nurses in corrections recovering from drugs/alcohol abuse

[blondnursey]

hi

just curious if depts of corrections hire nurses who are in recovery to work in the jails prisons?

wondered if doing jail time for drugs/alcohol/etc would be a bar to employment?

do you think it varies by state?

do you know of any recovering nurses working at your facility?

i think a nurse in recovery from drugs/alcohol would have a lot of insight to offer to inmates.

if you are a recovering nurse in corrections, would you work where you had done jail time, even if it was yeaars ago?

i put this question in recovery nurses, but thought maybe it would be better here.

whats your thoughts?

[~~RN~~]

Hello,

I am not a recovering nurse, but I have worked in many correctional facilities. None allow anyone with a felony conviction of any type to be "cleared" to work in the facility, and misdemeanors were evaluated carefully before the individual was allowed clearance to work there. I have worked with a nurse who was practicing on a restricted license (no contact with narcotics), but I believe she was never arrested,etc. so it did not show on her clearance check. She was very up front about the issues, and she worked in a CQI capacity, so never had any reason to be around the medications. She did not share her past with anyone (staff or inmates) to my knowledge. Anyone previously incarcerated at a facility would not be allowed to work there. That being said, I have also worked in a facility where there were ex-offenders working as counselors in a specific drug program, but that was under the auspices of the state, not the medical program. In corrections, nurses must be very careful not to become too "familiar" with the inmates, as it can be easily misinterpreted, or worse, it can lead to inappropriate relationships. Sharing insights with inmates should be left to specific therapeutic programs.