Topic: The Club House / Women working in Corrections

I am a woman and I take great offense to the fact that there are men out there that still think that women do not belong in an all male prison. I have three degrees in Criminal Justice and a minor degree in Corrections. I have been debating about going to work at a local prison. I have a male friend that has been a CO there for about 8 years. He hit the roof when I made the comment that I was thinking about going to work out there. His major concern was more for my safety. I am a small woman and he voiced concerns about being man handled. (There are not enough people working as CO’s in this prison, in turn the CO’s that are there often end up working double shifts several times a month). I may be a small woman, but that does not mean I cannot handle myself as a CO. I was raised with two older brothers and two younger brothers and believe me, I learned how to fight and protect myself many years ago.( I not down playing the dangers that are faced by CO’s) I have great respect for them. But I do have the ability to hold my own when needed. In the past ten years I have been in two very dangerous situation’s that both involved very unstable and violent people. One was a woman with a load 38 handgun. She had the full intentions of killing her children and then herself. I not only did not freak out but I was able to talk her into giving me the gun and then letting the local area police take her into custody. The second was a armed robber at a store I worked at. I was the only person out front when this man came in and started asking me about the security system in the store. A red flag went up and I was able to out smart this guy by telling him that right at that very moment he was on six different camera’s and every move he was making was being recorded. Plus I informed him that I had a hot button on the floor and if there ever was a problem all I had to do was step on it and the doors would lock and the police would be there in minutes.I totally bluffed my way through this one. He left the store sweating like a pig. I made a report to the police and at first they did not think it was anything to be concerned about, they thought he was just a weirdo, that was until he went to another store and robbed them at gun point. He not only took the money, he pistoled whipped the clerk and almost killed her. I think back to this one often. He could have killed me. I think that women can deal with inmates if they keep a cool head and be smart. You never place trust in an inmate and never become friends. You need to show them who is in charge. Keep your personal life out of the prison and stay professional. Don’t ever let them see that you are scared. They feed off this and will use it against you.