Nancy Moran

Should We Continue to Use the Word "Security"?

Definitions of "Security" (Outside the Division of Correction)

Dictionary Definitions of "Security": (1) (General Public): The quality or state of being secure; as freedom from danger or freedom from fear or anxiety. (2) (Financial, Banking, Insurance): Something given, deposited or pledged to make certain the fulfillment of an obligation. (3) (Corrections): The department of a penal institution, usually made up of several ranks of employees known as "correctional officers" that is responsible for maintaining internal order among the inmates and ensure the safety of all concerned.

Definitions of "Security" (Inside the Division of Correction)

1. Annapolis, DOC Headquarters and the Department of Public Safety: (1) The entire reason and purpose for being here. (2) A massive and undifferentiated line item in the budget.

2. Defined at Proposed Regulation 12.02.08B(10): "Security" means an institution's physical features which help control inmate behavior and prevent escape.

Professional and Non-Professional Staff: (1) "Security" means trying to keep the institution in good running order so as to ensure all procedures are effectuated without undue disturbance. (2) The most frequent explanation for disturbances in work routines or special events. (3) The department that must approve anything you are trying to accomplish, even after the warden gets to it sometimes.

"Correctional" Personnel: (1) The Chief of Security and the officers and staff closest to him responsible for the supervision and deployment of the employees (collectively known as "correctional officers"), together with the rules and regulations pertaining to the department for which they are in charge and their directives regarding such rules and regulations. (2) The place where you go for transfers, requests for leaves and days off. (3) Us.

Inmates (typical): (1) The sum and total of all you have to go through when the guards want you to do something or stop doing something. (2) The most frequent explanation you get when you want a reason for something. (3) Them.

Inmates (frequently): The process of getting papers stamped and approved.

Visitors (ordinary): Checking in at the gate, signing your name on the log in sheet and exchanging your photo I.D. for a key to the locker.

Visitors (regulars): The mean and bad people who always stop you from getting a visit. The warden's reason for stopping you from having a visit.

Nancy Moran
Prisoners Aid Association
of Maryland, Inc.
Originally submitted March, 1990
With Comments on Proposed Regulations