Wondering if Corrections is for me

texascowgirl · Sep 6, 2007

i see you are in TX. there are TDCJ units and privatized prisons and federal prisons.

to apply to TDCJ state units, go to the UTMB job site for TDCJ units on the East/Central Texas side and TEXAS TECH job site for TDCJ units on the West Texas/Panhandle site. the UTMB and Texas Tech sites also have listings for TYC (juvie or boot camp) jobs too.

if you want to look at privatized prisons in TX, go to GEO Group, Cornell Corrections, Corrections Corporation of America websites

if you want federal prisons, go to Federal Bureau of Prisons website

where in Texas are ya? I am working ER here in Texas, and have been a prison nurse for years too, but fixin to leave ER again...

nancykday · Sep 6, 2007

Hi, all!
already sick and tired of the *&$#! Tired of kissing butt, tired of being a med-surg nurse in the er, etc.
Thanks for the help!

Then corrections is the place, don't have to worry about "consumer satisfaction" and there are many "return "consumers" and lots of job security. Crime does pay, at least for correctional nurses

INAnurse1 · Sep 21, 2007

Being a new grad I would not suggest going into corrections! Working corrections definitely gives you a different outlook on nursing and patient care. Once you work any time at all in corrections you could never go to work as a greeter at Walmart......! I've been a nurse for 30 years and in corrections for 13. When I went into corrections I told myself that I would only do it a year or so and then get back into "real" nursing. Well here I am...the money and benefits make it impossible to leave! In the state where I live and work when I retire and have at least 20 years in I will receive approx. 60-70 % of my current wage as pension. Given the current rate of increase with each collective bargaining agreement I should retire making between $90,000-100,00 so that puts my pension at about 60,000 per year. That is about what I'm making now.

So here I am sitting and waiting for the last 7 years to pass so that I can finally get out of corrections.

So please think twice....corrections does impact on your personal and family life as well.

Good luck.

texascowgirl · Sep 22, 2007

good point, but let me expand on corrections giving you a different outlook on nursing and patient care....it also can affect your personal life. divorce rate is VERY HIGH in corrections. and no one can tell me that what you experience day in and day out, and i am talking about working in MALE facilities, that it does not have some subconscious effect at the very least on your outlook on men in general and whether you believe it or not, it may even have an effect on your relationships with men in your life..........i have never met so many self-proclaimed "man-haters", we would even call our lunch club the "man haters club"...all we did was ***** about men! ha ha...though i am sure most of it was just ventilating. you see men at their worst. many MANY of them act like pigs! animals in a zoo! very animalistic. i used to say to them MANY a time "hey, would you do that in front of me if i were your mother or grandmother?" (when they would be openly masturbating in front of me, behind the cage)....

so anyone else have thoughts on this?

oh and in terms of leaving corrections and going back into the "free world", it is harder to kiss butt (something you dont have to do in corrections).........i am not the same nurse i was before i went into corrections.........

Being a new grad I would not suggest going into corrections! Working corrections definitely gives you a different outlook on nursing and patient care. Once you work any time at all in corrections you could never go to work as a greeter at Walmart......! I've been a nurse for 30 years and in corrections for 13. When I went into corrections I told myself that I would only do it a year or so and then get back into "real" nursing. Well here I am...the money and benefits make it impossible to leave! In the state where I live and work when I retire and have at least 20 years in I will receive approx. 60-70 % of my current wage as pension. Given the current rate of increase with each collective bargaining agreement I should retire making between $90,000-100,00 so that puts my pension at about 60,000 per year. That is about what I'm making now.
So here I am sitting and waiting for the last 7 years to pass so that I can finally get out of corrections.
So please think twice....corrections does impact on your personal and family life as well.
Good luck.

