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Keeping the Institution Safe and Secure

BY G. Chartier, Communications Officer, Communications and Citizen Engagement

Correctional Supervisor Brenda Blackman arrives at Drumheller Institution where she will be supervising the midnight shift. “Normally it is very quiet at night,” says Blackman, “but we do have 450 inmates and there’s not always peace and tranquility.”

Recently, she made the switch from days. She says she doesn’t mind the changing routine and the demands it places upon her.

“You get used to it, but it’s difficult scheduling,” she says. “As far as planning on exercise time, it makes it a little more difficult. You have to manage your time a little better.”

The rest of the staff on the midnight shift — 13 correctional officers — arrive about 20 minutes later, leaving enough time to be briefed by the supervisor from the previous shift.

Hourly Checks

Throughout the night, correctional officers patrol and check on the inmates in their cells, making sure everybody is safe and sound.

“Sometimes there are suicide risks. If an inmate is on a suicide watch, if a specific inmate has a history, or if there’s information that he’s depressed, we’ll check him every 15 minutes,” Ms. Blackman says. “If an inmate is a high risk to commit harm to himself or others, he’ll be put in segregation or under observation by a health-care professional, in a cell with a camera,” she adds.

Regular checks and vigilance are a constant, even when inmates are going to sleep. Blackman and all the other officers are aware of and are trained for potential difficulties.

Starting in Corrections

Ms. Blackman came to corrections after moving to Drumheller, Alberta, about 15 years ago.

“My kids were little and in a play group and I started talking to a couple of women who had worked up there [at the institution]. I always had an interest in policing but I had never considered corrections. When I started talking to them, I found it would be something I’d be really interested in as opposed to policing, which would take me away from home quite a bit.”

Once she started her job at CSC, she found that the more she worked, the more she enjoyed the entire correctional process.

Getting a Different View

“I started out as a correctional officer (CO) and remained at that rank for about a year. Once I had a basic understanding of what was going on, I was asked to act as a CO II.

“I was permanent in that position in the unit for a few years. Then I went into Visits and Correspondence (V&C); I spent a year and a half there,” she recalls.

“I worked with wonderful correctional officers. And it was nice to get a different view of how things were run and a different view of the inmates. You only see the best of the inmates when they’re with their visitors. You get to see their relationships.”

She also found the security experience challenging, “because you’re always watching to see who may be trying to bring in drugs.”

Gaining Insights

After her stint at V&C, Blackman returned to the units as a CO II and was again handed the responsibility of an inmate caseload.

“You have input into all the activities that an inmate is doing. You write reports and you talk to each offender on your caseload in formal meetings,” she says. “But you also have that informal interaction with them every day — when they get up and go to work, when they have meals. They’re always talking to you and to the other staff. I think you get the full picture of what the inmate is actually like and where he’s headed. You can tell the ones who are motivated and the ones that have no interest in doing anything to better themselves.”

She found that parole officers and correctional officers sometimes form different opinions of particular inmates.

“An inmate could be angry and belligerent and not showing well in the units. Then they go see the parole officer and they’re very polite; they give a different impression,” she says. She quickly discovered that communication between the parole officer and correctional officer helps to gain insight into the true personality of the offender.

Working as a Correctional Supervisor

As a correctional supervisor, Blackman finds that the hierarchical structure leaves her a couple of layers removed from her former close contact with inmates.

“You don’t have the same interaction with the inmate but you do get the same information because the staff forwards it to you. You have to really trust your staff,” she says.

Her duties also include knowing where and what the officers on her shift are doing at all times.

“If anything happens, you get them to where they need to be,” she says. “We are the interim crisis managers. We deal with everything including illness, fires, assaults and suicide. We need to act and do it quick because lives are in danger. We’ll contact anybody that needs to know — the police, the warden, the institutional emergency response team.

“You do inform the warden of the circumstances and action taken and he has to be able to trust that you’ve made the right decision.”

Love for the Job

The two things Ms. Blackman loves about her work are the constant challenge of never knowing what the new day will bring and the high calibre of the people with whom she works.

“Without them, it would be just another job” she says. “A correctional institution is its own society. You deal with unpredictable people and
situations constantly in a closed environment. This makes every day unique. In order to know what’s happening in our ‘society,’ we have to communicate well and trust each other. The staff is great to work with. That makes what we all do a lot easier.” ♦