"New Jack,Guarding Sing Sing, By Ted Conover (A commentary) Part 1
Sgt Walt
After reading Ted Conover's book, New Jack, Guarding Sing Sing" I was left
with mixed feelings. Much of what he said in relating his own personal
incidents which he alleges occurred probably happened rather close to what he
relates less the political overtones. The book has a severe undercurrent, a
political stance, which is brought our in ways which he either demean,
degrade, or otherwise misrepresent our job and or the Department. He does this
in subtle, quiet ways that many readers may not even realize as he does it.
It is clear to me he is working for his own political agenda. It is just as
clear that he came into the job of Correction Officer with certain preconceived
notions, none of which are complementary and those preconceived notions are
apparent to a reader who is analyzing as he is reading. As you read this
critique, you will understand what I mean.
Ted Conover alludes repeatedly to his "education" throught out the book. He
left me with the impression that he has a degree in Anthropology or some other
similar subject. He attempts to paint himself as a "sociologist" and an
unbiased "researcher." When you look at his preconceived notions, you can see
he did not enter the Academy or Sing Sing with an open mind. Much of his book
is not "reporting," it is editorializing various anecdotes.
While much of what he says is true, he presents a book which does give some
of a picture of corrections but is lacking in accuracy.
On page 4 he writes, "It's barely 15 minutes till lineup. I throw on my gray
polyester uniform..." He must have gotten his uniform from a clothing store.
The gray uniforms we were wearing at the time were made of cotton poplin. Not
polyester. While this is an educated person, I question if he knows what
polyester is. Among many other subjects.
In Chapter 2, "School for Jailers', it is clear he resents the military
aspects of the Academy. This comes out to the reader LOUD AND CLEAR. He
clearly sees no reason for the training which is designed to illicit measured,
accurate, and disciplined response to situations. Granted the training is only
training. The desired results are not guaranteed, but neither is a basic
education from a high school education. And they have a lot more time to work
on the student. He apparently thought he would be attending a college campus
type of atmosphere. On page 14 he belittles the banner strung in the
auditorium which says, Total Quality, A DOCS Commitment!", calling it a
passable slogan for a factory but an odd concept, it seemed to me, for junior
prison guards." His first slice at the Department, our job and what we do.
According to Mr. Conover, Eastern Correctional Facility is a medium
correctional facility. Last I heard, Eastern is a max-B facility. To my
recollection it always has been? Could Mr. Conover know something we don't?
Page 23 in the second paragraph, he takes yet another swipe at us in saying,
"I thought one of the advantages of corrections work was a chance for a bit of
shut-eye every now and then."
Apparently, Mr. Conover not only wanted to sleep as a correction officer, but
he must have been doing so during his civics classes as well as his class on
the makeup of the Department and the services the Department receives from the
Office of Mental Hygiene. On page 25, he says, "New York's seventy-one
prisons are scattered across the state. Among them are...as well as a variety
of mediums and minimums and work-release and mental health facilities." The
Department of Correctional Services has no mental health facilities. We do
have satellite units RUN for us by the Office of Mental Hygiene. The Central
New York Psychiatric Center is run by the Office of Mental Hygiene. Always
has. Even when there was a Matteawean, it was run by Mental Hygiene. It seems
that Mr. Conover did not do very much research to make his book very factual
when it comes to back round.
On the same page, Mr. Conover's agenda begins to take shape. He describes
the inmates as "young men of color from New York City who are in prison due
mostly to mandatory sentencing laws for drug offenses." Here, he is making a
political statement, colored as sociology, concerning the racial make up of
our facilities which he lays blame at the feet of the Rockefeller Drug Laws.
He clearly must have missed a research article published in DOCS Today, which
revealed 88% of the inmates incarcerated for "drug offenses," also have crimes
of violence or weapons possession attached to their current bids. I am sure
the department would incarcerate more young white folk, but not enough of them
commit the crimes these inmates commit. He further berates the department
later on because of the racial makeup of the correction employees. He cites
none of the efforts of the Department to recruit minorities, in fact he does
not even mention it. Hmmmm, could this be the political agenda I was alluding
to earlier?
