When Kenneth Hatfield retired from the police force to start his own business, he never imagined that he would embark on a second career in the field of corrections.  But financial circumstances led him to seek a job with the Michigan Department of Corrections, where he has worked, in various positions for nearly 10 years.

On May 4, 2005, Hatfield, an investigator with the DOC's Region III Absconder Recovery Unit, will be honored as Corrections Officer of the Year for his decade of dedicated service to the DOC.  Recently, The Corrections Connection Network News talked with Hatfield about his accomplishments.

Q: How did you find your way into the corrections field?

Hatfield:  I needed a job.  I'm a police officer.  I retired from the police department and I had gone into the bar business.  I retired in 1992 and bought a bar.  There came a point, after about a year, [when] I went through a divorce and, as part of the divorce settlement, I had to buy my ex-wife out of the bar.  So, I needed a job.  I couldn't be a police officer and have a liquor license and I really didn't know how to do anything [else because] I had been a cop all my life – for 20 years.

So, I kind-of looked around and I didn't really want to drive a truck or something [like that].  [The Department of] Corrections in Michigan was hiring like crazy [and] I thought I would just do that for a couple of years and pay [my ex-wife] off, quit the DOC and stay in the bar business.

I thought that being a police officer, I would be prepared and would have no problem [working in corrections].  I got into it and found out there was a lot more to it than what I thought.  In corrections, there's a lot more [situations] where you are dependent on other people.  [As a police officer], you are out on the street; you are kind-of on your own.  In a prison setting, you may be there with four officers and 600 inmates.  You really have to depend on each other.

Really, me coming into corrections was just [because] I needed a job.  After I was in the field, I ended up selling the bar and I just stayed in corrections and kind of moved around.  I have held some very good jobs since I have been with the DOC.

Q: What positions have you held with the DOC?

Hatfield: I was a corrections officer.  I worked inside [a facility] and after I had about a year [on the job], the DOC started the emergency response team.  I was one of the original members of that ERT team.  I found that to be very interesting. Then I got into absconder recovery unit, which is what I am in [now].  I would track down and locate parole violators and some probationers. The positions that we were in were cut, so when I went back inside, I got into the transportation unit and worked transporting prisoners all over the state.  We went all over the state driving the prison buses - that was a really good job.  Then they had a position [open] in the absconder recovery unit, so I went back into that, which is what my position is now. 

Q: What does it take to succeed in the corrections field?

Hatfield: Don't get frustrated with it.  [Working in the absconder recovery unit is] very time consuming.  We do a lot of surveillance work.  We chase a lot of dead ends and quite often people that we do arrest are back out in just a few days - reinstated on parole or sent to a treatment program.  We have guys that we chase down almost on a monthly basis.

You've got to be a good communicator. You've got to be able to deal with people of a lot of different backgrounds.  We've got a really broad spectrum of people that are in prison.  [We've got everyone from] drug dealers to people doing time for identity fraud and pretty complex criminal stuff.  When you work inside a prison, you can be dealing with just about anybody and you can't get frustrated. 

Q: What does it mean to you to receive the Michigan Corrections Officer of the Year Award?

Hatfield: [I found out about the award] in the last couple of months. I knew that my supervisor had submitted me for it and I didn't have any [idea] that I would actually get it.  I am humbled by it.  There are almost 10,000 corrections officers in Michigan.  To be picked out of all [of them] makes me feel [good].  It's a very nice award.  It means a lot. 

Q: How does corrections compare to law enforcement?

Hatfield: When I was younger, I think it would have been more difficult for me to work inside a [correctional] facility, simply because you are so confined.  I had the luxury of coming in to work in the prisons when I was a little older.  I was 43-years old when I came to work in corrections.  It really wasn't that difficult to come in, but I was older, more mature and more settled down.

Q: What do you like best about working in corrections?

Hatfield: I guess the best part, like I said, is working inside [and] the camaraderie with the other staff.  You are clearly outnumbered and you have got to look out for each other and use your best management skills to manage the people you are dealing with.  You've got to be a diplomat.  You've got to be firm, but you [need to be fair].

Q: What are your future plans?

Hatfield: I have no intention of leaving unless they throw me out.  Beyond retirement age (I am eligible to retire in three years).  At that point, I would only be 66 years-old and that would be really too young to quit work.  Some of these people that we have picked up and that we deal with they changed.  I would like to think that every once in a while, we get somebody that gets some benefit out of what we are doing.  I know there are success stories out there.  Good things come out of what the DOC does.