A Soldier’s Journey Into The World Of Corrections

In this candid episode of Diary of an L.E.O., Sterling Brown sits down with a correctional officer who shares his unique journey from military service to life behind the walls of a county correctional facility. With honesty and depth, he explains the realities of working the midnight shift, balancing military reserves with corrections, and the lessons learned from enforcing policy while using judgment in split-second decisions.

The conversation explores:

• The crossover between military structure and corrections.
• The realities of use-of-force, OC spray, and accountability.
• The personal impact of seeing an old childhood friend behind bars.
• The sacrifices of family time due to mandated overtime.
• How corrections shapes character, awareness, and one’s perspective on society.

Listeners will gain an inside look at the often misunderstood world of corrections—its challenges, its parallels to policing, and its human stories. This episode reminds us that one mistake can change the course of a life, and that those working in corrections walk a fine line of discipline, judgment, and resilience every day.

Tune in for a raw, eye-opening conversation about the weight of responsibility, the reality of accountability, and the lessons learned from a profession that operates in the shadows of law enforcement.

The content on Diary of an LEO is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Guest opinions are their own and do not reflect the show. This content is not legal advice. For legal matters, consult a qualified attorney. By listening, you agree to this disclaimer and all disclaimers set by Diary of L.E.O

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Transcript

 Sterling : 0:00
I want to speak to you this evening, officer. How are you?

Soldier : 0:06
I'm doing well. How are you?

Sterling : 0:08
I'm doing great. I want to thank you for coming on the show this evening. What do you do now?

Soldier : 0:13
So, right now I am a correctional officer at a county-level facility. I’ve served in our armed forces for three—going on four—years now. I'm also a certified rifle instructor through the NRA, as well as an RSO.

Sterling : 0:29
So you said that you're in the military as of right now.

Soldier : 0:33
Yes, in the reserve component.

Sterling : 0:35
Okay, so how does that differ? Can you tell us—tell our guests—going into, I guess you would say, paramilitary or civilian-style law enforcement, what would you categorize it as, and what's the difference?

Definitely very, very civilian.

Soldier : 0:52
There is a little bit of crossover when it comes to structure. Our leadership ranks a little bit, with terminology, and some of the verbiage crosses over.

Sterling : 1:04
What drew you to actively being in the military and pursuing a career in corrections versus any other civilian-style law enforcement?

Soldier : 1:14
Well, I think, one, pay. Pay is vital in job searching, especially when you're getting out of the military or leaving at least the active component of it. I wanted to go into kind of a paramilitary structure or something I knew. I wanted to do something in law enforcement—something to keep myself busy, stay active, physically fit—as well as taking some of the knowledge and skills that I learned in the military and bringing that over into a civilian occupation.

Sterling : 1:49
What are some of the roles that you play now? I guess I would say for a correctional officer, or do you have other duties?

Soldier : 1:59
So I am a correctional officer, which is basically maintaining care and custody of inmates and detainees under my care. I have a couple of collateral duties as well. I serve as a firefighter within the prison—on prison grounds—and as a member of our transport. So they have teams in there—special teams.

Sterling : 2:28
Okay. Now, do those teams require specific training? You just can't be a correctional officer and say, “Hey, look, I want to jump on that team,” and you're in. You have to go through training and certification.

Soldier : 2:39
Correct. You have to demonstrate that you're an able and willing member who can contribute to whatever special team you'd like to join.

Sterling : 2:49
Okay. Now, when you became a correctional officer, aside from the initial—did you have to go through any mace or anything like that? Kind of like an—

Soldier : 3:00
Intro education course? Okay. Kind of like an intro education course going in—teaching you the baseline verbiage, policy, use-of-force techniques. You'll experience a couple different exposures to our version of mace or pepper spray—that’s what it’s most commonly referred to. I believe the actual terminology for it is oleoresin capsicum. I can never say it right, but basically the law enforcement issue.

Sterling : 3:36
So basically it's pepper.

