SUSIE REDFEARN
“I TRAIN INMATES EVERY DAY FOR WORK AFTER RELEASE, BUT LOW WAGES FORCE ME TO WO”RK 60+ HOURS A WEEK TO COVER THE BASICS."

As a correctional supervising clerk at Avenal State Prison, I supervise a large inmate kitchen crew. The men on my team work hard and I do my best to be a positive force in their lives and help them develop the skills they need to get hired in food service after they return to the community.  

Working for the state has been rewarding because it’s enabled me to provide for myself and take care of my sister, who’s unable to work. But I just get by.  So, I work overtime in order to make ends meet — everyone here does.  Some of my colleagues have to share housing to survive, while others work 7 days a week because they can’t afford to take a day off.  

I typically work 3 overtime shifts a week, which means clocking in at 4:00 a.m. and leaving at 8:00 p.m.  Many of my colleagues have it worse. They live about 50 miles away, so they have an additional 2 hours of commute time. 

Not surprisingly, working like this is affecting my health.  I often only get four hours of sleep a night, and I never have time to get things done that you need to do — like go to the doctor or spend time with my grandchildren or kids. 

Our towns also suffer.  If the state paid a livable wage, people would have more disposable income and we’d be able to have more businesses. But nobody will open a business because they know we can’t support it. So, we end up driving an hour away just to buy basics.

It leaves us feeling like the State doesn’t care. We sacrificed our safety during a dangerous time — I couldn’t even hold my grandson because I was exposed to Covid every day.  One of my co-workers died, and my sister got it and barely survived. I’m one of only 2 people in my department that didn’t get Covid, and we had to beg to get gloves and sanitizer to keep ourselves and the inmates safe. It wasn’t right to put us in that situation then, and it’s not right what we’re going through now. We deserve to be paid a livable wage.

SUSIE REDFEARN
– CORRECTIONAL SUPERVISING COOK
   AVENAL STATE PRISON