Why private prison employees might not want to work too close to home —Barbara Stratton

Received yesterday on Video: Drive Away CCA radio. -jsq

Great interview John. The comment about employees not wanting to work at a facility in the same county they live in was an interesting thought relative to the proposed local employment benefits. When I worked for CCA in the inmate Mental Health unit at the Valdosta Correctional Institute we were always warned that keeping pictures of our families or anything personal on our desks was possibly dangerous and therefore not recommended. I loved my job there because being inside the prison meant we had to form close working relationships with each other and I love teamwork on the job and it was never boring. We had almost constant training hours warning us about the dangers of being in close contact with inmates and all the rules about interacting. Forheight="1 instance we had one inmate who was a brilliant artist. He like to gift us with his artwork, which we were allowed to accept as a non-personal gift to be placed on the office walls. He was a very well behaved prisoner especially to females, but his beautiful artwork always consisted of some form of predator watching prey such as a cat watching a bird. We loved the artwork, but took note of the inuendos.

Prisoners were always given strict instructions that

they were never to come near or contact any prison employee after they were released. Right after I left to help open Gold's Gym in V-Town one of the MH professionals started having problems with a released inmate that immediately began contacting him and stalking by purposely attending the church where he was a member. The professional had to leave the church where he had been a long time teacher.

I could give other examples of why employees might not want to work too close to home and I'm glad you entered that thought into the proposed jobs equation. I loved my job and would never have left except outside financial benefits were better, but it's definitely not for everyone.

As a sideline question — If the CCA deal is retracted will the Industrial Authority buy back the parcel they sold to Mr. Bassford since he won't be making his million plus profit from the parcel sale to CCA?

-Barbara Stratton