It’s very similar with us. Every time anyone enters the prison they must submit to walking through the metal detector, all personal property is scanned through the X-ray machine and pass a drug dog.

Staff walks though a metal detector each time they enter the institution, even if they’re on duty and go out to check the outside of the fence or anything like that. Occasionally, when first arriving and after we clear the metal detector, we’ll be met inside the institution by high ranking brass and be shook down for contraband.

As most TDCJ bosses know, the metal detectors are running on a random basis, I feel this presents a major security gap in every prison in Texas. Think about it, dirty bosses run in packs, and they warn the others if shakedown is going on, so if they know the metal detectors are unmanned…

I went to my Warden and asked what could be done, my warden truly said “We don’t have a say so in this, I can turn them on, but only so many times a month.” My warden went on to state that TDCJ made the decision as a cost cutting measure in order to cut overtime!

So, you take all the officers in TDCJ, then you take the estimated saving from cutting overtime, then divide it by those officers, and tell me how much my life is worth!