There must have been 15 officers in the circle. The lieutenant was giving a talk about the critical incident we had just been through. The yard gunner had just punched the eternal ticket for one the inmates using his state issued HK M94 using a 9mm Glaser safety slug. For those unfamiliar with that round, it’s name belies its actual capability which involves leaving a massive permanent wound channel. In this case, it was a head wound which left grey matter falling through a hole in the back of this murderers skull. He was in the act of trying to take another life and it just did not go his way, but I digress.
So as the meeting was breaking up the lieutenant was going through all the motions asking if anyone would needed any help, that could be made available etc etc. While deep down I agreed with what the lieutenant was doling out another part of me called out to the boss that the snack bar was having a special on spaghetti up and until it reached room temperature. Nailed it! Great unbridled laughter, well earned right? I after all had carried that guy to the medical infirmary in spite of knowing and seeing he had ZERO chance of survival.
That is gallows humor, it is what we do to make sense of the senseless and to normalize the crazy things we see. Is it wrong, no it is merely human. Is it inappropriate? Absolutely, but within certain parameters. These are the things we do not wish to become public or a part of the public record. Things that we would rather not have inmates or staff testifying about, filing grievances about etc.
So as corrections professionals what are we to do? Our default is always to train our staff is it not? Let staff know we understand the nature of our sometimes macabre profession but that they need to have the understanding about when and when not to engage in gallows type humor.
I’ve been around long enough to know that this clip is disturbing enough to elicit both inappropriate and and cringeworthy at the same time. Plenty to unpack and train on too. Imagine one of the officers making a comment on this one….?
Just read the comments at the side of the video, they speak volumes. The issue with the dark humor is we now have body cameras in facilities. These cameras pick up EVERY word spoken and people are losing their job due to poorly timed dark humor. Like all emergency situations in DOC...know your surroundings and be professional until it's safe to vent.