Allie, Correctional Officer, Dorchester Penitentiary

*(Note the subject in this video is male)

GIVE AND TAKE.

It's a give and take in the sense that sometimes you have an easy shift and sometimes you don't. But that's just the nature of the job. You have to go with the flow, because every day is a different day.

Allie


Correctional Officer

My name is Allie Kabba. I'm a correctional officer. I work at Dorchester Penitentiary.

I'm very fortunate to be with CSC (Correctional Service Canada).
I originally came from West Africa, Sierra Leone.

Working in the prison system sometimes can be difficult. As soon as you enter the building, it's a whole different world. So you have to make sure you stay focused.

As a CO-2, I have 12 inmates on my case load. A typical work day for me as a correctional officer is we make sure that the inmates get their food, get their medication. And we search their cells individually. We search for contraband that will hurt staff and would hurt other inmates. And sometimes we will have to respond to situations.

Offenders, there are so many different personalities. And you have to study human behavior a lot because you're dealing with different people from different places across the country.

Every day I'm always proud to put the CSC uniform on. I always look forward to come to work.

I feel like I'm making a difference in changing lives because as a prison guard, we are preparing offenders to be law-abiding citizens. So that when they go out in public again, they won't do the same mistake that they did before.

CHANGING LIVES.

PROTECTING CANADIANS.