Blog 16

The path to being a correctional officer is very different for men and women. The common thread, though, is that no one decided to go into that field. Everyone in the survey happened upon it by accident or just gave it a try, only to be surprised that they liked it. In addition to that, job benefits were attractive to all who chose to work as officers. Government benefits and vacation, along with a competetive salary were all draws to start working as correctional officers (CO) and also part of what has kept them there. Men were typically in a related field, like the military, or had knowledge of someone in the job or one very similar. For men to transfer in from the military is not much of a stretch. Many of the ideals are similar, and it's very structured. Also, both the military and the prison system are very gendered fields. Most of the members of the military are men and it's geared toward making men the best they can be. It also is appealing to minority men, as the median income for a correctional officer is higher than the racial median income as a high school graduate. This is not so for white male high school graduates, though, as their median income is $4,000 higher. Women usually take a different path. Many women actually came from clerical work. They feel they more or less drifted into this line of work. One in particular started in the prison with a clerical job and transitioned into guard work. Other women cam from divorce or retail. For all it was a change, but not as harsh as they thought it would be. Only two women came from the military or something similar. It is unclear to me what clerical or retail work would have in common with correctional work, but there is enough of a connection to have attracted 37% of each group for women from the study.