This blog (my second) is dedicated to the men and women who serve in the penal facilities. Some cursory searching has revealed that there is a definite need for what I am aiming for: an accurate portrayal of what it is like working in a jail setting and advocating for the people who do it. Although my experience was in the county jail system (three jails in two states spanning over 17 years) the dynamic at the county, state, and federal level is similar in many facets and the objective is the same: care, custody, and control of inmates (discussing/debating this sacred trinity of detention will be covered in another post. Part of my advocating for the men and women who work on the "good side" of the bars, is pointing out the ignorance behind the trend of portraying inmates as poor victims of circumstances. They are not all "dirtbags", nor are they all poor unfortunate souls; the reality is that the vast majority fall somewhere in between these extremes. The...