So I’ve been thinking about becoming a corrections officer. I’m female, 38, fairly physically fit if that matters, and very assertive. I’m definitely a ‘rules’ person and I’d be comfortable in a job enforcing the rules. In fact, my current supervisor has told me that in a previous life I must have been a Turkish prison guard, such is my personality at work. I do, however, have a great deal of compassion for people that are struggling- one of my dreams is to open a halfway house for women just coming out of prison.
What is the job really like? Is it very mundane and staggeringly boring? Do inmates throw feces at you? Are the benefits good? I know that it pays a lot more than my current job, but what are the hours usually like? Is it very depressing, does it change the way you view people, do you get burnt out?
Any help here would be appreciated, thanks in advance.
Since we’ve been talking about it lately, from my one-day stint in jail it seemed like the guards were a lot more miserable than the prisoners. At least the prisoners were laughing.
Well, I work in New York not Arizona so my experience is probably somewhat different than yours potentially would be. The best advice I can give you is to read *Newjack * by Ted Conover. It’s a well-written and very accurate depictation of a man working his first year on the job as a prison guard.
I have a good friend that actually works as a corrections officer, she also works in a co-ed environment at the Remand Centre. She likes it fine, when she was pregnant they moved her to courtroom duty only.
When I was working downtown I joined her for lunch (my first and only trip through the Remand Centre) and we both joked alot, but she has excellent benefits, pay and very little likelihood of being laid off. Now, this is in Manitoba, Canada, so I don’t know how different it would be where you are.
She has told me some pretty interesting stories too. I’ll check with her and see if she has any tips.
From what I understand, prisoners tend to say to the guards, “You go home in the evening, and that is the only difference. Apart from that, we’re all in prison together.”
My husband and his co-workers say that all the time. Sometimes, they even joke about how much more of their “sentence” they have to serve before retirement.
It’s not a fun place to work. It smells funky and you’re not exactly working with the nicest people in the world. You learn to develop a thick skin very quickly, or you won’t be able to take it.
There are some personal aspects and there are some practical aspects to the job that you should consider:
Personal aspects:
You also have to learn to be able to turn off your sympathy. You really do have to be a hard-ass in this respect. Inmates are incredibly brilliant manipulators and there are hundreds of tiny power struggles every day. I’ve heard a lot of stories from Hubby about prison employees who felt sorry for an inmate and did them just a little “favor” which ended up costing them their jobs.
As an example, one man, “John Doe” started working there in the spring as a guard. John was just one of those people you would have to describe as a genuinely nice guy. That’s also what his problem was.
Being a chatty fellow, he talked to the inmates sometimes. One guy started hanging out around his station and they’d talk for a while about his back pain. The inmate was having a lot of trouble with his back because he needed special support shoes, but the prison was refusing to get them for him because they had no way of ordering the shoes from any of their suppliers. John felt really bad for him. It sucks being in constant pain, and really, it’s such a small matter . . . After a while, he agreed he would smuggle in a pair of shoes for the inmate. The inmate’s mother would give them to John who would bring them into the prison.
The delivery went off without a hitch. Unfortunately, for the inmate, there was a random bunk search that night and the guards found the shoes. They had false soles and were stuffed full of drugs.
Hubby says he thinks John was really kind of hurt by this betrayal of his trust. He protested that he knew it was against the rules to bring in something for an inmate but he felt so bad for the guy . . . Hubby says he felt really bad firing John, but as he told him, “Man, you really weren’t cut out for this kind of work.” You’ve got to be able to look at someone who claims to be in distress and say, “Sorry. Rules are rules.” And you’ve got to stick even to the ones which seem incredibly minor or nit-picky. Trust me-- they were instituted for a reason.
It can also be dangerous. In my state, fights resulting in injuries to officers are relatively rare, but it does happen. So do riots, and yes, poo flinging. My husband’s not a guard, but there have been a couple of times when he has come home, stripped his clothes and shoes into a bag and warned me not to touch them.
You’ve got to know if you can fight. Some people just freeze in dangerous situations. They’ll train you in self defense (my state uses martial arts) but you’ve got to be willing to use it. When that “man down” alarm goes off, you’ve got to be willing to run like hell and jump into the fray if that’s what it takes.