In the same paragraph, continued on the next page, he says, "Because the state
government is based in Albany, however, and the state senate is dominated by
politicians from rural precincts, nearly all prisons construction has been
outside and away from New York City, where job-hungry communities clamor for
it." He goes further and compares the system to 'South Africa under
apartheid".
Problem her, Mr. Conover, is that you are only speaking half the truth. But
that is "journalism" for you. Right? It seems there are TWO houses of the
State Legislature. That second house is the State Assembly and is and has been
solidly controlled by Democrats from New York City! He might also be surprised
to know the State tried to open a correctional facility at the former Pilgrim
State Hospital in Brentwood, Long Island, only about 40 miles from New York
City's line. It seems the public did not want Long Island Correctional
Facility and clamored until it closed. A promise what elicited by Long Island
Politicians from Gov. Mario Cuomo that no prison would be built in this region.
Yes, Mr Conover, prisons are bieng built upstate, because yoru region doe snot
want them. IN NYC, you will find four work release facilities and 2 medium
security prisons. Withing in 70 miles of Sing Sing, there are 18 medium and
maximum security prisons. Please do not burden us with your political hog
wash.
Another apperent error may be found on page 27 where he says Coxsackie
Correctional Facility is somethimes refered to by officers as "The Wack" or
"Gladiator School". Well, only half right. Coxsackie is sometimes refered to
as "The Wack", but it is Great Meadow Correctional Facility which is known as
"Gladiator School" and has been for some time.
And, sadly, Mr Conover takes another swipe at us on the same page. In
describing inmates clothing, he says, "They all wore dark green pants issued
by the state, but a surprising amount of individuality was expressed by thier
shirts --- they were allowed to wear any color byt blue, black, gray, or
orange, where were our colors..." Clearly he lacks the understanding those
prohibited colors make up uniforms of security personel. Could he possibly
have been sleeping during this part of his class on the package room
proceedures? Could he possibly believe the inmates stay behind wire and walls
with no thought of using a fabricated uniform to escape?
On page 28, he describes "overhead video cameras which had been installed in
prisons around the state". Hmmmm, maybe Coxsackie has a few, but except for
SHU's none of the prisons I have worked have them. He goes on to page 28 and
decribes a part of our disciplinary system He says, "In fact, the most
intransigent got fed "the loaf" for the first few days." Again, Mr Conover,
did you sleep thorugh the class on disciplinary proceedures? Remember "Chapter
V", Also known as Directive 4932? Clearly, it outlines the procedures of
feeding "the loaf". And apprently he slept through the part of the class where
he was told the Administraitons only use this penalty for "shit throwers." And
that such a penalty must be monitored by a physician. Task, task, Mr Conover
for not bring this out in your book. When he does discuse the disciplinary
proceedure, he does so on page 29 in only a glancing
through it. Does he not think the readers (non correction people) might be
interested? Or does it not fit his political agenda?
On page 30 Mr Conover shows jst how thin skinned he really is. He decribes
during his visit with his Academy Section to Coxsackie going thought a
courtyard and what he thought latter. "It dawned on me, as we ate lunch in the
prison auditorium, that there havd been no particualr need for us to go into
that yard or to linger there." I am sure that during his short career he was
subjected to similar cat calls these youthful inmates cast upon him. The whole
idea was to show Mr Conover what he was in for as a CO and maybe to test his
nettle.
