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| The Five Perils of Corrections |
| By Carl ToersBijns, former deputy warden, ASPC Eyman, Florence AZ |
| Published: 02/18/2013 |
Many people have no idea what a correctional officer endures during their career inside the
walls of a penitentiary or large jail. They don’t realize that how filthy the work environment is
as well as the fact you can be stabbed, infected by bio hazard liquids, abused and assaulted and
sometimes shot at. Needless to say corrections is not a first choice career for those interested in
law enforcement and seeking work with a criminal justice degree. I would be lying to say that it
is a most glorious job to have compared to a forensic detective or even the average daily street
patrol cop on the street.
Corrections is basically the end of the road career choices in the criminal justice system. That’s not to demean the position but to illustrate how it is also the most forgotten element of the criminal justice system. It is a mixture of boredom and pure adrenalin rushes entwined in a terror filled and often a complacency world. Having the power over life and death is often interrupted by a life threatening situation that requires first responders to act quickly and effectively to preserve life of themselves or others. It is a most violent world to work and live in if you are the incarcerated felon. To admit that there are times were you are scared is an understatement. These officers live with fear on duty and off duty but none compare those moments when encountered by the reality of prison work and its perils. It is one of the worst feelings an officer will ever experience and live with their rest of their lives. The first peril is dealing with the fact that correctional officers must endure their time inside the penitentiary around a volatile population of violent and nonviolent offenders. It stands to reason that the focus of workplace dangers focuses on the violent sociopaths that prey among the weak as well as the strong. Some are more brazen than others and will rock your world if you drop your awareness even a little bit and give them an opportunity to harm you. Working with felons with no compassion and histories of being cop killers, rapists, child molesters and other violent behaviors it must stand to reason that your own compassion for their lives is often non-existent as they await a moment or opportunity to ambush you or your coworkers. Aside from the fact that the public’s perception of these felons is often skewed or slanted there are many other issues not discussed in the public’ ear shot or eyes. For no other reasons that common sense and logic, it is basically an out of sight out of mind environment. For the correctional officer the peril of harm or being killed relies on their skills to recognize such dangers. They must be aware at all times that at any moment they may encounter a violent predator and not hesitate to use the necessary force to stop them in their tracks. Unlike a policeman or state trooper, they are not armed and must rely on their self-defense skills, their use of Chemical Mace and the hurried responders of fellow officers rushing to the scene to assist in the takedown or restraint of an already convicted violent offender. There is no room or time for second guessing and heavily criticized by the media and nonelected politicians inside their own bureaucracy, they must face armchair quarterbacking every time they use force to protect themselves. Being a guardian of justice inside the penitentiary means to sacrifice their own feeling and their own lives to protect others. The second peril of working inside the penitentiary or large jail is to cope with ever tightening budget cuts and staffing shortages. These topics are often on top of the list of officers that work in such an environment where the multitude of problems encountered are not just violent killers but overcoming the higher risks imposed by reduced manpower or ineffective training that is curtailed by funding. In a world where the population of incarcerated felons exceed millions or more there are severe shortages in budget with more cuts coming. It does not enhance the work environment one least bit and creates more dangers than necessary for the job. Realizing the abandonment by society’s lawmakers and budget creators, these officers don’t have time to wallow in self-pity or other negative emotional feelings as they must take care of business regardless of what they are given to work with. The third peril related to correctional officers is the perception of those outside the penitentiaries that these officers are given the necessary tools and training to do the job. Without a doubt, the most common phrase a rookie officer will hear from the veteran is “forget what you learned at the academy” and do what I do and you will stay alive. When the need for training is sabotaged or compromised by cultural indifference to the process and practice of doing the job, there is much room for error and mistakes that are often harmful or lethal for the officer. Training is a critical element of survival and is crucial in the success of being a better than average correctional officer. Due to budget cuts, training has become redundant and boring for the officers giving them no new technology or inventive skills to improve on. There is no intensity in training and that makes it boring and for reasons as “that’s the way it has always been” there are no signs of improving these lesson plans that can help the officers do their jobs. Agencies have no incentives to find better training techniques as that would incur additional costs that are not approved in their budgets. The fourth peril is a silent killer. This peril revolves around the stress and anxiety of the job and may lead to suicides. The mere workplace culture, customs and traditions induce the fear and paranoia that is required to stay alive. Thoughts of hostage taking, serious beatings or being stabbed are real as well as knowing that any moment you may be assaulted with HIV loaded feces or other urine of body fluids hurled at your presence by felons with no regard for life or welfare of others. Correctional officers don’t talk about PTSD as it is a dirty word and shows weakness. Officers don’t talk about wimpy subjects and not realize that this silence in fact perpetuates the problem even further. Suicide of another officer is often ignored and murder by a convicted felon is considered a legitimate reason for the stress and anxiety that fills their world. Working around considerable risky people is a risky business not taken for granted by anyone inside prison. The fifth and final peril is being targeted or working for administrations that are hiring poor managers and out of touch management styles. These officers must endure the most common peril shared in law enforcement where the administration does not back up the officers in their efforts to perform their duties under much distress and difficulties. Administrators are often in a mode that ignore the realities of the job and therefore refuse to hear or see what is considered to be a front line problem for them. They refuse to discuss it, listen to the issues and pretend that it is the other way around and it’s the officer’s fault or problem rather than the administration’s responsibility. This type of ignorance by supervisors and managers leads to continued stress and will never disappear or go away in the workplace. It appears to be an unnecessary evil to endure. When the administration refuses to hear or see the problems then it becomes more dangerous for all that work there. The truth is however that the prison world is not dangerous place because of evil but rather it is dangerous because often recorded and acknowledged events in the history books. It is a dangerous place because the narcissist and arrogant people in charge won’t admit it was their fault and watch and let it happen again and again over and over. Editor’s note: Carl ToersBijns (retired), worked in corrections for over 25 yrs He held positions of a Correctional Officer I, II, III [Captain] Chief of Security Mental Health Treatment Center – Program Director – Associate Warden - Deputy Warden of Administration & Operations. Car’s prison philosophy is all about the safety of the public, staff and inmates, "I believe my strongest quality is that I create strategies that are practical, functional and cost effective." Other articles by ToersBijns: |
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