Correctional Officers - The View From Inside

Correctional Officers Series: Interview With A Corrections Professional.

Most of us don't give much thought to the prison system. A person is found guilty. The gavel slams down. Unless you were personally touched by the crime, then that's it. The guilty person is locked away. Out of sight, out of mind.

Prisons are a world of their own. Each day, correctional officers risk their lives behind those prison walls. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), in 2005 an estimated 445,000 people were employed by state and federal corrections facilities. About 66-percent of these employees were correctional officers, line staff, or supervisors whose work kept them in direct contact with inmates.

Between 2000 and 2005, the number of incarcerated inmates rose 10-percent. The number of employees working in these same facilities rose just three-percent, giving inmates three times the growth rate of employees. Nationwide, the ratio of inmates-to-correctional officers increased from an average of 4.8 inmates for every one officer in 2000 to 5.1 inmates for every one officer in 2005.

Correctional officers walk into a hostile environment each and every day. The five-year span between 1990 and 1995 saw a 33-percent increase in the number of assaults by inmates on prison staff. In 1995, 14,165 assaults occurred, with 14 of those staff members losing their lives as a result.

According to the BJS, the 2008 incidence rate for assaults and violent acts per person in state government was 27 assaults per 10,000 employees. This compares to just two assaults per 10,000 employees in private industry. Of the assaults on state employees, 53-percent of those injured worked within three occupations; correctional officers/jailers, psychiatric aides, and psychiatric technicians.

That same BJS report states that: "Among detailed occupations, correctional officers and jailers experienced the highest number of days-away-from-work injuries and illnesses in 2008 (12,420 cases)."

I was fortunate to find one correctional officer who agreed to speak to me. The nature of his job requires that he have complete anonymity. Here's a glimpse into his world:

Q: How long have you been a correctional officer?

A: I have been a correctional officer for 13 years.

Q: What type of training did you receive?

A: I went to an Academy for 12 weeks. It has been a while, so I don't know specifics. But we had mostly class work, covering 10-A, which governs what we can do, 2-C Laws, and we also did physical training daily and about a week of defensive tactics.

Q: Do you work with maximum, medium, or low security? Or a combination of all?

A: I worked mostly with medium security inmates. I am now a transportation officer and deal with all security levels of inmates, including high risk.

Q: Can you tell us what a transportation officer does?

A: As far as the transportation process goes, without breaching security, it's pretty basic. There are always at least 2 officers armed, inmates are always handcuffed and shackled. Prior to leaving the facility all inmates are strip-searched by the transporting officers. We take inmates to public hospitals, doctor offices, courts, and transfer to other facilities. While outside the prison all inmates are treated as maximum security.

As far as dealing with inmates that are mentally ill, we do so on a regular basis. If they have not been committed to a forensic center we house them in regular prisons, some are in special housing some are not. Christine Todd Whitman closed a number of psychiatric hospitals to save money (probably lining her own pockets).

Q: What is the most difficult aspect of your job?

A: The most difficult aspect of being a corrections officer from my point of view is being around so much negativity every day you go to work.

Q: Have you ever been hurt by an inmate?

A: I have never been hurt by an inmate, but know of MANY officers that have.

Q: Could you describe your scariest moment inside the prison?

A: I honestly cannot say I have had a scariest moment. When you are a correctional officer, being scared doesn't exist. I know if anything happens, my fellow officers will ALWAYS be there to help me.

Q: Do you believe that prison works as a deterrent to repeat crime?

A: I do not think prison deters people from committing more crimes. This can be based on the amount of inmates that commit crimes in prison. We have to have a prison system inside the prison system; that is Administrative Segregation.

Q: Most prisons are a mix of violent and nonviolent inmates, as well as the young novice and the older hardened criminals. What affect do you feel this has on the inmates? And on the guards?

A: The prison system attempts to keep inmates on the same level together, according to a point system. However, they can't all be put in separate areas. It makes those that may not have been violent become violent or become a victim. As far as Officers, WE keep things simple and treat all inmates the same way. Well, at least we are supposed to.

Q: Drugs and weapons have always been a large problem inside prisons. Do you have any thoughts on how to better handle these issues?

A: Drugs and weapons will always be brought into prisons by civilians and by officers. Some people that work in the prison system are weak-minded and have no business being in there, while some are driven by money due to drug or gambling or even greed. And some are there for the wrong reasons.

Q: I have read that the inside of a prison is like a separate society, with its own set of rules. How do you personally deal with the switch from your normal life to the prison world?

A: The rules inside the prison vary from prison to prison. I believe you can carry out the job according to the rules, therefore not much change is needed to come into the normal world.

Q: In all branches of the military, a big part of getting people to conform and bend to the rules is to strip their autonomy. This is done in part with the strict use of uniforms and grooming (hair length, clean-shaven, etc.). Even many private schools have strict dress and grooming codes. In the prison system, uniforms are required, though in many cases how they are worn is not strictly enforced. And grooming is not an issue. Hair can be long, worn in dreads, shaved with designs, dirty, stringy, etc. Do you feel that inmates should be held to higher dress and grooming standards, as with the military?

A: I do think they should be made to all have some likeness but, sadly, due to the amount of right that inmates have, they cannot be forced to conform. Every look falls under a "religious" right. They kill, rob, rape, and hurt people, and end up with more rights than their victims.

Q: If you could change one or two things about the prison system, what would they be?

A: I would hold Officers more accountable to do the job. Too many people take the easy way out and stop caring. This only makes officers that are there to work, work that much harder. But I believe they take the easy way out because they can't handle the continuous mental beat down from trying to do it the right way all the time.

Q: What would you like the average person to know about the job that you risk your life for each day?

A: I would like the average person to know that we do risk our lives each and every day that we go to work. The only time you read anything in the newspaper about a correction officer is when he does something stupid; domestics, drunk driving, or smuggling contraband into the prisons. These are only a small percentage of officers. No one knows when we get a broken eye socket, a broken jaw, or any other serious injury. No one ever thinks about the bodily fluids thrown at us; urine, saliva, blood, and feces. No one ever hears about the Officers that cut down inmates attempting to kill themselves. Most of us aren't looking for recognition, just for people to understand that someone HAS to do it.

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