Don't Do It!

I saw an advertisement in The Peace Arch News local newspaper about adult correctional facility officer opportunity and decided to apply. The wage sounds good and the job seems secure but decided to consult my former classmate W. M. who is a retired juvinal correctional facility officer. We were classmate for over 3 weeks. He’s a very nice gentleman in his early 60s. He wished me lucked in my way to the Navy. This is his wife’s answer to my question. She is a retired officer of the same position. Stresses and explanations by me:

Adult corrections have lost 75% of their employees – and there’s a reason. The inmates are abusive to you (physically and mentally), you have no one ‘backing’ you up for safety, you’re in the middle of a large room with up to 60 inmates walking around (you’re by yourself), you get spit on, feces thrown on you; you get crappy shifts and there’s no respect from your peers, your supervisors, your managers and certainly not the inmates. People who come in usually leave after a very short period of time.

There are some good things – the pay is good, the benefits are good. By far the negatives outweigh the positives. Also note that the money they get is only temporary as the wage increase was to entice more people to come on board. The money was offered temporarily – the Union expects the money will be taken away in 2010. You only get the ‘extra’ money when you work. Any benefits are paid at the normal rate, such as any annual leave, etc.

W. (don't mix it up with George W. Bush) worked in the business for 25 years and I worked in the business for 28 years. That’s a long time and one might ask why someone would stay in the business if they hated it so much. Everyone in the business agrees that it’s only been since 2004 that it all went to ‘crap’. That’s when Premier Campbell closed half the correctional centres and shoved all the inmates into cells with other inmates, and then cut back all the budgets for staffing by 30%.

So ...

DON'T DO IT!