel it
would require to pull this scheme off. So in lieu of that foreknowledge nothing will happen from a
bubble up method because despite the common sense demand for it there is no rational reason to supply
it for free.

If we are going to follow the pendulum and conclude that criminal behavior exists because of ignorance
then let us revamp the education system to include the convicted criminal.
Then we can set about building a system where security and treatment can both be implemented. In
that system you can clearly have a low payed staff that provide intervention to the violent acting out of
the patient. (note I said patient not inmate) Along side of security we provide a highly trained set of
personnel able to implement a very sophisticated treatment plan for each individual.
I have learned by direct experience in both the mental health field and the department of corrections,
that trying to provide security and treatment care can not be done by the same individual.
From a mental health standpoint, you have to build a report with an individual that fosters trust.
From a security standpoint you can not foster trust because you are trying to subvert their deviancy and
in so doing the patient will perceive a security staff as 'being against them'. This does not foster trust.

For a clear example; if cho-mo charlie is having difficulty with his fantasies of little girls and boys and
goes to Security/ Treatment provider Fred. Security/ Treatment provider Fred has to provide
counseling regarding this and then search the patients living area for contraband. When you couple
those two actions in the form of a single person, it neither fosters trust or willingness to work on their
'issues'.
Now if cho-mo charlie is having the same problem and goes to Treatment provider David and Tp.
David counsels him on his difficulties and explores alternatives to help cho-mo charlie redirect his
tendencies towards healthy outlets and helps him to ultimately find ways to no longer engage in those
tendencies, Security Harold can be seen as the enemy when he removes the pictures and kiddy
magazines from cho-mo charlies living quarters. This will be just an other area Tp. David will have to
help cho-mo charlie 'deal' with. That way a re-directive force is present in cho-mo charlies life with out
that re-directive force also seen as negative.

To implement this plan means you are going to have a Treatment person for about every 5 patients.
The present security staffing level will be adequate. There is simply no way any state of citizens could
afford that level of service.

If that is the case does that mean our only alternative is to limp along like the ineffective wimps we are
being litigated into becoming. That's right the patients or inmates are suing us for not providing for
them. We have allowed them to think they have a right to be a drain on us. Why has this been allowed
to happen? Because those that feel bad for them force us to. PERIOD.

We will continue to piss money away until enough of us get ticked off and actually force criminals to
be punished in stead of letting the blame be put on us for being able to get along in the world with what
we have.

Is there a way to combine punishment and corrective measures? NO. STOP trying and realize that free
individuals have the freedom to decide to not participate in life like a caring compassionate human
being. They would rather to pray on them. We have to grow a pair of nuts. We have to go about the
job of separating those that clearly demonstrate they don't want to play nice like the rest of us.