Behind the Badge (Primary Workers)

The Behind the Badge series is back, sharing the stories and voices of frontline staff across the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). In this episode, we hear from Ashley, a Primary Worker at Nova Institution for Women in Truro, NS. Primary Workers like Ashley are essential to women’s corrections, they manage security, support rehabilitation and play a key role in case management.

Tune in as Ashley shares what it’s like working inside a women’s prison, and the importance of dynamic and static security, in her own words.

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Ashley: Be prepared to work as a team. So, if you're not a team player and you like to work by yourself, then this probably isn't the job for you because we're very reliant on each other and you're working with people all day.

Kirstan: That was Ashley, a Primary Worker at Nova Institution for Women in Truro, NS.

Primary workers like Ashley play an essential role in women's corrections. They manage security, support rehabilitation and play a key role in case management. At first glance, the role may look similar to correctional officers in men's institutions, but the reality is quite different and there are significant distinctions. I'm your host, Kirstan Gagnon, and welcome to another episode of Prisons Inside / Out. Today our Behind the Badge series returns. For the next couple of episodes, we'll be sharing stories and voices from the frontlines of corrections in Canada, highlighting the important work our staff do everyday to keep Canadians safe. Here's our conversation with Ashley. Well welcome, Ashley, thank you for joining me today on our podcast, Prisons Inside / Out. How long have you been at Nova?
Ashley: I've been at Nova for about five and a half years, but I've been a correctional officer for almost 13.

Kirstan: Wonderful. And tell me a bit about your background.

Ashley: Most of my background was in security, a little bit of public service work and mostly being a prison guard and a little bit of security management at a goldmine.

Kirstan: With you, I wanted to unpack a bit more about the security aspect of your role and what goes into being a Primary Worker. Tell me a bit about that.

Ashley: Being a Primary worker is quite a bit different than being a correctional officer because I can speak to that experience. You're way more interactive with the women. They're very forthcoming with a lot of different issues. You're doing a lot of problem solving with them, bouncing back some of their ideas. Sometimes you're the first face they'll see when they're upset. When they're first coming in, you'll see a lot of heightened emotions because of that loss of that caregiver role, which you're not seeing as much with the men. So that's some of the main differences.

Kirstan: And why is that important, that rapport that you build with them?

Ashley: Because it lets us know kind of what their baseline is. So, you might have some offenders that actually their baseline is quite pleasant. They're very respectful. You have a good working relationship on a daily basis. Sometimes you can joke with them. One of the offenders that you would have just interviewed on a daily basis, she's really happy, she loves to joke around with us. So if we saw some deterioration of behavior and all of a sudden she wasn't joking with us, she wasn't making eye contact, and there was an overall behavioral change, we built those relationships so we can check in with them and say, ‘hey, you know, we notice that you don't seem yourself lately, what's going on?’ So those relationships are really important because they can let us know on an individual basis how a person is doing, but sometimes what's going on the population as well as they're very interconnected and they are living together, so there can be a lot of interpersonal issues.

Kirstan: So that communication is really important then at all levels, I'm guessing with your team and with the women here, but amongst the women as well, to teach them those important skills of being able to resolve those issues that they may have on a day-to-day basis. What would you say, what else is really important with when you're working with them from a security perspective? I think what you talked about was forms of dynamic security where you're, you're trying to talk it through first before anything escalates and trying to keep it calm and keep the peace, if you will. But what do you do when you encounter women that aren't getting along?

Ashley: So obviously, like I just kind of said, we're first kind of going with maybe some verbal de-escalation. If those attempts don't work, we're usually working with our partners as well. So that might include an Indigenous liaison officer, that could be a mental health worker. So, we're always trying to communicate first, as a part of more of a static security take on things. We're kind of monitoring their behavior via CCTV. Sometimes we have to physically get involved, but especially with women, that is kind of her last line of defence.

Kirstan: Why is that?

Ashley: Because a lot of these women are coming in here, and I'm not saying that it isn't the same with men, but a lot of them are coming in, they're in domestic violence situations. So, we don't want to re-traumatize and we're trying to come from a trauma informed approach. So, we try to avoid that at all costs because we're here to be rehabilitative, we're not here to re-traumatize.

Kirstan: No, that's a really good point. And we talked a bit earlier about the importance of offenders being productively occupied in the institution, going to programs, education, interventions, activities, work. Would you say that makes a difference?

