This interview was conducted with the help of my father, Clarence. He is a corrections officer and was before I was born. This interview is to show you what some Official Correctors offer every day and how they deal with it.
Rosa: You enjoy your line work or there are days when you want to have another. job?
Clarence: I enjoy them the most but I can drive you crazy but what job don’t you like? I love my job and I love what I do. I guess you could say this is my second home, sometimes my first.
Rosa: How long have you been in the correctional field?
Clarence: I did this for about thirty years. I started when I was young, I believe, and I did and always after. I worked a lot in the correction of different facilities. Wherever I move, I can almost guarantee I’ll find a place to work in a repair facility.
Rosa: Is this because there is a shortage of correctional officers?
Clarence: Well, yes and no. I say, the lack of correction Office but the experience helps me to do my job. As you know, I recently moved to Arizona to work in one of their correctional facilities. I went there because of the wage and penalty differences from those in Oklahoma. I actually move the data transfer there and it works.
Rose: What is it like to work there and how difficult is it to become a Correctional Officer?
Clarence: It’s not really difficult. We need background-checks and drug protection. Most of them also ask you to have a license, you can do this by completing the course. A few others are required and we will also send some of them to the academy for extra training. The job is not really hard. Sometimes we’ll have a few stayers who will get out of hand, but for the most part, they’re just there for their time.
Rosa: We hear about inmates being killed all the time, is this true?
Clarence: Inmates are killed by other inmates but it doesn’t happen as often as a lot of people think. Most of the violence in prisons is usually caused by criminals or violence who want to show everyone who’s boss so they come together. When you have a facility designed for criminals, you will probably get some power from time to time.
Rosa : What kind of job description do you have?
Clarence: My job is to guard the prisoners and make sure everyone does what they think. I walk the halls of the prison cells and they check the order every time they enter or before they go to bed. My job is as easy as being a customer of criminals. We have something to do with the Correctional Officers, as we are the ones who put them there. If only they knew that, if they did what they were told, it would be easier for us all. I don’t like that they feel like I’m taking them and I hope they just do their time and rehabilitate themselves.
Rosa: Thank you for your time and I hope you can talk again sometime. This was a real honor and will give everyone a little insight into what goes on in a prison facility and what correctional officers go through.
