155 - Video - Prefect stop you are not Howie or Sam

[buywithme]

[Video clicks on, and you get a nicely framed shot of a young man, with a nice, neat suit, and ridiculously well coiffed hair. Hello Wardens and Inmates! Brothers and Sisters! Comrades and Consumers!]

Comrades... Without wanting to sound accusatory, there have been a lot of discussions lately, about problems between wardens and inmates, and questions about what wardens can and can not do, and... honestly, some of these hypothetical questions should not be things that any of us are in doubt about.

If you are a warden, then killing an inmate, any inmate, should be your absolute last resort.

If you are an inmate, then at the very least you should not feel as if your life is in danger from a warden.

[Prefect's EXTREMELY SERIOUS FACE is extremely serious right now. He is kind of talking to you here, Buffy.]

Sadly, there will be exceptions to these. There will be situations where the decision will have to be made as to whether killing a dangerous inmate is the only way to prevent a great deal of harm, and unfortunately there have been, and will be, situations where wardens abuse their powers and neglect their responsibilities.

I don't think the problems we have right now are of that great a magnitude, however, I do think that the warden community has a collective responsibility of care for the inmate community, which it is very easy to neglect. Especially if you've got a tendency to devote all of your attention to your own inmate, and no one elses. [This is not a dig at anyone, he is 100% talking about himself here.] What this means is that no matter how good a job we are doing as individuals, there will still be inmates who are suffering unnecessarily, who see what we are trying to do here as being undermined by a small minority, and through these things, who lose the opportunity of a second chance that they've been brought here for.

[He clears his throat, clearly getting to the point at last:]

So, that brings me to the purpose of this post.

If there are any inmates currently on board who have serious concerns or complaints about the conduct of specific wardens, then I want to ask you to bring them forward. You can make them public, or I'd be just as happy to hear them privately.

The reason why I want to hear them is because while we don't have any specific authority over one another, and while I couldn't go out by myself and punish anyone for whatever they've done, or threatened to do to you? I would really want to take steps to protect you from that person. Whether it's by confronting the person who has threatened you, or by making sure that you have somewhere secure to stay, or... anything else that's within my capabilities, really.

[He reaches off Camera, and lifts up a small safety deposit box, with a slot on the top. Those who have been here for a million billion years may find it somewhat familiar...]

Now... What I'm talking about here are pretty specific and urgent circumstances, Comrades, but I'm aware that there will be other problems, and that they may continue to arise in the future. Because of this, I will be officially re-instituting the Complaints and Suggestions box. If anyone has a problem, and they either aren't comfortable coming to me in person, or if they can't find me immediately? Then from now on you'll be able to find this outside my cabin. That's outside room five, on level four.

And... to those who've only recently arrived? Welcome to the Barge, I'm sorry things have been a little hectic lately. My name is Prefect.

[And with that said, he gives a small, polite smile, and clicks off the communicator.]

[ooc: YES, PREFECT HAS PUT THE SUGGESTION BOX BACK UP. FEEL FREE TO TROLL THE EVER LOVING HELL OUT OF IT.]

Comments

[sharpememory]

Complaints and suggestions? I like it.

[buywithme]

Well, I'm glad that you approve, Comrade.

[Private]

[sharpememory]

Seriously, it's a good idea. If some warden is being a shit, at least you guys will hear about it now.

[Private]

[impure_tale]

Generally, I am inclined to agree with you, but then I have in the past not been the best at following rules, haven't I?

[Private]

[buywithme]

Well, I wouldn't have the authority to set any anyway. There are precautions that we could take to help inmates that wouldn't affect the wardens who might be threatening them at all.

[Private]

[impure_tale]

You know that I killed an Inmate once, Prefect. As a Warden, I mean.

SAM APPROVES FROM AFAR

[paradoxlol]

You don't think something like this is going to be abused?

[buywithme]

How do you mean, exactly?

[paradoxlol]

Somebody could use it to leave fake accusations just to stir up trouble.

[themountie]

[Fraser is MADE OF APPROVAL for this.] Very well said, sir.

[buywithme]

[PREFECT LEARNED FROM A STRING OF OCD COPS.] Thank you very much, Comrade.

[reactivates]

...wow, you talk a lot. [AMUSEMENT.]

