To quote Paco Villa "Correctional officers do deserve
special recognition. They have an
important and dangerous job. They are
often subjected to all kinds of abuse by prison inmates. During their shifts they are confined to
almost the same degree as the inmates they are in charge of. Unfortunately the public does not hold correctional
officers in high esteem. They are
unappreciated and underpaid. But calling
themselves cops does not change any of that." This takes us one step
further and declare a fact how grand juries perceive our roles to be.
This controversy on how grand juries seem to always never
fail to indict a cop for anything – not for murder, assault or other crimes
whether serious or not, brings up the romantic relationship prosecutors have
with police officers but not correctional officers. This process of indicting a
cop is way different from indicting a correctional officer. There seems to be
no parity here whatsoever. In fact, there appears to be a pattern of behavior
that is very disturbing for the profession.
The facts are being revealed via the media how prosecutors
operate and run a grand jury. It makes you realize how a prosecutor can make
this group of citizens “see” what they want them to see. This alone should make
you aware that the system is broken somewhere along the line we tow as
correctional officers also charged with statutory enforcement within a
criminalized society.
How you recognize the difference is in perception, role,
culture and connection prosecutors have with cops and not correctional officers
is important. How they act in their role to indict or not indict should be a
key how they feel about the profession as well as the position correctional
officers’ play in the criminal justice system.
Can you see my argument? Are you aware of the difference in
professional courtesy and treatment?
Justice is served in the eyes of the prosecutor. There should be no
uncertainty how the prosecutors view correctional officers. We as a profession
are demonized by society, the media and yes, our own law enforcement community.
In short, we are the bad guys and bad guys do wrong. We are always guilty based
on our role in society’s eyes.
Experts say grand juries can reliably be counted upon to
deliver indictments the vast majority of the time, and available numbers seem
to back that up. Still, the key to success is the prosecutors and the
prosecutors have their own agenda except when it comes to working with cops.
They need cops to make their cases, unlike correctional officers who are deemed
to be expendable by the system.
The news site FiveThirtyEight.com reported that of 162,000
federal cases in which prosecutors sought indictments in 2010, grand juries
failed to deliver an indictment only 11 times. Also worth noting, however, is
that when charges against police officers are on the table, indictments are far
less certain. Again, this is not the case for correctional officers. They are indicted
at higher rates than cops yet they do the same difficult jobs inside a prison.
Where is the justice?
Why is that? Correctional officers, like our cops on the
street, have the authority to do things ordinary citizens do not, and that can
create some shady areas in interpreting potential crimes inside our jails and
prisons. The fact is, many are set up by these criminals who are going along
for a ride to “burn an officer.”
How can we show these grand jurors of this cultural dynamic
and influence different results; they may be more inclined to side with
correctional officers in any confrontation with an already convicted felonious
criminal if they set the prosecutors’ biases aside.
Little can be done to meaningfully change either of those
factors. But there’s also this: Prosecutors themselves can effectively rig the
process by not fighting particularly hard for an indictment against a fellow
member of law enforcement. They may be playing a political game, trying not to
anger police or their supporters in higher places.
However, they do no such efforts for correctional officers
left to defend themselves without any aid from the administration who let them
go because of potential embarrassment of a conviction among the rank and file.
They basically wash their hands the moment the allegation was made.
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