Inmate Manipulation Decoded: A Definitive Guide to Understanding the Manipulation Process

by Anthony Gangi

Inmate manipulation is a slow and subtle game. It’s a game that leaves many correctional staff without a job and possibly in prison. Understanding how the game works is essential to surviving a career in corrections.This book will take you down a path that will highlight how an inmate chooses their target, how the game is employed, and most importantly, how staff can defend themselves. The game of inmate manipulation has evolved and the strategies are more complex than ever before. Correctional staff must be made aware that at any moment they can be chosen as a target. They must remember that the game is real and so are the consequences.

Genres: Psychology

132 pages, Paperback

Published December 26, 2020

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I work in a psychiatric hospital where all the patients are there on involuntarily hold. Although Im not the target audience, it’s been very helpful in learning techniques on how to handle Clusters B personalities.

[Tiffany Wilkinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would be an informative read for staff new to corrections. It is also a good reminder for senior staff as anyone can become a target and risk being compromised. There were several grammatical errors that were glaringly obvious and required additional attention to understand the information being presented.

[Ramses Coly · Rating 5 out of 5]

What defines a good corrections officer or a bad one? One avoids temptation, the other ones succumbs to it

In his essay "Discourse on the Sciences and Arts," Genevan philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau argues that men are good by nature, but end up being corrupted by society. One could relate in the corrections world. Correctional staff can start their career with the best intentions and the goal of being a good officer -- or civilian worker. No matter the level of professionalism a corrections officer (CO) or correctional deputy may have, he or she could be manipulated and possibly be out of a job as a result. This book reminds us that any professional working in the prison or detention systems can be vulnerable.

Author Anthony Gangi showcases multiple ways an inmate can take advantage of a naïve staff member in a correctional setting. Inmates are opportunistic. County jails are believed to be less “hardcore” than state – or federal – prisons, but they’re not immune from having compromised staff. I worked at a detention center in Maryland where we had a kitchen worker (civilian) arrested for bringing drugs into the facility. Inmates are also good observers with attention to details. I remember when inmates would notice when I wasn’t wearing my usual watch on my wrist, and would start a conversation with me about it.

Elsewhere in Maryland, a former female state corrections officer made an appearance in a gang video a few years back in a rural county. In a well publicized case, another one was impregnated by an inmate in the Baltimore area.

Gangi reminds us in this book that being essentially played with can happen to any corrections officer or civilian staff if they don’t stay vigilant in their role. A bad CO, he suggests, talks about his personal life with inmates. Don’t even tell them you root for a particular football team, he says. A good CO doesn’t share personal details. At the end, a real CO displays “medium personality traits” which is the desired quality for the job. Finding a balance is the answer, he concludes.

The author is a veteran corrections officer who presumably works for the New Jersey Department of Corrections as an assistant superintendent (at the time of the book's published date). Gangi also has a Youtube show, "Tier Talk," that seems to be successful in terms of subscribers (compared to other public safety podcasts that are struggling with popularity, although "Tier Talk" had a headstart a decade ago).

"Inmate Manipulation Decoded" is a short book with only 118 pages, but it is generally well written and is easy to read. Rookie and veteran corrections officers should pick up a copy as it is a good tool one can educate themselves with in order to help them better perform in their role in a jail or prison setting.

[Phevos Kaloudis · Rating 5 out of 5]

An in depth analysis of the manipulation game that prisoners use on prison guards. As a human being that isn't at all interested in becoming staff of a prison, I dare say that this book can help you understand manipulation in general. What I thought was right -getting familiar with manipulation tactics used by prisoners gives you great insight on the manipulation techniques used on the real world, in a broad sense. View prisoners as people that are forced into learning manipulation to survive or live in better conditions in their prisons and suddenly you understand that you'll be reading Anthony Gangi's detailed guide on how to spot the harshest manipulation methods in the world- the ones of people that their whole lives depend on