Correctional Officers – Working inside the Belly of Hell
Not much has been said about working inside the
penitentiaries. The press is unkind to those that walk this blue line. Not much
talk among those that work there either. The silence is deafening as the work
within the belly of this place is pure Hell and works on your brain like drugs
cooks the human mind. Many have been able to separate their body from the mind
or the temptation made upon their souls but in the end it always makes you
think about what you do for a living and how it impacts your own life working
among the demons cast into a pit of fire called Hell.
Neither a glorious job nor an appreciated one but regardless
how the public perceives it, it is certainly a necessary job. Walking inside
the belly of Hell takes a very special person as not too many volunteer to do
such tasks with negativity and vehemence all around them. Whether a high school
graduate, a military veteran or a college graduate they come from all walks of
life to work inside the penitentiaries. Their journey begins at the bottom of
the devil’s mouth and goes all the way down to the bottomless pit called Hell.
The stench is awful and the air is filled with a noxious gas
as the environment is toxic and creates hate, greed, revenge as well as a Hellish
blindness for justice for those that live there. This is a journey hardly ever
talked about and although the pain inside this Hellish Hole is mainly mental,
there is also the physical pain to keep the law in order and the place safe and
secure. There are times where the presence of the Creator is absent and the
stench of the devil is predominately influencing the actions of others to
incite and create a fever of detestation.
The only sounds you will hear are echoes of pain and anguish
that surrounds the walls twenty four hours a day and seven days a week without
letting up on the madness. The bottom of the pit is no place to be if you are
meek and weak. It is not for those that cannot walk alone among the thugs and
murderers that live there and prey on every person that enters the pit.
Although there is a lot of praying going on in there is little salvation or
forgiveness of sins committed as their bones and flesh burn in this Hell Hole.
The power of darkness keeps the evil alive and drowns the
spirit of man with pure Hellish hopelessness that the end of suffering will
never come. It is not a world you want to be in nor is it a world you can
understand unless you walk the beat of those that dare and face the devil in
his hour of darkness. One cannot speak of revelations unless they have
witnessed what Hell does to men. One cannot write a book or make a record of
things unless they witnessed it with they own eyes and ears as your body is
actually suspended in a state of animation and takes you to your journey in Hell.
Hell has many faces and consists of many things that others
do not want to know about. The public turns their eyes and ears to another
direction when the words are spoken and do not want to know the truth or even
imagine what you will experience many times over walking this beat. You and
your fellow officers will walk through Hell together but you will leave reality
behind as no one follows you into the abyss of darkness.
You will never be praised for your courage but you will be
condemned if you error your ways. Your soul will be tempted often and sometimes
out of body while you do your job and your heart will leave at the gate when
you enter the dark house of pain leaving all your senses behind and are
comforted by the thoughts of those that share your journey through this house
of pain.
Although you should
be afraid, you show no fear for these gateways to Hell makes you stronger and
resilient in thought and contrary to expectations, you keep your stride as you
walk the beat nobody else wants to travel without a gun or other weapon by
their side. You took this job and knew your only comfort was your self-respect
and assistance from others to do this job designed in Hell while separated from
the rest of the world.
Some penitentiaries are above the ground and others lay far
below the ground covered with steel and concrete to hide the sun and earth. You
can recognize the peril as you travel the funnels that lead you through long
solid corridors that echo your steps as you walk them alone. These funnels have toxic air that spins the
hate, the greed and the urges for revenge as you see only the things others
will never see or experience in their lives.
Working inside these gateways to Hell is not for the meek and sorts out
the weak as you learn to adapt and survive.
Some funnels resemble tunnels and some are shaped like the
worm holes of time. Once you enter these portals there is only one way back out
alive. Your mind starts to spin as you meet head on with the sin around you and
spirits of the dead embedded in the walls that surround you. You hear the cries
and screams of the past as you deal with the evilness and the greyness of the
tunnels around you.
Once inside the belly of Hell you will see great sorrow,
pathetic sadness and indiscriminate horror. You draw a deep breath and draw one
step closer as you rely on yourself to give you strength and protection as you
travel the gateways of Hell. Surely you recognize the humans that surround you
as society’s castaways and demons with souls that rest in Hell. The sounds of torment consume you as you shed
off your feelings and avoid being taken by the spirits of Hell. You know they
are everywhere as you can smell the evilness as a thick green horrible odor
that covers the hallways with a stench like no other outside the gates of Hell.
So you walk the green mile over and over without a second
thought of its perils and temptations. As an officer of the law you have seen
the pits filled with fire and smoke everywhere there are signs of corrupted
souls and caged burned skeletons of those of yesterday and never recovered. The
red hot coals burn images in your mind as you fight off any temptation to start
your own fires and rise up against the evilness around you. You, just like the burned souls around you,
can feel the flames as you walk among those that experienced excruciating pain
for committing their crimes against the world. The difference is you get to
leave this Hell Hole while those around you must stay there every day and every
night.
Many will give Hell and the Devil years of their lives as
they were sentenced and committed by a
court of justice to pay back to society their souls and retribution condemned
by the righteousness of justice and society and the laws of the land. You walk from cell to cell and can see many
others suffering from great pain and the heat from Hell. Their bones and flesh
are scorched and burned from the fire amongst them and their decaying flesh
falls right off their bones. Worms and rats are common and depending where you
live in Hell scorpions can be found along with other creatures that spew out
evil and poison to crawl within you or bite you outside.
Last but not least you brave the lakes of fire covered with
smoke as you deal with the cries of regret that surround you. As you pace
yourself you come nearer as you can see these burning souls chained together
and under the weight of criminality that brought them to this Hell Hole you
work in. You are among the unbelievers. They are the lost souls of this earth
you have chosen to protect while others chose not to deal with them at all. It
is a thankless job and as you walk closer you realize that there are blurred
lines that separate the good from the bad and that justice is vicious and
unforgiving when thrown into the belly of fire and evil called Hell.