Page 32, goes into his description of his Acedemy Classes. "Classes started
in earnest the next day, and among the many sleep-inducers --- Note -Taking,
Tool and Key Control, Cultural Awarness, were a few that mae everyone sit up
and take notice. I am sorry Mr. Conover but we could not give you every class
action packed, but each of the courses you were taught were necessary for your
short career. He goes on to be rather "descriptive" of his Use of Force
instructor, "A good-natured, shaved headed, bullnecked older black man named
Kirkley." My such "glowing terms". He goes on. "YOu had to wade through a
pile of handouts --- "Article 35," "Directive 49" (we don't have one; could
he have ment Directive 4944?), "Employee Manual 8.2," "Chapter V, "
"Correction Law 137-5" (sic, it is Correction Law Section 137.5) to figure it
all out. The requirements seemed pretty tough (well, they are), unitl you
focused on the second-to-last one: "to enforce complaince with a lawful
direction." That was the clincher right there, 99 percent of what you need to
know. it an inmate was not doing what you told him as long as it wasn't
"Shine my shoes" you could use physical force on him. Now we all know that is
not true, except for the "cowboy" CO's. He fails to mention the sentence of
Directive 4944 which tells us we can only use force in an "emergency" and then
only such force as is absulutely necessary. To hear him, we can beat inmates
daily for minor offenses of direct order.
Now we come to arson.Same page. When discussing Deadly Physical Force, he
aludes that is would be highly unlikely that an inmate would be stopped around
a bunch of gas cans with a lighted match. Well, true, Mr . conover, but how
about an inmate who throws a "Molotove Cocktail" into an occupied cell? Is
this more likely? As this has happened. I quess it would be.
Now we come to what he calls "Legals". He says, "Another officer, Voltraw,
taught us Legals, a class that involved mostly memorization.- the difference
between larceny thrid degree and latceny forth degree for example and thos
legal precendents of Miranda warnings.- but also informed us about the poweres
we were about to possess." Hmmm, the Acadmey does not even touch on the
subject of Penal Law, except in Article 35.05 when they speak of Use of Force.
What Legals class did he go to?
On page thrity five he states speaking of inmate work gangs, "These gangs -
always in my expierence, made up of young black men - were watched over by
tough looking armed CO's wearing wide brimmed hats, and leather boots tucked in
at the top." He did? The work gangs that work at the Acedemy have officers
alright, but they are not armed. These inmates come from Camp Summit (Summit
Shock). Officer transporting work crews are not armed. Nice try, Conover.
Just another inaccuracy which is made to paint us look like thugs.
Again, for another gross inaccuracy, turn to page 39. In the first paragraph,
he says, "The instructors ushered usdown to a small shack off to the side of
the range, near the woods. We all went inside, whereupon the lead instructor
asked for four volunteers. He only got two, Dimie and Falcone. He
"volunteered" Bella and Dobbins to stand with them in a row, facing us.
Peering in from a window behind them were some civilians. That was it. The
instuctor produced a hand held aerosol. 'Do you wnat me to tell you when I'm
going to do it?' , he asked. While they thought about that, he spreayed them,
one at a time, in the face."
What? Apprently, this gerbroni missed Chemical Agents. Any officer fresh out
of the academy would knwo that you spray the aerosol at the chest. But not Mr.
Conover. Could he be trying to painting a picture of incompetence?
Now he goes on. on page 42 in the third paragraph, At the same time, the
Academy seemed to embrace an institutional denial that what we were being
taught to do had a moral aspect. The moral weirdness of prison was never
discussed - the racial inequality and the power inequality; the them and us;
the constant saying no." Here he is on a soap box again. Again he makes out
what we do has some moral dilemma. I see nothing wrong with keeping people
behind walls and wire who commit crimes. I could care less what their skin
color is.
Did you note how many times in this book he calls us "guards" or "prison
guards"? This book does us good? We are striving to present a air of
professionalism and this guy writes a book while somewhat accurate is nothing
but a political ploy to sell his idology.
On page 48, he goes on to say, " We recieved instruction in the use of the
baton and in a variety of martial arts and other tough guy methods,
cummulatively labled Defensive Tactics." Wow, do you see the jabs? The
digs....the "descriptive adjectives" ment to malign and degrade.
More to come.....
Fraternally,
Walt
Sgt. NYSDOCS
"If ya can't do the time, don't do the crime!"
