The report “Should an 18-Year-Old Be a Guard at a Maximum Security Prison?” appears at the Prison Journalism Project and is written by Jamie Silvonek.

Excerpts appear below.

Several months ago, a group of women gathered in the common room of our maximum security prison. They were loud and rowdy. A young officer trainee instructed the women to quiet down, according to women who witnessed the incident. But the women responded with derisive laughter and snide remarks. In response, the trainee lost his temper and yelled: “This is my common room: I own these tables, I own these chairs, and I own all of you!”

Some women who observed the incident said a more senior officer who was present did not intervene.

The explosive scene was indicative of a larger shift underway at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy, in Pennsylvania.

In an effort to fill staff vacancies, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has joined other state systems in recruiting younger officers. But the influx of young hires — some as young as 18 — has led to some growing pains for both officers and incarcerated women at SCI Muncy, a medium and maximum security facility for women in central Pennsylvania. Changes in institutional dynamics have some women concerned about how these dynamics impact safety and morale.

“At 18 years old, you don’t even really know who you are yet. Most 18-year-olds have a hard time controlling their emotions,” said my cellmate Della, who has been incarcerated at Muncy for 19 years. “Correctional officers are here for care, custody and control. How are you supposed to exert any kind of responsible control over the people you have authority over when you can’t even control your own emotions?”

“I heard one young CO actually make the comment that he didn’t want to tell anyone not to do something because he didn’t want to make anyone mad at him,” Jennifer said. “That’s just an open invitation for inmates to do whatever they want and for chaos to ensue.”

A young officer told me that multiple attempts to assert his authority haven’t been taken seriously.

“I don’t think the disrespect has anything to do with my age though,” he said. He is 21 years old. “Normally, when I give people respect, I get it back. But you have some inmates who are going to be disrespectful no matter what. It’s just the kind of people they are.”

The officer, who said he was initially intimidated about working at a maximum security prison, acknowledged that disrespect comes from all directions: “Staff can be dickheads, too.”

Incarcerated at age 14, I grew up inside prison walls. I know firsthand that prisons are not appropriate environments for developing minds. Ten years later, I am still significantly younger than many of the women with whom I’m serving time. Many still consider me a kid. It is an unnerving feeling to know that someone six years younger than me wields near-total control and authority over me. After I thanked the officer and walked away, I wondered if he would be able to hold on to his kindness in such a corrosive environment.

You can read the full report, “Should an 18-Year-Old Be a Guard at a Maximum Security Prison?” at the Prison Journalism Project website. Prison Journalism Project is an independent, national nonprofit organization that trains incarcerated writers to be journalists and publishes their stories so they can serve as influential voices in the broader conversation about the prison legal system across the U.S. and in their local communities.

Jamie Silvonek is a journalist and poet incarcerated in Pennsylvania. She has written for The Prison Journalism Project, The Juvenile Justice Information Exchange, George Washington University’s Women in Beyond the Global, and numerous social justice zines. At 14, Jamie was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison, which she is serving at SCI Muncy in Pennsylvania. In her spare time, she enjoys training dogs, tutoring, working out, reading nerdy books, stuffing her face, and challenging misconceptions about incarcerated human beings. Her first book of poetry, “Marginal Verse,” is published by Game Over Books.