Corrections officers honoured for their long-time service

Stephenville - There's been a lot of changes, and many of them for the better, at the West Coast Correctional Centre in Stephenville during the past three decades, according to Rodger Farrell.

Farrell was one of six people who were honoured with long-time service certificates at a special ceremony held at the D.S.B. Fowlow Building of College of the North Atlantic in Stephenville on Friday.

Farrell was there from the start and is looking at retiring this spring. He had 30 years and nine months punched as of this week.

He remembers the opening of the facility back in January of 1978 and the official opening on June 22 of that year.

"There's been a lot of changes during the years, especially with regards to the rights of inmates and their care and custody," said Farrell, who carries out a lot of training for corrections officers.

Lloyd Pitcher, assistant superintendent and instructional head of the facility, said there were some trying times over the years and low morale, especially back in the mid-1990s when there were talks of the centre closing down.

The housing of federal inmates came on in 1996 and really turned things around for the facility, giving it more stability.

Pitcher said today there's lots more training for staff and programs for inmates.

"The days of locking them up and throwing away the key, so to speak, are gone. The focus today is more towards rehabilitation," he said.

Farrell said today staff gets more training in dealing with issues of the inmates, including mental health, addictions and family related issues.

"We've seen morale at the facility go from an extreme low to a high morale," Pitcher said.

He attributes that with the facility being much more program based now. Some of those include the national substance abuse program, associates attitudes and alternatives, anger management, adult basic education, the national employability skills program and Alcoholics Anonymous.

There's a shift to keeping inmates busy through programs, recreation and counselling which Pitcher feels is a better alternative.

Joan Burke, legislature member for St. George's-Stephenville East and the province's Education minister, was on hand to honour the correctional officers and said she had the privilege of working with them.

She said in the recent prison review West Coast Correctional Centre certainly came out on top and she attributed much of that to the people they were honouring on Friday.

"It was due to an air of co-operation and everyone expressing their own views. There is a lot of camaraderie among the staff in Stephenville and they depend on each other," Burke said.

In addition to Farrell, Wayne Alexander, Abe Bennett, Glen McIsaac and Ed Hartley were honoured for 30 years of service. Hector Freake was recognized for 25 years of service.