Echo_Four

People often ask me why I work for a private corrections company and not the BOP or state DOC. I was offered a job with the BOP after I applied and ended up turning down the conditional offer. I have thought about working for my state and a neighboring state's DOC but have always decided not to do so. Yes I would make more money if I worked for the government. Yes, my life would likely be better due to having fewer staffing problems. Yes I'd be covered by LEOSA. Yes I would make more money. Yet I have not done so, and I doubt I ever will.

Before coming to corrections I made my living in politics. I am probably one of the most politically motivated individuals you will ever meet. I have run campaigns for everything from local races to US Senate races and have been heavily involved in two presidential campaigns. I am lucky I found a way to make pretty good money doing what I'd been doing for free since I was a young child. However a move to a different state for my wife's educational pursuits brought about what I thought was a short term diversion from the political world. However I found that I love this line of work and intend to continue doing it for at least the short term, possibly longer. I understand I am not the typical Correctional Officer. I think maybe that is part of why I am where I am.

I am very conservative when it comes to government. I firmly believe that the government should not do anything that the private sector can perform. After I started working for the Corrections Corporation of America I came to the understand that the private sector really can provide safe and secure correctional facilities at a lower cost to the tax payer, at least that the medium and minimum custody levels. (I tend to believe that maximum security should probably be handled by the government but I have not become convinced yet.) This puts me in a strange position. I would personally profit by working for the government, yet my personal beliefs tell me that it would be in a function that the government probably should not be providing. (Confused yet again in that if I worked for the BOP it would be at a USP and if I worked for one of the two states it would be in a maximum security facility.) I have decided that since I can afford to work for less pay, thanks in no small part to my wife's education coming to an end and her preparing to enter the work force in a lucrative field, I owe it to myself to stand with my beliefs that corrections is something that can be, at least in part, handled by the private sector.

I understand that this belief puts me at odds with many corrections professionals. It is unfortunate because I have met some wonderful people that are unable to see past the uniform that I wear. I have seen many great coworkers leave for greener pastures in government agencies. Yet I am comfortable in my decision. And now I have a story on paper I can point people to rather than having to explain it anew for everyone that decides to ask.