Breaking Boundaries, Changing the Game: Women in Corrections at CCA
Overcoming barriers, clearing misconceptions
Can you imagine a woman openly being accused of getting a job just to find a boyfriend? Can you envision women being told they should be content with sharpening pencils and making coffee?
In these times, such comments seem old-fashioned, if not potential ethical landmines. Debates and dialogues continue about whether the glass ceiling still exists. Nonetheless, the visibility of leaders and professionals who are women is less of an exception and more of an expected – and accepted – norm. But in the field of corrections, pioneering women have weathered incredible odds and faced no shortage of interesting situations in their careers.
Here, some of CCA’s proven leaders, who have made a mark on the company and the corrections industry at large, share the tests they’ve passed, the hurdles they’ve navigated and the purpose that drives them toward excellence.
The Road Less Traveled
Some of CCA’s leading ladies in corrections took daring professional leaps when women were expected to concentrate on the home or opt for “pink collar” jobs that have traditionally been considered “women’s work.”
“My mother was a stay-at-home mom, so that’s what I thought women did,” says Dr. Laura Bedard, assistant warden, Programs, at Gadsden Correctional Institution. “When I got to college in the 1970s, I realized women are professors and can do this or do that.”
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, in 1970 approximately 43 percent of women ages 16 and up were in the work force. A 2007 Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that even today, women’s work force participation is concentrated in fields like education, health care, hospitality and retail sales.
“I was going to be a secondary education teacher,” says Melody Turner, managing director, Operations, Business Unit II (Division 3), who entered corrections three decades ago after taking a college course in social deviance. “Like most people, I didn’t really plan on being in corrections.”
But after completing internships with the Middletown Police Department in Ohio at a time when no women worked on the domestic violence squad and with the Bureau of Prisons as a case manager, Turner says she “fell in love with prison work.”
The desire to change lives and help others motivated Bedard to embark on a path that, on the surface, clashed with her family’s upper-class expectations.
“I kind of wanted to be like Julie on “The Love Boat” and run recreation programs,” she explains. "I started volunteering for Literacy Volunteers of America. Coming from a privileged background, I did not even realize there were adults who couldn’t read or write their name. I started to see the results of my work and it was just wonderful.”
Michelle Ryder, assistant warden of Programs and Operations Support at Marion County Jail II, was also steered into corrections by benevolence.
“Right after college, I joined the Indiana Department of Correction as a correctional officer in a female juvenile facility,” she says. “I just ended up in this field, realizing that I liked helping people. It really started to grow on me.”
Backlash and Breaking the Mold
Such career moves made getting the support of friends and family difficult at times for these boundary busters. Sometimes those closest to them did not share – or understand – their passion.
“My mother just about freaked out when I told her I was going into corrections,” says Turner, who joined CCA 12 years ago. “Women just didn’t do it back then. My mother used to tell people I worked for the state of Ohio or for the federal government, but not mention anything about corrections.”
Bedard shares a similar story. “They still don’t get it,” she says. “However, both of my parents are very proud of what I’m doing. My mother has visited me here and at another facility. She’s helped with art programs and getting donations, like books.”
However, for Charlotte Collins, warden at Elizabeth Detention Center, the potential for stability and promotion eased most of her family’s anxieties. She began her correctional career with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, where she served for four years before joining CCA more than 20 years ago. Still, her family had some reservations and offered unsolicited suggestions for her career.
“My family was aware of the many avenues you could take in corrections, with many different specialties,” she says. “But they wanted to know why I didn’t get into the technology or paper-pushing part in order to get off the front line.”
Even corrections professionals who don’t work in prisons, jails or detention facilities face similar misunderstandings from others. Take Louise Grant, CCA vice president, Marketing and Communications, for example. She spends her days developing and overseeing the company’s communications strategy, while educating reporters and communities about corrections and CCA. She also moonlights as a mentor to incarcerated women preparing for release.
“I’m not unlike a lot of people who, before they were in corrections – if they didn’t have a family member or friend who worked in the field or had been incarcerated – just probably never thought about it,” she explains. “It was like a world that didn’t exist.”
In Grant’s nine years with CCA, she’s helped defuse misinformation in the public – and personal – domains. “I’ve helped people understand the harder side of corrections – the bars, procedures and security demands,” she explains. “But I’ve also helped others, including family members, see the softer side – the rehabilitation, programs and real people who benefit from them.”
Overcoming Sexist Stereotypes and Proving Professionalism
“When I was first hired in Ohio with the Department of Corrections, my first warden asked me if I was looking for a man,” Turner says. “Then he wanted to tell me what I could and could not wear.”
