95: Reflections on Correctional Leadership and Growth: A Year in Review - 2024

Unlock the secrets of successful correctional leadership as we recap an incredible year for the Prison Officer Podcast. We've reached new heights by launching on YouTube, and growing our audience worldwide.  I tackle pressing issues like staffing challenges, emphasizing the crucial role of a positive workplace culture that prioritizes safety, leadership, and growth. By fostering an environment of trust and teamwork, leaders can unlock potential and drive innovation within their teams.

As we reflect on a year of growth and connection, our gratitude for your support knows no bounds. The holiday season serves as a reminder to nurture personal relationships and leave workplace stress behind, cherishing the support of family and loved ones. We are eager to continue this journey with you into 2025, featuring more fascinating stories and individuals from the corrections field. Warm holiday wishes to everyone in our community—your enthusiasm fuels our passion, and we can't wait to bring you more compelling content in the new year.

Leadership Field Manual For Correctional Professionals by Bryan Antonelli

Guard: A True Story of Duty, Sacrifice, and Leadership in Kentucky's Maximum Security Penitentiary by Phillip Parker

Trained To Change: The Unfortunate and Unintentional Consequences of the Correctional Curriculum by William Young

Keys to Your New Career: Information and Guidance to Get Hired and Be Successful as a Correctional or Detention Officer by Michael Cantrell

PepperBall
From crowd control to cell extractions, the PepperBall system is the safe, non-lethal option.

OMNI
OMNI is cutting-edge software designed to track inmates and assets within your prison or jail.

Command Presence
Bringing prisons and jails the training they deserve!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Chapters

• 0:00 Prison Officer Podcast Recap and Future
• 11:53 Correctional Leadership and Challenges
• 28:31 Building Trust and Team Culture
• 33:07 Holiday Season Reflection and Gratitude

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:34

Hello and welcome back to the Prison Officer Podcast. My name is Mike Cantrell and today's episode. I got a bunch of topics to cover but we're going to kind of do a rundown of 2024 about the podcast, about corrections and I got a few other things to throw in there. But I've done this I think almost every year, year where we've talked about how the podcast is doing and maybe talk a little bit about corrections as a whole, where it's going A lot of changes. This year I think there's going to be a lot of changes coming up in corrections. But let me start off with the podcast.

Speaker 1: 1:15

It was a good year for us Grew. It was a good year for us Grew. You know it was a good year for us. We've grown quite a bit. You know it was a good year for us here at the Prison Officer Podcast. We've grown quite a bit. If you aren't aware, the Prison Officer Podcast is now on YouTube, so that was a big step for us this year. It was also quite a bit more work to to post to multiple platforms. Now we're doing the audio and the video. So that does take a little bit of extra work but I think it's worth it.

Speaker 1: 1:48

A lot of people are using YouTube, uh, to tune into the prison officer podcast. Um, if you've been over there on YouTube, do me a favor, reach up and hit that subscribe button. That does help us in paying for some of the bills and stuff that have to do with having and building and creating and keeping a podcast. So if you can reach up there and just hit that subscribe button, I'd appreciate it a lot. Um, so far, since we came up on YouTube, we've had 25,000 views on there, which is really exciting. I like that, and on YouTube you can listen to the audio podcast if that's what you want to do, if you're driving, or you can listen and watch the video podcast. So multiple options there. Both of them are uploaded, so scoot on over to YouTube the Prison Officer channel and check that out.

Speaker 1: 2:52

One of our podcast hosts that gives us updates and gives us analysis of traffic and stuff is Spotify, and so I just thought I'd let you know if you you know, spotify said this year we've had 48% new followers, which is really cool. 70% of our listeners are new listeners, so I'm glad to have them on board from all over the country, and I know that because the Prison Officer Podcast on Spotify has been streamed in more than 40 countries this year and on Spotify we are one of the top 10 shows for 884 of those fans. We're the number one show for 143 of those fans, so that's really nice. And people have rated us on Spotify. We have a 4.6 rating, which I'm happy with that. Apparently, the people that listen are mostly enjoying this podcast, and so that makes us happy. But, as well as, like we talked about with YouTube, if you're on Spotify, go ahead and click that like, click that, follow. It helps us a lot.