Tony Barretta
MAX WingsOfAnAngel
Amazon.com
Most people know it's easier to get into prison than it is to get out. But
for a journalist, just getting into Sing Sing, New York's notorious
maximum-security prison, isn't easy. In fact, Ted Conover was so stymied by
official channels that he took the only way in--other than crime--and became
a New York State corrections officer: "I wanted to hear the voices one truly
never hears, the voices of guards--those on the front lines of our prison
policies, the society's proxies." Newjack is Conover's account of nearly a
year at ground zero of the criminal justice system. What it reveals is a mix
of the obvious and the absurd, with hypocrisies not unexpected considering
that the land of the free shares with Russia the distinction of having the
world's largest prison population. As of December 1999, it was projected
that the number of people incarcerated in the United States would reach 2
million in 2000.
This is the world Conover enters when he, along with other new recruits,
undergoes seven weeks of pseudomilitary preparation at the Albany Training
Academy. Then it's off to Sing Sing for the daily grind of prison life.
Conover correctly and vividly captures the essence of that life, its tedium
interspersed with the adrenaline rush of an "incident" and the edge of fear
that accompanies every action. He also details how the guards experience
their own feelings of confinement, often at the hands of the inmates:
A consequence of putting men in cells and controlling their movements is
that they can do almost nothing for themselves. For their various needs they
are dependent on one person, their gallery officer. Instead of feeling like
a big, tough guard, the gallery officer at the end of the day often feels
like a waiter serving a hundred tables or like the mother of a nightmarishly
large brood of sullen, dangerous, and demanding children. When grown men are
infantilized, most don't take to it too nicely.
And not taking to it nicely often involves violence. Indeed, the constant
potential for violence on any scale makes even humdrum assignments
dangerous. It's astonishing that more doesn't happen, given that the
majority of the 1,800 inmates have been convicted of violent felonies:
murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery, assault, kidnapping, burglary, arson.
But beneath the simmering rage rests an unexpected sensitivity that Conover
captures brilliantly. After encountering a Hispanic inmate with a tattoo of
a heartbreaking passage from The Diary of Anne Frank on his back, he writes:
"It was easier to stay incurious as an officer. Under the inmates' surface
bluster, their cruelty and selfishness, was almost always something
ineffably sad." Ultimately, the emphasis of Conover's work is on the toll
prison exacts--most immediately on the jailed and their jailers, but also on
a society that puts both there in increasing numbers. --Gwen Bloomsburg
REVIEW by NYDOCS Sergeant Walter Beverley
"Sgt Walt" <sgt...@aol.com> wrote in message
KO
"MAX WingsOfAnAngel" <dna...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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> Editorial ReviewsWhile I can agree with some parts of the professional reviews, I have to say
that on this one, Walt's not wrong, either. For an author to spend one year
as an Officer inside and think he knows enough to write about it is a joke.
From the sections that Walt quoted it's pretty clear that the author let his
agenda color his work and that he never was "an Officer".
Ken (MI)
MAX WingsOfAnAngel
way the system is built to allow a journalist to report his observations of
what he sees from a journalist's point of view.
Any reader obviously should asume the athour had no intention of becoming
aguard as a career. Not too many folks would find this occupation
manageable.
Kinda like working in a recycling plant (hopefully, rather than the old
fashioned dump) and one would need to get used to the smell, the rot, the
maggots, the scavangers, etc. etc. on a daily basis..
LOTS OF LOVE
MAX
"KO" <olso...@iserv.netNOSPAM> wrote in message
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>
> "MAX WingsOfAnAngel" <dna...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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> > Editorial Reviews
> > REVIEW by NYDOCS Sergeant Walter Beverley
> >
> > "Sgt Walt" <sgt...@aol.com> wrote in message
> >
Omnivore
el/102-2924364-4056155
"Sgt Walt" <sgt...@aol.com> wrote in message
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aka MAX
101-5124-1-area code - number
Other Long Distance
10-10-811-1 area code - number
Block number * 67
Call back * 69
The New York Times Book Review, Daniel Bergner
...Newjack coheres as a moving indictment of our ways of punishment.
