COVER STORY .

Sgt. Edwin Cruz

Training Supervisor, Philadelphia Prison System


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Published: Apr 29, 2009

Sgt. Edwin Cruz, 45

Training Supervisor, Philadelphia Prison System

Salary: $49,073

Union: DC 33

When Edwin Cruz first walked into Holmesburg prison as a guard, on Sept. 26, 1987, he heard "yelling and screaming, what we're gonna do to you." He got a "very uncomfortable feeling." The first time he had to get physical on the job was in breaking up a fight between two inmates. He'd grown up in North Philly, but wasn't some tough street kid. Still, he learned that the job didn't require traditionally "tough" people. "We teach you how to deal with aggressive inmates," he says.

He says "we" because, after decades working as a guard, which included surviving a riot and a stint in the female prison ("I was walking on eggshells over there," he says. "The males had weapons, shanks. The females more used their brains"), he began teaching at the training academy. He teaches new cadets (who go through a 10.5-week training regimen) CPR, first aid, self-defense, shotgun/handgun use, pepper spray use and hostage survival. The most dramatic part of this is probably the pepper spray, because every recruit gets sprayed. When Cruz first felt it, "I thought my eyes were gonna pop out of my head," he says. Now he stands in front of recruits as they experience the sensation for the first time, and makes them recite their name and payroll number.

The most important part of the training is probably conflict resolution. The problem guards, says Cruz, are the ones who try to be intimidating; the best way to get what you want from inmates is to be straightforward and respectful. "You make it harder for yourself if you become this monster," he says. "The inmates are gonna see right through you."

Cruz lives in the Northeast with his wife. Their daughter is grown, and they own their house. "Since I've been with the prisons," he says, "I have moved up to where I'm comfortable."