Response to INSIDE LOOKING OUT
I have just returned from Canada where I met with correctional officers with whom I worked at the Toronto East Detention Centre begining back in 1977. Their response to my novel, INSIDE LOOKING OUT, has been intresting. Many officers say they had difficulty with the emotions they experienced while reading my novel.
Some officers have said they sympathized with the lead character, David Evans, as he worked through the trials and tribulations he experienced as an officer in the "Metropolitan Regional Detention Center."
Others have stated they share the experiences of the character, realizing they have also been affected by the work environment of their own institutions and the job they are required to do as correctional officers.
As an author, I am delighted that my description of the work environment, the stress of the job, and the emotional cauldron that is the institution, evokes such vivid responses. But as a former correctional officer, I am saddened that somethings do not seem to have changed over the last three decades since I was first hired.
When I wrote the novel, INSIDE LOOKING OUT, I thought my experiences were unique to me, that I was alone in thinking the way I did about the job. I know now that is not true.
Many officers felt exactly as I did, most handled the experience well enough to be virtually unchanged by the job. A few officers, like myself, now feel the job changed them, making their perspective of the world around them seem unreal compared to the "reality" of the world "behind the pipes" (as inmates often refer to the jail environment).
Post Traumatic Syndrome Disorder, that catch-all phrase often used to define combat soldiers, is no joke; it is real. What's more, it is not confined to those brave men and women on the front lines of our country's armed services. Many professions have members that experience PTSD symptoms; paramedics are particulary vulnerable as are police officers and firefighters. Correctional Officers are also vulnerable to PTSD due to the nature of their work.
Studies indicate women are more prone than men to exhibit PTSD symptoms, that 7 to 8% of the population will exhibit PTSD symptoms in their lives, and 5.2 million people in any given year have PTSD.
I was recently informed by a mental health expert that 31% of correctional officers may exhibit symptoms of PTSD, significantly higher than the public average.
INSIDE LOOKING OUT, is a novel based on my own personal experiences working in provincial jails for nineteen years. I do not pretend to speak for other officers. I have been diagnosed with PTSD and I have heard from former collegues that they also have been diagnosed.
As correctional officers, we are notoriusly tough on ourselves, some might say stubborn, but we have to be. We have to exude a persona that shows we are in complete control no matter what the circumstance. If we lose that veneer of control, we might lose control of those in our charge.
This thinking may be detrimental to our own well being. We need to be ever vigilant regarding our health, for our own sake and for the sake of our loved ones. This we can do by acknowledging the risks of our chosen profession. As the saying goes: forwarned is forearmed.
Stay safe, stay healthy!
Stephen Lonsdale