>If anyone has any empirical data on actual violent crimes committed by
>prison guards, as compared to other people in similar economic and social
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2007/prisontown/pdf/fraser_article.pdf
...a mediator for Lassen County Family Court, saw her caseload—mainly child custody and divorce, jump from 167 to 320 in one year. During the two years after the prison opened, domestic violence as well skyrocketed in Susanville. Linda McAndrews, head of Lassen Family Services, said she got 3000 crisis calls from women in 1996. She went to the warden and told him "he had to do something." He did—the number of crisis calls has decreased during the past year—but many believe that's due to the new law that states if you've been convicted of domestic abuse, you're not allowed to carry a gun. If you can't carry a gun, you won't go far in the prison system. Consequently, women are much more reluctant to report abuse, fearing their husbands will lose their jobs, and then whatever problems they're facing will only spiral into something worse
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_5510659
Prison horrors haunt guards' private lives
[...]
A staggering downside
Prisons have buoyed southern Colorado economically, providing thousands of jobs with retirement and health benefits that pay around $36,000 a year, lower than police and firefighter pay but enough to support a family in this area.
Yet research suggests a staggering downside. Correctional officers' life expectancy hovers around 59 years, compared with 77 for the U.S. population overall, according to insurance data.
Prison jobs promise a comfortable retirement, "but many of these guys don't live long after they retire," said Dr. Gary Mohr in Cañon City, who has treated guards who had heart attacks.
Their work forces guards "to put up a shield," Mohr said. "It's hard to take that shield off when you go home. It's hard to open up to the
Therapist Caterina Spinaris gathers up papers after speaking to prison workers this month at the Centennial Correctional Facility in Cañon City. Prison guards work in an "unrecognized war zone," says Spinaris, who set up a hotline on which guards can vent frustrations before going home. (Special to The Post / Nathan W. Armes) wife and kids."
Spinaris' work is groundbreaking, he said. "The guards I've sent to her, they've come back feeling a lot better. ... They say: 'I'm not losing my mind. I've just got a really stressful job."'
Short staffing as the U.S. prison population tops 2.2 million leaves guards short-tempered and prone to "rage attacks" directed at family, said Dr. Robert McCurry, another local physician.
The environment behind bars brings out the worst in everyone, said a former prison staffer now helping domestic-violence victims at Cañon City's Family Crisis Center.
"If the person has the propensity for abuse, it's definitely going to come out when they work in this profession," she said, asking to remain anonymous to protect a child abused in her own family.
The suicide rate among prison guards is 39 percent higher than the average for other occupations, an Archives of Suicide Research study found.
At Florence, at least nine federal guards have committed suicide since 1994, according to former employees and Spinaris. Federal Bureau of Prisons officials confirmed five staff suicides in the Florence facilities since 1997 - and 45 nationwide.
The bureau now offers psychological counseling through an arrangement with a Public Health Service agency, spokeswoman Felicia Ponce said. Guards using a 24-hour help line can reach counselors trained to discuss emotional, family and financial problems. "They can either talk to someone at the time they call or set up an appointment."
Colorado state prison officials say that they don't track suicides but that at least two guards killed themselves over the past five years.
The suicide rate in semirural Fremont County consistently ranks near the highest in Colorado: 41.8 per 100,000 residents in 2005, more than twice the statewide rate of 16.8.
[...]