Serendipity

Corruption...Fraud, Gambling, Prostitution, Extortion, Drugs, Physical/Emotional/Sexual abuse… It sounds like your everyday criminal activity, right? It is, but in a place you’d least expect it. Inside prison walls. The very place we send those to stop this kind of criminal activity. But it doesn’t stop them. They are criminals after all. I hate to burst your bubble but it’s not the inmates that I am talking about. I am referring to the criminal activities that are committed on a daily basis by the correction officers themselves. The very officers we hold to a higher standard and believe they risk their lives daily while working in these prisons, keeping control of the “criminals” sentenced there. Some of us look at these men and women officers with a high degree of respect. We have all seen commercials on TV or heard ads on the radio telling the state and every community how they risk their lives every day asking us to donate money and support these officers that work f...

[ Note: This was originally going to be published by me Oct. 3, 2015 but because of one thing or another, I hesitated on publishing it. It seems to be as good a time as any to get it out there. ] As many of you know, I have a son, Shawn, who is currently serving a 25-to-Life sentence for a crime he did not commit. He has been incarcerated for the past 14 years. With that said, he has 14 years of first hand knowledge of the corruption and fraud that goes on behind prison walls…corruption and fraud that costs New York State millions of dollars per year. Some of the details of the corruption is so sensitive that my son will not talk about it unless it’s with the proper people whom he has tried to reach out to and I will explain below. Some of the corruption consists of drugs, weapons, prostitutes and gambling. Most corrections officers can be “bought” for as little as a pack of cigarettes.  Anything can be bought within the prisons. At Wende Correctional F...

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...