What was the last TV Show or Movie you saw, and did you like it?

[Coyotesfan97]

Mine destroyed an interior car door panel

I was really careful about keeping the sliding door in the kennel close and locked. I even put a keeper around the latch. I never had an escape artist my seats were intact. I’ve seen Malinois pull stuff into the insert and destroy it. One dog had 31 pieces of leash removed from his stomach.

[Coyotesfan97]

So my wife was watching a reality show from 2015-2016 called Behind Bars which follows a group of rookie New Mexico Corrections Officers after they graduate the academy and start working in the prison. I didn’t watch the whole series and bounced in and out. Here’s the blurb from A&E

“ Behind Bars: Rookie Year follows a group of new recruits at the New Mexico Corrections Academy (NMCA) who are training or have recently joined the ranks at the Penitentiary of New Mexico (PNM). These rookies come face-to-face with rapists, murderers, and gang members who take pleasure in preying on weakness. Every new recruit hoping to join the department goes through a rigorous training program designed to test their fortitude and give them the tools needed to survive one of the most dangerous working environments on the planet. But as each day passes, the physical and emotional demands often prove too much for some, and even the best training can’t prepare a rookie for the unexpected. Whether they’re cadets in training or brand new on the line, the officers all wrestle with a critical life-or-death question: Is it worth it?”

If someone has any questions about what it’s like to work in a prison and deal with career criminals it’s a good show to watch.

My big question after watching some of it is do COs get field training with an experienced Officer or are they just thrown to the wolfs? From the show it appears you show up for your first day, get a set of keys, and you go off to your assigned post by yourself. It was cringey watching an 18 year old who looked like he was 12 and had zero command presence getting assigned to a lower level pod with 50-60 convicts by himself.

While I was watching it I figured it was just like a police academy where to the admin it’s a PC/numbers game where the end goal is graduating quantity not quality. There were 2-3 recruits that had no business at all in a prison.

[delphidoc]

There were 2-3 recruits that had no business at all in a prison.

I think I may have seen an episode of that series before. I remember seeing one female that never should have been hired to work there IMO. Meek, passive, unsure of herself. I would think she would get walked all over and manipulated. Think Joyce Mitchell x10.

Disclaimer: I have no background whatsoever in prison security. I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once, though.

[jh9]

but the story and cast are both too small.

Don't worry. If they stick to the books that will... change. A lot.

[NEPAKevin]

It was old when John Wayne did it.

Soooo, I guess that means you aren't up for a Rio Bravo/El Dorado double feature?

[O4L]

I've been watching "Detectorists" on Amazon Prime. If you like a little British comedy, I recommend it.

[Bio]

Don't worry. If they stick to the books that will... change. A lot.

"Wheel of Time"
Somebody asked, "Is this the new "Game of Thrones?" uhh .... no!
Cinematography and musical scores are absolutely fantastic, but the story and cast are both too small. It's alright and worth watching, but don't expect a GOT experience.

I'll note that (assuming they stay relatively in line with source material), Wheel of Time makes a fundamental assumption that people are decent. Sure, there's a lot of bad people, sometimes really horrible people, but in contrast to GoT, that's not the default. When I read both in high school (well, the first few GoT novels, anyway), all the horrible people seemed cool and edgy. Looking back and reading both closer to middle age, the decency of WoT is refreshing.

[FNFAN]

My big question after watching some of it is do COs get field training with an experienced Officer or are they just thrown to the wolfs? From the show it appears you show up for your first day, get a set of keys, and you go off to your assigned post by yourself.

There are about 4 pages of front and back of single line "skills" that the new CO has to be shown & explained by a senior officer or Sgt and then demonstrate the skill, on each shift. Typically they'll shadow a senor person for the first week to let them absorb the atmosphere they find themselves in and get over the nerves that often come with being locked in a facility -then they'll start on the lists. That usually happens on graves so the biggest thing they deal with is making cell check rounds and sanitary inspections, plus lots of drills on security and life safety issues. As they gain some confidence & experience, they'll be put in situations where they interact with offenders for chow, yard & day hall. If the the new person has military or prior jail service they may go to another shift where they start off with offender contact, but they'll usually have a group of officers they're working alongside in those posts. It depends a lot on the person's demeanor and personality. Eventually they'll get broken in working a pod control room with another officer until they can demonstrate they're heads up enough to roll by themselves. One of the great things is that if you can make a call for backup, you'll see a herd of first responders in about 30-45 seconds, not minutes to halves of hours like city's and rural areas field work. I saw the NM series and some of the stuff in there was pretty alarming. Not the way they're done 1 state North.

