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| The rise of female officers in male prisons |
| By National Post |
| Published: 01/12/2004 |
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An unlikely debate is percolating in the testosterone-fuelled world of Canada's penitentiaries for men. It has to do with pregnancy leave. The union representing federal prison officers is demanding the right for female members to stay home with pay virtually from the moment they conceive, a sticking point in contract talks that have dragged on for more than a year. The union says one woman miscarried recently after helping quell a vicious fight between inmates, and it believes others should not have to face such hazards. The Correctional Service of Canada responds that paid leave is unnecessary, since expectant officers can be re-assigned to safer posts. That the issue is even being discussed, however, underlines a growing and little-known trend. The number of female officers patrolling the ranges and staffing the towers of the nation's prisons for men has expanded rapidly in the past 20 years, even as the service considers removing male staff completely from women's penitentiaries. Since female officers were introduced into male facilities in 1981, their ranks in the prison system have swollen to more than 1,700, making up 26% of the total, according to government figures. But the growing female presence in men's prisons has raised some thorny issues, and not just how to deal with pregnancy. Some critics question whether the proportion of women is too high at times, making it potentially more difficult to handle disturbances. Some male officers feel the large percentage of female officers gives them an extra burden: protecting their colleagues when the going gets tough. Men also are generally the only ones who are allowed to carry out strip searches, which some male officers say makes them more susceptible to the infectious diseases, from HIV to hepatitis, that run rampant behind bars. An internal Correctional Service of Canada report revealed female staff were sexually assaulted in almost a third of 33 hostage-taking incidents over a 10-year period. The report suggested rethinking the standard stall-and-negotiate approach to such incidents, which could inadvertently give inmates more opportunity to sexually attack their hostages. And while the phenomenon is still rare, a steady string of female staff have become romantically involved with male offenders. Some female officers complain about a pervasive atmosphere of sexual harassment, with one $11-million lawsuit accusing several senior managers of sexual misconduct. A former deputy warden named in the suit goes on trial this year for allegedly kidnapping and threatening to kill a female employee whom he had dated. On the other hand, managers, union leaders and most of the female officers interviewed for this article insist the growing contingent of women does not undermine security or put male officers at higher risk. Instead, they argue, female officers help make prisons more like the outside world, and they employ a less aggressive approach that emphasizes defusing tense situations rather than resorting to physical force. |
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