I never fully understood it till my friend Professor Tolkien asked me the very simple question, 'What class of men would you expect to be most preoccupied with, and hostile to, the idea of escape?' and gave the obvious answer: jailers.
Steady, firm, and kind government of prisoners is the truest humanity and the best exercise of duty. It is with convicts as with children: unseasonable indulgence, indiscreetly granted, leads to mischiefs which we may deplore but cannot repair.
There were no artists in Ossining, which was the home of Sing Sing prison. Most of the parents of the guys I knew were guards there.
The prison system in Norway is fairly civilized, by world standards, and so are the prisoners and the guards.
When I say the people around me, I mean the prisoners, the guards.
Fortunately for me, or unfortunately, they made me an editor of the Parish Prison Pelican. I could read and write, and I had a way with words.
The men and women who work in our prisons are the unsung heroes of the criminal justice system.
A period of detention in a chilly upstate facility can be a great attitude adjuster.
The character and mentality of the keepers may be of more importance in understanding prisons than the character and mentality of the kept.
It is shocking how much a day-care center is like a prison. They both have security cameras with walled exercise yards. Prisons are permanent day cares for people permanently in time-out - convicts.
You don't need a lot of credentials to be prison guard in a federal prison. And, you know, you give them a set of keys and a weapon, and they're in power.
The fastest growing occupation in the private sector is security guards. The fastest growing occupation in the public sector is prison guards. (1992)
Prison guard unions have become the powerful political forces in some states, particularly California.
Private-sector firms are increasingly active in the prison industry and they and the militantly unionized correctional officers, almost all unskilled labor, constantly lead public demands for more criminal statutes and more draconian penalties.