[Bio]

Derry Girls

My wife caught this show and I got sucked in. The show follows a group of friends at a Catholic girls school in Derry during the early 90s. There's 4 girls and one boy (a transplanted English lad who was put in a girls school because they thought he'd get the tar beat out of him at a boy's school). It's a comedy. It has typical high school/family plotlines in the backdrop of bombings, Orangist marches, etc. It doesn't sound particularly funny, but I found it hilarious. The actors (the young people, family members, teachers) are all excellent, and extremely funny.

[Bigguy]

My big question after watching some of it is do COs get field training with an experienced Officer or are they just thrown to the wolfs? From the show it appears you show up for your first day, get a set of keys, and you go off to your assigned post by yourself. It was cringey watching an 18 year old who looked like he was 12 and had zero command presence getting assigned to a lower level pod with 50-60 convicts by himself.

Here's my experience in the grand total of 4 months as a CO.
We took a 2 week class room class and were then issued a 12 month temporary jailers ID. (Before the year was out, we would go to "Jailers School" the week before taking the Jailer's exam.) The first 3 days after the class were supposed to be OJT where we were to be with another CO. Didn't happen. My first night on the job I was put on a station by myself. There were 5 stations on that deck and there were 2 other COs working that deck that night.* So I did have experienced people within hollering distance.
My second night, there was a 10-10 (fight) at the station next to me. I hot footed it down there with about 5 other COs. We weren't supposed to enter the pod until rank (Sargeant and/or Lieutenant) showed up with video equipment, so we sat there and watched two guys wail on each other for what was probably only a couple of minutes, but felt like 30.
Finally the Sargeant shows up with a flunky holding the video camera. We all enter the pod and Sarge starts yelling "Get him down!" By this time one of the participants was trying to break off, but the other was pursuing him. I was the oldest, but greenest, guy in uniform so I thought I just stand back and let the more experienced COs take care of it, unless asked to intervene. None of the young bucks seemed willing to engage.
After the third new attack, with Sarge still screaming, I decided I was good to go. I pursued the aggressor, came up behind him and wrapped him up, pinning his arms at his side. I'm 64, Young buck was about 24. His arms had more muscles than my legs. I've never ridden a rodeo bull, but I've seen it on television. This felt what that looks like. Somewhere in a far off land I could hear Sarge yelling "Help him!"
I think it was 4 COs who finally converged on us and grabbed the guy's hands. We got hand restraints** on him and hauled him and the other inmate off to Seg (Segregation). I remember thinking, "Boy, this guy's in in trouble."
About 45 minutes later, I'm back at my station when the Bull I'd ridden was escorted past me on the way back to his pod. He gave me a $#!t eating grin as he passed. That was my first experience of inmates facing almost no consequences for their actions.

* One station consisted of 2 pods with a maximum of 24 inmates. No CO is ever supposed to be responsible for more than 48 inmates. Most nights the more experienced COs (been there 2 weeks) were given at least 2 stations, and I have worked 3. I've heard old timers talking about working an entire deck by themselves. The log we keep is a Government document. I first notated when I left one station for another, but was quickly told by rank to fill out each log as though I worked it with no mention of other posts. Those logs are "Government Documents." Not filling them out accurately is the felony of "Falsifying A Government Document." If the manure hits the ventilator at Station 3 while I'm actually at Station 4, my log will show that I was on station. Video will show otherwise. I'll need to explain why I didn't take appropriate action. I'll soon be on the other side of the bars.

** I learned to fill out reports (and God were there reports) in "Cop Speak." for example, if you face planted some MF and cuffed his @$$, the report would read, "Offender was place face down on the floor and hand restraints were applied." We never "cuffed" anybody.

Last note: I was making $11/hr working 12 hr night shifts with a required 36 hr/mo overtime. And you got a call every night you were off. God help you if you didn't come in on out of those. You'd get the $#!tt posts every night if you didn't. Often OT was suicide watch or Hospital duty, which was much easier than Alpha Deck." So, when I was offered a $15.00/hr job as day security at a public library (I'm and Indie author) you can bet I jumped on that.