I have often talked about inmate abuses and neglect but very
little about how corrections staff have been abused and neglected. Thanks to a
gently reminder by a good friend, this article is about addressing workplace
cultures that foster discrimination, unfair labor practices, humiliation and embarrassment
as a management tool and others items not talked about much but very much a
daily impact of the officer’s world.
The first thing the reader
needs to do is realize that a correctional officer is disconnected from the
real world while inside those high walls and solid iron gates. They are
isolated from the public, their families and sometimes even their coworkers depending
on what assignment of shift they draw for their job assignment on the
roster.
Corrections is fundamentally a
boring job that creates many opportunities for self-doubt, self-criticism and
self-destruction. This is hampered by working with poorly trained or educated
officers and supervisors as the job becomes more complex than it was really
designed by correctional standards. If one is well or better than average
educated they stand a chance of being ridiculed or laughed at when they perform
their jobs.
Loneliness on the job can lead
to complacency. Supervisors, many ill prepared and poorly chosen or promoted
are often not backed up by the administration perform ad hoc duties and find
shortcuts to get the job done within the unreasonable time to do it. Their schedules
are just as complicated as the officers.
They must supervise but they
know that if the job falls short, they will be disciplined along with the
officer for not doing their jobs. There is zero tolerance to mistakes that are
often taken as misconduct and then reviewed by an internal affairs officer to
determine charges and sanctions to be imposed. The due process is non-existent
as you are found guilty on the most circumstantial proof and even the word of
an inmate. To say the workplace is intimidating is an understatement.
This loneliness can be suddenly
interrupted by total mayhem or eviler, terror. The fact is that hostage taking,
violence and injuries occurred on the job is more common place that one might
want to admit to. Damage control on these issues have been perfected by the
administration and the news rarely gets out there for others to hear.
This is mainly due to
classification mistakes, poor management practices or in some cases
opportunities provided by shortage of staff and resources to properly supervise
the huge number of inmates under their supervision. It is not uncommon for one
officer to supervise more than two hundred inmates and their hands are tied and
can’t often respond to an emergency due to lack of resources to back them up
during critical times. It often leaves an officer helpless as another officer
is being assaulted down the corridor and you can’t respond because of your
political boundaries.
Many officers don’t get breaks
and eat on the run. They will have to hustle without hesitation to do those
tasks assigned what would normally take more officers to get done. Multitasking
takes its toll as one can multitask with taking shortcuts but when taking
shortcuts you are either put at risk or on report. It is a catch 22 and the
officer always loses this situation. Officers suffer from shift disorientation
and sleep deprivation.
They keep odd hours and work
most of the time their eight hours plus the overtime to make up for staff
shortages. Good supervisors find themselves in this same catch 22 as they try
to help their team members but often have to relinquish their paperwork to do
so.
The workplace, filled with anxiety,
tension, stress and fatigue is a perfect formula for burnout. An officer has to
be aware he or she does not fall victim to such a phenomena as it can be deadly
in nature or at the very least, a most precarious situation to be in among
felons.
Every officer has a protocol to
follow called post orders or policies and procedures. Post orders are guidelines
and provide a summary of the job duties and responsibilities. Many policies and
post orders are outdated and lack clarification for the new guidelines thus the
officer must adapt and overcome shortcomings with their own innovate thinking
or help from others. This is frowned up and will end up being disciplined for
although the flaw was the lack of written guidelines [and administrative
support] in post orders maintained by the unit administrator or so it is supposed
to be done.
Many officers experience
burnout once or twice during their span of time or career. Counting their years
of service is a bad habit as it makes time slow and crawling in the sense of
awareness and change. Becoming old [tenured] and cold with the job, the entire experience
has been altered since the beginning when they took this job and swearing to
uphold their oaths taken to serve and protect. It really becomes harder each
time they dress in their uniforms and report for duty.
Daily challenges consist of
mind games between inmates, managers and coworkers. Then the main nemesis, the administration,
has its own mind games that toys with shift assignments, rotation of posts,
personnel rule changes and other psychologically detrimental issues that drives
down morale and performance all this plays into the fatigue factor as not all
fatigue is physical but rather, much of it is mental and draining their energy
quickly.
