"Prison Life" Part 3

We officers,were put on shift duty. First shift was in the morning,second in the afternoon and third was the night shift.
None of the staff was armed. The firearms were kept in the armoury behind the duty officer's office.
If there was a riot or uprising, the duty officer was to unlock the armoury and withdrew the guns and armed the staff.
If there was an attack on the staff by the prisoners which could threatened the lives of the staff, they could open fire.
Most of the staff lived in the quarters (housing) provided.If there was an emergency, all staff including those who were off-duty, were to assemble at the duty officer's office and wait for instructions from the chief officers or superintendant.
An emergency could mean an uprising,riot,attack on staff and escape.
During my tenure of office, there were few cases of emergencies.
I will go into that at a later stage of my posting.

Working in a prison was a challenge for me. I was brought up in a thug infested area of Singapore. I knew what these thugs were like. They could be brutal and cruel and at the same time a code of unwritten underworld rules to follow.
Those stories of petty crimes and bullies were usually committed by the pariah members. The higher ranking and respectable ones were often the "gentleman" mobsters.
The pariahs understood only one thing and that was brute force. The others were more understanding and had principles of their own.
They could sit down and negotiate even with their enemies. They would keep their promises and would not go back on their word. To these people, honour was better than life.
So as you can see,I got a picture and an understanding of their world. This made it easier and also challenging for me to work with them.