ABSTRACT
PUSHED INTO PRISON Jacobs and Retsky found that some correction officers in an Illinois prison took their jobs after periods of unemployment, layoffs or because an injury prevented them from pursuing their former occupations.1 This sequence appears to hold for many of the Auburn officers as well, with one-half indicating that job security was a primary factor in their recruitment (see Table 5, Appendix D). After experienc ing the ups and downs of the local private sector economy, these men were willing to take a chance on an unknown occupation to obtain the long-term security and fringe benefits attached to a state civil service position. As some officers described their situations:
I saw myself as a young man with a family, but I couldn’t see any future in the local factories with the strikes and such. I talked with people about the civil service. I had some friends in the department and they mentioned the job. Back in the 60s the pay wasn’t that good, but it had security.
