In late September, Penobscot County Maine Transportation Officer Don Day was named "Corrections Officer of the Year for 2004," an honor he was chosen for by his peers.  An eight-year veteran of the corrections field, Day recently talked with The Corrections Connection about his accomplishment and the challenges he faces working as a corrections officer for the Penobscot County Sheriff's Office. 

Q: How did you become involved in the corrections field?

Day:  I have been working in the correction field since 1997 - for seven full years going on eight.

Basically, I went to college at the University of Maine, Orono, got my degree in criminal justice and planned on working [as a] patrol [officer].  But it's hard, [even] when you have your degree, [because] you still have to work your way into a department.  Because I could not get a patrol job right away, I decided to give corrections a try - not knowing much about it going into it.  From there it just kind-of evolved.

My first position in corrections was as a CO with the jail.  I started out in corrections for the first three years doing various things from working on the floor dealing directly with the inmates - to being a booking officer - to an intake officer that does all the paperwork, coordinating with the jail, keeping track of the inmates. 

From that position, a full-time transportation slot opened up and I applied and was selected for that in 2000.  I have been in the transportation department since [then and I have been] acting as transportation coordinator for the past year.

I am technically a transportation officer and my duties are to take the inmates from the jail to court appearances or to the state prison or wherever the court tells us to take them.  I keep track of myself and one other full-time officer and a core of about 10 part-time officers and set up scheduling for transportation issues.  I keep track of all of the part-timers [and] make sure [that] they work within their limits [and do not work more hours each week than they are supposed to].  I coordinate anything else that has to be done with the transportation division here.

Q: How did you become the coordinator for the transportation division?

Day: Basically what happened is when I was hired [as a] transportation officer, my sergeant just recently was promoted to rank of lieutenant and a new sergeant was assigned to watch over the transportation division as part of his duties.  His other duties were more time consuming, [though, so he was unable to fulfill that role].  He just didn't have time to keep track of us as well.  I was the most senior full-time person [working in the division] so it just kind of fell to me to take [on that responsibility].

Q: What are some of the challenges of your position?

Day: [Some] challenges [are] getting inmates to the court a lot of times because we have one superior court and four district courts within our county so we have to coordinate getting all the inmates to their court appearances in time.  Plus, we also do any medical appointments that the jail nursing staff sets up.  Basically it's just the wide variety of making sure every inmate gets the services or what is scheduled for them done on time as well as all of our part-timers are limited to 36 hours a week so I have to keep track of all of them and make sure that none of them go over their allotted hours.

Q: What does the "Corrections Officer of the Year" award mean to you?

Day: This is the first year that [the sheriff has] done an annual banquet for the department.  He put it out to the [staff] to vote for who they thought [deserved the award.  All I know is [that] my peers felt I was the most qualified.

Q: What is the best part of your job?

Day: The flexibility is the best.  We work Monday through Friday, primarily, and we have the holidays off.  Every day is a different day.  One day the court may ask you to do one thing and the next day it might be something completely different.  It's not a job that is stagnant.  I guess that is probably the best part of [my] job.  It makes [each] day more of a challenge.

Q: What are some of your hopes for the future?

Day: I'm in hopes that in the near future, the department is going to [create] another supervisor position and I will actually be able to apply for that to be the supervisor of the transportation division.  Right now, I am just the coordinator, [which] doesn't give me full control of the division, whereas if the position becomes available and I get it and am promoted to that [position], then I would be the one making the decisions.

Q: What keeps you going?

Day: Just the challenge of [working in this field].  Every day can be different.  You never know what to expect and that is part of it.

Q: How do you deal with the stress of the job?

Day: [The] stressful things [about the job] can be basically the same as the good things, [like the fact that things are different every day.  Sometimes, the courts don't understand that we can't do stuff on the drop of a dime as we are expected to.

[But when it is stressful], it's just one of those days when you punch out and you go home you just try to do your own things, do your own hobbies and the next day when you punch in you start in fresh.

[In my spare time], I like watching sports and anything in the outdoors, [like] hunting or fishing - that type of outdoor environment where you can get out and have some peace and quiet.

Q: What advice do you have for others working in the corrections field?

Day: I guess, in general, [understand that] people don't know a whole lot about corrections.  People know that [there are] jails, but they don't know what is going on inside.  The best idea for anyone thinking about getting into this is just [to] have an open mind.  If you want to go into the patrol field, corrections is a good place to start because you get those interaction skills down between yourself and the inmates because the [criminals who eventually become] inmates typically are the people any future patrolmen will be dealing with.

The corrections field has come a long way in the last 10 years or so, but I think there's still a stigma that patrol and that type of job is better.  [For] anyone interested in law enforcement, it is a good place to start.  There are many things that you can learn to help yourself down the road if you do want to progress into another aspect of law enforcement.