Stories From a Former Correctional Officer

As stated in the previous story, I will not be naming the facility that I worked at nor will I will be naming the agency that I was employed with for confidentiality reasons.

This story takes place while I was still a rookie. It was one of my first nights working unaccompanied by an Field Training Officer (FTO). I was working in the drug and alcohol rehabilitation unit for the first time. My nerves were already high as this was the first unit with pod restriction instead of cell restriction after lights. My nerves were running extra high as my understanding of prison was still the stereotypical T.V. misconception, nothing but inmates stabbing each other and officers. To my surprise I was wrong, the inmates seemed pretty docile as they were all tired and ready to unwind for the day. I however, was stimulated by caffeine and nicotine, ready for anything to happen. I consistently played the "what if" game, always anticipating what I would do if I ever encountered a use-of-force situation, but I wouldn't have my first one for several months after this story takes place.

After going over what needed to be done throughout the night and conducting the acceptance round, I gathered my equipment from the box and got my duty belt set up just right. I walked around the office for a few minutes before going over the inmate roster and getting familiar with the layout of the unit. Once I felt ready to take on the night, I sat down at the computer and began working on some of my FTO packet in a valiant attempt to get off of graves as soon as possible. While I worked on my packet, I was also watching the CCTV making sure none of the inmates were violating the curfew rules, or cell hoping. While I studied the cameras, I began to smell a very unfamiliar smell. If you've ever worked in a prison or jail, you know the regular smell that it has...it's very unforgettable. The smell that had come into the office however, was foul, but had a slight intoxicating smell. I walked around the office for a few moments and tried to see if there were any wires burning or if it was coming from one of the pods.

After discovering that the smell wasn't coming from the office, I stood there for a moment, positively confused as to what I should do. So I did the only thing that I could think of, I called for my FTO over the radio, and in typical fashion as well.

"Uh, Zone Sergeant, this is Living Unit 6 Lower, I have a-uh weird smell coming from one of the new pods. I checked the office for anything burning and I couldn't find anything. Could you maybe-" But before I could finish my panicked radio call, the desk phone started to ring. I let go of my microphone and picked up the phone.

"Living Unit 6 Lower, this is Officer E." I said shakenly into the phone.

"E, this is Sergeant P. First thing, stay off the radio unless it's an emergency, you sound scared and dumb." He said forcefully into the phone. "Secondly, I'll be there in a second, make sure the unit slider is open." He said with a long winded breath before hanging up the receiver on the other end of the phone. I hung up the phone and made sure that the unit door was open and I stood at the desk waiting for him to come.

I could hear Sergeant P coming because he always played with his keys while he walked. When he came into the office he looked around, made a very emphatic and extremely dramatic sniff of the air, turned around and walked out. I stood there dumbfounded as I didn't know what to do. This was my first sink or swim moment. If anything suspicious was going on, I would have to be the one to find it. I was now actively looking for potential danger. A million thoughts raced through my mind, but I managed to collect myself and begin my first round of the night.

As I opened the door to the third pod in the unit, the smell from the office hit me like a truck. Immediately, I began doing a shakedown of the pod, I was looking for the root of the smell, and I was overdetermined to find it. I checked the bathroom and didn't find anything in there, or the showers, or the day room. I was beginning to feel defeated. The thought of doing a cell search crossed my mind, but the Shift Commander would have never approved it without probable cause, and I knew Sergeant P wouldn't defend me in the situation. I hung my head and went back to continuing my regular round, until I passed the supply closet.

The smell was so intense, I ignorantly thought I was going to get a second hand smoke high. I looked a the lock to see what key I needed to open the door and then found that key and opened the door. I checked all the cleaning supplies looking for a roach or a canteen baggie and found nothing. After checking the cleaning supplies, I noticed that the board games were put away on the shelf above the cleaning supplies, so I pulled them down hoping to find something in one of the boxes. I checked three out of the four boxes and was beginning to feel defeated again. That was until I opened the Scrabble box.

I looked down at the pencil inside of the box. It was crudely wrapped with packing tape and the inside had been hollowed out. Holding the pencil up in the dimly lit room, I reached down and retrieved my flashlight from my duty belt. I clicked the light on to see what appeared to be spice in the middle of the pencil.

I was so excited at the possibility of finding drugs, that I proceeded to go straight to the office, blowing off the rest of my round. I called the Shift Commander to tell him what I had found and he walked me through the process of creating an evidence card as well as processing the evidence into the Internal Affairs evidence box located within Master Control.

A few days went by without any update and I began to feel dumb. I started playing the "what if" game again, except this time, I was thinking, "What if it was just a hollowed out pencil? What if I can't do this job?" To my relief, I received a phone call later that day from IA and found out that the pencil had tested positive for spice. In that very moment, I was so proud that I called my mom to tell her what I had found. I also gloated to Sergeant P later that night in roll call. That was a defining moment in my short career as a Correctional Officer because it boosted my confidence and I took it as a sign that I was in the right career field. That night, I put in a training request to attend the next available drug recognition class (which was immediately denied).

In case you were wondering, Sergeant P and I became very good friends and remain good friends. I also did eventually attend the drug recognition class and became one of three drug recognition experts within my facility. That night was the reason I chose that unit as my top choice upon completion of the FTO program. I worked that unit for almost two years, and enjoyed my time there very much.