Ashley: Absolutely. Especially after some of their core programming is complete, you're seeing sometimes significant changes. Someone that, when they had a conflict, immediately resorted to violence, now sometimes we're seeing them work through their skills and saying, ‘okay, like is this necessary? What's in my circle of control?’ And then actually going through sometimes emotional regulation logs where they're like, ‘okay, where's the problem?’ Or ‘where does the problem lie?’ Like ‘why do I feel that way about the problem? How else can I deal with the problem?’ So, you'll actually see some of them come to you with their logs and show you their progress and they're proud of their progress.

Kirstan: And with all the women living in units together and what are some of the common issues that you face or the challenges?

Ashley: I would say, this is for men and women alike, it's probably food. That's probably the first one, food security.

Kirstan: And so some of them cook their meals, except if they're in the max, I'm guessing.

Ashley: Yes.

Kirstan: And does that lead to more sharing, more community-based skills or does that become an issue?

Ashley: It is a common issue. However, it just depends on your group of women. Sometimes, we have some houses right now I can think of off the top of my head, they do excellent meal plans. You have someone in the house that's kind of an organizer. You'll go in and you'll see their whiteboard and you'll see what meals are going to cook for the week. Everybody's really agreeable and sometimes you'll have a house cook, sometimes they'll rotate whether I'm going to cook or you're gonna cook. And then sometimes, unfortunately, you'll see absolute pandemonium and everyone's kind of cooking their own individual meals, they're struggling a little bit. And then you have people that are stealing food in the middle of the night, and that causes a lot of issues.

Kirstan: Yeah. And in terms of some of the successes you've seen along the way, what do you think works best?

Ashley: I'd say addressing, obviously, we're still doing this for everybody, their criminogenic factors, so looking at what programming they need and first going into that programming or that education, looking at that kind of hitting that first, then looking at employment opportunities and other skills that they can gain. But I would say probably the thing that we do best here is programming.

Kirstan: Are there activities that you think work well? I know some talk about their jobs here at the institution, which seem like activities, but they're actually learning a lot through them, whether it's cleaning or working for CORCAN or textiles and beading, that sort of thing. Does that go a long way in the rehabilitation as well?

Ashley: Absolutely. I find it really, really nice when you get to walk through, especially some of the beading projects, they want you to buy their beading work, they want to show it off, and they get a lot of pride for that and that helps build their confidence. And you're seeing some of the same things with employment opportunities. Like, just to say to someone, ‘I noticed how good of a cleaning job you've done,’ it's awesome, and then just to kind of see that glow when that happiness that really empowers them and I think it does make a difference. Because everyone likes to hear every once in a while how they're doing.

Kirstan: And do you think that when the offenders have visitors, for example, is it disruptive to the routine or is it, you know, we know that community contacts and family continues to be important, but knowing that sometimes they're separated from them as well, is that difficult after they've had visits to get them back on track?

Ashley: I think it can go both ways for some people. I think it helps centre them and remind them what's important and what's on the outside, and I think for some people it can be hard, especially when you have young ones involved because it's kind of reminding them like, ‘oh, I'm not here for them.’ Of course, we all want to have relationships with our children, but sometimes you'll find, especially like as birthdays and special occasions pass, that sometimes it can hurt and that would be to be expected. But I think overall, those family visits and that community contact is really important because that's what's waiting for you on the outside.

Kirstan: Keeps them motivated.

Ashley: Exactly.

Kirstan: Gives some hope.

Ashley: Yes.

Kirstan: Well, that's great. In terms of tips for new recruits or people that are thinking about joining Correctional Service of Canada, what would be your top three.

Ashley: Top three…

Kirstan: Any advice?

Ashley: One that I always tell my new recruits, which I have right now: trust your gut, always. It will lead you to good sound decisions. It'll kind of alert you to what potentially could happen.

I would say number two: be prepared to work as a team. So, if you're not a team player and you like to work by yourself, then this probably isn't the job for you because we're very reliant on each other and you're working with people all day. So, you're dealing with a lot of different emotions and different personalities and that goes for your coworker and the clientele that we're working with. And I would say number 3 is: make sure that you're in a good place mentally. So have that self-awareness to know when maybe things are a little bit off. Knowing if you're, you know, in the red or you're in the yellow or in the green. And what I mean by that is just knowing when you're kind of just teetering off of that good headspace and when you're really not doing well. Having that self-awareness and knowing what keeps you mentally healthy is super, super critical to being in this job role.
Kirstan: Yeah, and I think that applies to all of us. Really great advice. Thank you so much for your time. That's all for today's episode. If you like this interview, be sure to check out our other Behind the Badge episodes. Thanks again to Ashley for sharing her experiences with us. This has been a production of the Correctional Service of Canada and I've been your host, Kirstan Gagnon. Thanks for listening.