Jody, Correctional Officer

Hi, my name is Jody Johnston. I'm an Acting Correctional Manager here at the Edmonton Institution for Women.

A Primary Worker at the Institution, is, it's a correctional officer here, it's another term for a correctional officer. We work closely with the women. We have caseloads here. We help reintegrate them back into the society successfully. We're in charge of dynamic security here, static security, and just overall, the safety of both the staff and the offenders here at the institution.

I chose this career because law enforcement is actually something I've always been interested in and I want an opportunity to impact some lives and kind of make a change. And that's kind of how I ended up here, I'm actually originally from Ontario, but I got this opportunity to work with the federal government and work with the women offenders, and I thought it'd be challenging and it has been challenging, but it's been rewarding too. So that's kind of how I ended up here.

Yeah, you know, I get a lot of questions, and I'm always happy to answer as much as I can, obviously there is still privacy, but yeah, is it a lot of like bars, and are they all wearing jumpsuits and is it as bad as what you see on TV? And you know, it isn’t, it's actually a pretty good atmosphere here, and it's nothing like you would imagine it. Because I remember coming here, I thought it was going to be a certain way and I was blown away when it was actually a lot different. And and what they do here is really good with all the programs, the schooling, everything. There's a lot of opportunity here for them to reintegrate back and be successful.

I came here and I've always tried to treat people the way I want to be treated myself. I've always been respectful and I've always got respect back, I've never had any issues since being here at the institution. I find that what you put in is what you kind of get back. And at the end of the day, you know, there is a stigma there, and working here has definitely helped me get rid of that stigma because I used to think that all people that committed crimes were bad people, and that's certainly not the case. You know what, people have different upbringings, they came from different cultures, different backgrounds, and it's really opened my eyes to the stigma behind it and really kind of broadened my horizon for sure.

I think the smallest interaction with the women can be huge, and sometimes you don't realize that. Sometimes you go about your day and you don't realize that one simple conversation you might have had with a female offender could change everything.

I love it that every day is different, but it is challenging. You have to be flexible and you have to be willing to adapt, and be a quick thinker.

You know, I've seen a lot of women come in on my caseload that came as maximum security offenders that you get to witness the change and you see them grow and then you see them get day parole, you see them get released and you see the change right before your eyes, so that's kind of nice to see. So I do feel like we do make a difference in the lives of some of the women here, for sure.