Soldier : 3:42
It's pepper—like a high concentration of pepper. Yeah, they take the chemical inside spicy peppers, and they use that in a solution—obviously—to create what we call, like, “devil’s piss,” is something I've heard it referred to a lot—“devil’s piss.”

Sterling : 4:02
That's a new one. I've never heard that before. Have you ever had to use your OC spray?

Soldier : 4:08
Thankfully, I have—

Sterling : 4:09
Let me rephrase that. Have you ever come close to using your OC spray, and what was that like?

Soldier : 4:16
Close—yeah. I definitely don't like to use it at all. There have been times where I would have been justified in doing so, but I'd rather go hands-on and deal with whatever I'm dealing with that way. Obviously, you can expose yourself, as well as anyone else—whether they're other inmates or detainees. And any of your coworkers—any fellow officers—can also get exposed to it as well.

Sterling : 4:59
So, going back—you said this earlier—there’s a force continuum where there's an escalation that you have to verify. It has to be justified, correct, before you—

Soldier : 5:15
You can't just go around macing people.

Sterling : 5:18
Okay, all right—rules we have to abide by.

Soldier : 5:20
Right.

Sterling : 5:22
And if you don't abide by those rules, you actually can be prosecuted. Am I correct?

Soldier : 5:29
Correct.

Sterling : 5:32
Wow. That's heavy. That's heavy.

Sterling : 5:32
Because I think a lot of times the picture we get across America is that, “Hey, look, what happens behind the wall stays behind the wall. Officers are not held accountable.” But that's not true. And I think a lot of that is the less than 1% of officers who do things like that—and eventually it comes out. But for that 99.9%, officers do their job, and they follow this course—as you just said, this force continuum—before they go to that next step and get themselves or others in trouble.

Soldier : 6:11
There's no doubt in my mind that there are some people who abuse the system that's in place. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, I feel like there are a lot of people who are almost scared to act because of the repercussions that they can be held accountable to. So it's definitely—it’s a safe system; it could be safer. But also, if you look at America's correctional institutions and the rules that they're required to abide by—federal and state departments of corrections’ legislature—you'll find that, compared to some other countries, we're very unique and also very controlled in the way and application of not only force, but the way we treat our inmates and those under our care.

So, what would you say was a defining challenge that helped shape your career in corrections?

Sterling : 7:16
What was that moment when you said, “You know what, this is for me?” Or, likewise, you could have said, “You know what, I'm going to be out of here soon.”

Soldier : 7:24
To answer your conversion from the classroom training setting onto the floor: it was very similar to the military in that aspect. I say that because when you go through your basic training schools and then your follow-on specialty school, the people around you will tell you, “Hey, I know you just spent X amount of weeks here, but forget about everything you just learned, because it's useless. You're not gonna need it.”

Sterling : 8:01
Just like that?

Soldier : 8:27
You find out that it's not as black and white as you expected it was going to be, and that in itself is definitely a humbling, changing moment.

Sterling : 8:39
I'm sorry—can you explain that? What do you mean by black and white?

Soldier : 8:39
So, the guidance that we use as correctional officers is written in policy. We have policy that basically dictates how the day is going to go, all the way to how you treat and interact with inmates and detainees. With that being said, those policies aren't really written for much leeway. They're very much black and white: this is how this needs to be done; this is what needs to be done; this is the required or anticipated end state of X situation that occurs.

So, with these policies being so black and white, you realize when you're on the floor that there are so many decisions in between that may not be covered under policy. Because, at the end of the day, policy cares about two things: liability and the desired end state. So there's a lot of empty, dark space in between that needs to be filled, and for you as a correctional officer, it's your on-the-spot judgment that's going to dictate those things—what you do in the moment, in the heat of the moment.

Sterling : 9:52
So I can see corrections has a very distinct parallel to policing, because you have that policy, but you are the one enacting that policy, and you have to make those split-second decisions. I've never had it explained to me like that. That is a great way of viewing it.

So, was the policy one of the things that allowed you to say, “You know what, I'm going to stay in this?” Or—again—what was that defining moment when you said, “You know what, this is for me. I got this.”

