Paul H. Williams, Gleaner Writer

An inmate painted this portrait of Maurice Jones, an 18-year veteran of the Department of Correctional Services. - contributed

Weeks ago, newspaper photographs showed thousands of people who turned up seeking interviews for the positions of corrections officers (prisoner warders). This was after several newspaper advertisements. The overwhelming turnout was a surprise to many for a job which is not regarded by any means as the most glamorous and well paid.

Thus, were the applicants simply applying out of desperation, or were they truly interested in the rehabilitation and well-being of law-breakers? Were they mentally and emotionally prepared to deal with the rigours of the job, and the negative perception that many people have of corrections officer? We might never know.

Not easily identifiable

What we do know, however, is that members of the public seldom get a chance to meet corrections officers unless they are regular visitors to correctional institutions. While the police and soldiers are easily identifiable, corrections officers are not, and some people in their lifetime will never get to meet one. And so today, we introduce to you, Staff Officer Maurice Jones, a corrections officer for 18 years running.

Before joining the correctional services, Jones started his working life dealing with things of a more delectable nature, pastries. He worked as a pastry chef and as a food and beverage assistant in the hotel industry, but because of the instability of employment in the sector, he began to set his mind on a more permanent and stable vocation. So, when a family member who was a superintendent of prisons encouraged to him to join the correctional services, he contemplated the idea.

Jones: "I was very hesitant about it because I have always heard of the stigma attached to working in prisons, the brutality, the types of persons in prison ... it was like these men are notorious, who have been charged for various crimes, including murder."

His parents opposed the idea. His father wanted him to become a soldier. He himself thought about joining the police force because the army was 'too rigid'. But, despite the rumours and myths associated with prisons, he chose to work with The Department of Correctional Services at age 23.

Rehabilitation

Jones: "I tell myself that there must be something that I could contribute to the service, and I said I could that go in there to deal with rehabilitation because the family member told me about the various rehabilitation programmes in the prisons ... therefore, I said to myself that I could make a contribution."

His first placement was at the South Camp Road Rehabilitation Centre. The initial weeks were rough, and some of the acts of barbarism that he saw were enough to cause him to walk away and go back to the kitchen, but he stood his grounds.

Jones: "It was the first time I have actually seen someone get hurt. A prisoner used an improvised weapon to cut another prisoner in his stomach, and you could actually see his intestines protruding. It was a very frightening experience. I have also seen a prisoner use a jammer to stab another in his throat, and you could see the blood spewing, and I was scared."

But having remembered the training he got, he kept his composure. He could not show any sign of fear, lest the inmates should notice and use it to their advantage. This perseverance was to come in useful when riots broke in 1997 at the General Penitentiary (now called The Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre).

Sexual intercourse rampant

The riots, which initially started at the St Catherine District Prison, were the prisoners' violent reaction to a suggestion by then commissioner of corrections, Lieutenant Colonel John Prescod, that condoms be distributed to prisoners to stem the spread of HIV, giving the impression that sexual intercourse was rampant among inmates. Jones and other officers were sent from their institutions to help quell the disturbances. When he arrived at the centre, they came upon mayhem and carnage.

Jones: "When we went there from the other prisons, we could see prisoners lying on the ground, killed, stabbed, prisoners were on fire, prisoners were hit with fluids ... .Some of the prisoners were burnt beyond recognition ... . When I saw those dead inmates, up to now I cannot get rid of the sight out of my mind."

Yet, there is another thing that corrections officers cannot rid themselves of, and it goes right back to the basis of the upheavals, the well-established belief that prison life is replete with sex among the inmates themselves and among the inmates and the men who are put in charge of them.

Jones: "One cannot deny the stigma (of homosexuality) in the prison and outside of the prison ... but there is no proof. I personally don't have any proof to say that I can identify a corrections officer who is involved or who has had any sexual encounters with prisoners." To deal with the stigma, which itself is discouraging, a great level of professionalism must be displayed, especially to undisciplined and disrespectful associates and relatives of inmates.

Nevertheless, that is not the most difficult aspect of Jones' job. It is find rehabilitative activities to occupy the inmates' time. The prisoners, many of whom were sentenced to hard labour, do not have much to do, so they spend most of their time lazing around. They are more difficult to supervise without structured programmes.

The job, which Jones finds fulfilling, involves safeguarding inmates, officers, visitors and the public at large. He helps to monitor their movements when they go to bathe, to get their meals and fresh air and to settle disputes among inmates. His job is multifaceted and varies from day to day, as the situation demands.

Punishment

Now serving at the rank of staff officer three, equivalent to an inspector of police, Jones is a founding member, immediate past chairman and executive member of the Jamaica Federation of Corrections, which represents officers up to his rank. He's also a member of the American Correctional Association.

To those who want to join the correctional services for reasons other than to serve the inmates, Staff Officer Jones said, "The correctional services are here to correct. The inmates are not there for punishment. They are there as punishment ... . It is not to come to brutalise them, but to come and give of your best, to serve, to rehabilitate, to make a difference. Once you make a difference, the country will be in a better place."

paul.williams@gleanerjm.com