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SABOTAGE:
How Harris government policies
have increased the use of sick time
by Ontario correctional officers
Staff
training
You can’t learn how to be a correctional
officer from a book. The complex set of human skills involved in
keeping the peace among large groups of incarcerated accused and
convicted criminals can only be learned through long – and
often painful – experience. Yet too often, new correctional
officers (hired on contract, often for only a few hours per
week) receive little guidance from managers or their more
experienced fellow officers. Many correctional officers have
never received on-the-job training in important technical skills
that can often prevent a crisis from escalating.
Inmate
attitudes
The health and safety of correctional officers are directly
related to inmate attitudes. Anger, boredom, tension, and
frustration eventually find an outlet, and when they do,
corrections staff feel the impact first.
Psychological distress
Overcrowding, inmate gangs, contraband, threats, violence,
filth, high-maintenance inmates, and diseases running rampant
through Ontario correctional facilities are all the direct
result of Corrections Ministry policies and cutbacks. Under
these super-high-stress conditions, it is not at all surprising
that sick time use by correctional officers is higher since the
Harris government was elected. What is surprising is that it is
not worse. The fact that Ontario’s jails, correctional centres,
detention centres, and young offender facilities continue to
function at all is a testament to the professionalism and
commitment of Ontario corrections workers.
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