Soldier : 10:27
Well, I don't think there is an exact moment. I think there are a few moments that changed the way I think, talk, and weigh decisions. For me, it's definitely the amount of leniency in those policies—but not only that. There are a lot of factors, not only policy, but the way I carry myself, the way I'm respected within the walls by myself, coworkers, and teammates. My checks are pretty nice too—that kind of keeps me around.

Sterling : 11:09
What do you mean by checks?

Soldier : 11:12
Oh—my paycheck.

Sterling : 11:16
Oh, you're talking about bi-weekly. That's a good thing. That would help keep you around too, I would imagine that. So what's a typical shift for you? What happens? I would imagine that—so what's a typical shift for you?

Soldier : 11:28
Like—what happens? I work what's referred to as the graveyard shift. So, for my facility, it's a midnight till 8 a.m. shift. During my shift, not too much goes on, depending on where you're at within the facility. There are definitely some housing units that are very active during those times, and others not so much.

Soldier : 11:55
So it all depends on where you're at in the building. You could be “skating,” as I've heard it referred to—where you're not really doing much; you're kind of just being an overpaid babysitter. And then there are other days where you're very active—going hands-on with many people within that eight-hour period. Sometimes that eight-hour period turns into a 16-hour period, depending on the staffing of the next shift. There is a lot of mandated overtime that comes and goes—which, for those listeners who don't know, is when the next shift does not have the required number of officers to operate properly, so they will mandate that an officer already on shift is required to stay an additional eight hours to meet the complement of the next shift.

Sterling : 12:54
So you're saying—and I'm asking this because our viewers want to know—that facilities have to run 24 hours, seven days a week. Holidays, rain, sleet, snow—it doesn't stop. It's a continuous 24 hours. And, like many facilities, your facility has to be manned, and the manning of that comes at a cost. That cost is that you may not go home after that eight hours; you may be there 16 hours.

Soldier : 13:36
Is that correct?

Soldier : 13:36
One hundred percent. There are definitely some birthdays and some family gatherings—holidays—that have been missed, and that's just part of the job. They let you know right up front in the application.

Sterling : 13:57
It's something that you just have to be able to deal with. When you re-interact with the community, has that interaction changed since you've become a correctional officer—and, if so, how?

Soldier : 14:12
Yeah, it definitely has. It makes you more aware. It really makes you challenge the character of the people you're around.

Sterling : 14:22
What do you mean by that—challenge the character of the people you're around? You said “challenge the character.”

Soldier : 14:23
What do you mean by that? Challenge the character?

Soldier : 14:23
Every day you go into work, you're seeing the worst of society. You are seeing your community's rejects—societal rejects. Taking that into society, you start to see certain people and the way they act and react to situations that really define who they are.

Soldier : 14:49
Because, at the end of the day, someone like myself—or someone like you—understands that our abilities are confined by societal rules, and there are certain things that people like me and you are not willing to do because we hold ourselves to a standard. Everyone's going to judge you by your past. Everything you've ever done to this day is what makes you you: all those memories, good and bad; all those experiences you’ve had; every place you've gone; everything you've learned. When you say that—and when you carry that—when you talk about it—

Sterling : 15:31
That defines you as a man or woman. I like how you said that. That defines you as a man or a woman.

Soldier : 15:39
That was deep—that was powerful. What you know and what you can do shows value to other people. For example, if you're a mechanic and you've done this for 10 years and you have certificates from schools you've been to, that’s going to portray a level of trust and confidence in your ability, because you have that experience and training—those certificates that I'm going to associate with knowledge and experience. Everything you've ever done to this day will define you.

And take that into the correctional world: when you see someone you could have sat on—someone you saw within the confines of the facility—and now they're back in the outside world, now you get to truly see who they are. Because you saw them at what some people might say is their lowest point. But now they got out of that—they might have hit rock bottom—but what are they doing now?

Soldier : 16:40
Are they now fixing your car at the local automotive shop? Or do you see them walking down the street with a dime bag or an unregistered firearm? Or in the park with a bottle in a brown paper bag? You start to really see and judge them by their character.

