Redefining Gender: This is what a Correctional Officer looks like!

A subject on my mind this week is the fact that I am leaving correctional service behind and moving in to The Ministry of Social Services when I become a social worker on the 21st of April, 2017. This move has been 3 years in the making since I began upgrading from my bachelors of Arts in Sociology. In truth the move has been on my mind since I began my career in corrections almost 6 years ago. The reason for this is I have never been treated like I belong. As a female if I work on my core correctional practices which mean I role model to, spend productive time with, and complete programs along with my clients I am called a series of derogatory labels. “Inmate lover”, “She’s fucking him”, “Not good staff”, “This is why women should not work at a correctional centre”, “They will just come back, why even bother?” From the moment I walked through the sally port in May of 2011 I could feel it. The very first shift in the centre I was in a medium security unit working with a pair of men who had worked in the centre for over 30 years. Within 15 minutes of working one of them said to me, “You gotta wonder about the mental capacity of a woman who wants to work in a place like this.” The Saskatoon Correctional Centre work environment made me feel like I was not a corrections worker and no matter the hard work I do, the training I undertake, or the years of experience I will never be a corrections officer.

      When the average person thinks of a corrections officer they think of a large, assertive male capable of taking physical control of another person and respond to aggressive offenders with equal aggression in order to teach them the lesson they came to jail to learn. I am a 5 foot five adorable young women who uses her mouth, charisma, and a mutual respect to achieve the same outcome.  Teaching moments and open conversation with offender lends itself well to my style. I commit to the duty of my profession by using the most recent research on correctional service which confirms that program do work when tailored appropriately the offender and their needs. Restrictive programming (confining and beating of offenders) actually increases the likelihood that an offender will reoffend and return to the correctional centre.  In none of the research does it say that corporal punishment, restrictive control or domination helps to protect our communities by rehabilitating offenders.

      The Canadian Correctional Service conducts and published research about various topics of importance to the profession. In 1993 researcher at the University of British Columbia, M.I. Cadwaladr published the paper, Breaking into Jail: Women Working in a Men's Jail to document the challenges women face working in corrections. Among the challenges are being sexualized by staff, inmates, and supervisors, and being the subject of rumours about their sexual orientation, sexual partners, or promiscuity. (Cadwaladr 1993) This type of fascination with female officer’s sexuality undermines their professionalism and ability to complete their job. In my first year I was linked sexually with several staff, rumoured to be a lesbian because of my short hair and/ or pregnant. My perception of this is because I am an assertive, intelligent, and competent person and it appeared to me that my efforts were undermined at every opportunity. It was this general feeling of unease which caused me to make deliberate steps to move into another ministry which is public and has a greater reputation for professionalism.

      Women are seen as not being able to perform their duties as well as men because we are physically not as big or strong as men.

“Physical prowess and a willingness to enter into physical confrontations are also a way of generating esteem and peer acceptance. When women are kept out of crisis situations, they are denied a crucial means of gaining peer acceptance - female correctional officers reported that in emergency situations some men adopt a protective, chivalrous attitude toward them. The women resented this treatment, feeling that they are seen as a liability and that the male officers place themselves in danger by not concentrating fully on the situation at hand.”(Cadwaladr 1993)The gender bias is ingrained in the culture of the profession. I was constantly denied access to areas in which I could prove my tactics and skills as an officer by supervisors whom had less than one hours contact with me because of hearsay and reports from other male officers who had never worked with me because I was never allowed to work with them. Despite my background in self-defense and tactical communication I was denied time after time the ability to prove my ability to perform the duties for which I was trained.

      I get that anyone reading this could say that I am not strong enough to be a corrections worker, that I am too sensitive, or that I am just not the right material to work in a jail. To that I say: I am a proud women; I am assertive, powerful, compassionate, and intelligent. I will not work in a place which does not respect or utilize my experince and training. Being a women is not an acceptable basis to judge my ability to perform my job professionally and there are skills which women possess which prove successful in a crisis situation and high stress environment. Our ability to empathize, negotiate, and verbalize with offenders are very successful skills in deescalating situations as well as teach offenders during day to day interactions.

M.I. Cadwaladr (1993) "Breaking into Jail: Women Working in a Men's Jail," M.A. thesis, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The University of British Columbia, 1993. Retrieved on April 5, 2018. http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/forum/e061/e061l-eng.shtml