By John Hill
Providence Journal
PROVIDENCE — The Department of Corrections wants to see more women in prison — as correctional officers, that is.
With the end-of-Tuesday deadline to apply for the next training academy session, the department made a final recruiting push for females Thursday evening at the Community College of Rhode Island, with a panel of nine women in jobs that ranged from corrections officer to warden, talking about their careers and work in the traditionally male profession.
Carole Dwyer, the warden of the women’s prisons who has also been warden of the men’s minimum-security unit, said the job isn’t for everyone.
“If your feelings get hurt easily,” she said, “it will be extremely difficult.”
Though department regulations require that at least 51 percent of officers assigned to the women’s units be female, women are regularly assigned to men’s prison sections.
For those who can handle it, the eight women on the panel told an audience of more than a hundred women, the job can provide opportunities in fields such as emergency medical care, psychology, statistics and record keeping, and criminal investigation.
Full story: R.I. Department of Corrections looking for female officers