Ms. Mills and 465 other guards at Telford work four 12-hour shifts a week. She works the first shift, which runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Much of the time is spent counting and recounting the unit's 2,800 inmates. The guards move unarmed amid murderers, rapists, robbers and drug addicts. The inmates may be armed with shanks, sharp objects that can be used as weapons. The fenced-in prison environment, studded with razor wire, is drab and colorless.
Guards wear gray uniforms.
Prisoners wear white. Inmate labor keeps the buildings and grounds immaculate. Whitewashed walls surround concrete floors, stainless-steel fixtures and institutional furniture. Everything, including the corrections officers, must be designed to withstand an inmate's attempt to destroy it. Women make up about 40 percent of the Telford guard staff.