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Inside jails and prisons, correctional officers are suffering—they need volunteer chaplains.
“I’ve been praying for 25 years that us officers would have a chaplain. Now—finally— we do.”
– a Corrections Officer in Chicago
For decades, faith organizations have sent volunteers into jails and prisons, providing spiritual guidance to inmates. Yet, few of our nation’s 7,147 jails, prisons, juvenile facilities and immigration detention facilities offer any similar support to their correctional officers (COs).
Heroic work, hidden behind walls. Correctional Officers maintain order, protecting inmates, visitors, volunteers, attorneys, nurses and fellow officers. Yet, unlike street police, COs are typically underappreciated or invisible to the public— who lack awareness of the challenges these officers face.
Correctional officers are suffering. Their average life expectancy is only 59 years [1], far less than the national average of 77 years. Their suicide rate is 37% higher than all other professions combined. COs have 10 times more PTSD than the general population, a divorce rate 20% higher than the national average, and 50% more heart disease than any other occupation. COs have a high incidence of depression. Some – to numb the pain – become addicted to alcohol.
Why so much suicide, sickness and early death? Correctional staff die early, burnt out by long hours, depressing environments, injury and stress. Moral injury is common, from inmate disrespect. Some experience physical attacks by the incarcerated. Officers may have feces and urine thrown on them and be spat upon or threats made to them and their families. Staff stay on high alert, even when off-duty.
When inmates fight, COs break it up, often at personal cost of severe injury with pain and limitations that last ...
from Christianity Today Magazine
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