Today is the final day of National Correctional Officers Week and we highlight another jailer with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.

Josh Derry has been a jailer for ten years and he enjoys every bit of his job, including the other jail staff and those who work within the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and Jefferson Police Department. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that while he is a jailer, he interacts with everyone, including the inmates, with the same professionalism and positive attitude, because we are all humans.

“You get back from people what you put out there, I firmly believe that. If I put out there that err of respect and then I’m going to treat them like a human, which in some cases they’re not used to, you’d be surprised what you get back. No judgement here. I’ve had people in here who have made just one poor decision for the first time in their life and are panicking, and we’re not here to make that worse, we’re here to help you get through that.”    

Derry says new jailers go through an intensive training program and then after that, on an annual basis, each jailer attends one week of school as he describes what is included with that.

“A lot of times, they brush up on jail code, restraints (and) restraint policy. We’ve had units on human trafficking, which is a huge problem in Iowa right now, and human trafficking can happen through the jails too. So they want us to really be aware of that (and) that’s a week out of the year. But we also have other training, like med management and defensive tactics, and just different things that really help us do our jobs better.”    

Derry adds that he is excited to move into the new jail, which he believes will be safer, less contact with the inmates and a better environment for everyone involved.