Speaker 1: 4:03

Now, our main host where I've hosted since I started this is Buzzsprout, and right now the Prison Officer podcast is in the top 25% of all Buzzsprout podcasts, so that's really a great thing. I'm happy about that. All Buzzsprout podcasts so that's really a great thing. I'm happy about that. We've been downloaded in 67 countries on Buzzsprout, which is just unreal. I never expected that when I started the podcast. I knew there was corrections other places, but I just never thought of it on that global scale. So it's really cool that 67 countries have downloaded us and, matter of fact, the number one city that tunes into the Prison Officer podcast is Melbourne, australia. Now that doesn't mean there's not other cities in the US and that the US is the number one listenership, but, as far as cities, melbourne Australia tunes in more than any other city by itself of the 67 that listened to us on Buzzsprout.

Speaker 1: 5:03

So, um, what do we got coming up? So in 2025, I've already got some guests lined up and I'm excited about uh getting them in here and getting them interviewed. And, uh, one of them is Dan scene. He is the St Charles. Uh, one of them is Dan scene. He is the St Charles. Uh Missouri County jail administrator, and we talked to him a little bit while we were at the Missouri corrections association conference. Uh, so I really am excited to get him in there. He's passionate about what he does, he's passionate about corrections, and so I'm looking forward to having a longer conversation with him and learning a little bit more. Um, we're also going to have a talk.

Speaker 1: 5:44

The other day by email to uh Phillip Parker. He is, uh the author of guard and uh, that's one that's a new book that's out there, and he was a Kentucky state penitentiary Warden for many, many, many years and back in the 70s, 80s, 90s, I think, even up into the 2000s. So I just started that book. A couple of days ago I got it back in on Amazon. I'm trying to get it read before we have the interview, but I'm really excited to have him on here, hear about the book, hear about the journey he took, and so we'll have him on here hear about the book, hear about the journey he took, and so we'll have him on after the first of the year.

Speaker 1: 6:24

I've also got a CERT team leader, connor Fredericks. I've got him lined up. We're going to do an interview. We're going to talk about a lot of stuff with him. He's been leading CERT teams out there, seen a lot and was recently attacked. So I'm interested to hear his story, hear how that went. I know that he's back to work and he's okay, but anytime one of the correctional officers or jail officers is attacked, that's very traumatic. It's traumatic for that person, it's traumatic for the shift, and so we'll hear more from him. So that's some of the stuff coming up in January and February next year. I've got a couple of other emails out to a few people and we'll be talking to them also.

Speaker 1: 7:17

I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about my sponsors. They're what keep us going on here. Like I said, it does cost a little bit to do this, Of course, my first sponsor that I had, and they're still a sponsor with us and I'm also a master instructor for them, so it's nice to be able to have them on board and support me. I mean, they support me at work as an instructor, but it's nice to have them on the podcast and have them support me here. You know, and and this year was full of examples of how good pepper ball is you know, um, it's a non-lethal platform. You can use it to deescalate and overcome almost any use of force challenge. There's just so many things and a lot of new stuff. I mean, you've got to take a look at the new launchers, new glass breakers, which gives us a whole new way to utilize these systems, these launchers, and another way to engage those suspects, those inmates that aren't being compliant, and um, so go over to wwwpepperballcom, take a look at the new launchers that came out this year and the new stuff that Pepperball is offering, and, uh, tell them. I said hi.

Speaker 1: 8:36

Um, I've also got to talk about, uh, omni, omni real-time locating system. It's a company that I'm part of. I've been working with them for several years and this has been a big year. Everything's moving, everything's going. We've got that real-time locating system Inside several jails this year. It's the best way to track and record the locations and interactions of all your inmates, all your assets. I've noticed that a couple of the agencies that have brought in Omni, you know they're looking at the fact that we can monitor a heart rate and we can tell when that drops too low or when it goes too high. You know, in custody deaths are becoming such a hot topic in corrections. Fentanyl is a big part of that and with the Omni RTLS we can tell you the moment, within three times a second, when somebody's heart rate changes or drops off. So that's been a big thing. But new agencies coming online every month with Omni and if you want to set up a meeting with us from your agency, reach out to wwwomnirtlscom. That's omnirtlscom.

