PTSD study in Correctional Officers

 Brie Pileggi, former Hennepin County Detention Deputy, is working on her doctorate in clinical psychology and writing her dissertation on the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among corrections officers. 

She writes, "Recent research found that nationwide, 31% of corrections officers and jailers were found to have PTSD, which is a rate approximately two times higher than the rates for post 9/11 NY fire fighters, Operation Iraqi Freedom soldiers, and emergency medical professionals. Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of this problem, the general population had a rate of only 3.5%. It was also found that on average, those who had PTSD called in sick seven times more per year than those who did not." 

She wants to survey all of us Detention Deputies, as well as DOC Correctional officers. The HCSO is not willing to distribute the survey via their email so I am asking all of you to share your email addresses with me for that purpose. I will also add your name to our egroup. 

Email wade.laszlo@gmail.com with your name and email address. I will add you to our egroup and share it with Brie for this very valuable research.

 Brie also wrote: "The MN Department of Corrections, where I worked for a while after I left the county, posted the full article on their internal website for their employees:

http://desertwaters.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/PTSD_Prev_in_Corrections_2012.pdf"

I encourage you to click on the link and read it.