Sterling : 17:06
Do you believe that you're making a positive impact on these individuals—to have a positive impact on the society that they're hoping to get back out into?

Soldier : 17:20
Well, I'll start off by saying that, one, that isn't my job. My job isn't rehabilitation of inmates. I'm solely there to maintain their care and custody and to ensure their safety while they're in the facility. But, as you already know—and the listeners probably don't—most correctional facilities are moving toward that rehabilitative state, having those capabilities to get there. So I think it's a good step for corrections. It's in the right direction. I think some of the route that at least my facility has taken might not be the best one, but it is a step in the right direction.

Soldier : 18:12
Going into corrections kind of changed the way I feel about myself. One thing you find out very quickly is how little it takes to be on the other side of the bars—how easy it is for you to make a mistake. I think that was probably the biggest lesson I've learned in corrections. Something so little—and the way I word it so that it makes sense for everyone to understand—is that we're all criminals. We all do illegal things every day—many of us just don't get caught. We don't obey the speed limit every day.

I remember I was going through the academy, and the sergeant asked us in class—

Sterling : 19:05
He says, “How many of you obey the speed limit?” And this one particular person raised their hand, and he says, “You're a liar.” I about fell out of my chair. He says, “Even if you don't do it on purpose, you exceed it sometimes. That's breaking a law. Everyone does.”

Soldier : 19:33
Everyone accidentally drives by a school on their way—with a concealed firearm. Everyone does it.

Sterling : 19:43
Or who's the one to say, “I found $100 on the floor,” and they raise it up in the air and say, “Does this belong to anybody?”

Soldier : 19:51
I think it's important—not only to the correctional officer but to the public in general—especially when we're doing our jobs, to remember that it's one mistake and you can easily be on the other side of the force.

Sterling : 20:07
Now, we've had conversations, so I'm going to let everyone know that you're a very dear friend of mine, and we've had some conversations. You were just speaking about how easy it is to be on the other side. There was a personal moment that you shared with me. Can you expound on that?

Soldier : 20:32
I think the most personal moment I've ever had in corrections was one day I was working in our hole—or kind of our, you know, where the “bad guys” go—where the inmates who cannot follow society's rules and can't follow our rules go. So I get there and settle into the area, and I'm going around doing my rounds.

Soldier : 21:02
Now, for rounds—as you might know from movies and TV shows—that's when you go and count all your inmates, check on them, make sure they're not doing anything they're not supposed to, not having anything they're not supposed to, and make sure they're here and alive. We do this pretty frequently—two to three times an hour—but that was my first one for the night. It's the first thing I like to do whenever I get to where I'm going. Since I work the night shift, I had to take a flashlight with me because all the lights are off and it's dark.

To paint a picture for the audience: think of your home door. On either the left or right side—two or three inches below the top of the door down to around the middle of the door, maybe a little higher—and about the average width of a man's hand, that area is like a glass pane (plexiglass). That's our window. It allows inmates some privacy but also gives us an avenue to look in and make sure they're okay, without having them monitored with cameras in their cell 24 hours a day—no one wants that. So it's kind of the best meet-in-the-middle.

I'm going in and doing my rounds. Because I don't like to throw my bright flashlight in their eyes—whether they're trying to sleep or whatever—I like to point it high to the ceiling and let the light reflect down, so it's a middle ground: I don't blind them, and I can still see. I'm checking and counting, and since I can't see in until I get to the window and turn my light on, there's an inmate standing on the other side of his door, looking right out the window. As I'm walking up, I don’t notice this until I shine the flashlight in there. I shine it and I see someone I used to know—someone from my childhood. Someone I used to play ball with down at the courts. Someone I used to spend a lot of time with. I didn't recognize him at first, but he recognized me.

Soldier : 23:35
In the correctional facility, we go by our last name, with the title “Officer”—Officer X, and so on. But this inmate called me by my first name. That definitely caught me off guard—seeing him, hearing his voice, hearing him say my first name. It was shocking—far out of the ordinary—definitely not what I was expecting that night, especially since I had woken up like two hours earlier and was still trying to wake up.

