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Dear Congressman
As a member of USP Canaan I come before you today urging the Members of the 113th Congress, to support us and our cause. We are the nation’s largest federal law enforcement agency. We are the highly trained correctional professionals employed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. We put our lives on the line daily to fulfill the mission our Great Nation has entrusted us with. We walk the toughest beat of any law enforcement agency in the world bar none, whether a Secretary, a Teacher, a Cook Foreman, a Doctor, or a Correctional Officer. We are ordinary citizens who work extraordinary jobs. We see things routinely that no one should ever have to witness but are prevented from turning away. We run into places that most people run away from because it is our Duty and because... our very lives and our coworker’s lives depend on it. Sometimes, as in the case of the murder of Federal Correctional Officer Jose Rivera, we don’t ever return.
Exhaustive studies have been conducted and concluded that the work demands unique to corrections professionals have been found to contribute to depression , lower physical health, more work-home conflict, increased negative affectivity and emotion-focused coping, burnout, decreased life satisfaction, decreased job satisfaction, and most serious of all—elevated suicide rates.
What do we ask in return for this sacrifice? The same thing most American Workers want. We would like to be treated with dignity, respect and supported by the officials we elect to serve us. We, as Federal Employees are being incorrectly blamed for the financial ills of the country, when in fact we perform an essential mission that is mandated by the laws of our great country. We vehemently oppose any legislation that attacks our pay, retirement, benefits, safety, and possibly our lives. These attacks endanger all of us, and our ability to perform our mission. We will not support any politician who does support them.
I would like to inform my coworkers at USP Canaan of your support for the members of the Law Enforcement community as well as the middle class.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Yours sincerely,
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