Correctional officers are
criticized in four directions in the workplace and at home. They are often criticized
by the administration, their supervisors and their coworkers but often the criticism
comes from family or friends as well. They try to understand the complexity of
the job but often miss their target as they do not know the job as well as the
officer does but that doesn’t stop them from criticizing them at home. Of course
there is always the media and the public that harp daily about the corruptive
behaviors behind the tall walls and silver razor wires. They know it all
without taking one step in the officer’s footsteps [for more than thirty
minutes on a tour] and project their “know it all” attitude berating the
officers that work inside prisons.
Officers work on adrenalin and
this influences their minds and body in ways that is hard to explain unless you’ve
been there. Fatigue sets in when you experience an adrenaline hangover and it affects
the family, the workplace and the ones you work with. People change and it’s
hardly noticed until it’s too late and a mishap has occurred causing you more
trouble and stress in your life.
Officers, just like veterans
coming home from the war or other critical incidents experience real trauma and
are often exposed and under the influence of PTSD. Dealing with death,
violence, blood and guts spilled as inmates and staff are shanked [stabbed or
cut] by felons there is little job satisfaction to brag about as a correctional
officer. However, most officers suck it up and do the job. It goes unnoticed
that these brave individuals have the intestinal fortitude to keep moving and
deal with this adversity.
Job discrimination is the
primary enemy inside prisons for prison employees. Discrimination in gender,
race, cultural connections or color of skin are common denominators and handled
according to their own internal customs and practices. Discrimination also
include sexual harassment, unwanted attention and forced or coercive attitudes
among coworkers that breed contempt for the rule of law and esprit de corps.
Grievances are a joke as the
administration turns a blind eye to any discriminatory complaint and turns the
tables around on the person making the allegation identifying them as a poor
worker, slacker or just chronic complainer minimizing their basis for the
complaint filed. Persistence in a grievance normally results in retaliation and
more grief for the officer(s) involved. Peer pressure, ostracized conduct and
name-calling are some symptoms endorsed by some supervisors and the pressure is
enough to quit or ask for a transfer to another prison complex.
Prison work changes people that
work there. It impacts good parenting, the way they act [socialize]and the decisions
they make at home and work. Alcohol, drugs and violence are common and often get
out of hand causing an arrest or a visit by a police officer at home or at
work. The triggers are plenty and the madness never stops. Their credibility is
often challenged and many are discredited or called liars. They want help but
get nothing as promised even though there are employee assistance programs that
serve the purpose of advertisement and fake support.
Correctional officers are
sometimes in denial of their own problems. They live with emotional
disabilities but deny they have them. They can’t be strong if they admit flaws
in character or strengths. Seeking help is out of the question for it is
considered a weakness. The only alternative is love and understanding by their peers
and most of all, their families. They suffer in the darkness and write their
words of frustration and anger on the unwritten wall of silence.
Officers perform this
masochistic ritual of denial because that is what they are taught on the job. Disconnecting
emotions and becoming cold is a pre-requisite for becoming an officer so it is
said. Don’t get close to people especially inmates and don’t show your
feelings. Unfortunately officers have difficulties drawing that line and often self-inflict
pain and sorrow into their own lives. Sometimes with taking their own life when
the situation gets hopeless.
The administration demands
perfection. the public’s outcry makes you want to be better at what you do but
the media disappoints you daily as you read the negativity that surrounds your
world twenty four hours a day seven days a week. The irony here is that those
that demand perfection are far from being perfect themselves. In fact, many are
poor role models and examples to follow because of their political correctness
and willingness to sacrifice staff for their own success and needs. Positivity is
the hardest thing to keep and maintain. The longer you work in the penitentiary
the harder it is to find positive things and leads to depression, aggression
and low self-esteem. These are critical qualities of being able to do the job
thus it is a fatal flaw that has to be address. No longer affecting the job, it
tears the family apart as well.
The public forgets about the
signs of stress and anxiety that is so prevalent inside prisons. They don’t understand
why the officer is gaining weight or losing it, accident prone or forgetful and
angry and sad. These emotions are signs of stress and burnout and happen every
day without recourse for the officer to keep coming to work to get that
paycheck. Sick leave is frowned upon and makes you a target for punishment. All
the while you, the correctional officers, are dealing with poor eating habits,
drugs, abuse by many, crying and paranoia as fear become a normal part of your
life.