Agree with pretty much everything you said, though. And I think the box is a good idea... Though, uh, I imagine you'll probably get some trolling going on with that. [Yes, she knows the term, she's very internet-savvy. She also knows what memes are.]

Particularly I like that you've decided it's more about protecting the inmate than punishing the warden. All the props. Seriously. Honestly I'm kinda starting to think the only thing that separates one from the other is the Admiral's judgement, anyway.

[buywithme]

I know... sorry about that. [This is a lot less creepy than what his endless spiels used to be about.]

And thank you. Punishments have been administered to wardens in the past, but I don't think I'd be the right person to be offering to do anything like that.

[And that last comment makes him laugh a little bit.] I don't know, Sister... it definitely seems as though that's true of some of us.

[lesliemonster]

A suggestion box is a wonderful idea.

Can you please let me know if anyone uses the suggestion box to express desire for community activities? I would be happy to help facilitate them.

[buywithme]

Thank you!

The first suggestion was 'Free beer for inmates' which maybe could be interpreted as a request for some kind of social event involving free beer?

But I think it may have just been my inmate playing with the suggestion box. It's hard to tell.

[doctor_j_crane]

If someone wanted to leave an anonymous message, couldn't they just write on some of the public walls?

[Crane, this is why your asylum was not run well. :|]

[buywithme]

They could, but this is a better way of ensuring that their concerns are recognized and that they get to someone who definitely wants to help.

Private

[umgekehrt]

Damn, but I'm glad we've got you around.

I've been losing my grip on procedure and operations here. If I ever had it.

Private

[buywithme]

I'm glad you're around too.

My warden did this originally, when we first arrived here years ago. I just... I don't know, I thought we could use it right now.

[creatingalegacy]

When Sarah was here...when she was my warden...I didn't trust her until she beat the shit out of Hoffman for drugging me. That's the only way I would've trusted her: if she put herself, her entire position here, on the line for me.

Lua already trusts me; I don't need to do anything like that to earn it. If that's what it took, though, I'd do it without hesitation. I'd beat, or kill, anyone who hurt or killed her. Hell, that's why I killed all those legalized murderers in that fuckin' organ-stealing port, even though she already trusted me. She died and it was that goddamn system responsible for it.

My priority is Lua. I'm here for her. She's counting on me to help her and protect her. Everything else is secondary for me and I'm not gonna apologize for that.

You get shouty Prefect, because his conversation with the Marquis riled him up some :c

[buywithme]

Then Sister, have no doubt that I would stand in your way. Your responsibility to your inmate does not give you a license to kill, and it does not give you the right to kill, or torture, or threaten other people here.

Wanting to do what's best for her does not justify a damn thing, Sister, and honestly I don't think it means much of anything at all for people like you and me to kill people for what we think is a higher cause. It's just running away from the responsibility that we took on when we graduated, to be better than that.

But whatever. I'm not your warden, I can't stop you from thinking that is right. But if I ever hear that you're going to try and do something like that, then you're going to have to go through me first and then you can wax poetic about how you refuse to apologise for your flawless priorities.

Private.

[an_abomination]

I appreciate Wardens like yourself who appear to genuinely care about being a Warden, but a lot of other Wardens come across as very self-righteous and judgmental. Neither of those attitudes are exactly conducive to helping with rehabilitation.

Do you think there's enough Wardens who care here to form some kind of formal code of conduct?

Private.

[buywithme]

I know they do, and I know that they can treat inmates very badly. A lot of wardens get very wrapped up in helping their own inmates, and forget that their actions have consequences that go beyond that.

[His voice is very controlled right now, but... you can bet that if it wasn't he would sound pissed.]

We've had formal codes of conduct in the past, and I think that on an informal level, if wardens cross a certain line, and the rest of us find out about it, action is taken? But there's only so much that we can enforce when at the end of the day all shots are called by the Admiral, and even then, I get the impression that... a lot of things that happen here, people cover up for one another.

I don't know what the answer is.

[Pause]

I'm sorry, Comrade, I don't mean to ramble at you...

[love_slave]

You're very helpful.

[She doesn't mean this sarcastically. She means it truthfully.]

What do I tell inmates who can't read or write? I can't. I'm sure there have been some inmates who can't.

[buywithme]

I... I really don't know, Sister. They're still free to come to me in person, or to contact me over the communicator? Maybe they could put a cloth over it or muffle their voices?

Mainly I would just like people to know that I'm available if they need someone.