"Damn, they're miserable! and they get to go home at night!" A prisoner was commenting across a soiled Formica messhall table. He was observing how sullen the Frackville prison guards act, not all of them, but the majority. These are miserable people. My wife has made the same observation, the guards are always so unhappy, even morbid, unfriendly and nasty. They're not nasty just to the prisoners, but to one another. It's like self-loathing coming home to roost. - And, as the prisoner observed, they get to go home at night! A few guards seem more normal, more cheery and pleasant. But most of them are grumpy and grouchy. They are curmudgeons, like people in pain - cranks. When you greet one of them, they scowl. They grunt as if from gas cramps. Clearly, they don't like their jobs or their fellow workers or even themselves. Imagine how they feel about us prisoners. I suppose most of the guards have miserable home lives, too. Most are divorced or cuckolded. Who wants to live with a mourner? Most of them appear to be addicts. Large quantities of cheap beer and tobacco seem to be the biggest hooks. One so-called "white-shirt" (a commissioned officer) grimaces like a sullen Ahab. He stalks at the messhall door puffing away defiantly at the prisoners who are only hoping to keep down the meal. Why should this pathetic fellow be so unhappy and miserable? Maybe he's in pain, gut gas or gout, perhaps. For a long time I was convinced that poisoned personalities poisoned the guards' dispositions. One hampster, raves and rants, bubbling over with hostility, wishing he had young to devour. It's like a mania of misery. What makes a man that aggressive? I think it's a poisonous personality. He's like a tropical tree toad oozing toxic puss. In many other cases, however, guards seem to be just really sad, miserable, caught up in a twilight zone they despise. If they were in less pain, they might behave better. My wife thinks the misery is the price these guys pay for selling their integrity. To get state perks and 3 weeks of vacation, they sell themselves into a purgatory of misery. It makes them hate themselves. To soothe their self-hate, they hate others even more. One sad, bilious faced fellow can find no better avocation than to obstruct prisoners when they're trying to enter or leave a building. The prisoner is delayed and must walk around the poor fellow. That will teach the prisoner how important the guard is. Sure, it's petty and sophomoric, but it helps the miserable man cope with the fix he's gotten himself into. The prisoner in the messhall who mentioned how miserable the guards were, has an interest in health. He thinks that the guards gloomy, hostile dispositions leads to early illness and death. He could be right, but a lot of the worst of these guys seem to thrive on nasty. It must be an acquired taste. Rebecca's Bargain Antiques Collectible Vintage Photos Fine Prints - Old Maps Sheet Music - Old Books Elegant Antiques and Collectibles "Life is just one damn thing after another!" Elbert Hubbard, 1909 You are welcome to use or re-publish any of our material. Please give www.prisoners.com credit as the source. Return to the Public Enemies Menu. Return to the Frackville Prison Menu. Return to the Main Menu. Go to our site Search Feature. Send us Your Comments, Questions or Input.