The guards at the Frackville prison are admittedly a very special breed even among jailers. Many of them feel threatened and frightened for na reason. That paranoid insecurity makes them over react to ordinary things. Their fears cause them to bully, threaten and bluster. It's bizarre! I suspect mutant genes or inbreeding. Some af these fellows have problems performing simple feats. They are challenged by counting to 2. They demand the prisoners' help. Several times during each day the guards at the Frackville state prison in East Central Pennsylvania count the prisoners. Most of the guards seem able to cope with the chore. The nighttime guards generally whiz around counting the sleeping convicts even though they are lying covered in their cots. Sometimes the afternoon guards may struggle a little bit, but they seem promptly able to get the task done. It's the morning crew of guards who seem to have the greatest difficulties. "Count Time! Count Time!," the sergeant bellows over the loud speaker while sounding a tintinnabulation. The prisoners are required to stand up at their cell doors with the lights turned on because the morning guards have so much difficulty counting. With clipboard and pencil in hand the numerically challenged "corrections officer" creeps past each cell. He peers in. He has three choices. He can record zero, one, or two prisoners in the cell. Frankly, it's not a difficult task. To some of the Frackville prison guards, however, it's more than they can master. Sometimes they make the wrong choice. A second guard comes around just to check, 0, 1 or 2. It's the most important and difficult thing they do all day; 0, 1 or 2! Sometimes the guards can't get it right, even where a two man team confronts the challenge of the count. It must be the prisoners' fault! The guards bluster and threaten to force the prisoners to help them count all the way up to 2. The guards whine that their duties are too difficult. Why should they have to count to 2! Make the prisoners do it. The truth is that every little job is a major demand on the abilities of some Frackville prison guards. Letting a prisoner clean his cell overwhelms some of the guards' coping skills. Signing a prisoner up to make a telephone call is way too much work for morning guards. Don't you realize that it entails writing? Letting men inspect the appointment list is too difficult. Don't you realize that prisoners might have a moment to read the list? That would allow the prisoner to be out of his cell, close to the guard. That's scary and it interferes with the guard loafing at the command center and swilling down haluski. I think that the poor Frackville prison guards should be provided with a technology so that they could avoid even more responsibility. Laziness is endemic! How about a barcode scanner? There's little real difference between the Nazi concentration camps of the 1940s and the Pennsylvania prisons. Why not just tattoo a barcode on each prisoner's head? Then run him past a scanner like a package of beans in the supermarket; beep, beep, beep! Even an inbreed defect could get the right count. Then who could they blame? Rebecca's Bargain Antiques Collectible Vintage Photos Fine Prints - Old Maps Sheet Music - Old Books Elegant Antiques and Collectibles "Soft words are hard arguments" Thomas Fuller, 1732 You are welcome to use or republish any of our material. Please give www.prisoners.com credit as the source. Return to the Frackville Prison Menu Return to the Main Menu Go to our site's Search Engine Send us Your Comments or Input.