Against All Enemies Foreign and Domestic
I am going to show you the pay comparison for California Prison Guards compared to that of the United States military personnel. There is a gross pay difference between what a California Prison Guard that is 21 years old with only a high school education makes and that of mid grade and senior military officers make with master degrees and in some cases PhDs not to mention the fact that they are responsible for the lives of hundreds of subordinates and millions of dollars worth of equipment.
One example is the 21 year old prison guard with his high school diploma and six weeks of training is making $70,000 a year with out over time. A military officer typical 0-5 that is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army, Marines, and Air Force and it is a full Commander in the Navy makes only $77,173.20 a year and there is no over time. They will work up to 7 days a week any where from an 8 to 24 hour day and in combat face dangers far greater than any prison guard. They are in charge of hundreds if not thousands of men at a time. They all have Master Degrees of some sort and most likely an additional 4-6 years of extensive military training in leadership and their specialties this includes pilots.
The Senior enlisted person in each branch of the service with 30 years of service and master degrees themselves make only $63,860.40 a year and they are responsible for thousands of men and women.
There is absolutely no way to compare the hardships, dangers, family separations, long hours, years deployed at a time, of a man or woman in the military to what a young prison guard faces during his 8 hour shift. The California Prison Guard Union is out of control and grossly over paid for their skills and risks.
For Californians to wonder why their taxes are so high and there doesn't seem to be an end in site is because they have all fallen asleep at the wheel and let these thugs and criminals in their own right rob you blind. Any one with common sense should see that the pay of a prison guard even cut by 50% would be too much for a starting 21 year old with a high school education. In the US Army a 21 year old Private First Class facing combat daily in Iraq with the same high school education and more than 4-8 months of extensive training only making $17,474.40 cents a year. He works 7 days a week and around the clock, separated from his loved ones, no over time, not scheduled breaks, and ten thousand miles from home for 12-13 months at a time.
Click the image below to see the 2005 US Military Basic Pay Chart.
Click the links below to read more about the pay of a California Prison Guards.
Steep prison overtime `a way of life'
Guard our budget from prison spending
California prison guards earned $200M in overtime last year
How prison guards cashed in big
Dems oppose prison guards' pay increase
I found hundreds of links on the internet about the California Prison system corruption and pay. I did not want to list all of them for fear of overwhelming you with all the data. It should be suffice to say that there is a critical problem in this State if not the whole nation with the Prison system and the corruption.
There is a line between fair pay, low pay, and over pay for employees especially prison guards. If they are under paid we know that leads to corruption with the prisoners and bad employees. If they are over paid like now in California that leads to another form of corruption in that they do their job for the pay not job. They are so money hungry now it attracts low live scum that can't find employment of any other kind and are even paid more than majority of the military with over 30 years of service. Men and women in the military do not do their job for the pay but for what they believe to be right and for the good of all. California prison guards now are in it for the money. They have become a legalized crime organization they rob the tax payers of California of their tax dollars and get to prey on the inmates and exercise their sadistic perversions on their captives. No one cares what happens to a prisoner in this country unless of course it is a military POW camp. We have higher standards of care and control for POWs than we do the men and women we would have return to our society some day.
After just 60 days in a county jail I observed horrible prisoner treatments and guards that only serve to reinforce the average inmates view of an acceptable society and approach to dealing with conflict and how to make things work for you. There were multiple guards that roamed the cell block swinging their clubs, hats on backwards and abusing their power. Any time you saw 3 or more guards together you knew they were looking for trouble. When ever one or two guards were walking through you could pretty much count on a decent encounter if not friendly even at times. The horrible truth is that with in the prison system and the probation system the guards that are good can not say a single word about the activities of the bad guards. All they could do is try to protect us as much as possible and warn us when the bad ones were on duty and what they were looking for that night in the way of trouble.
My first real probation officer was a good man. I can't say that our first encounter was appropriate. He and 9 other officers from San Diego including the San Diego Vice Squad officers that set me up and arrested me came to my brothers home in Whittier for my one and only 4th amendment search. Meaning I have no right to refuse any search or seizure from the police at any time while I am on probation. So that was 10 officers in plain clothes from San Diego, 100 miles out of their jurisdiction raiding my brothers home because I lived there.
They first came in showed badges and handcuffed me as soon as they could and set me down in a kitchen chair. Then rounded up my brothers family and set them all down in the living room. My brother has heart condition and was getting very upset at the process of 10 men in his home. He did not understand why it took so many of them as if I were Rambo or something. He asked for badge numbers and names but was told he had no right to know any more than they carried badges and guns. The vice squad went to work in my room going through every single article I owned and to my brothers computer that I also shared with him and his family. The Vice Squad officers were once again very disappointed that they could not find a single thing that would support the charges they forced me to give a false confession to. The part where I later learned he was good is that he made sure that every thing they touched was returned to as near as possible to the same condition they found it in. He soon after made me take a lie detector test and I also believe he was the only probation officer in the last 5 years that took the time to read the whole report and I know he is the only one that took so much effort in trying to find any new wrong doing.
The search took place in November of 2000. In December is when I took my first lie detector test. The administrator of this test was named Wallace. She was shocked when I walked in and after reading the report that probation had given her and she told me she was sorry for what I had been through. She looked at me and told me I could be her own father or brother sitting there across from her and she was ashamed at what had happened to me. I took the test and for the first time was able to show electronically that I had been telling the truth about destruction of evidence and the true nature of what had happened to me. My probation officer actually was feeling the same by the time he reviewed the test results. I was coming up on a review in February of 2001 and told me I needed to ask the judge to take me off probation I did not belong there at all and it was a waste of his departments time to keep me there. He related that his average probation person violated probation 1 or 2 times a week and his time was needed supervising those people. He said he didn't believe I committed a crime in the first place or would ever violate my probation. He told me point blank he could not put that in writing and that I was old enough and wise enough to understand why he could not put his true recommendations in writing. Just like many of the prison guards I met in San Diego he was afraid for his job and well being if he told the truth about what was going on.
When it came time to go to court no one from probation or even the DAs office showed for the hearing. I told my lawyer repeatedly what the probation officer had told me but my lawyer refused to ask the judge to let me go. He told me I needed to learn my lesson and he may help me get off probation at the half way point. There is a lot more to be said in the book about my lawyer. At the time I had no one else to turn to, but now I know he was never on my side at all and wanted to ensure that no bad press ever got out about San Diego.