From Booklist
Journalist Conover wanted to follow the life of a rookie prison guard for a
year. Denied access as a reporter, he enrolled in the guard training program to
see "America's incarceration crisis" close up. He immersed himself in the
dehumanization and mindless bureaucracy of one of the largest, best-known U.S.
prisons. There he struggled with the pressure on guards to be loyal to one
another, even in the face of the brutal egoism of some and their inherently
unequal relations with prisoners. He limns the guile and manipulativeness of
prisoners and conjures the constant undercurrent of violence in the prison. He
tells of strip searches, cell searches, lockdowns, and the daily tension and
frustration of guarding hostile prisoners. He notes the racial imbalance in the
larger penal system, with one out of three black men being incarcerated at some
time in his life. He makes an engaging report on the prison system and the
strategy of responding to get-tough posturing on crime by building more prisons
in which fewer training programs are provided. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
Ted Conover, the intrepid author of Coyotes, about the world of illegal Mexican
immigrants, spent a year as a prison guard at Sing Sing. Newjack, his account
of that experience, is a milestone in American journalism: a book that casts
new and unexpected light on this nation's prison crisis and sets a new standard
for courageous, in-depth reporting.
At the infamous Sing Sing, once a model prison but now New York State's most
troubled maximum-security facility, Conover goes to work as a gallery officer,
working shifts in which he alone must supervise scores of violent inner-city
felons. He soon learns the impossibility of doing his job by the book. What
should he do when he feels the hair-raising tingle that tells him a fight is
about to break out? When he loses a key in a tussle? When a prisoner punches
him in the head? Little by little, he learns to walk the fine line between
leniency and tyranny that distinguishes a good guard.
Along the way, we meet a cast of characters that includes a tough but appealing
supervisor named Mama Cradle; a range of mentally ill prisoners, or "bugs";
some of the jail's more flamboyant transvestites; and a philosophical,
charismatic inmate who points out to Conover that the United States is building
new prisons for future felons who are now only four and five years old. Conover
also gives us a history of Sing Sing (it was built by inmates, and for decades
was the nation's capital of capital punishment) in a chapter that serves as a
brilliant short course in America's penal system.
With empathy and insight, Newjack tells the story of a harsh, hidden world and
dramatizes the conflict between the necessity to isolate criminals and the
dehumanization--of guards as well as inmates--that almost inevitably takes
place behind bars.
About the Author
Ted Conover was raised in Colorado and lives in New York City. His previous two
books, Whiteout and Coyotes, were named Notable Books of the Year by The New
York Times. He has written for The New Yorker and is now a contributing writer
to The New York Times Magazine.
The publisher, Daniel Menaker , April 26, 2000
An unprecedented inside look at our most famous prison
Ted Conover is a journalist who not only talks the talk (he writes with
enormous intelligence and insight and style) but walks the walk. Hoboes and
Mexican immigrantsand African truck drivers on the AIDS route--Ted has lived
their lives and brought them to life for his admiring readers. Now he has gone
an extra mile and done a year of very hard and frightening work as a prison
guard at Sing Sing, and that year is what this book is about. Tom Brokaw calls
it "an astonishing work by a gifted--and dedicated--jousnalist." I think you'll
agree. Ted has evoked the world behind Sing Sing's walls with great specificity
and compassion and immediacy. The wide range of guards and prisoners are here
in all their diversity and duress--fascistic and sympathetic guards,
transvestite, charismatic, and demented inmates. The insight Ted brings to this
kind of job and this kind of life redeems its tough content and gives us hope
that wise people will read it and learn its lessons. This is a milestone in
American literary journalism.