Speaker 1: 9:55

And then finally, I guess all of this has happened this year with command presence. So I took a position as an instructor, as the director of training for corrections for command presence, and this year we've developed a lot of new classes. They're designed for corrections by corrections, they're taught by corrections classes. They're designed for corrections by corrections, they're taught by corrections. So this isn't a law enforcement class that we're going to bring to your jail or prison and and modify just for corrections. These classes are put together with corrections in mind and we've got several of them out there. We've had a. It's been a great year. I've got to teach several of them already and I'm just excited about the response we've had and what people are getting out of these classes. So go on over to command presencenet, wwwcommandpresencenet, and check them out.

Speaker 1: 10:54

A couple other things I want to talk about is I got some books for you to read this year. Okay, of course I mentioned Philip Parker. You can go on Amazon. Of course I'll put all these books in the show notes so you can go down there and click on them and it'll take you to them. But his book Guard I mean I'm about a third of the way into it. It's about Kentucky State Penitentiary. It's about Kentucky State Penitentiary, his life, starting and becoming a correctional officer in that environment, and for me who started at Missouri State Penitentiary, there's a lot in that book that resonates with me. I went through a lot of the same things that he talks about. So it's been a very good book so far and I would definitely recommend it. And it's called guard and when you get inside the book you'll see why he calls it guard. He talks about that Um, but it's definitely a worth a read.

Speaker 1: 11:54

Uh, another book out this year is by a friend of mine that I used to work with at the Bureau of Prisons, brian Antonelli. He has put out the Leadership Field Manual for Correctional Professionals and I can't think of a better person to write that book. You know Brian has been around corrections longtime warden. He knows corrections. He knows how to lead people. He's often been used to come in and where there were problems and he does a great job of identifying the challenges, working together with the people and bringing them on board and getting that going. He's definitely someone who can write about leadership and knows about it. So if you'll check that out in the link, leadership Field Manual for Correctional Professionals by Brian Antonelli.

Speaker 1: 12:47

Another one that came out this year that I'm excited about a friend of mine. We've had him on the podcast William Young. He's from the Justice Corrections podcast. He wrote Trained to Change the Unfortunate and Unintentional Consequences of the Correctional Curriculum and I got to read that book. I got to read it before it came out. He let me have a copy so that I could take a look at it. A very insightful book, coming from kind of a different thought process than we've had before. Why do we do some of the things we do? And you know he talks about how we're taught that not only from each other and from the people already in the agency, but a lot of the agency training is set up to take our feelings and we suppress them and that causes a lot more problems. And if you don't know any of William Young's stuff, he's really into officer wellness and he's got a few other books out there but I'll put some links to them. But check it out Train to Change the Unfortunate and Unintentional Consequences of the Correctional Curriculum. That's by William Young at the Just Correction podcast. And if you haven't listened to his podcast, I love his podcast. It's so full of excitement and he gets so passionate about it. I love I click over there all the time just to listen to him.

Speaker 1: 14:11

And one more book finally, and this one is by me, if you had looked at the career guide the Prison Officer Podcast Career Guide I've done some updating and changed it around a little bit. It is now called the Keys to your New Career. Keys to your New Career Information and Guidance to Get Hired and Be Successful as a Correctional or Detention Officer. And you know I sat down. I put a lot of my thoughts into what I saw. I put a lot of my thoughts into what I saw not only hiring people, reviewing resumes, and just some common sense stuff on how to get hired in corrections, how to excel in corrections and how to make this a long-term career. So it also in the back of that book I have an appendix that lists all 50 state agencies and their minimum requirements. So if you're looking to get into corrections, this is a great book and the feds are in there and I've got some. Some of the big county jails are in there. So if you want that information, if you're looking to get into corrections and you want to know how to be a good correctional officer, that's definitely a book for you to pick up and I'll have the link also in there.

