Monday, Dec. 27, 2010

Let’s talk with ... Tassy Cunningham

Nastassjiah “Tassy” Cunningham, a corrections officer with Richland County, was recently recognized for her academic excellence.

The 26-year-old mother and resident of St. Andrews was top of her class at the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy, winning the Bert Friday Award.

Cunningham has been at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center for the past year, working in the dorms before being promoted into an administrative post.

She earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of South Carolina in 2009 and, before that, a bachelor’s in criminal justice in 2006. She served internships at the S.C. Department of Mental Health’s forensics division and the S.C. Department of Juvenile Justice.

We sat down with Cunningham at the jail.

Talk a little bit about how you ended up on this path.

When I originally started at USC, I wanted to major in psychology, and I just happened to take a criminal justice class for an elective. So I fell in love with criminal justice.

What appealed to you?

I just liked learning about the law. … No telling where I may end up. My goal is, do the best that I can do while I’m here.

Talk about a regular day here.

In October, I was promoted to operations, but before that I was an officer in the dorms. So I would get here at 6 o’clock in the morning. Shift briefing starts at 6, get my assignment, stay in my dorm all day. Never had any problems.

When you’re an officer in a dorm, what do you do?

You’ll be with the detainees all day, 12.5 hours, watching them. Say they have a problem with the canteen or something, their charges. You just help them out, call whoever does the charges in records or whatever it may be. Watching them, and also helping them out.

Someone is at your desk all day long.

We have to do watch tours every 30 minutes, just checking on them, making sure everything’s OK. You have to physically look in every door.

I’ve learned how to handle different situations, how to deal with certain people. A lot of people here have mental illnesses. A person with schizophrenia, you really have to be on your Ps and Qs with them. You have to know when to notify medical that they really need to check on this person.

People with bipolar disorder, they can be happy one minute and cuss you out the next minute. That’s fine. Tell the individual, ‘Just go to your room and calm down.’ In a little bit, they’ll be fine again. You’ve just got to know how to handle those situations.

Is it stressful to you?

Yes, it’s very stressful.

What characteristics help you be a good correctional officer?

Empathy. That’s No. 1, empathy. And I’m also fair. I treat everybody the same way.

So you were dealing with inmates, and now you’re in an administrative function. How do you feel about that?

I like it better. Because I’m not dealing with that many inmates at one time – like I’m not in the dorm all day, and I’m doing different things throughout the day.

So it’s less stressful.

Oh, no. No, no, no.

In records, you have to make sure you don’t discharge the wrong person. Intake counter, you have to make sure you’re putting the charges in correctly, you have the correct documentation to book them in. Any little mistake can mess everything up. You’ve really got to stay on it. Right now, it’s just helping me learn the operations of the jail, how a jail works, what’s the process.

How do people react when they find out where you work?

Even police officers, they’ll come to you and be like, ‘Well, I don’t think I could do that. I don’t see how y’all do it.’ Somebody out on the street asks me, ‘Oh, you work there? Are you scared?’ No, I’m not scared. The same thing is out here on the streets. You should be more afraid out there.

What about being a woman correctional officer?

Men listen to women. I don’t know what it is, but they listen to women more. Like a man telling you what to do, sometimes it just clashes.

When you’re outside of work, what’s your life like?

I have a 2-year-old – try to spend time with her. That’s about all I do.

This is an occasional series.

Get The State newspaper delivered to your home. Click here to subscribe.