Thinking about working in a women's prison?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Dec 8, 2007

I completed an LVN program in Southern California in late 2005, and a female nurse from the California Dept. of Corrections spoke to our class prior to graduation to attempt to recruit some of us. She stated that the pay for LVNs in the prison system topped out at about $6,100 monthly, and that her lifestyle is nice.

Not one single student completed an application by the time she was done with her spiel. Nobody was interested. But, hey, the money is good. New LVNs start out at $24 hourly.

Nrsndlz1 · Jan 3, 2008

I have worked in corrections for 10 years and spent 2 years with female inmates. Talk about exhausting! These women are very time consuming compared to dealing with male inmates. I could triage 100 males before I could see 20 females. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Blackcat99 · Jan 3, 2008

I have worked in corrections for 10 years and spent 2 years with female inmates. Talk about exhausting! These women are very time consuming compared to dealing with male inmates. I could triage 100 males before I could see 20 females. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

I totally agree. Female inmates are much more difficult to deal with then male inmates.

nancykday · Jan 4, 2008

I have worked in corrections for 10 years and spent 2 years with female inmates. Talk about exhausting! These women are very time consuming compared to dealing with male inmates. I could triage 100 males before I could see 20 females. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

i have worked i a female prison for 11 years and love it. yes the females are more demanding, but you remain fair, firm and consistant. no is still no, they may complain, but they get over it, it is really not much different then dealing with children. women are mor mouthy than male i/m. btw please excuse no capitalization, i just broke my right wrist in a fall and having trouble typing with one hand

Suzn628 · Jan 16, 2008

I have worked in a womens correctional facility for 5 years now as a LPN. It is a very trying job at times because of the neediness of women who are incarciated. It seems at times they just lay in their beds and see how many medical problems they can have. Other times you could not ask for a better job. For instince when an inmate walks in to Medical Department for discharge and tells you if it werent for the nurses they would have never made it through their sentence.

texascowgirl · Jan 17, 2008

i would NEVER work in a female prison. i did two weeks at a female detention center, as a contractor, and that was enough. much more difficult and more aggravating than dealing with males.

I was in class today and we had a guest speaker. She informed the class of working in a women state prison but she didn't go into a lot of detail. She let us know that it would be good money and there are lots of opportunities. But there is a line of safety that is very fine and your never really safe. Is the pay worth the risk? Is it better to work at a women's facilty or a men's? She did tele-medicine and liked what she did.

danissa, LPN, LVN · Jan 17, 2008

I have never worked in a womens prison, but we have one in our area, which means our NICU gets the drug withdrawing babies etc, from these Mothers. I know they are locked up for their mistakes, and once they are discharged from the unit back to the prison, we only see them for the one hour per day that they are allowed to visit with their baby. But, the way they are brought into the unit to visit is so sad, they are shackled to two guards, handcuffs only taken off when they get to the room their baby is in. This is in full view of other parents, who you can imagine, as human nature goes, all watch with horrified interest. Any "normal" interaction that goes on between parents then stops, and all are on alert, aware of the prescence of the two guards sitting outside the room, (being paid to sit there for an hour and read btw!).

Inhumanity at its best..our unit is locked,and once they are inside the door, the woman couldn't escape anywhere! It's all such a big drama, played out to a watching audience, and at the end of that ONE hour..a crying woman, shackled again and taken away from her baby, until that one hour the next day.

saddens me, i know they are in prison for a reason, but the suffering of a mother and child, together for only one hour a day, helps no-one.

just my experience, btw, everyone will have different experiences of actually working in the prison, I know, this is just a different viewpoint.

MadisonsMomRN, BSN, RN · Jan 24, 2008

I agree... I would MUCH rather deal with male inmates over females anyday!!

CheyRN · Oct 3, 2008

I have worked in corrections for 10 years and spent 2 years with female inmates. Talk about exhausting! These women are very time consuming compared to dealing with male inmates. I could triage 100 males before I could see 20 females. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

RUN AWAY!!! The women have more imaginary issues than you can begin to believe. I have also found that the CO's are not as consistant with them with the prevailing opinion of "they are women, not dangerous".

NurseLite · Oct 7, 2008

I work in a county detention facility where 2 floors are men and 1 floor women. I spend more time on the female floor hands down.

With that being said, I find my work more rewarding working with the women. Yes, they are a lot needier; True they have problems up the wazoo ... but when you have a female come in cracked-out or on Methadone, pregnant, homeless and scared YOU are the only who is probably treating them with any shred of humanity. Once you get them detox'd off of whatever it is that they are coming off of, they do their time and hopefully deliver a healthy, CLEAN baby ... What a feeling!

I have had girls come up to me in Wal-Mart and show me their babies and tell me "Miss Amy, I'm still clean" or "My baby is testing HIV-neg" (when the mom is pos) and even "I know you were tough on me, but I deserved it" ... and it shows me that I have done my job well.

So, YES ... you will do a lot more hand-holding. But I know I sleep better at the end of my shift knowing I made a difference that day. Because really, isn't that what we are here for?

~~RN~~ · Oct 7, 2008

TwistedAsst, and ALL who work with the women, THANK YOU for your insight, and for what you do every day! As seen by the other posts here, most correctional nurses want nothing to do with the women. When I began in corrections, I did not know the difference, and being very interested in women's health, I jumped at the chance to work at a female prison. Hahaha...what a crash course! However, I, too, found it the most rewarding time of my career. When I transferred to another facility closer to my home, some of the "regulars" actually thanked me. I found the women to be sponges when it came to health education...amazing that they knew so little about their own bodies, and it was a great opportunity to give someone a little "power" in a place where they had none. Yes, limits have to be set and yes, they are very needy, but TwistedAsst is so very right - we are there to make a difference - and we do, EVEN on the days when we THINK we didn't!