A commentary on The New York Times article...

AUG. 11, 2015

http://nyti.ms/1NpfWD2

After 2 Killers Fled, New York Prisoners Say, Beatings Were Next

Yes, as we all agree, this kind of behavior is beyond disgraceful, but it continues, year after year, as those who have power lord over those in their charge; beating, berating, humiliating, intimidating, coercing,. This is the culture that we allow to be created. We don't care to hear what happens behind the walls and barbed wire. This is the "hero culture" where anyone in law enforcement is celebrated, and thanked for their service, no matter how inappropriate.

Corrections officers are at the bottom of the pecking order. They don't get the full respect of the law enforcement community or the public because they are viewed as babysitters, by a public that needs to have someone watch those that are discarded. We put people in jail and we don't really care what happens; our gaze is politely averted. Then, if and when these former inmates are released, we make sure they are labeled and identified for life as "felons" not worthy to work or fully participate in society.

Should you be an inmate labeled "sex offender" you are tracked, your whereabouts noted, and while in prison, you are segregated for your own protection, but the level of your harassment is that much greater. One C.O.(corrections officer) was once heard saying to an inmate, "No one on the outside cares about you. You are scum! If this building burned down and every one of you were killed, not a single person would care."

These beatings, this coercion and intimidation, is not new. It happens over and over in every state in this nation, and, in some form or another, daily. And really, we don't care.