whats the difference??????

[gazza]

OK in aussie all Officers in Prisons are only known as Prison officers the ones in the Police jails the cops look after for a short period till we get them...you guys seem to have different name for Prison officers in jails, prisons and here a jail is only known as a prison the police ones are called the lock up we have senior,chief,governors and ops managers now a days the governor grade 111 is known as the ops manager and now are usually in civvies unless a presentation is being madehow much difference with you guys..stay safe all :)

[Don]

We have so many different types of jails/prisons/lockups/pokeys or what-have-you that it isn't funny.

Quite a few cities have a "city jail." They will mostly house things like DUIs waiting to sober up and the like. These may be staffed by city cops, detention officers, or even civilian personnel.

Then we have the county jails. These are places where in addition to what the city jails do, house inmates awaiting to go through the judicial system {trial et all), or sentenced to one year or less. These will sometimes be staffed by Deputies, or corrections officers, or detention officers or a combination of the above, along with civilian personnel.

Then we have state prisons. This is where folks serve sentences longer than a year. These are usually staffed by career corrections officers, along with civilian personnel.

Then you have the various federal prisons. These can be anything from detention "camps" for folks waiting to be deported to maximum security prisons for violent offenders. They will be staffed by either "detention" officers or "corrections" officers.

There may be other job titles, but these are the ones that I am aware of. Basically, they are all "guards" except for the civilian support personnel. In the some city jails the civilian personnel are also "guards."

Yes, it IS confusing. But then damn near everything about our "Criminal Justice System" is confusing, even the name. :rolleyes:

[gazza]

AHHHHHHHHHH OKKKKKK DON I WILL BELIEVE YOU...SHOULD NEVER HAVE ASKED THAT QUESTION :D

[JKT]

Don described it pretty well, gazza. But there are even a few more variations.

In my area, the City PD has a jail staffed by Detention Officers where they house their arrestees until arraignment and transfer to the County Jail, unless they make bond or pay the fines owed to the City.

The County Jail houses a combination of pre-trial detainees, people convicted of County-Level offenses, and those awaiting transfer to the State prison system. The County Jail is staffed by Licensed Jailers and Deputies that are dual-certified as Jailers and Peace Officers.

The Texas State Prison system is comprised of State Jails, which are lower-level felonies with sentences of up to 2 years. Then there is SAF-P (substance abuse facility-prison), and the rest of the Prison system.

Now for the confusing part: The staff for the City and County Jails, by State Law must be trained and licensed as Jailers by the Texas Commission on Officer Standards and Education.

The State Prison System's guards are trained by the Prison System, and the two entities do not recognize each other's training systems.

Interesting, hmm?

[gazza]

lmaoooooooo jkt ok ok i give up...thank god we only have a Prison, jeez now im confused i think we still have ;)

[Sig220Man]

Gazza, the reason it is so confusing is because of the decentralized nature of our government. As you probably already know, either from schooling and/or frequenting this site, the US Government leaves much of the actual governing of the people to the individual states. You've probably witnessed the wrath of people here when there is a perception of Uncle Sam trampling on "States Rights."

When we're talking about 50 states, each with its own unique way of doing things, it gets downright confusing. To make it worse, the states then allow individual counties to govern much of their own affairs. For example, in California each county runs its own court system and jail system. Just because Los Angeles County does things a certain way, doesn't mean the City and County of San Francisco will do it the same way. In fact, you can bet that it will be different!

[gazza]

DOES THAT MEAN PAY AND CONDITIONS WOULD ALSO VARY GREATLY BETWEEN COUNTIES??????

[Sig220Man]

Originally posted by gazza:
<STRONG>DOES THAT MEAN PAY AND CONDITIONS WOULD ALSO VARY GREATLY BETWEEN COUNTIES??????</STRONG>

Very much so. Before the Sheriff put limitations on the amount of overtime one can work, it wasn't unusual to hear about LASD deputies making over $100,000 a year, at a time when the starting salary was about $40,000.

Then there are some counties where deputies
can barely make ends meet :(

Pay also varies greatly from state to state.

[Silverbird2k1]

Let's not forget the Juvenile Detention staff, a.k.a. Youth Counselors.
In NH, a Correctional Officer (not a guard) attends an Academy located at the NH Police Standards and Training. NHDOC is fortunate enough to use the same facility and training professionals as the police staff.
To add another confusing point, our state inmates (1 yr. and 1 day + sentence) can be relocated from the state facility to a county facility for "protection issues". A county inmate (1 yr. or less sentence) can be transferred to a state facility for management issues. We also "swap" our inmates with other states in U.S. (inter-state compact).