Speaker 1: 15:23

So what? Let's talk about the end of the year for corrections, of course. You know I teach. I don't know how many classes I taught this year 25, 30 classes across the country and we talk about a lot of the same things. You know I start most of my classes. With what challenges are you guys dealing with? And the reason I do that is so that we can have a conversation and hopefully I can bring information to them and guidance to them in the class to help them overcome some of those challenges.

Speaker 1: 15:58

And of course, the number one challenge is staffing. You know recruitment and retention. That's a tough one, it's hard. You know people are throwing money at this, but it's not necessarily always money. I'm sure you guys have read somewhere that people don't leave because of money. They leave because there's no passion or they leave because of their bosses. There's so many other things that people don't leave because of money. They leave because there's no passion or they leave because of their bosses. There's so many other things that people leave for. People will stay and make less money in a job they care about. When they're working with people and under a leader who they care about, they'll stay. So how do we correct that?

Speaker 1: 16:37

And that's a question I get a lot and the number one thing I can say is culture. It's got to be culture. Take a look at the culture at your jail. Take a look at the culture in your prison. Are people? Do they feel safe? And I don't mean safe physically, although that's part of it. We all want to feel safe. And I don't mean safe physically, although that's part of it. We all want to feel safe. We all want to feel like when we have an idea, you know, the boss isn't just going to bat it down. We want to feel like when we need a little help, there's people there that'll step over and help us and we can help them. That's the kind of safe I'm talking about, not just the emotional safe, not just the safe from violence, although that matters. If you don't feel like you can go to work without getting hurt, that's not going to be a place you want to be. But I'm talking about is the leadership making this a place where you can excel, where you can get training, where you can apply that training, where you can use your skills. Believe it or not, that's what most people want to do. They have skills and they want to use them and they want to be successful.

Speaker 1: 17:52

And so many times these days and it's been going on for a long time I think Corrections has always had this a little bit. We tend to, when somebody makes a mistake, just slap them down, and we've got to get away from that. Mistakes are mistakes. Now, if somebody does something and they do something that is immoral, illegal, that hurts others, then absolutely let's deal with that and deal with it harshly. But when somebody makes a mistake, why do we have to bring the hammer down every time? Why don't we bring them in, help them, give them whatever it is that they were missing that caused that mistake? For those of you, leaders who have not read Extreme Ownership, it should start with you. If you have employees who aren't doing what you need and who are repeatedly doing the same things wrong, that's not on the employees, that's on the leader. So let's take a little self-reflection. Let's figure out what it is that we're not providing. Let's figure out what it is that we can give them to make them successful and to let them use the skills that they have.

Speaker 1: 19:14

What else is big? Right now there's an article coming out in Corrections 1 that I recently wrote on mental health. Mental health is, of course, mental health in society has grown, so of course the amount of mental health inmates that we have now has also grown. The amount of inmates on medications has also grown, so this is becoming a real challenge. We also have the challenge of mental health professionals looking outside of corrections for a place to work and with society having a mental health crisis also. So many people going to therapists, so many people on medication, so many people needing help and wellness help. A lot of the people who would normally be working inside our prisons and doing mental health work are working on the street, which it's hard to blame them. You can work in an office out here, you can see, you know, a few patients a day, or you can come inside and deal with some of the worst mental health. So it's harder getting people inside our prisons and we've got more mental health to take care of and that combination is a big challenge for a lot of places.

Speaker 1: 20:37

I think our jails even more so than our prisons, because so many of the people they're dealing with, the inmates they're dealing with they'll go out on the street, feel like they don't need the medications that they were on, come off of them, and now you're dealing with a person who is out of control. Or they go out on the street and they try to self-medicate through illegal medications or illegal drugs, and now you're dealing with that. You know, detox, alcohol, drugs coming into our jails and the people who are on those is a daily fight for our jail officers. So, um, what else? Well, the BOPs had a really tough year. The Bureau of Prisons Um, you know, just last week they they talked that they're closing six federal camps and they're also going to close. Unfortunately, one of the uh? Uh has a lot of name recognition right now is fci dublin, because there's been a lot of uh staff sexual assaults and a lot of charges and people who went to jail, including the warden and uh. So that's been going on for a couple of years and they're going to go ahead and close that facility, which is probably a very smart plan.

