Plot hole pet peeve

[sgt.null]

working in a prison I can tell you most movies have it all wrong. some of what I notice...

prison is a constant battleground. no it is not. most of prison involves waiting for something. a door to open, rec to start. a meal to start. a visit. and we do a much better job of stopping / containing violence.

rape. any rape is bad, but the numbers are constantly going down year by year. we drill our officers on what to do to reduce rapes, and how to properly manage a situation where a rape has happened. I know there is the myth/cliche that rape is the number one issue for inmates. it is an issue, but not in the frequency it is shown in all of fictional media.

the wise inmate. every show has one, real prisons usually do not. most of the inmates are drop outs. they are career criminals. there a lot of inmates locked up for sex crimes. Morgan Freeman types a few and far between.

the innocent inmate. I ain't ever met him. and I expect I never will. the largest majority of inmates did the crime they are there for. and they have many more crimes than they were caught for.

metal eating ware. i think it was Reindeer Games where I saw a chowhall with metal utensils. hasn't been that way in years folks. metal equals shanks, and that would be a bad idea. we figured this outr some time ago.

honor among thieves. unless it is a gang thing, inmates are not looking our for each other. some may help an individual out if they are friends with them. but the latest generation(s) do not have a code of conduct. they will snitch on each other for a wide variety of reasons. your typical inmate is busy trying to get by and will be very selfish in his transactions with any and all people.

the constant officer. movies show some real cracker jacks. they are at the prison at all hours. they work every department. they are involved with the inmates at every moment. hogwash. we have a schedule, you tend to stick with it. I was on first shift for the last two or so years. before that I was on second shift for 13 years. I am back on second shift. assignments do rotate for some jobs, other jobs (kitchen/laundry/etc) have assigned individuals. unless an inmate works for me, or a job that interacts with my department - I can go a long time without seeing a given individual. I have 800 inmates in the build, and a possible 300 at the trusty camp. I usually find out and inmate has shipped to a program or home after the fact. an inmate will tell me, or I will ask where someone has gone.

the evil/corrupt officer. there are some. we try to find out they are and fire them. but not all units have an officer running it like their private kingdom. and when an officer is corrupt, they are usually muling in contraband. not glamorous, and in the end not really worth it. it can get you some quick cash, but the almost always end up getting caught in the end. the slip up or someone snitches on them. you ain't going to get rich working for the inmates like that.

I post more when I think of them. or you can ask me about somethings you have seen.

one I can tell you from kitchens in general.

walk in freezers/coolers have been upgraded. most you simply pop the door from the inside if you get shut in. the doors are designed to open from both sides. some have special emergency procedure devices built in if a problem arises.

and most of the freezers have a shut off switch inside the freezers. it will stay cold for hours after you shut it down, but you will survive even if someone jams up the door. most have an off switch right there on the fans/cooling unit. they designed so people won't die using them.

[Avatar]

Yeah, here, all walk-in fridges and freezers (no matter where) have to be openable from the inside.

--A

[MsMary]

Regarding the innocent inmate: I'm sure that person is hard to find. But there have been some high profile stories in recent years of people who were wrongly incarcerated years ago and have been acquitted on the basis of new evidence - often DNA evidence that wasn't available at the time of the original trial.

How would you know an innocent inmate if you met him, anyway? Not doubting what you say, just wondering what your basis is for saying this.