hotguns and safety
"Freeman also said he was worried that guards would shoot too quickly." — Rhonda Cook.
I was reading the Atlanta Journal/Atlanta Constitution's June 7 issue recently. An article's headline read, "Board moves to give prisons tougher image". The second paragraph read: "One member of the Board of Corrections suggested that guards carry shotguns as they stand over prisoners at work in the fields of the prison farm".
Commissioner Wayne Garner, who is well known for his tough stance, seemed more than a little interested in the idea. His response was, "I'll look into that". He went on to say, "I think there ought to be armed guards. The inmates at the Georgia State Prison at Reidsville are some of our most violent inmates, and you've got to be cautious about escapes."
However, the idea did not go over well with a union representative of the guards, who noted, "... prisoners could take guns away from guards. Guns were banned from inside prisons [in the US] decades ago because of danger." Tyrone Freeman worries "... that guards would shoot too quickly. And he said [that] the board is considering the proposal only to make a show of being tough."
Freeman's honesty and candour are refreshing. For not long ago, a correctional officer second grade (CO-2) was posted at the perimeter fence with a shotgun in his hands while the men of G2 Cell Block were playing basketball on the exercise yard. Mind you, the exercise yard is fenced all the way around. Two rows of razor wire sit atop that 4.5-metre-high fence. After that there is another fence about 30 metres away — it has similar wire atop it. Then, several metres beyond, there is still another perimeter fence — on the other side of which stood the CO-2.
Exhausted from five full-on games of half-court basketball, which we had played back-to-back, we stopped to rest; and, while most of the men went to get a drink of water, I went to the fence and leaned against it to catch my breath. There is no rule, written or otherwise, that prohibits a prisoner from standing, or sitting with his back, against the exercise yard fence.
Nevertheless, all in a single swift motion the CO-2 levelled his shotgun, took dead aim at me as he shouted, "Get off that [expletive] fence!" Thinking I had not heard him correctly, I shouted back, "What did you say?" He repeated his command. Needless to say, I immediately moved back. I remember (gratefully) thinking to myself how lucky I am not to be on a work detail beyond the perimeter under that man's guard — surely he would have shot me on a whim.
It is a common opinion among most prisoners here that that CO-2 has problems. Unfortunately, there are a lot of guards at this prison like him.
Shortly thereafter, when I and other prisoners reported his behaviour to the prison administrators, nothing impressive was done — because he is still employed here. Alas, the world in general and prison in Georgia in particular will not be a safer place with more shotgun guards in it.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to answer letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, GD&CC, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA. Australians Against Executions is raising funds to pay for a lawyer in Brandon's upcoming resentencing trial. If you can help, please make cheques payable to the Brandon Astor Jones Defence Account and post to 10 Palara Place, Dee Why NSW 2099. Donations to the Brandon Astor Jones Defence Account may also be made at any Commonwealth Bank, account No. 2127 1003 7638.]