A LESSON FOR DORINA LISSON

Dorina Lisson, an Australian anti-death penalty zealot, says “People who support the brutality of state-sanctioned killing should not be employed in any capacity with caged human beings.” Lisson also says “Prisoner abuse by brutal inhumane correctional officers [in the U.S.] is rife.”

Centurion responded with the following lesson for Lisson:

When I was 16 I had a dog...half lab and half German shepherd, I called Duke. I was a track and cross country runner, and I used to take Duke with me on my five and six mile runs in the mornings. I loved that dog. One morning he chased a man and bit him. We had to put him down.

Dorina, do you see a difference between me and, say...Michael Vick? Are he and I the same? Should I never be allowed to own another animal?

I worked as a correctional officer for over 20 years. During that time I saved several inmates from being attacked by other inmates, saved an inmate from choking by performing a Heimlich Maneuver on him just outside our dining hall, rendered emergency intervention on suicidal inmates, and always endeavored to treat inmates under my supervision fairly and humanely.

Yet...because I feel the death penalty - which is the current law in my country - is a righteous penalty for those convicted of the most heinous crimes, you feel that I am somehow unfit to be a correctional officer? Do you also feel that a veterinarian...who euthanizes animals...is unfit to render care and treatment to animals? Should an animal control officer who euthanizes hundreds of animals a week be prohibited from providing shelter, food and protection to the animals housed in the shelter as well?

Now before you jump in and say that I am comparing human inmates to animals...I am not. The comparison I am making is a person's fitness or unfitness for a job based on his belief that some under his charge deserve to be killed...when proscribed by law...to protect others in our society.

Dorina, you seem to have some rather strong opinions about correctional officers. You should try to get to know a few. You would find that most of us aren't all that much different from anybody else. I mean...you say that prisoner abuse by brutal inhumane correctional officers is rife. What is your basis for making that statement?

California has over 150,000inmates incarcerated in it's prisons. We have the Prison Law Office, the ACLU, Prisoner's Union, and countless other activist groups who champion inmates rights in this state, yet the number of reported incidents is thankfully small.

I doubt that you could cite an unbiased authority for your assertions that prisoner abuse is rife. Why? Because after two decades of working in prisons, I have to tell ya....the only inhumane brutality against inmates I saw was meted out by other inmates.

EDITOR’S NOTE - Here is what a couple of PACOVILLA Correctional blog readers added:

‘steveo’ says: The worst, dirtiest depressing job out there !! Come walk with us Dorina….It truly sucks!!!

Bob Walsh says: The woman [Dorina Lisson] is a well intentioned idiot. Such fools are dangerous.