You worked corrections I assume? Fuck that must be a tough gig?
Yep, and I still do. Definitely wish I would have made a different career choice, but it is what it is. The job itself (I work at a Medium facility) isn't too bad. You have A LOT of down time however, which some people find difficult to cope with. There is actually an expression of "bored is good". Meaning if you're bored out of your mind, at least nothing crazy is happening! LOL
The biggest issue is the uncertainty that anything "could" happen at anytime. At my facility, major issues rarely happen, but they still do happen from time to time. I think the idea of not knowing what could happen is most guys biggest stresser.
Now that I have quite a bit of time in the department and am in my mid 30's, I could never do something else. Mostly because I'm used to having a lot of time off! Most CO's typically work two 16 hour shifts in a row (It can be either 7am-11pm, 3pm-7am, or 11pm-3pm) and then have 4 days off. You also have six 11 day vacations every year on top of this.
Combining this with the good pay for rural NY (I made $80k last year salary) and could have made well over 100K if I wanted to do overtime. In rural NY, it's the best job by far other than being a State Trooper.
It sounds like I am hyping this job up, but I am definitely not! I would NOT recommend for anyone to get into this field, especially in 2020! The rates of alcohol/drug abuse are extremely high. It's almost like being a drunk is celebrated among officers, with guys constantly talking about boozing and everyone just assumes that everyone else in the room is the same way LOL!
Needless to say I wish I would have continued my education and done something I really liked, but I didn't even know what the f*ck I wanted to do at the time! LOL Regardless, life could be way way worse.