ABSTRACT
Women’s rise in the correctional system makes for fascinating narratives that describe the obstacles overcome and the many challenges but also rewards for working in this male-dominated field. This chapter builds on professional narratives of juvenile officers and wardens of women’s and men’s prisons who have done well and of biographical accounts of correctional officers who have had major challenges and setbacks. Like female police officers, women in correctional work have had to endure a great deal of sexual harassment, especially in prisons holding male inmates. The turnover rate is high as a result; yet others have risen through the ranks into administration, and their knowledge of the difficulties of the job gives them an understanding of the women they supervise, of the unique boundary issues and pitfalls. That women have a tremendous contribution to make to the field of corrections is a major theme of this chapter; in counseling as well as probation and parole work, female professionals can humanize the treatment that their clients receive and help them turn their lives around.