INAnurse1 · Sep 22, 2007

During my 13+ years in corrections as a state nurse I have worked in male facilities, female facility, and the biggest joke.....a co-ed facility (and they couldn't figure out why the pregnancy rate was high?) I think the female facility was by far the worse and that was due to the fact that all a female inmate had to do was to make an allegation against staff and the staff would get walked out until it was resolved. During the time that the staff is locked out, if it is an allegation of sexual impropriety, the toll on family is awful. And many times, after several months of hell and expense for legal fees, the state drops its case and expects life to go on as if nothing happened.

Working in corrections will impact on your trust! It is hard to separate work from home; you can't just turn off the "prison you" and switch on the "home you" and vice versa......it does carry over.

So please, if you are a new grad or even if you have been out of school a short time get some experiences in the "free world" dealing with patients and family that can appreciate you and your efforts before you go inside the walls and get exposed to the inmates and the "inmate mentality". If you get a chance check a book out of the public library in your area entitled "The Games Inmates Play" and read it....it may open your eyes.

If you do go inside good luck and please be careful.

Respectfully,

Joe

texascowgirl · Sep 22, 2007

yes so true about the "trust" factor-you start to become a bit more cynical about people.

and yes, the "prison you" will be very different than than the "free world you".........and it is hard to turn on and off.

that is why so many divorces happen, and then there are many relationships amongst correctional employees........because no one outside the fence really understands the world inside that fence unless you are in it......you start to bond very closely to those who work with you.

kinda the same as working in law enforcement........

During my 13+ years in corrections as a state nurse I have worked in male facilities, female facility, and the biggest joke.....a co-ed facility (and they couldn't figure out why the pregnancy rate was high?) I think the female facility was by far the worse and that was due to the fact that all a female inmate had to do was to make an allegation against staff and the staff would get walked out until it was resolved. During the time that the staff is locked out, if it is an allegation of sexual impropriety, the toll on family is awful. And many times, after several months of hell and expense for legal fees, the state drops its case and expects life to go on as if nothing happened.
Working in corrections will impact on your trust! It is hard to separate work from home; you can't just turn off the "prison you" and switch on the "home you" and vice versa......it does carry over.
So please, if you are a new grad or even if you have been out of school a short time get some experiences in the "free world" dealing with patients and family that can appreciate you and your efforts before you go inside the walls and get exposed to the inmates and the "inmate mentality". If you get a chance check a book out of the public library in your area entitled "The Games Inmates Play" and read it....it may open your eyes.
If you do go inside good luck and please be careful.
Respectfully,
Joe

rachelgp · Sep 22, 2007

I appreciate all the advice. I have been an RN for 7 months now (almost 8) and I was a Paramedic for 5 years before that, so I'm not entirely new to patient care. I will probably continue to research it for a while, still. But honestly, I am just so sick of the hospital environment! Maybe it hard on me partly because I'm used to being a Paramedic--I always used to say I didn't want to be a nurse because I didn't want to be stuck in one place all day :-) I liked the variety that comes with being a medic. Now, look at me. I think it's partly the politics, partly the patients that expect constant butkissing, and partly the environment that have me fed up. I know I would miss critical care (being a medic, that's where my heart is, and what lead me to medicine in the first place). Anyway, I appreciate everyone's input. Feel free to PM me with any additional advice. Believe me, anything helps!

psychonurse · Sep 26, 2007

I have been a correctional nurse for 18 years and I have throughly enjoyed my job until the last 8-10 months. We have lost a few nurses to retirement, sickness and just bosses stupidity. We are down 8 nurses and they have put us on 12 hour shifts and not only 12 hour shifts but sometimes 16 and they call you all the time on your days off to see if you could come in. I am so exhausted that I ended up with a sinus infection and I have felt horrible.

Don't get me wrong, most of the time I really like my job, the automony of it the job for me. The doctors respect you more and you don't have to worry about the office politics as much as in a regular hospital. I have recomended correctional nursing to some nurses that I have worked with or people that have taken care of me when I was in the hospital and they thanked me for recomending the job to them...Its just how you feel about your job and how you react to your clients...it always makes a difference.

Sonya

Oregon Department of Corrections