Job Discussion Forums

[fladude]

Teachers don't carry guns in any Federal prison in America. The idea that anyone at any federal agency told you otherwise is laughable.

The over 35 thing.... I dunno. It seems to me that teachers won't have the same standards as guards. I know a lot of people, like court employees, who work with prisoners, are not considered prison employees. I would look into it more closely.

Also consider that many Federal prisons are now privately owned/ ran and use their own employees.

[johnslat]

Dear fladude,

I think you're right about the teachers' (and other "support staff) in federal prisons not carrying firearms.

They get weapons training, though:

"Besides these law enforcement personnel is an additional group of about 14,500 employees with the Bureau of Prisons who -- like the guards -- are classified as correctional officers though they do not work in a law enforcement capacity, not in the sense that guards do. As explained by spokesperson Todd Craig of the Bureau of Prison's public affairs department, there are 29,654 employees in the bureau. Of these, 93 percent (27,578) are regarded as "correctional workers" and required to go through a three-week intensive session at the federal Law Enforcement Training Center at Glynco, Georgia, where they receive training in the use of 9mm handguns, shotguns, and M16s.

Everyone who will be working within a federal prison is required to take the course -- cooks, lawyers, general maintenance people, health personnel, and, of course, the actual guards who receive a lot more training.

A FLETC spokesman said that about 3,000 Bureau of Prison trainees go through the course each year. Not that they will need such firepower in their work, but upon completion they are granted limited search and arrest powers which can be used within the prison itself in an emergency, and they're certified in the use of firearms."

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=3136

Actually, not even the "correctional officers" - at least at the New Mexico State Penitentiary - usually carry weapons. I mean, when you've got one or two correctional officers and dozens of inmates, having them carry a weapon would be just asking for trouble, They have their radios, pepper spray, and batons when among the inmates - no other weapons.

From what I've researched, at federal prisons, the correctional officers can't even carry batons and pepper spray.

"Unfortunately, BOP opposed � and continues to oppose - providing correctional officers with batons, pepper spray, and/or TASER guns. BOP argues that it would send the wrong message to prison inmates, namely that such non-lethal weaponry is necessary because conditions at BOP institutions have significantly worsened."

http://www.afge.org/index.cfm?page=2009ConferenceIssuePapers&Fuse=Content&ContentID=1730

I'm not sure about the "private prisons." It may differ from state to state. But I did find this about Virginia:

"Private correctional officers shall be authorized to carry and use
firearms only after completing an approved training course."

http://www.afscme.org/docs/stateppregsutwy.pdf






Regards,
John

[fladude]

John I see what you are saying. I guess my point is though that not everyone who goes into a prison to DO WORK, works there, or for the Prison system more specifically.

For example, court personal and attorneys go into prisons as part of their jobs but do not work for the prison. I have been in plenty of prisons to see people and certainly never worked there or attended any special training. Additionally other government employees go in and out all the time. Teachers who were employed by the Prisons would probably have to be qualified like the cooks and everyone else. But teachers who worked for some other agency likely would not be subject to those rules.

[johnslat]

Dear fladude,

"But teachers who worked for some other agency likely would not be subject to those rules."

I don't think that a teacher who worked for some other agency would be working as a teacher in the prison system, either at the state or the federal level.

Any teacher who works as a teacher in a prison would have to be employed
by either the state Department of Corrections or by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

At the New Mexico State Penitentiary, everyone who worked there on a day-to-day basis (not visitors, such as those you mentioned) was an employee of the New Mexico Department of Corrections.

Regards,
John