By C1 staff
NELSONVILLE, Ohio – Sixty-three employees at the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail are receiving a special recognition during Corrections Officer’s Week, thanking them for enduring increasingly demanding and complex duties in an environment that puts them in harm’s way every day.
“It’s a job like no other,” says CO J.C. Mojzer, who became a corrections officer straight out of high school, according to the Logan Daily. “You see everything from non-payment of child support inmates to aggravated murderers.”
Those who work at SEORJ also deal with a high number of mentally challenged inmates, for whom the facility is not equipped to house or deal with.
“We deal with it the best we can,” Mojzer said. “We try to segregate them from other inmates and sometimes have to put them on suicide watch. You have to treat them with kid gloves.”
Mojzer calls being a CO a thankless job, and wants more people to be aware of what they deal with on a daily basis. The staff at SEORJ recently lost a fellow officer.
“He was my best friend,” Mojzer said of CO Brian Dane, who was a CO for 12 years. “He went home from his shift, fell asleep and never woke up. He’s greatly missed, especially by me.”
In a public service announcement, Aramark, a partner with SEORJ and other correction facilities across the state and country, stated, “We recognize the hard work, dedication and sacrifice made by corrections officers and staff and respect, admire and appreciate these men and women who work so hard every day to maintain safety and security in very challenging environments.
“We are proud to honor all of you this week and every day of the year. Thank you for the dedication, professionalism and service to your communities and society. You are a vital role of the profession of corrections.”