>From: sgt...@aol.com (Sgt Walt)
REVIEW
,,,,,,,,,
Wonder how many packs of smokes Walt has to pay these Cons to do this work for
him? Not too bad in maintaining his "style" either, ya think? <grin>
LOTS OF LOVE
MAX
For links related to Prison Issues and personal essays
http://home.earthlink.net/~dnarsh/
Donations
http://members.aol.com/twislok/index.htm
© 1999-2000 by Wings Of An Angel
Sgt Walt
>
>I am sure he was as advertized "a journalist" trying to find out the only
>way the system is built to allow a journalist to report his observations of
>what he sees from a journalist's point of view.
>
>Any reader obviously should asume the athour had no intention of becoming
>aguard as a career. Not too many folks would find this occupation
>manageable.
>
>Kinda like working in a recycling plant (hopefully, rather than the old
>fashioned dump) and one would need to get used to the smell, the rot, the
>maggots, the scavangers, etc. etc. on a daily basis..
>
>LOTS OF LOVE
>MAX
>
Problem, Narsh is that you did not read the commentary that I made on the book,
did you? I showed many many areas where he was outright WRONG. But then, you
are very quick to defend a guy like this who admits to unlawfully dealing with
inmates (he admits it twice in the book). He is a criminal. And the
Department should prosceute the bastard.
Omnivore
"KO" <olso...@iserv.netNOSPAM> wrote in message
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>
> "MAX WingsOfAnAngel" <dna...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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> > Editorial Reviews
say
> that on this one, Walt's not wrong, either. For an author to spend one
year
> as an Officer inside and think he knows enough to write about it is a
joke.
> From the sections that Walt quoted it's pretty clear that the author let
his
>
> Ken (MI)
I haven't read the thing.
I'd think the person got more into his topic than do a lot of writers
and journalists.
I did notice some of the reviews of folks who were in corrections and
one who worked at the place thought he did at least a fair job.
I'd suppose that someone who really wanted to try to get some overall
view of the perspective ought to read that sort of thing and also some of
what may be written by someone who was into it as a carrier first and the
writing about it came up later.
I'd think most anyone going into such a thing with a view to write would
have his vision colored such as to always be as an outsider looking in.
I had a thought on some who objected to the use of term guard rather
than CO. I don't know what started the gripe or what it is based on. Since I
saw Lundgren state that prisons job was punishment and not rehabilitation I
thought Department of Corrections to be a bit of misnomer. Maybe should be
Department of Prisons to be accurate. Or with what Lundgren had to say it
could as well be Department of Punishment.
At any rate if I mention CO or correctional Officer to the average
citizen I don't think it would as well convey what I am talking about,
without some explanation, as would just saying prison guard.
But I haven't read the book and probably won't read it, so I can't have
much of an opinion about the book. I have noticed that the general public
refers to the fellows who collect the garbage as garbage man or garbage
collector, and most would not have a clue to what someone was talking about
a sanitation engineer. Many would likely think of someone with a college
degree.
KO
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> > > Editorial Reviews
> > >
> > > "Sgt Walt" <sgt...@aol.com> wrote in message
> > >
Vore,
I'm not as hung up on the labels and terminology as some are, unless their
is a true difference in the definition. As long as I go home when I'm
supposed to and they get my pay right they can call me what they want.
Ken (MI)
Omnivore
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> > > > Editorial Reviews
> > > >
> > > > "Sgt Walt" <sgt...@aol.com> wrote in message
> > > >
Yea - that is like that business of being called inmate or convict. I
never gave a shit. But I wasn't into the whole affair as a lifestyle either.
I got along with most folks well enough, but I could not say that I felt
that I fit in all that much. - I guess I did though.
I noticed that a number of CO's picked up on the inmate jargon such that
it was habitual part of their speech. I'd made effort to not pick up on the
use of much of the local vernacular. I suppose carrier CO's and carrier
inmates may as well if it is a big part of ones life.
I spent my time not really giving a damn if I communicated with anyone
all that much.
Anyway - that fellow wasn't a professional CO. If some professional CO
wrote something there would be those who would gripe about his bias and
having an agenda. - Hell, anyone write anything and there is sure to be one
camp or another to object to it.