My first day as a Correctional Officer
By: Jason C.
Tags: Jail, Corrections, Prison, First Day, Correctional Officers

The scariest thing I have ever did was become a correctional officer at the age of 42. I went from a boring cubicle job pushing papers, answering calls and responding to emails to dealing with America’s most dangerous people. Why? I want to say it was for my family and mainly my daughter, but I feel like deep down I wanted to see if I had it in me. I wanted to see if I had the balls to do it. And, man, it was a huge reality check the first time I ever went into a pod with inmates and they slam that door and its just you and 120 inmates in one pod. Very fucking intimidating.

Photo by Emiliano Bar on Unsplash

I am a big guy. 6'4'’ 250 lbs. I was scared shitless my first day on the job after training. I really did not know if I could do it. I kept doubting myself and thinking of worst case scenarios. I was freaking out on the inside, but very calm looking on the outside, or at least I thought so.

Going back, I still have my family as my motivation. I am proud of myself for making such a big change in my life and conquering a huge fear in order to bring a better life and higher income to my family. I know a C.O. does not make much on the average around the country, but because of the cost of living where I am, I make so much more than you would expect and almost double what I was making at my desk job. So yeah the money is another driving force.

I remember my first time having to wake up everyone for breakfast. I was shaking. I had to yell out ‘chow’ as loud as I can to wake up all the inmates for breakfast. Most woke up and went to the dining hall. I had one inmate wake up after everyone left and asked if I yelled out chow. I told him yes and said he didn’t hear shit. He got pissed at me and started yelling that he missed breakfast because of me not yelling it loud enough. I apologized and told him I will yell it louder next time. He calmed down, but still was angry about it.

I have broken up one fight since I have been here. I work the graveyard shift as most new CO’s start off at. So I don’t see much action until the morning when they wake up for breakfast. I have not sprayed anyone yet with the pepper spray or OC spray. Knock on wood. When we got sprayed in training that was another thing I accomplished that I thought I would not be able to do. I was shaking when we were about to get sprayed, but then they did it and it wasn’t that bad. Some people started choking right away, but I was fine at first. Then it hit me and I started to choke a little, but nothing too crazy.

Now I have been here awhile and I am starting to get to know some of the inmates and most of them are pretty normal guys, that just wanna do their time in peace and not be bothered. Some are cool, but some are not and you can tell the difference right away. The BIGGEST thing I have learned in my short time here, is that RESPECT is THE most important thing to them. They don’t have much, but they have their respect, so if you try to take that away from them, then you are gonna have problems. I treat all of them with the respect that I expect from them. I have learned that they are pretty much cool with you as long as you speak with them respectfully and do not try to bark orders. Just ask them nicely and respectfully to do something and they will. If you are a dick to them, then you are going to have a bad time.

This is my small perspective on this career. It is not for everyone. We had about 5 people that quit the first day that door slammed behind them and they were stuck with 120 inmates and just them. It is something you really have to experience to see if it is for you. I would like to share more stories. Please feel free to write or comment if you would like more stories from my day to day interactions. Thank you.