Co. work

[rammx32]

For you guys working in the corrections field, how have you found it? I am in the phases for NJ State DOC.
I ran into a guy who just left the State Co's for a local and he said it really wasn't that bad. He said it is nowhere near like the show OZ.

Just looking to see what some others have to offer. I just finished my BA and I am working parttime on my Masters and I think any experience with law enforcement should help me get my ultimate goals down the road.

Do you guys get the same professional courtesy say a police officer gets in the mere instance of a traffic stop?
Thanks!

[Mark 3]

I 've been a State CO for nearly 8 years and for the bulk of it I have always looked for other jobs if that is any indication of how I like it. Something has always stopped me from excepting another job such as , taking a paycut, my wife being pregnant or just being to lazy to move at the last minute.

I've worked at two different level prisons and the work is usually boring which is a good thing because COs like inmates thrive on structure. One small thing out of whack and it can snowball quick. All seasoned COs want routine, but the bad part about that is that things get boring and your brain is not stimulated. It is kind of a catch 22. Whether you are assigned to a dorm or a block, after a while it becomes boring and you become complacent. You start to think about more high speed stuff you could be doing like being a police officer or a fed, then something happens so fast and it becomes so intense that you want things to be boring again quick. I've been through some wild disturbances and even have seen coworkers assaulted and I have been assaulted as well (one of my friends was stabbed about four years ago). After a day or two of high stress, you come to thank the boredom that follows when things level off.

Being a CO and enjoying yourself and job also depends where you work. I worked for six years at one prison (maximum security) and everyone hated it and hated to come to work. If I was assaulted by an inmate, I was asked by the administration what did I do to provoke him. They never take into consideration he was highly assaultive or that he was arrested for multiple murders. It was what did you, the CO, do to provoke that poor, 225lb muscle bound inmate who punches someone in the head nearly weekly. We had an inmate throw his own feces on an officer and the inmate beat the assault charges because the administration lost the evidence! That is one in a thousand tales I could tell you about we as officers not being able to do our jobs effectively. Morale was in the toilet. Sick time was abused like you wouldn't believe and no one cared about their fellow officer after a while. People would call out sick on Christmas Day making someone else work forced overtime (forced overtime or "draft" is when no one wants to work overtime and they force someone to work the overtime. They start with the lowest man on the totempole.)

I transfered to another prison and it was night and day. Our brass (at least on our shift) backs us and everyone works as a team and gets along. The stress is 80% less then it was at the other prison. The morale is pretty good and people rarely call out sick.

But the bottom line do COs really like their jobs? Very very few who work the line enjoy their jobs. I have found in my experience the officers who work away from the inmates in any number of posts from phone monitoring and property seem to be more positive about their jobs and think in terms of career. When you are stuck in a block or dorm for any real length of time it gets tedious. It is basically professional babysitting and inmates can be very annoying even just watching them interact and play cards.

The upside is good benefits which is why I never consider quitting even on my worst days. If I lived in NJ, I would try for county sheriffs or any number of LE jobs that Connecticut lacks.

Do we get respect from law enforcement? Yes, usually. Especially state police who have a better idea what goes on in the state prisons then the local police. I have been pulled over three times in 8 years for speeding and never got a ticket, BUT I have friends who have so I guess it depends on the officer. The more seasoned officers are more likely to respect you then the brand spankin' new ones.

PM me if you have any real techinical questions. I could write a hundred page essay on corrections.

[bigz]

Very informative post Mark! I can talk a little bit about corrections on the local level. I worked in a major cities detention facility for two years when I first broke into law enforcement. I found that most people really weren't happy with the job either. The younger guys for the most part were looking to break into police work or get on with the feds in some capacity and just viewed the job as a start. The older guys who had not been promoted were usually bitter and unhappy with their jobs. I was completely burned out on the job after just two years. Some of the guys I worked with had been at it for thirty years. A small percentage of people in corrections like the work and make a career out of it. They take their jobs very seriously and are very good at it. It is similiar to police work in that 90 percent of what you deal with is "routine", but once in awhile all hell will break loose and you definitely get an adrenaline rush.

