Prison versus jail? Differences?

Specialties Correctional

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I currently work in a women's prison as a charge nurse and am thinking about working for a jail. Any information about the differences and/or similarities would be appreciated.

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I don't know, and I'm still amazed at the prison nurse pay and benefits. But I have heard often that a jail might be more dangerous (because new people are always entering), others in here dispute that. In prison, the population would be more stable (and/or more dangerous)- but being familiar with patients tends to make the job that much less stressful, regardless of your scene, because it might eliminate suprises? I don't know.

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Why are you surprised by the pay and benefits? Thanks for the info!

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Specializes in Hospice, corrections, psychiatry, rehab, LTC.

One of the main differences is transience. Jails keep their inmates for a much shorter period of time, and there is a lot of turnover. You don't have a significant static population. There are also a lot more intakes. You don't get the opportunity to know many of the inmates, and there is far less chance for you to intuitively know when something isn't right because of the unfamiliarity.

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I work in jail and have never worked in a prison. Other posters have mentioned transcience. The things that pertain to that are that when the person comes to the jail and you become responsible for their well-being you must assess them and develop the plan of care from that. I would assume many of the people coming to prison know they are coming and either come from other correctional facilities where their plan of care has already been developed; or come with their prescriptions, etc. in hand for their extended visit. Also, people come off the street and must be assessed, triaged and treated for injuries, intoxications and risk of substance withdrawals. Risk of suicidal needs to be assessed, which I'm sure is a concern to prison as well. All kinds of people get arrested and it could happen to anyone at anytime! So the variety of inmate is probably greater than what you see in prison where people have already been convicted and sentenced. You can see your neighbor or high school sweetheart sitting in booking at any time.

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Why are you surprised by the pay and benefits? Thanks for the info!
California prison nurse: LVN about $4000/month ($5000 for the max places like San Quentin), RN $8000 and $9000 for the max. $4000 in bonuses in the first 9 months. 14 paid holidays. vacation. PTO, health, dental, vision. Retirement plus a 401K. NO paying social secrity taxes!
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CA has 33 prisons, 170,000 inmates, and also has 1000's more on contract in other states due to overcrowding. The recidivism rate is like 50%. And with 15-20 million people arrested in USA every year, the whole country will be a prison before too long.

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