11h ago

New York set to lower hiring age of prison guards to 18 amid correction officer shortage

State lawmakers approved the measure on Wednesday and Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, is expected to sign it into law.

The bill establishes some rules for the younger guards, including policies that they cannot obtain or use firearms or transport inmates outside of prisons. They also must be supervised when performing “contact roles” with inmates during the first year-and-a-half on the job.

The push to lower the age for correction officers came after guards walked off the job in February while striking to protest poor working conditions. Hochul was forced to deploy the state National Guard to prisons to maintain operations during the strike.

22 comments

Hire the high school bullies to do their dream job while they're still in high school. I worked at a prison for almost 3 years. You can't be successful by bullying. The inmates outnumber the guards and they work out. It isn't a wrestling match, it's a game of chess. The inmates are always trying to get away with something. You have to be observant, intelligent, patient, and above all you must be fair to all of them. You aren't there to punish them. Being there is their punishment. Your job is to keep them safe, fed, medicated, and entertained so they don't riot and to prevent their escape. High school students playing mind games with 50 year old inmates will get tricked into breaking the law. Once you do that, the inmates own you. You end up working for them. Anyone who has spent time in a prison on either side of the bars knows this.

Who goes for that job anyway? I know one guy who is interested in that kind of work and it's the 8k bonus plus he thinks it would be easy. And they give the bonus to attract the desparate and money hungry because who goes for that job anyway? Who actually wants that job? Seriously?
- People who likes dicks and buttholes. They never talk about the amount of strip searches.

The push to lower the age for correction officers came after guards walked off the job in February while striking to protest poor working conditions.
Fuck's sake.
- If the working conditions were poor, i could only imagine how the conditions were for the inmates 😶
- I've got an idea. Why not let the inmates run the asylum?
  
  Let the prisoners run the prison? Absolutely not.
  Force the prisoners to fill the labour shortage? Well now you're spreading their language.

Improve working conditions? Pay a proper wage? Naah, lets just encourage people who are barely not kids anymore to do the job.
- $58,000 to start. $75,000 after seven years.
  https://doccs.ny.gov/employment/correction-officer-trainee
  I'm surprised they aren't getting flooded; plenty of cops in rural America don't make that much.
  edit =https://govsalaries.com/salaries/deputy-sheriff-salary/alabama
  Turns out I was wrong. Alabama deputies make as much and have an easier job in a safer environment.
  
  https://dol.ny.gov/new-york-state-average-weekly-wage-nysaww-0
  That amounts to about 95k annually as the average yearly wage. So why should someone settle for less than 80% of the average wage after 7 years for working in a high physical and emotional stress and hazard environment?
  https://joinstatepolice.ny.gov/salary-benefits
  State police trooper makes 114k-124k after 5 years.
  
  I’d rather be a cop in rural America. 58k is not much in New York and everyone you deal with wants to kill you.

yeah let's put some 18-year-olds in charge of violent criminals that'll go well

I know 18 is the age of majority and adult responsibility, but it's both my observation and my personal experience that you're not ready for that kind of responsibility until you have a few years of being an adult under your belt.
- Their decision making abilities aren't also fully developed and I can guarantee more prisoners will be harmed or killed when an 18yo guard feels threatened.
  
  They won't have guns.
  The bill establishes some rules for the younger guards, including policies that they cannot obtain or use firearms or transport inmates outside of prisons.
- Science - the actual, y'know, science - says the human brain isn't fully formed until early 20s.

This'll go well

Kids shouldn't have power. Kids are stupid and cruel.

22 comments