Many people in prison aspire to be rehabilitated. Throughout that process, role models are an important part of their support system.

One potential source of role models can come from the corrections officers (COs) whom we encounter on a daily basis.

This may come as a shock. The divide between COs and those who are imprisoned can seem wide. But there are more similarities between us than one might think.

We experience the same emotions: love, regret, anger, joy, depression, anxiety and hope. We might be tired because we stayed up too late. We might be worried about our mother’s medical test results. Our kids may be angry at us because we spend too much time in prison — most days, neither COs nor incarcerated people want to be here.

Although correctional staff may not view themselves as role models, they have the potential to positively impact our lives. Many of us incarcerated people have spent more time around prison staff than our own families.

COs have what everybody in prison wants: a good-paying job and the freedom to go home to their family each day. On our road to rehabilitation, some of us try to imitate them — to some extent — in the hopes that one day, we will also have that kind of life.

As role models, COs can play a pivotal role in our path to rehabilitation. Their treatment can either frustrate and discourage us or uplift and encourage us. We appreciate receiving recognition and positive affirmation when we are on the right track.

It’s a huge morale boost, for example, when administration and staff show up to our graduations — in some cases, they have seen more of our graduations than our families have. It’s also beneficial for staff to see the impact of the rehabilitation programs that the corrections department provides.

Efforts from all members of our community are essential for its health and well-being. I’m privileged to know correctional staff who, despite this impersonal system, continue to encourage, mentor and inspire us to be better citizens.

Close window X

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Prison Journalism Project is happy to share our writers and reporters’ stories with your print and online audiences. You are free to republish them under a Creative Commons license unless otherwise noted on the page. You can use the URL or copy and paste the story into your CMS.

Here are our ground rules:

• You must credit Prison Journalism Project. In the byline, we prefer “[Author Name], Prison Journalism Project.” At the top of the text of your story, please include a line that says: “This story was originally published by Prison Journalism Project” and include a link to the article.
• No republishing of photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission. Please contact inquiries@prisonjournalismproject.org.
• No editing the content, including the headline, except to reflect changes in time, location and editorial style. For example, changing, “today” to “last week,” or San Quentin to San Quentin, California. You can also make minor revisions for style or headline size, and you can trim stories for space. You must also retain all original hyperlinks, including links to the Prison Journalism Project newsletters.
• No translation of our stories into another language without specific permission. Please contact inquiries@prisonjournalismproject.org.
• No selling ads against our stories, but you can publish it on a page with ads that you’ve already sold.
• No reselling or syndicating our stories, including on platforms or apps like Apple News or Google News. You also can’t republish our work automatically or all at once. Please select them individually.
• No scraping our website or using our stories to populate websites designed to improve search rankings or gain revenue from network-based advertisements.
• Any site our stories appear on must have a prominent and effective way to contact you.
• If we send you a request to remove our story, you must do so immediately.
• If you share republished stories on social media, please tag Prison Journalism Project. We have official accounts on Twitter (@prisonjourn), Facebook (@prisonjournalism), Instagram (@prisonjournalism) and Linked In.
• Let us know when you share the story. Send us a note, so we can keep track.

Corrections Officers Can Be Role Models Too

by Jessie Milo, Prison Journalism Project
August 4, 2022

<h1>Corrections Officers Can Be Role Models Too</h1> <p class="byline">by Jessie Milo, Prison Journalism Project <br />August 4, 2022</p> <p>Many people in prison aspire to be rehabilitated. Throughout that process, role models are an important part of their support system.</p> <p>One potential source of role models can come from the corrections officers (COs) whom we encounter on a daily basis.</p> <p>This may come as a shock. The divide between COs and those who are imprisoned can seem wide. But there are more similarities between us than one might think.</p> <p>We experience the same emotions: love, regret, anger, joy, depression, anxiety and hope. We might be tired because we stayed up too late. We might be worried about our mother’s medical test results. Our kids may be angry at us because we spend too much time in prison — most days, neither COs nor incarcerated people want to be here.</p> <p>Although correctional staff may not view themselves as role models, they have the potential to positively impact our lives. Many of us incarcerated people have spent more time around prison staff than our own families.</p> <p>COs have what everybody in prison wants: a good-paying job and the freedom to go home to their family each day. On our road to rehabilitation, some of us try to imitate them — to some extent — in the hopes that one day, we will also have that kind of life.</p> <p>As role models, COs can play a pivotal role in our path to rehabilitation. Their treatment can either frustrate and discourage us or uplift and encourage us. We appreciate receiving recognition and positive affirmation when we are on the right track.</p> <p>It’s a huge morale boost, for example, when administration and staff show up to our graduations — in some cases, they have seen more of our graduations than our families have. It’s also beneficial for staff to see the impact of the rehabilitation programs that the corrections department provides.</p> <p>Efforts from all members of our community are essential for its health and well-being. I’m privileged to know correctional staff who, despite this impersonal system, continue to encourage, mentor and inspire us to be better citizens.</p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2022/08/04/prison-corrections-officers-can-be-role-models/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://prisonjournalismproject.org">Prison Journalism Project</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/prisonjournalismproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/cropped-PJP-favicon-2.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://prisonjournalismproject.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=20376&ga=" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p>

1