Speaker 1: 21:58

Another thing that came out last week Rikers Island. They're taking a look at a federal takeover of Rikers Island because of the conditions there. I don't know a lot about that situation. I mean, I just know what I read. I mean, I just know what I read, but the fact that you've got the federal government taking over such a large jail that's been around for a long time is very worrisome. What's going on there, you know, is this political? Is it a lack of leadership? It's the leaders that are missing something. So I wonder a lot about what's going on there, but that could happen pretty soon and who knows what kind of changes are coming. You know the change in administration.

Speaker 1: 22:50

January 20th you may be getting new administrations across the board in several areas, so we'll see. I think there's going to absolutely be a change in who they put in these top positions and I just hope that they're going to bring back leaders who understand the challenges of corrections. As I look out across corrections and I look at a lot of the people in the last few years who've been put in the top positions, I see people who didn't come up through the ranks. I see people who didn't work a lot in prison. They may have been attached to a prison a budget analyst, a psychologist but they weren't working day in and day out in the workings of a prison and I don't believe that a lot of them understand what it takes and I think that's where some of our problems are coming from. That's just me, but that's kind of what I see and I'm hoping we get some administrators with some experience. I hope they reach back in there and grab people there's a lot of people out there with good ideas, there's a lot of people out there with experience and bring them on board and let them start leading these agencies and I'm not picking on anyone. There's a lot of agencies that need leadership right now and, uh, I'm, I'm really hoping for some changes there. You know, um, let's see what else I think that's about it, except, um, you know I'm I'd like to give you a closing thought, and we need leaders who truly understand the essence of leadership.

Speaker 1: 24:20

As I look across the corrections landscape, I see too many individuals who treat leadership as a game of hopscotch, and what I mean is they hop from one job to the next. They're looking for the next political appointment, they're looking for how they can promote themselves right, and I see that across the board out there, and a lot of this is being done on the backs of their colleagues. You know, we talk about having a corrections family, we talk about being there for each other, a corrections family. We talk about being there for each other, but if we've got leaders who aren't part of that, it causes a whole cycle of problems. It gets rid of the trust, and once you don't trust your leaders and they don't trust you because they don't know you or because that trust has just broken down, once that happens, we're not working together well anymore. This self-serving approach undermines the fundamental principles of true leadership.

Speaker 1: 25:29

A true leader does not simply climb the ladder of success alone, but brings others along on the journey. Genuine leadership is about empowering and uplifting those around you, fostering a culture of collaboration, trust and mutual respect. Look around where you're at, do you have that? And if you don't, why not? And if you're a supervisor and we had this discussion last week in class the supervisor in the middle wanted to know you know, I'm not the administration, I'm not the officer how do I change this? So let me say this you are an example. You're an example every single day, up and down the ladder. The only thing you have to decide is are you a good example or a bad example? Right? The leaders above you see the example you set. Those below you see the example you set. And that example, if you live that, if that's who you are, that's going to be followed. People are going to look at that. They're going to see that's going to be followed. People are going to look at that. They're going to see that that's genuine and they're going to imitate it because it works.

Speaker 1: 26:41

So, building that culture of collaboration and trust, that's what you can do? Do you trust your employees? That's a hard thing for a lot of correctional people to do. The correctional supervisors Do you delegate? And if you don't, why not? Because you're scared that you'll delegate that to someone and they won't do it exactly the way you want it and then maybe they make a mistake. Oh dear Lord, somebody made a mistake and now you're in trouble. Is that where the fear comes from? How about if we stop making mistakes horrible things and start making them what they are, which are learning opportunities? I'm not talking intentional, I'm talking a true mistake. That should never be a career killer. A mistake shouldn't be a career killer. It should be a moment of growth, and the only way that people get the chance to make mistakes is if their supervisors let them Give them opportunities, Find the skills that they're good at and put them in a position to where they can use those skills to succeed and to build up the entire organization In corrections. This is extremely critical. Leaders must be role models of integrity and empathy. You know we've got to guide our teams through complex decisions, challenging environments, and a true correctional leader must inspire confidence, motivate others to strive for excellence and create an atmosphere where everyone feels valued and supported.

