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The process of bringing the From Corrections Fatigue to Fulfillment (CF2F) class to our Department of Corrections actually developed over a period of almost two years. I will try to provide you with relevant information as I describe the process from my point of view. I was the warden for [name removed] for 4 and-one-half years. During my time in the position, I realized that I had great staff, but I also realized that my employees were under a tremendous strain from the work in an administrative segregation environment. My conversations with other wardens led me to conclude that my employees were experiencing negative life events at a rate that surpassed the employees of other facilities. I had more employees that were involved in worker compensation incidents, more instances of staff needing to use FMLA, and more staff that reported criminal charges from their actions in the community (i.e., DUI, domestic violence, menacing, theft, etc.). By the time I was appointed the warden there, I had [...]

At Desert Waters, we are laser-focused on improving staff wellness. Over the years, we have emphasized strengthening staff’s social health—the quality of their interactions with coworkers and supervisors—as a key pathway to well-being. However, another important contributor is often overlooked in U.S. corrections: the quality of staff’s interactions with incarcerated individuals. This is a controversial topic. Concerns about fraternization and manipulation, along with entrenched “us versus them” cultures, often shut down discussion. Yet the quality of these interactions has a direct impact on staff wellness. Poor-quality interactions create potentially preventable experiences that over time can damage staff’s wellbeing in at least three ways—through: Conflict and the accompanying stress response, which increase physical and psychological strain and the risk of assault Moral injury, due to witnessing or committing acts that violate deeply held values, leading to emotional distress, guilt, and shame, and additional stress responses Loss of meaning and purpose, which erodes job satisfaction and ultimately wounds a person’s spirituality [...]

True system stability in corrections is built not only on policies, procedures, and operational standards, but also on the attitude, morale, and mindset of the professionals who carry out the mission every day. The well-being and resilience of correctional staff—or the lack thereof—directly influence safety, performance, decision-making, and organizational effectiveness. When employees are supported, engaged, and mentally prepared, they are better equipped to manage the complex demands of the profession and contribute to a safe, secure, and productive environment for both staff and those in custody. Across the nation, a pivotal shift is taking place as correctional agencies move beyond long-standing systemic barriers and outdated cultural norms to embrace a more comprehensive approach to staff wellness. Increasingly, correctional leaders recognize that wellness is not a peripheral concern—it is a mission-critical component of operational readiness, workforce sustainability, and institutional success. By recognizing the need to combine strong leadership with personal responsibility and accountability, agencies are beginning to break the cycle [...]

Question: Is it okay for a peer support team member to engage in a romantic relationship with someone they met during a peer support session? Short Answer: No. The first thing to understand about peer support programs in corrections is this: trust is difficult to earn in our profession. Corrections staff are not naturally trusting people—and for good reason. We make people, programs, administrators, and basically everyone prove their trustworthiness before we accept them. In many agencies, we even expect rookies to “prove themselves” through involvement in a critical incident or enduring an assault before they are truly accepted by the team. Peer support programs faced that same uphill battle when they began gaining momentum in corrections over the last decade. The reason is the same reason Employee Assistance Programs often go underutilized: trust. Staff worry that what they share will later be talked about, mocked, weaponized, or used against them in some way. Peer support teams earn credibility [...]

There is a quiet crisis happening in corrections that rarely gets discussed openly. Behind the uniforms, overtime shifts, mandatory holdovers, and hypervigilance is a growing number of strained marriages, fractured families, emotional isolation, and broken trust. Correctional professionals are trained to maintain order inside the walls, but many are slowly losing order at home. For many in corrections, protecting the home front gradually becomes secondary to surviving the job itself. The tragedy is that most officers never intended for that to happen. The Data We Can’t Ignore Research consistently shows that correctional professionals—custody staff, in particular—experience significantly higher levels of stress, trauma exposure, PTSD symptoms, and substance misuse than the general public and even other first responders. Additionally, some research and occupational data suggest that correctional employees may experience marital strain and divorce at rates comparable to—and in some studies higher than—the general population. Findings across studies are mixed, and reported rates vary considerably by occupation, agency, gender, and [...]

Have you ever had the gut-level sense that someone behind you is studying you? (And, no, I’m not saying you may be paranoid!) I had that experience the other day at the grocery store. Instinctively I turned around to see who was looking at me and “caught” a woman in her forties watching me intently. I half-smiled and pushed my cart down the next aisle wondering what might be on her mind. Suddenly she was right next to me again. “Are you the one who cares about corrections officers?” she asked sheepishly. ”You know, Desert…?” I lit up. “”Yes, I am.” She went on. “I recognized you from a photo in an old newsletter that a friend gave me.” “Are you in corrections?” I asked. “No, I’m not, but my husband is. He’s been at it nine years now.” She hesitated for a brief second, her eyes filling with tears. Seeing that, I motioned her to follow me to [...]

On a daily basis Correctional Officers walk into prison, willingly, to walk amongst killers, rapists, pedophiles, abusers—the members of society you would never want to be near your grandmother. They do their job well and protect you from that world, but it takes a toll. It has a cost. These Officers expose themselves to the worst that humans have to offer and never have a second thought that this happens. They see things they would never want others to have to see, but they know they are providing for their family and believe they are doing a small part at keeping their family and neighbors safe even if it is a cost to their own well-being. After their shift is finished and they return home to their family, they must first shed the stink of where they have been, hide the hurt that they endured in their work day, and provide a smile. Pretend that they weren't just in [...]

When I was a staff wellness program administrator for a large state corrections agency, I spent years standing in front of hundreds of staff encouraging them to make time for therapy or counseling—even if they didn’t think they needed it. “Use it as a vaccine against corrections fatigue,” I’d tell them. Predictably, the eye rolls followed. Comments about how EAP was useless weren’t far behind. I expected it. I chalked it up to our culture of toughness: We don’t need help. We don’t do feelings. We definitely don’t do psychobabble. But then came the year when that message—the one I preached so confidently—was put to the test. It was a year of relentless critical incidents. A year of reading gruesome reports, each accompanied by photos that seared themselves into my memory. A year marked by multiple staff suicides and near misses I was directly involved in. A year when my team and I carried the emotional residue of every [...]

Dear Desert Waters, I want to thank you very much for your fine publication. I work in the ________ Department of Corrections as an Officer. I have been employed by the Department for over 25 years now and have had a pretty good career. I have been involved in many extra duties related to my job over the years, one of which currently is with our Critical Incident Response Team which assists staff after Critical Incidents.I have personally been exposed to the typical things you would expect in this type of career and career length. I have ridden the ups and I have ridden the downs of this career choice. It has been a good career for me, and has provided for my wife and me, and for our two sons, who are now grown and out of the house. But there has been a cost. That is why I really get a lot out of your publication. I print [...]

Q: How do I support someone who refuses help but, in my opinion, clearly needs it? A: The most difficult thing you will face as a peer support team member is standing face-to-face with someone who in your estimation clearly needs help—and knowing you can’t fix it. Worse yet, they don’t even want the help. It’s like watching a house burn while you’re holding a hose to a tanker full of water, and the homeowner is yelling, “Get off my lawn.” That tension sits heavy. In corrections, we are problem-solvers by nature—and by necessity. Lives depend on it. So when you see someone struggling and you can’t step in, it goes against every instinct you have. And if you do this work long enough, you’ll learn this truth the hard way: sometimes the job is not to solve the problem. The hardest part of peer support isn’t showing up—it’s walking away without closure. Humans crave resolution. We want the story to wrap [...]