New Jack Guarding Sing Sing Sing Summary

1.) After reading New Jack: Guarding Sing Sing I found most interesting that half the time Conover is in danger and scared for his life. But he must learn how to deal with the inmates and survive the spine-chilling conditions. With the United States prison population reaching a record high of over two million inmates, the system was in a crisis. It was more likely for an African American in California to go to prison rather than attending a state university. The only option Ted Conover had in order to get the information he needed was to be a CO after his request was denied to write a study of the experiences of a new recruit. It was very interesting how Conover kept his intentions secretive and started the training in Albany. After training,

In order for it to be effective one must learn the tips and tricks of the veterans of the job, not just using knowledge from the seven weeks of training. Although that will be effective, I feel as if personal experiences are more efficient and useful in succeeding in the job. “You’re going to learn, CO, that some things they taught you in the Academy can get you killed.” (99) Conover realizes that many officers do not follow the rules that were instructed in the Academy. In order to be a strong and acknowledged correctional officer one must bend the rules a bit to get the inmates to comply. For example the Academy teaches the importance of not conversing with the inmates, but a vital way to get the inmates to follow the rules one must build some sort of relationship with them. While some CO’s treated the inmates like friends and others treated the same inmates like dirt, Conover found an in between, befriending them and hating them. He gained some sort of trust but not much at all so that he wasn’t taken advantage of. He was professional but still had some sort of humanity. This is what I would do when it came to contact and inmate relationship. After learning the rules of the Academy I would mesh them with the rules and working with actual inmates in an actual prison where the risk is real. In New Jack, Conover found that it was always important to log