Rogue Correction Officers within Prisons

Oneida Correctional Facility in Rome was
closed by New York State in 2011

There are very few of us that have an idea what really goes on behind the fences and razor wire at correctional facilities. Most of us that do have a fair idea, know that it's not a place we want to be...let alone have a loved one in. 

The inmates range in temperment to laid back and just doing their time, others join into gangs, and yet others bully and harass other inmates for any number of reasons including no reason at all. It's a vicious place at times. I am thankful for those that serve as Corrections Officers (COs). It's certainly a hard job, a dangerous job and a job that takes a certain kind of person to be behind those fences and razor wire dealing with inmates convicted of all kinds of crimes.

But this isn't about the COs that are the good guys...this is about the ones that are dirty, and what I choose to call "rogue". These officers likely should be incarcerated for the way they treat inmates and hatred that they harbor against all inmates. There should be no place in the correction system for COs like this.

Most of you know that I have a son in prison and I have talked to or met other inmates over the years that have told me stories that sometimes are hard to swallow. But when it comes from your son child...it's a horror story in the making.

Earlier this year, in May (2018) a CO grabbed my son while he was returning from his daily (M - F) job and put him against the wall, face to the wall, behind a staircase where the security cameras couldn't see. There, the CO told my son that all inmates were scum, and that he had the power to make sure that my son would walk out of prison as a cripple...or worse: in a body bag. The CO 'claimed' to have far reaching influence throughout the prison system here in NY, so that where ever my son went...he would know. 

The CO sliced my son's wrist with an unknown object, threatening my son with keeping his mouth shut. Or else. The CO let my son continue back to his cell. My son later told me that he probably should have had stitches, but just kept it bandaged and hidden. (To this day, that CO's identity has not been revealed for fear of retribution.) I was later told that this same CO had made similar threats to other inmates so that there were a slew of them that feared this CO would make good on his threats. (This CO literally stalks the inmates, trying to catch them in a place where he could bully them without being seen.)

When my son told me a few of months ago, he asked me to contact offices within the New York State Dept. of Corrections, Special Operations in Albany, Governor Cuomo's office and any place else that might listen to and talk to my son about having something done with this CO. I made several calls, and a week later followed up to find out the status of my compliants, but once you make them, you won't know if anything is going to be done or has been done. You are excluded from the point of filing the complaint. 

It took a couple of months before someone did show up at the prison to talk to my son about the incident, and my son told the guy all he knew...except he did not devulge the CO's name. There is a reason for that. Like police officers taking care of their own, correction officers do likewise. If Shawn had devulged the CO's name, retribution would have been swift through the other COs. (The CO is still working at that prison.)

This isn't the first time that a rogue CO has assaulted or beaten inmates. It's been going on for years and years...ever since the first jail was built. That doesn't make it right, it doesn't make it acceptable, and these COs have no place being within the corrections system anyplace. Then...or now. 

To file a report within the prison walls is asking to take your own life in your hands. Reality dictates that since you are an inmate, your word is less than credible. So these COs continue to work until an inmate is beaten nearly to death or killed, or when a CO with a conscience dares to come forward and make a complaint against the 'bad' CO.

This is the reality that most people are unaware of. Do most people care? Not really. Out of sight and out of mind. 

Those of us that have a loved one in prison doing time are aware of what goes on, but even then, we can only do so much. I was recently told that we can't fight the Dept. of Corrections and I believe it. It is an entity all in itself. And like everything else...it has it's good sides but it has a darker side that most people don't see and don't know about.

Thanks for reading...

Deb