Tweet

() Comments

Report

TJJD (Texas Juvenile Justice Department) laughed, actually
laughed when C-SCOPE/TRS wanted to pitch the product to
them, they were the only one. Ive only visited but from my
limited experience:

1) Its very organized and controlled, you dont have to stand in a
hall and watch students at the lockers or anything. The students
are for the most part well behaved. This is an opportunity for
them to get out of their enclosures (cells) and do something. A
lot of them really do want to to make changes.

2) The problem is a lot of them are truly socio paths, these are
not nice kids while a fair number of them have remorse, for
truly the worst offenses we have (murder, rape, etc), a lot of
them know the system and their mistakes will just make them
better predators later, when they are released. These students
are VERY good at playing the victim of society, they will
manipulate you if they can. The smallest breach of policy or
protocol they will use as leverage to extort or blackmail you,
simple things, like "can you call my mother when you get home
and tell her Im okay, i lost my phone privileges for getting beat
up". You make the call and the next day or a few days later the
same kid will come to you after class and say 'You broke the
rules and if you dont do me a favor Ill report you and my
girlfriend (who you really called) will back me up." These kids
are the dangerous ones, the real dangerous ones they make
slasher movies about.

3) The money is very good considering its a clock in and clock
out job, you never take anything home (every assignment and
scrap of paper stays in the facility, no communication that isnt
monitored goes in or comes out). There are no meetings or
extra curricular programs. They dont use TRS though they use
ERS which is the State "Employee" retirement system, it takes
twice as long to get vested (10 years) but the benefits more
stable, still its not as good as ORP.

4) Some of the corrections officers are borderline criminals
themselves. the older ones (with the grey hair) tend to be the
best, they have a lot invested and its a job to them, they have to
much to risk. The younger ones seem to just barely be on this
side of the law, when there is a scandal or a security breach its
usually a younger CO (corrections officer) thats the problem.
There is a reason why male COs have almost no contact or have
dual patrol with female COs when handling female inmates. As
a teacher there will always be at LEAST 2 COs in proximity to
your classroom and its not surprising to have a student in leg
restraints (so that they cant rush you or anyone else) nor a CO
in the back of your classroom.

5) The sup is the best, you will be supported as long as you
follow procedures and rules. If a student is problematic you
wont see them again. Texas has very little sympathy for these
kids, and they really are beyond their last chance. You wont get
cheated, taken advantage of or anything. Come in do your
lesson, do your job go home and you will NEVER have a
problem.

On 1/07/15, Considering wrote:
>
> I was a public school teacher for some 15 years but resigned
> in order to start my own business. Now that the business
> is running fairly well and my wife can handle it, I am
> considering getting back into the profession. However,
> I really don't want to go back to the public school setting
> and am seriously considering applying at a prison school.
>
> Does any of you out there have any experience working in
one
> and, if so, can y'all share any information on what it is
> like to work in this environment/classroom. No detail is too
> small, so elaborate as much as you like! LOL
>
> As I side question, I withdrew my contributions to Texas TRS
> to start the business I mentioned, so was wondering how
> long to takes when starting fresh to become "re-vested" in
> the retirement system and get a yearly pension upon
> retirement for good?
>
> Thanks in advance for any assistance/answers!

Posts on this thread, including this one