Speaker 1: 28:32

Now, I came into corrections a long time ago ago and I can tell you I had some, uh, some of those captains, some of those lieutenants at the state. Um, you'd think they were drill sergeants, you know, if they were up in your face. Um, they were, they were just. You know, it wasn't a touchy-feely time but at the end of the day, when I walked out of Missouri State Pan, or when I walked out of Leavenworth here's what I knew. I knew that those captains and lieutenants would do anything in the world to get through that door, to get through that wall to help me if I needed it right. I knew that, although I might get read the riot act, I might um, you know, I might get called names that people aren't. Even it would put you in HR these days, even though that might happen.

Speaker 1: 29:29

If I went out and made a decision on my own, trying to do the right thing, I wasn't going to get fired for it. I wasn't going to get let go. It wasn't going to affect my career forever. They gave me opportunities to make mistakes and I made a bunch of mistakes. I still make mistakes. Anybody that says they don't is lying. But that's what I'm talking about when I say build a culture.

Speaker 1: 29:59

When I say build trust, your employees have to trust you, and this goes for wardens down to everybody else also. Do your employees trust you as a warden, as a superintendent, as a jail administrator, as a warden, as a superintendent, as a jail administrator? Do they know that they have the ability to try new things, to have new ideas? Do they have the opportunity to take policy and apply it and not be ran out on a rail if they make a mistake? You want recruitment, you want retention. This is what we've got to do. We've got to build these teams.

Speaker 1: 30:47

I remember days when lieutenants or captains and we'd rotate a shift and other people would rotate with that supervisor. Because we were teams, we understood that they were there to take care of us. They were there to protect us. I felt safe at work. Do your employees feel safe at work? Do your employees feel safe to bring you ideas? Do you get a lot of questions during the day?

Speaker 1: 31:18

I tell this to officers If inmates don't bring you questions, if inmates aren't coming to you for answers, you're not a very good officer. They don't look upon you as knowledgeable and trustworthy. Well, the same thing goes up the chain of command. If your officers and your supervisors are not bringing you questions, are not bringing you new ideas, are not bringing you questions, are not bringing you new ideas, are not bringing you solutions, they don't trust you. You need to look at that. Take a look inside.

Speaker 1: 31:49

When leaders prioritize the well-being and the development of their people, they not only achieve greater success, but they build a stronger, more cohesive team or shift or agency or jail or prison. It's time to redefine what it means to be a leader. Let's move away from being self-serving. Let's move towards a model that's inclusive, collaborative, focused on the greater good. I've heard people say it for years we come in here as a shift. We're going to leave as a shift. Are you acting like a team while you're in there? Does the shift matter to you, or is it just words? I hope it's not. I hope you'll take a look. I hope you'll do a little introspection and see are you being the leader that you can be? Are you being the leader that you should be? When you take a look at the leaders in your life, do you emulate them? Are you as good as they are? And if not, why aren't you trying? I'll leave you with that. That's my thought. I'll end 2024 with that thought.

Speaker 1: 33:07

I thank you so much for listening to the Prison Officer Podcast. It's been a great run and I'm looking forward to more episodes, more guests, and I'll keep trying to find interesting people, because there's thousands of them. There's thousands of interesting people working in our jails. So it's it's not hard, it's just making the connection and getting the interview. But, uh, I'm looking forward to getting you more interviews for you to listen to and hopefully learn from.

Speaker 1: 33:35

Uh, and I guess I'll just say you know, merry Christmas, happy Holidays, whatever you celebrate, and when you go in there for the next few weeks especially it's a tough time of year for some people Make sure that you ask that person that you're working with how are you doing, take a moment to listen to them and when you get home, remember to drop the correctional officer off a little bit. Okay, go home as mommy or daddy or spouse or whatever it is, and try to let down a little bit and really connect with those people at your house, because they're the ones that are supporting you, they're the ones that are going to get you through this and someday you're going to get retired and you're going to stop and you're going to look around and did you take care of those relationships also? That's it for now. Merry Christmas, happy holidays. I'll talk to you next episode.