Then it clicked. I saw through the changes in his physical appearance and realized who I was standing in front of. I called him by his name and asked, “Hey, are you okay? Are you all right?” He said, “Yeah, I'm good.” We conversed for a few seconds. Obviously I had to continue to do my job, but I wanted to make sure he was okay. I think he was, for the most part. Being in that confined unit can be mentally challenging on top of facing whatever you're facing on the legal side. I wanted to make sure he was okay, and that was the answer I got.

So I finished my round and, out of curiosity—curiosity kills the cat—I immediately went to my computer and looked up what he was being charged with. Obviously, for his privacy, I won't put that out there. As I looked it up, not only seeing him on that side of the bars—someone I grew up with, someone I was outside with as a kid, someone I've known for years, someone whose family I’ve met, someone whose mother loved and adored me—

Sterling : 25:37
Wow. So when you said you knew his family—you knew his mom, everyone?

Soldier : 25:49
Yeah—the full nine yards—Thanksgiving dinner.

Soldier : 25:49
The second realization that night was when I realized that this building would be the last place I would ever see him. His charges were so severe that he will most likely be confined for the majority of his human life.

Sterling : 26:09
That's heavy. What do you do with that emotion? What do you do with that whole process? How does that work for you?

Soldier : 26:19
It's just something you have to accept for what it is. There's nothing I can change, nothing I can bargain, nothing I can do.

Sterling : 26:31
If someone was interested in working in corrections, is there a criteria where you'd say, “This is for you,” or, “This is not for you?” I think we kind of hit on that in a different conversation in the past, but I'm asking you—what would you say?

Soldier : 26:55
I feel everyone who is physically and mentally able should give it a try. Corrections is a very gatekept sector of law enforcement that doesn't come up very often. Not a lot of people talk about it, with most public focus on police and their conduct because they’re such a publicly known and seen figure of law enforcement. Not many think and talk about corrections. I think it's like the redheaded stepchild of the big three. But if you're able, give it a shot. You'll find out very quickly if it's meant for you—or not.

What are some things you would definitely not want to do around other officers—or particularly inmates—going in?

Don't talk about your personal life. It's not that no one cares, but there's a sense of security in anonymity. Avoid talking about family, where you live, how you live, how old you are, your first name, your social media, the kind of car you drive—things that can identify you and segregate you from the rest of the bunch. Keeping that locked away can provide a shell of safety against anyone wanting or trying to harm you. Because, at the end of the day, you are going to make enemies regardless—whether you work in the courts, on the streets, or inside the facility. No matter where you work, you're going to make enemies because, at the end of the day, if you're not, it means you're not doing your job right. I'll say that again: if you're not making enemies when you’re working on the streets or in the courts, you’re not doing your job right. Doing your job means making sure you are safe, the people you’re entrusted to take care of are safe, and the people you work with are safe. That’s going to come at the cost of the liberty and the happiness of the people around you and the people you take care of.

Sterling : 29:29
Well, there we go. Is there anything else that you would like to share from your experience in corrections or the military that you would want our guests to hear? And I'm going to say right now—I love having you on the show. I know there are going to be more episodes with you on the show, but for right now, is there any other information that you would like to share with them?

Soldier : 29:57
Stay physically fit. Stay mentally able. Those are the two things that are going to keep you running—keep the machine pumping—as a man or woman. Stay fit, stay focused, and just take care of yourself. No one's going to do it for you as well as you're going to do it for you. No one's going to take care of you as well as you are going to take care of you.

Sterling : 30:17
I want to thank you, on behalf of Diary of an LEO, for coming on our show, sharing with us your experience and your thoughts. I want you to be safe out there, and I want you to take care of yourself—your mental, your physical. Stay fit and stay in the game. Thank you very much.

Soldier : 30:37
Thank you. Thanks for having me on. It's been a pleasure. I love being able to give back to the community, so thank you for the opportunity.