To Ronald Walsh, his job is not just a job but a calling – a calling to help incarcerated individuals return to the community.

Walsh is a corrections superintendent for the Schenectady County, N.Y., Sheriff’s Office. Along with the deputy superintendent and captains, he oversees the corrections division.

“Our goal is to make sure that those that are in our care receive the rehabilitation, so that when they are returned to the community, they are better than how they were received,” Walsh says.

It’s a job that comes with many risks.

“The risks are dealing with a population that is more mentally unstable today, and a little more violent,” he says. “Approximately 90% of our population has mental health or substance abuse issues. The corrections officers are in this hyper-alert status because if something was to happen, they need to protect their brothers and sisters from harms that may arise.”

It’s not a job for everyone.

“Once the corrections officer comes into the facility for their day of work, there is little fresh air,” Walsh says. “They’re locked into the facility, same as those incarcerated. They are immersed in a penal setting for their whole tour of duty.”

For his service to his community, Walsh, a member of AFSCME Council 82, is a winner of our union’s Never Quit Service Award. The award recognizes public service workers who go above and beyond the call of duty to make their communities better.

Despite the toll and the dangers in the workplace, the rewards are plentiful.

“It’s rewarding to see individuals that were formerly incarcerated doing well,” Walsh says. “When you’re on the outside in the community, and you run into someone and they tell you how being incarcerated has helped them come out of the life they were in, and they are doing much better, that’s fulfilling and rewarding.”