Prisons are also very germy enviornments. The public was outraged during the flu vaccine shortage when the media reported that inmates were getting flu shots. What people didn’t understand is that during flu season, viruses get passed around over and over and over, mutating into different forms. Hubby gets sick two or three times each year because of it. There are also problems with staph infections and the like to worry about. Employees are offered hepititus vaccines.
As for the practical aspects:
Be prepared for it to take a really long time between the application process and when you find out you’ve got the job. Hubby didn’t hear anything from them for six months after he applied.
The pay is pretty good, at least in my state. You won’t get rich, but it’s okay. If you’re smart and hard-working, you’ve got good chances for advancement. Bonus points if you have any higher education. However, realize that the faster you advance, the less you make. Hubby is 2nd in command of the prison in which he works and many of the guards make more than he does. (They get overtime. He’s on salary.) Pay is graded by steps, and you’ll want to plan how long you need to stay in each step before advancing to the next.
My state offers good health coverage and other benefits like 401K and deferred compensation. It also has a good vacation package.
You’ll most likely be a union member, and you’ll have to pay dues, even if you don’t want to join.
Job security is kind of iffy these days. Prisons get closed when budgets are pinched, and whether or not you get to stay in your job is dependent on your seniority. (Another employee can “bump” you out of a job if they’ve been there longer.)
My son was a CO for 3 or 4 years in a County jail. The inmate count was around 500. They were kep in pods with about 50 or 60 to a pod. One or two CO’s in each pod on each shift. As Lissa already said, it’s not a fun place to work. By most estimates around 90% of inmates have some degree of mental illness.
The pay and benefits were OK. There were dangers but for the most part it was moment to moment boredom with one or two minutes of terror and excitement when someone flipped out because of some perceived insult.
He used to joke about eating his lunch every day with thieves, accused murderers and rapists. (Once convicted, they are transferred to the State Prison)
He left for better job, better pay, etc. Says it was interesting but wouldn’t recommend it as a career.
It’s actually not a bad idea, especially since having sex with the guys is not part of the deal- they just want to be dominated! They get what they want, and I’d get paid well to be bossy and mean. It’s a win-win!
After reviewing the responses, I don’t know that I’m cut out for CO. As tough and no-nonsense as I can be, I’m also very sensitive, and I’m worried that I could be greatly disturbed by the job. Or maybe it wouldn’t be that bad? More responses to hear first-hand what it’s really like would be so great!
According to my husband, unless, you’re working in a facility for “special needs” (mental or physical) inmates, you’ll probably have more trouble with your fellow COs than the inmates.
In the six years he has worked there, there was only one incident where an officer was injured by an inmate. However, inmates being injured by eachother is a daily thing.
Boredom isn’t a problem during the first several months. There are different jobs within the prison system, and they’ll probably try you out on every one of them, to see what you’re best suited for. If you do well, you can move up in the ranks pretty quickly.
The pay and benefits differ per state. It may be good in Lissa’s state, not so much in TN.
County Jail is completely differant from State Prison. Some of my husband’s coworkers worked county before working for the state. Some of their stories are pretty bad. By the time an inmate gets sent to the state prison, they’re a little calmer and the mentally ill and drug adicted ones have been sent to Special Needs.
A whole slew of my friends work for the New York state system. I took the test and was offered the job but declined after talking to them about the day to day stuff they deal with.
I’ve known my best friend since we were kids. After 12 or 14 years now doing it his personality has changed some. His temper can flash off in half a second. I suppose years of jumping at alarms will do that to you. He cools down almost as fast but it’s startling.
As a whole the CO’s are cynical and hard in their outlook on life. Years of dealing with dumb criminals will do that. There are some funny stories about what happens inside, but lots of “holy shit” stories.
I see how much it’s changed my husband in the time I’ve known him. When we married, he had just started there, and still had a touch of his change-the-world idealism acquired in college. He’s a lot more cynical now and has less faith in mankind in general. (I suppose seeing the worst aspects of it on a daily basis will do that to you.)