According to Turner, that’s how bold, direct and deeply ingrained notions about women’s capabilities in corrections were in the 1980s. The presence of women in a traditionally male-centered field was perceived as a threat.
“They were scared of what the introduction of females would do to a male-dominated world,” she says.
Ryder, too, felt similar, unwanted scrutiny. “I have been told that in corrections that in order to get respect I should dress less feminine,” she explains.
Beyond presumptions about women’s motives, they were typically restricted to duties and positions that kept them away from the inmate population.
“When I first started in the early 1980s, there were only certain positions we could work,” Collins explains.
“Women were not allowed behind the gate,” adds Turner.
For Bedard, who holds a doctoral degree in social work, there were noticeable layers of covert resistance that would take time and effort to unravel.
“In the early 1980s, it was really bad,” she recalls. “There were a lot of subtleties from the staff that had an impact on me, such as thinking I wasn’t capable or was looking for a husband.”
Advancing, Accomplishing and Accepting
Today an increasing number of mothers work outside the home and more households described as dual income. As a result, some say women are taken more seriously.
“With so many women in the work force, men in this arena tend to have more confidence in them,” Collins says. “We’re prepared, well-trained and take our jobs as seriously as the men. Men are viewing women as equals rather than subordinates.”
The presence of women in corrections also lends a holistic and realistic perspective to offenders and colleagues, according to Bedard. “Our offenders and staff need positive male and female role models,” she explains. “Women in corrections might bring different assets to the table. Men may have the brawn, but women are usually endowed with the ability to communicate.”
Such assets are more apt to lead to advancement when women find supportive workplace mentors. In fact, the support of a more senior, equal-minded leader is critical, according to Ryder, who’s worked in corrections for 17 years.
“Women need to find mentors immediately,” she says. “They need a men and women as mentors who have the same integrity and value system, but are not exactly like them.”
Turner, who has served as president of the Ohio Warden’s Association and the North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents, agrees.
“The men who were very protective of me became my best friends and my best mentors,” she says. “Once you proved you could handle yourself, they were very instrumental in career development.”
Resources for Women in Corrections
The American Correctional Association (ACA): www.aca.org
The Association of Women Executives in Corrections (AWEC): www.awec.us
North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents (NAAWS): www.naaws.corrections.com
Women Working in Corrections and Juvenile Justice: www.womenincorrections.com
By K. Danielle Edwards
Sound Out
Janella Czech at Florence Correctional Center:
It is so awesome to see "women in corrections" finally being addressed!! Most people don't understand the trials we women face in the correctional field, especially younger women and mothers. Most people assume I work as a secretary when I tell them I work in a prison and are shocked when I tell them I started as a correctional officer 9 years ago at 19 years old. Even more are mortified when I tell them I was still working on the floor at 6 months pregnant. But luckily now a days society is accepting of women in corrections and I am lucky to have a great support system. My mom was worried at first but now brags that her baby girl can take down a man twice her size single handedly!!!
Lt. Gary M. Smith at Dawson State Jail:
I agree that women have come a long way in corrections. When I started at as a county jailer it was extremely macho and many women felt they had to be as tough and macho as the men. This was, of course, detrimental because "macho" men tend to do stupid or dangerous things to show they are big and bad or not afraid. I admit I was sometimes not too keen on women officers, usually when a group of us men were ready to open a can on someone we thought needed it and the lone woman officer talked the situation down. Later on I saw that as a good thing. Women still have some stereotypes to take down such as the one about joining corrections to find a man. But I'm confident they will succeed.
CYNTIA CORNISH at CTF:
THIS IS GREAT WOMEN ARE OUT WORKING AND ALWAYS HAVE BEEN, I HAVE BEEN AT CTF 12 YRS AND THE JOB IS CHALLENGING, BUT WOMEN HAVE TO BE STRONG, MALE INMATES TRY VERY HARD TO MANIPULATE WOMEN AND THEY ATTEMPT TO MAKE WOMEN FEEL WEAK, BUT ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS STAND TALL BE STRONG AND COMPLETE OUR JOBS ACCORDING TO CCA'S POLICIES AND PROCEDURES, I AM RETIRED FROM THE ARMY NATIONAL GUARD SO I AM VERY STRONG
Kristina Martinez at Davis Correctional Facility:
I have now work two different fields that were men dominated: truck driving (6 years) and now corrections (2 years). I still have people who have problems with the careers I have worked. But I greatly enjoy working in corrections and plan to continue working in corrections as long as possible even despite the challenges it presents.