Lee’s Blog 21

Perhaps the main, and most important, focus of The National Association for Female Correctional Officers is bringing a far greater awareness about two big issues confronting female corrections officers. One is sexual assault and the other is harassment. This goes right along with some of the recommendations presented by Britton. If a greater awareness of these two issues were brought to fruition, it would help decrease the dominance of males in the field of corrections officers. This would be accomplished by allowing the introduction and discussion of female issues into this profession. Both Britton and NAFCO agree that this has not yet happened.

If NAFCO’s proposed legislation passes, it would mean a zero tolerance policy meaning that each and every assault against female corrections officers would be prosecuted. Their hope is also that this would cause the accountability of officials within the prison to increase as regards failing to detect, reduce, prevent, and even punish the perpetrators of these assaults. It has been found that male corrections officers and male prison officials believe that the huge risk of harassment and sexual assault are just part of the territory for female corrections officers. The males believe it is the woman’s choice to work there, so they know the risks. I think a big reason the males feel this way is because they don’t run into the same issues female corrections officers do. Single mothers take on jobs as corrections officers because they need a wage they can actually live on and raise their children. NAFCO’s work has been endorsed by Britton.

Another bad thing about being a female corrections officer is that advancement opportunities often turn out very disappointing simply because women are passed over for supervisory and managerial positions because they have the commitments at home that men often do not have.
No doubt there are a huge number of issues female corrections officers must deal with each and every day. For this reason, reform is extremely necessary.