Working in the correctional system changes a person. It also changes that person’s family. Wives, husbands, and children are all impacted by having a family member employed within the prison walls. The changes are all-encompassing. Behavior, attitude, and thought process are changed. These changes affect correctional peace officers, supervisors, prison doctors, nurses, and psychologists, all prison personnel and their families. This process of change begins in basic training, when prison staff learn to develop an “Us” versus “Them” mentality. This attitude solidifies over the officer’s career. In the initial training the officer learns to hide emotions and to put on a prison guard persona. The purpose of this persona is to keep order and to keep the officer safe on the job. This persona is referred to as a “command presence.” The longer a person works in corrections, the more pervasive and ingrained the command presence becomes. Overtime, this persona becomes like a second layer of skin. The officer go everywhere with it. At work this can be a life-saver, and at home it can be cumbersome and in some cases detrimental to the officer’s health and relationships. To mitigate the negative impact of maintaining a perpetual command presence, the officer must learn how to turn off this persona after hours, just like he or she would remove his or her uniform at home.

It may seem counter-intuitive that the way correctional staff are trained to behave on the job can negatively impact their health, however it is true. Studies have shown that a correctional officer’s lifespan is considerably shorter than that of the general public. In fact, the average live expectancy for a correctional officer is 59-years-old, where as, that of the general public is 77-years-old. This decrease in life expectancy has been associated with the physiological changes that occur when maintaining a command presence. For instance, when an officer is exhibiting a command presence, he must appear calm even in the face of danger, hide his feelings, be hyper-aware of everything going on in the environment, be ready to fight or flee at a moments notice, appear detached, strong, confident, and “dangerous to mess with” at all times. On the job the officer must maintain this stance even during hours of boredom, such as when inmates sleep, because at any moment the boredom could end and the inmates could attack the officer or one another. This creates a physiological state in the body called the “fight or flight” response. Did you know that this state also emulates chronic stress? When the body is in this state hormone secretion increases, pupils dilate, the heart beat quickens, blood pressure rises, glucose is released from the liver to provide energy to the muscles, the muscles become tense and ready for action, digestion is slowed, and the blood supply is diverted to the intestines. When these physiological changes occur in response to actual crises or imminent threats, they help the body respond adaptively, and when they are chronic, they over-tax the body and cause damage. Some common ailments associated with a chronic “fight or flight” response include:

• High Blood Pressure,
• Heart Disease,
• Gastrointestinal Illness,
• Immune Deficiency, and
• Adrenal System issues.

Generally, the correctional officer is unaware that this chronic state of hyper-vigilance is causing any damage because it has become habitual. On the other hand, the officer’s family is often very concerned. They can see the spill-over from work to home. Family members report that the officer’s command presence does not disappear just because the officer is off duty. In fact, wives describe their husbands as “harder, less sensitive and more detached” than they were before becoming correctional officers. Kids often feel that their correctional officer parents treat them like they treat the inmates. For instance, they feel that the prison makes their parent suspicious, strict, and distant. Prison work is so intense, and maintaining the appropriate persona is so important to the officer’s safety and job security, that it becomes the dominant personality. Spouses worry about their mates’ safety on the job, they also worry about their mates’ health, and they often feel less emotional connection to them. The decreases in emotional connectedness can lead to an increase in relationship problems and even divorce.

To avoid these potential pitfalls of prison work, correctional officers need to learn how to bring their command presence under their control. They need to learn how to turn it off when they take off their uniform at the end of the day, and how to turn it back on at the beginning of their shift. This is not generally taught in officer training, a grave omission that jeopardizes the officer’s health and relationships. Failure to provide such training also harms job performance. For instance, the officer who is always in “fight-or-flight” mode and is never completely relaxed is more prone to burnout. As an officer begins burning out he is no longer excited about the job, tends to feel increasingly tired, dissatisfied, depressed, preoccupied, and angry. These feelings reduce the officer’s effectiveness on the job and increase the officer’s risk of being injured.

The first step in learning to turn-off ones command presence is learning to be more aware; maybe asking oneself questions about command presence. Spouses and family members can help with this. Observing ones body language can be an excellent way to detect a state of command presence. For instance, physical signs that an officer is in command presence may include rigid posture with eyes scanning the room. Muscles will be tense; the officer’s voice will be firm, strong, and possibly harsh. Relaxing ones body stance and beginning to breathe deeply and slowly will start the process of turning command presence “off.” Spouses can also remind their partners to relax when they see the prison persona at home. Other ways to take off the prison persona with the uniform include practicing relaxation techniques on a daily basis, developing hobbies, and attending church, volunteering in the community, spending time doing fun things with ones family, and diversifying ones interests beyond the prison walls. In essence, the correctional officer needs to find time to experience a kinder, gentler, safer side of society and of oneself, with the comfort of knowing that, with a moments notice, command presence can be resumed. (For a more detailed study of command presence, see our online Taking off the Uniform course.)