We walk a beat that the average citizen will never see
For 8 - 12 - 16 hours a day;
We are several large locked steel doors away from the outside world
The majority of people We deal with and are surrounded by;
Are either convicted or awaiting trial for any array of crimes
We have to get accused murders band aids
We feed Rapist
We provide high level drug dealers soap
All this behind the wall
Our lives behind the call can become monotony
But with every "normal" situation
We are planning and preparing for the abnormal
The people we "serve and protect" are the ones society has deemed not fit for the outside world at this time
But we go on and leave our personal feelings outside the door
The average citizen will never know the sights and smells we cope with in an average day
The days you go from laughing and joking with co-workers over a slice of pizza
To running into a cell covered in blood after someone has sliced themselves
We live our lives going from 99% boredom to 1% shear terror and back again
We constantly have to defend ourselves from having an inmate one up us
We become hyper skeptical
Questioning everyones intentions
We endure daily verbal attacks
We hope to avoid but not always do physical ones
You dont see our everyday routines on TV
You rarely read about us
But we are there surrounded by concrete and steel
Keeping you safe
24 - 7 - 365
And we will go on silently serving
Written by Albert Small
Correctional Officer SCDOC
