Corrections Officers: Addiction, Stressors, and Problems Faced
The United States has the unenviable reputation for being the “incarceration nation,” the country that holds 25% of the prisoners in the world but only 5% of the general population of the world. While the causes of what led to this situation are hotly debated, the corrections officers who watch over these prisoners face traumatizing, life-or-death challenges that often go unnoticed and ignored, which can result in substance misuse and suicide.
What Do Corrections Officers Do?
Understanding the scope of the situation means understanding what corrections officers are required to do as part of their job. In local jails, state prisons, and federal penitentiaries, correctional officers represent authority while looking after prisoners. This entails breaking up fights, ensuring that inmates follow the rules, and working with cooperating inmates in rehabilitation and “good behavior” programs. In the United States, there are about 500,000 individuals serving as correctional officers.
For a corrections officer (also known as COs), everything they do is dictated by safety—their own safety, the safety of their colleagues, and the safety of the inmates. To this effect, officers are required to complete training programs that cover the proper use of firearms; hand-to-hand combat; and the use of non-lethal weapons, like tasers, pepper spray, and batons. COs also have to maintain optimal physical condition.
Additionally, COs have to be able to foster working relationships with inmates—for the safety of the guards and inmates—and help inmates who are in trouble. Recognizing the red flags of an emotional or mental problem can be the key to defusing a situation before it gets violent.
As much as guards are responsible for keeping prisons safe, they are also tasked with keeping the prisoners safe. Jails and prisons are harsh, unforgiving environments, which often contribute to feelings of depression and anger. Correctional officers are trained to notify mental health counselors, or even intervene themselves, if they feel that an inmate’s mental health is deteriorating.
Part of this line of work may entail separating prison populations to ensure that high-risk inmates are protected from those who may seek to assault, persecute, or even kill such prisoners. This could entail preventing certain members of the prison population (e.g., rival gang members) from using common areas at the same time.
Building Working Relationships
Today, correctional officers are expected to play a more hands-on role with the inmates in their charge. As much as the job entails keeping an eye on prisoners, COs are trained and empowered to offer on-the-spot (and limited) mental health treatment, to be involved in job skills development programs, religious rituals, and substance use interventions. Since inmates, who participate in these programs have a greater chance of living productive and peaceful lives upon their release, more and more correctional departments across the country are investing time and training for their officers to know how to respond in appropriate situations.
The key is to build working relationships with the inmates who are the most eager to have a better future outside prison, so correctional officers work extra hard to meet those prisoners halfway.
This may mean that COs liaise with job placement, housing, and substance use rehabilitation agencies in the community—sometimes in their professional capacity as employees of state and local criminal justice departments.
Corrections Officers and PTSD
The theory of the job is commendable, but the reality on the ground is starkly different. It’s been said that “Prison guards can never be weak.” While exact figures are not easy to come by, it is estimated that half a million officers work in prisons where there are over 2.5 million prisoners. Guards are exhausted, traumatized, and often ignored or shunned if they express any weariness or misgivings about the work they are required to do.
As a result, COs have rates of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that are more than double the rate that military Veterans experience. This, in turn, affects prisoners. Guards have been known to take their frustrations and anxieties out on inmates, incurring penalties that contribute to their mental health problems.
Clinical research done on correctional policy issues, conducted an anonymous survey of COs, looking specifically for the signs of post-traumatic stress disorder—flashbacks, hypervigilance, suicidal thoughts, depression, and intrusive thoughts, among other symptoms. The survey found that 34% of corrections officers met the criteria for PTSD; by comparison, 14% of military Veterans experience those symptoms.
When it came to suicide, COs take their own lives at a rate of twice that of both police officers and the general public. A national study found that the risk of suicide among correctional officers was 39% higher than all other professions put together.1
Corrections officers that have been interviewed have said that most of the job was “pretty mundane”—cell counts, watching what inmates are doing, even getting inmates extra toilet paper. This can go on for as long as 16 straight hours, sometimes without breaking for lunch. Such activities can account for 95% of the job.
What happens in the other 5% is what scars many officers—breaking up fights between inmates, trying to stop suicide attempts, and coming home with blood or human excrement smeared all over their uniform.
The worst part? Officers don’t know when the violence and intensity of that 5% will happen. This leads to guards being in a constant state of hypervigilance, a switch that they cannot turn off when they go home for the day. The high blood pressure from the “constant state of fight or flight,” can lead some corrections officers to experience heart attacks, ulcers, and reduced life expectancy.
Going into Battle Mode
Never knowing when that moment will come is akin to the environment that leads to PTSD in combat Veterans. It is also similar to why women (and men), who have survived sexual assault, develop PTSD, because they never know if they are really safe. For that reason, COs go into “battle mode” the second they enter a prison. For an 8-hour shift, anything can happen, and correctional officers have to be ready every second of those eight hours.
An environment like that is not conducive to dealing with the stress in a healthy manner. Officers are expected to process the trauma and swallow it as part of the job. There is an image to maintain, both for the benefit of the inmates, the general public, and other COs. As a result, COs often become more aggressive and withdrawn after spending enough time on the job.
Substance Use
Former COs have reported how watching an inmate die in agony can give COs nightmares, and no job training can prepare an individual for that mentally, which can lead to PTSD.
The signs of PTSD in a CO may include:
- Insomnia.
- Panic attacks.
- Flashbacks.
- Hypervigilance.
- Suicidal thoughts.
- Depression.
- Intrusive thoughts.
- Heavy drinking.
Unfortunately, many COs are afraid that a positive test for PTSD will get them decertified and unable to work in criminal justice or law enforcement. Because of this, they don’t seek help for their mental health problems and often turn to drug and alcohol use to cope.
Divorce
The combination of mental health struggles and substance misuse can take a toll on family. One study found that officers serving in correctional facilities have higher rates of divorce than the general population, which can contribute to negative well-being and stress. Studies indicate that there are high rates of domestic violence carried out by COs.2
Female Officers
Women, as well as men, serve as COs. Unfortunately, along with the situations discussed above, some female COs are sexually and physically assaulted by inmates. And women are more vulnerable than men for developing post-traumatic stress disorder, including substance use, in the aftermath of a traumatic event.3
Too Many Prisoners and Not Enough Guards
The environment of a corrections facility, already tense to begin with, is not conducive to sound mental health. Prisons are overcrowded and corrections departments are continually understaffed. The number of prison inmates in the 119 facilities operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons went up 41% in 13 years, but the number of guards increased by just 19% in that time frame.4
Family and Personal Problems
The stress associated with CO work can sometimes spill into a CO’s personal life, and for some families, the burden is too much. As previously mentioned, CO work is associated with a higher incidence of domestic violence, divorce, and suicide.
Changing the Culture and Getting Help
The psychological trauma that many COs face can lead to “corrections fatigue,” and post-traumatic stress disorder. For many COs, this can increase the risk of substance misuse and addiction.
If you’re a corrections officer or know someone who is and in need of help, reach out to American Addiction Centers (AAC) to connect with a knowledgeable and compassionate admissions navigator, who can answer your questions, explain the options, and assist you in getting the help you need.
Additionally, AAC will soon begin offering a separate primary mental health residential treatment program for patients that do not have substance use disorder. Starting later this year, the River Oaks medical team will be able to help patients with major depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and various personality disorders learn to manage their own condition, enhance daily functioning skills, and avert future emergencies.
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