Orange Is the New Black : Was Piscatella really that bad?

Re: Was Piscatella really that bad?

He didn't respect his boss and put things in his own hands. It got P killed, and he didn't even think about taking any blame because the inmates don't have any rights. Although, to a point, he's right, inmates still have basic rights and CO's cannot take advantage of them.

He should be gone, and I hope we see more of his background in season 5.


It is going to get wet in here tonight. Lace your boots up, kiddies.

Re: Was Piscatella really that bad?

At first no - you have to be tough to gain respect and control of prison inmates. Not that they should be afraid for their lives, but just respect the authority.

Where it went wrong was when he defended Humphrey. A problem was called to his attention, but he looked the other way because of his ego. Keeping Humphrey, and not employing that same tough attitude to his staff, is when everything went to hell.

Him not showing any sadness or remorse over the Poussay situation and even spitting gum by her corpse was very bad and that clearly made him a "villain."

Re: Was Piscatella really that bad?

I liked him at first and thought he was just really serious about his job and followed the rules.
By the end of the season I absolutely hated him. He didn't see any of the inmates as actual human beings and he allowed the other guards to abuse them for their own sick pleasure. He was terrible at his job for allowing these things to happen. The inmates' safety is his responsibility and he literally didn't care what happened to them. This was remarkably evident when Poussey was killed, he literally didn't give a cr*p despite it starting off as a peaceful protest by the inmates. Him spitting his gum on the floor in front of Caputo and next to the body was incredibly disrespectful.
Legit can't stand the man. Can't wait for him to get what he deserves.

Re: Was Piscatella really that bad?

Didn't read all the replies so hope this wasn't said!

In my opinion, he was awful. Sure, he could be seen as great from an outside perspective like Caputo, but there were many things he did wrong. It was all a domino effect, really. Treating the inmates as subhuman/animals.

Things like, making sure inmates complaints were avoided by Caputo, defending Humps, making sure nobody gave Blanca water or food when she was forced to stand on the cafeteria table. It's just little things that caused him to be so horrendous.

He's self righteous and basically was the "domino" effect that caused all the chaos in this season.

Re: Was Piscatella really that bad?

He was definitely bad. He is the one who ordered that the lights never be shut off so that prisoners would be sleep deprived. That is a form of torture. He took it a step further with Red when he actively chased her around making sure she couldn't sleep.

Re: Was Piscatella really that bad?

Was Hitler that bad? He had great artistic potential. It wasn't like he designed the final solution himself; that was Himmler.

The sky is blue

Re: Was Piscatella really that bad?

I understand what Potato With Eyes is saying.

I think that if Piscatella was in charge of a top rate professional crew, he would have been OK. However, these are prison guards - so.... he was definitely NOT OK..

Re: Was Piscatella really that bad?

Yes, he really is that bad. He has no respect for the chain of command, he lets his subordinates get away with everything and he abuses prisoners both personally and via his subordinates. Like Maria said, it's not the sicko CO that is a problem, it's the guy who lets the sickos run free. Also it's implied that he abused his position at his old station, which may or may not include sexually abusing prisoners. Who knows.

I think the most telling scene is when he tells Red how he hates the inmates. A person who hates inmates won't make a good correctional officer, because he won't care about rehabilitating prisoners or even treating them like people, which is pretty important for keeping them out of prison once they're released. As such he's a pretty great commentary on the whole American justice system.

It's interesting to see a gay character who is very unstereotypically gay and also a total bastard, but I have to say I miss the old COs and their group dynamic, with them being interesting but fairly well-adjusted people with Pornstache being the odd one out. Now we have Donuts aka Rapey McRaperson as the most well-adjusted CO and everyone else is either incompetent or cruel for the hell of it.

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Re: Was Piscatella really that bad?

Oh my god, I hated his guts. To me this guy represented everything that was wrong with these types of institutions.

He had serious power and ego issues and allowed guards under his command to literally torture the prisoners. He demonstrated from the get go that he believed the inmates to be subhuman who needed to be kept in line with draconian measures. It's no accident that things spiralled out of control they way they did.

Not only did he condone his guard's behaviour but he defied direct orders and even threatened his superior in order to ensure Humphrey saw no fallout from what was an act more heinous than what had landed many of the women in there in the first place.

Had any evidence of what happened to Red, Blanca, Maritza or Kukudio gotten out the prison would have been absolutely *beep* from a PR perspective and would have had a massive lawsuit on their hands.

Even if you discount the instances which where a total breach of duty of care (or in some cases, human rights), he was still a dick. I mean, what was adding 3 to 5 years to a young mother's sentence for selling panties from scrap materials gonna do? Such a hard punishment wasn't of benefit to anyone, the injustice of the situation just made her lose faith in the system and become the hardened criminal which was deserving of the sentence. The whole point of a correctional facility is to reform prisoners, not *beep* em up even more.

Anyway, rant over. In closing, he was a disgusting human being.

Re: Was Piscatella really that bad?

I just can't with anyone that either supports this guy or makes up excuses for what he does. He's despicable trash and showed his real colors later in the season.
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