As for the relationship of CO's with law enforcement it depends. For the most part the department where I worked had a good relationship with the police department. They knew who ran the courts and the jails and we knew who was in charge of enforcing the law. We tried to get some things such as POST certification that would have put us in competition with the PD in terms of off duty employment opportunities which they weren't very receptive to. Most cops that haven't been there really have no idea what a CO deals with on a daily basis and I've heard them call people in corrections spoon counters, babysitters etc. If your getting into the job to be liked it's probably not a good choice.

I have to be honest and say I hated every second of being in the jail. I am ten times more happy being a police officer than I was as a deputy sheriff working in the jail. With that being said I think my short time in the jail prepared me for law enforcement. I understand how the jail works, so I have a good relationship with the jailers where I currently work. I also know alot about dealing with people that I wouldn't have known if I had gone directly into a patrol job. Good luck!

Z

[Mark 3]

Yup Bigz is right about most new COs wanting to get into the Police, Fed System or Fire Department. It is kind of an official stepping stone and most people's first taste of working for the federal, state, city or county. It has decent enough pay and good benefits and pretty good training so many people get involved in it until the job they really want opens up. Corrections hires alot faster and more then local law and federal law enforcement because of the turn over rate. So instead of sitting around waiting a year or two to get into some PD or even the DEA, people become Corrections Officers during the waiting period. In some states there almost as long waiting period to be COs as cops, but in other states, you pretty much show up and fill out an application and very very shortly you will be hired (ie: Arizona, Lousiana just to name a few).

I had a guy in my academy class (8 years ago) that was in the process for the Maryland State Police and for Dallas PD. He called out sick twice in the academy (which is a no no) because he had to do something for Maryland PD. At the time, we were telling him to focus more on the job at hand because our instructors were thinking about terminating him for his use of sick time in the academy, but a month later he quit and entered the Maryland State PD so he definitely knew what he was doing. The bottomline is that he joined the department of corrections as a just in case scenario. Had things not worked out with Maryland then he had a job. I bring up this example because I have known many people who have thought along those lines. Being a CO was just a short term job until they got into a PD.

For the first 1 to 3 years as a CO, because it is most people's first taste of the world of law enforcement, they want more. They apply to everything under the sun (as there area permits). Many go and some stay. After the three year mark, the desire for another job begins to taper off because you have started to accomulate time, seniority and you have invested some time into your retirement system. You start to think, "why bother starting over and getting a new job?" That line of thinking can get you in trouble if you do not like what you do. Life is to short to do something you do not like. Hence there are a lot of disgruntled COs in the system. The longer you stay in corrections, in my opinion, the more structured and adverse to change you become. I think it is the job itself and to a degree taking on some attributes of the very inmates you are around all day. Corrections is a very negative environment and sometimes it effects you. I have noticed the change in me over the years from a mellow, patient individual who could listen to someone talk for hours to a poster boy for attention deficit disorder (exaggerating but you get the point). I have a hard time listening to other people including my wife because all day you listen to inmates whine and you have to decipher what is a lie and what is not constantly as games are played every second.

BUT one good thing is corrections, as Bigz mentioned, is an awesome experience training ground in dealing with felons. By communicating with them constantly and developing a rapport, you will be as prepared to deal with society's worse even better then a cop on the beat. I know guys who went from corrections to a PD and they sing constantly how much better they are at dealing with people then the average person who just becomes a police officer.

Plus it is job security.

[rammx32]

Thanks for all the advice. I just got my BA and I have nothing set in stone yet, so I was thinking if the State Co. job comes along I will take it.
Like you said it is a great start while I work on my Master's in C.J. and apply all over the place for a police officer position or federal agent position.

In NJ DOC they start in the high 30's and there is alot of OT. While you are in the academy, they say they only pay you 300.00 a week but for a guy who only worked parttime through taking a full load of semesters, it is like a major raise to me!

[Shadowknows]

I retired about a year ago now, after 27 years of State Prison work. I was very active on all the teams, even the K-9 program. I think the hardest part was the other staff, we had a real bad drug problem and it seemed most of the staff was involved. We lost several Capt. and a few Majors for dealing with inmates. One Major went for having sex with an inmate. We had a hit squad of supervisors all drug related. It got worst in the last couple of years that was one of the reasons I got out, better offer in hospital security. You probably wounder why the State Police were not called in, well the all the people they needed to deal with for information were into the drugs. As a result there was very little they could do. I would not recommend Ohio at all.