Doug Abrams, one of the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC)’s longest-serving employees, acknowledges that the April 1971 riot at Kingston Penitentiary led to his being employed at that facility right out of college.

“I had my application in, but at that time jobs were filled internally,” recalls Abrams. “I just kept hounding them and hounding them. Following the 1971 riot they needed people and I was hired.”

Abrams began working in the security office at Kingston Penitentiary on May 3, 1971, where he organized shift rosters for correctional officers and made $4,900 a year. He has since worked at Joyceville, Bath, Millhaven and Frontenac institutions.

Much has changed at CSC since Abrams, now Chief Institutional Services at Frontenac Institution, started working at Kingston Penitentiary.

He has witnessed four different versions of correctional officers’ uniforms since he began. Inmates had a four-digit number, rather than the Finger Print System (FPS) number they have today. Also, technology in correctional institutions has changed.

“There weren’t any computers in the institutions when I started. For staff and inmates, everything was done on typewriters.”

Abrams has also witnessed one of the biggest changes at CSC since the mid-1980s, namely, the number of women working in correctional institutions.

“When I started in 1971 at Kingston Penitentiary there were only two women working there and they worked outside the institution,” he says.

He says the benefits, the job security and not having to work shift work has kept him working at CSC for almost 39 years. But one of the biggest reasons he says is the people he works with every day.

“I really enjoy the people here. I’ve met some great people over the years.”

Abrams returned to Joyceville Institution where he worked from 1974 to 1978, to celebrate the facility’s 50^th anniversary in September, and caught up with some of the people he worked with during his career.

“It was great to see some of the old faces and co-workers from days gone by. The weather was great and I’m glad I went. CSC is like a big family.”