Correctional Officers

Since it has already been recognized worldwide that the job of a law enforcement officer or LEO is very stressful, it is most interesting to compare this job with those of others in the workplace whether private or government funded. Since this job appears to have no real “value” or added merit to those compared to a street cop or a detective working on a cold case, it is important to seek a fair comparison of jobs responsibilities and duties of other jobs classified as more essential or important in the business world.

Correctional officers are always under pressure to do their jobs right. Their anxiety levels are extremely high with supervisors breathing down their necks and micromanaging their every action. In some cases, the opposite is true and the officer must rely on his or her own training, skills and knowledge to handle the situation at hand. Working solo is dangerous but often the case in an overcrowded prison system. Stress does not stop at the end of the shift. This stress goes home with them and results in finding coping mechanism to avoid addictions to alcohol or prescription drugs to either stay awake, go to sleep, stay alert or just relax. Every duty and every task is “action” related and often involves an interaction with a convicted felon or an awaiting detainee facing criminal charges. Luckily, there are enough officers savvy enough to maintain order within such hostile places as the chances of getting hurt are high. Since the prisons and jails are often “out of sight and out of mind” you have to wonder if people who have these types of jobs are actually thought about or cared about on the outside of prisons. Except for immediate family members or close friends, not too many have an understanding what comes along with this job and the pressure it has all that time while on duty as every minute worked is a matter of life or death in some cases but reasonably a matter of violence or hostility. These officers sacrifice their own livelihood to serve a profession that is often criticized by the media and individuals in the administrations.

These people are hard-wired to do a most difficult job without appreciation. Needless to say, this high pressure job does not come with high pay or extensive benefits that other jobs have in the private sector or other government services. Working inside these pressure cookers called jails and prisons, they survive because of their training, their instincts and their ability to handle the situations as they come. Comparing their job to another profession that equals responsibilities or workplace territorial factors there are stressors equal to the maximum expected during each shift. Using analogies of other jobs a correctional officer often has to deal with the skills and first aid practices like a medical profession to deal with life and death as first responders. Hired to perform security functions, they often work more than 8 hours a day to handle the work load. Post Trauma Stress Disorder and frequent exposures to communicable diseases are common and bringing infections or bacteria home is not the exception to the rule. Many work more than 40 hours a week and on call to boot. Like a president of a company, their decision making skills can determine the success or failure of their organizational mission statement.

An internal critical incident or disaster can create an atmosphere of political blame and finger pointing that often rests on the shoulders of the lowest in the chain of command, the correctional officer. Having to maintain order in the structural guidelines of policies and procedures, they must endure long hours of pressure on their shoulders to ensure compliance with all levels of statutory regulations and institutional executive orders. Handling their jobs now entail the use and knowledge of modern technology. Although already multi-tasking because of staff shortages, the correctional officer must know how to properly operate a computer and its related software. They must ensure timely data entries to record events or caseloads that are part of an automated information system centralized to function as a mass server for all prisons connected by their intra-net or internet. Computer malfunctions can often impede their ability to get their job done on time and creates needs to stay over to ensure completion before going home. They must endure harsh and sometimes obscene telephone calls from people who call the prisons to ask questions about the prison and its rules and regulations as well as their visitation schedules. Thus their function becomes identical to computer and information system managers to ensure operability of their jobs and accountability of their tasks.

Ensuring a smooth shift and timely performance of security and other delivery oriented services e.g. food service, medical, mental health, education, maintenance and others, the correctional officer deals with the responsibility to ensure security and safety at all times for either themselves or others who perform alongside of them during the shift. Dealing with critical “what if’s” they must be alert and on their toes at all times they are hired to perform essential security functions that often includes decisions or decision making that involves either loss of property or the accountability of property. Their investment to ensure an orderly system is in place to deliver mail, clothing, property or legal papers is based on an investment to get the job done and done right. In some cases, their decisions can make the difference between profit and loss of an operation or task assigned.
Last but not least, the correctional officer is a public relations person who represents the agency hired by in many capacities. Having sworn an oath to uphold the laws and other statutory regulations, they must also be aware of ethical consequences and good or bad decision making. How they are perceived by the public is based on the level of performance perceived by the public. They are often in a situation where their report writing skills must be adequate to answer their supervisor’s tough questions about issues or problems reported and handled both internally and externally by other law enforcement agencies. They must handle a crisis with precision or face the consequences of failing to contain or isolate the situation allowing escalation or loss of control of the situation.

If they are wrong, they stand at risk to be sacrificed and thrown down as a scapegoat to control damage to the image of the agency or perceptions of liability or culpability in such crisis. Working overtime often and incurring repeated fatigue while working, they risk to lose a job that carries so much liability and so much responsibility they should be compensated fairly and with parity to those positions used in this comparison but in reality, they are not even close to one fourth or one third of the salaries paid to those whose duties are just a fraction of what was listed in this article to illustrate the job of a correctional officer.

Taking in consideration the salaries of the CEO or top executive, attorneys or paralegals, public information system managers or data entry, mid-level operations or project managers, finance or business managers, the compensation system escapes these hefty salaries paid and without reservations, we must acknowledge that those that work as correctional officers are indeed positions that have “added value” to their professional employment status.