PRISON GUARDS IN HELL

Dear Editor:

I heard a week ago that the polititians would like to bring a women's
prison to your community.

The Illinois Department of Corrections selling point to your town is
that more than 250 skilled laborers will be hired along with your 900
permanent guards and support personel.

This is nothing but smoke and mirrors.

The good people of Rockford beware, because once the smoke clears and
the mirrors are taken away, you'll find a Pandora Box. Whatever you
do, don't open it. I know because my family was a victim of the
Illinois Department of Corrections.

Thirteen years ago, my wife and two of her women friends heard that
Sheridan Correctional Facility was short on their quota of women
guards, so they stated the process to seek employment. One of the
requirements was to fill out a Republican application and be
interviewed by their local Republican comittee person and the
Republican chairperson for LaSalle County. They were told that the
only way to get a job at the prison was to kiss their asses, so they
did. They were all hired as guards.

Before the women could start, they needed six weeks of training at
Springfield. On my wife's return home, she was excited because they
had all passed the course and proceeded to tell me all about her training.

After 13 years, all I can remember of her training is that they told
her it is a high stress job, a high risk of becoming an alcoholic or
drug abuser, a high risk for domestic abuse, and a 90% divorce rate.
At that time, we didn't think it would happen to us.

Two years later, one of the women got divorced.

The other woman wasn't married at the time of employment, but married
soon after that. Both women had children.

When I married my wife, she was a caring, compassionate person and
mother. I started to see a change in her. She started to become
irritable, argumentative, hard and cold. One and a half years later, I
couldn't take it anymore, so we divorced.

She wasn't the same person I married.

You want to know what happened?

She had to go to work everyday and babysit the worst people Illinois
had to offer.The people behind bars are sick and need help. They throw
urine and feces on guards and threaten them with rape or murder daily.
In order for a guard to survive, they had to turn hard and as cold as
the prisoners themselves.

I've been a single parent since our divorce.

The loving mother my son once knew is nowhere to be
found.

Before her prison job, she would have given her life for her son; now
she doesn't even send him a birthday or Christmas present, not even a
card or phone call. There were so many tears shed by my son that I
lost count.

Good people of Rockford, please do not let this happen to your family,
friends, or neighbors.

Do the right thing and send that prison elsewhere. The most valuable
asset Rockford has is the people of Rockford. The only people that
should be fighting for this prison are the taverns, liquor store
owners, divorce lawyers, and funeral parlors.

If the polititians really do care for you they will vote it down just
like Genoa, Ill. did on July 14, 1999. If the polititians vote for it,
vote them out because over the years, the prison will destroy
thousands of lives.

Gary Bosi
DeKalb, Illinois