This chapter eroticises non-consensual sex in a voyeuristic sense, it does not condone or glorify it. It takes some of the archetypes of gay domination or S&M fantasy, e.g. positions of power, physical prowess, isolation, bondage to illustrate the motives driving such an assault. I have endeavoured to show how, in real life people can and do save themselves while undergoing terrible ordeals.
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As a product of the criminal justice system the prison service has grown up with rankings and uniforms similar to those in police and even military services but also allied in some ways to other forms of custody and care such as secure hospitals and other kinds of military institutions.
Fewer restrictions are imposed on becoming a prison officer, fewer demands are made in the screening process and sometimes those who are attracted to the military or to policing end up as prison staff. Sometimes these people are fond of exerting their authority over others but don't have the charisma to make that work without an institution and a uniform, bars, gates and if necessary weapons. Sometimes it is just about power.
Would-be police officers who don't make the grade selection or fail in training, big fellas with flat feet, little fellas with a power complex, people who just needed a decent salary and accommodation but not high flyers, not as a rule. Some will maximise their potential, some will thrive but most will take the salary, then having survived, take the pension. Though there are many caring and giving individuals working in the system because they believe in a just custody system and the possibility of rehabilitation. The best of these get exhausted sometimes and cannot give of their best. Mistakes get made. We can assume they are the good guys and we can overlook the few who are not, those who sneer at the lives of the people they have in their charge and who see an opportunity. Lee Dursley, for example.
The inmates, contrary to expectations, are often achievers, super bright individuals who made a big mistake, predators perhaps. In the system these mix in with lowlifes, carrion feeders who would never make the cut and who'd rob or destroy thoughtlessly just to get through, alongside all those who, through intoxication of one kind or another, set their own and possibly other lives into a downward spiral and eventually fall foul of the law.
The increasing cost of keeping more and more people secure in long term institutions is a constant conundrum for any society. The resentments of some taxpayers at the cost of humane conditions for prisoners leave alone provision of systems of rehabilitation are a thorn in the side of many a government under economic pressure.
Overcrowding. Underfunded re-education and probation systems. Staffing shortages must compete against demands for more and longer custodial sentences for criminals. Particularly those jails in the struggling, post-industrial cities where jobs are scarce, drugs and violence are the rule inside and out of prison and prospects for improvement are poor.
The boundaries between conditions inside prisons and outside can become blurred when people in society at large feel trapped and rendered powerless by their circumstances and some of those held in custody are able to manipulate criminal organisations outside and vice versa. So the world of organised crime can be as influential within the walls of the prison and in it's organisational structures and capable of influencing people, even civil servants and politicians beyond it. There is always someone on the make.
So if you're the good guy and Bob Kirkland thought of himself as the good guy, you sometimes need a lucky break to make any safe headway. He had no idea what his wish should be. As usual, in his position, the best policy was to follow the rule book, keep your eyes and ears open but with caution. Being seen to see and hear only what he should, while trying to see and hear what he shouldn't.
When the alarm was sounded and the prison went into emergency lockdown, security officers would get to the emergency first, assess the situation and control it as quickly as possible. They worked with staff, universally, to ensure that the security aspect, for which they were all responsible, was uppermost in people's minds. However, theirs was not a happy department, chiefly because their boss was disinterested in them as a team and with their function.
Frank Singleton. Gone to the bad some said. Too many interests other than his work some said. Bent on minding his own business, in the worst sense, when it was his job to know everyone else' business. He was good at manipulating people and had the Governor eating out of his hand but he'd been creaming off what he could in external meetings, conferences and other time off, perks in general and his coterie of favourites around the prison, notably his association with Lee Dursley, who would be in and out of Singleton's office several times each week and could be up there for an hour at a throw.