Pam, a bright intelligent female corrections officer speaks about her life as a prison guard. She speaks about the inmates, her supervisors, her thoughts on
Texas prison, and the fear instilled at work. She was open, honest, and thought provoking.
Please give us a Bio of yourself
My name is Pam and I'm a Correctional Officer III, I'm 37 and I'm married, no kids. I have a BA in Fine Arts (English and Philosophy) from The University of
Texas at Austin. I began my Masters Program in ancient and medieval literature, however, did not finish. I went to
Hollywood when I was in my 20's to try my hand at screenwriting, worked as a production assistant for many years on many projects, but eventually burned out of the 17 hours a day, 6 days a week, 11 months a year lifestyle. I'm actually not at liberty to say which prison I
work at, simply that it is a
Texas Department of Criminal Justice State Prison.
I understand you work for a Texas prison, please tell us about that.
The unit I
work on at the moment is a men's prison, I have been working for the state for about 5 years. When I first moved back to
Texas it was to help my mother
care for my dad, who sadly passed away in December of 2006. I started out working at a
restaurant as a dishwasher until it dawned on me that the dishwasher was also the busser, salad maker, cleaner, sign maker ...etc ...etc ... I don't mind washing dishes, I always found it very cathartic, however, the other stuff was impossible to keep done. I had been putting in applications with TDCJ as a clerk, grievance investigator, or mail room worker, but the Agency likes to hire people from within. I very rarely see people hired in to those sorts of positions who are not, in some way, associated with TDCJ. I sent in a Correctional Officer inquiry and was invited to take a test, and decided to go that way. I didn't know if I would like it, or if I would be able to deal with it, however, I wanted to try. It turned out that I was pretty good at it. Saying 'no' is an
art form that one must excel at when working in a prison.
Do you have other family members who are also Correctional officers?
My
husband is also a Correctional Officer.
You can read the full interview here:
Interview with a Female Corrections Officer from Texas - Associated Content
interview With an female CO from Texas 
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