“This is so me,” said Yolanda Perez-Glass, as the diminutive corporal prepared herself for another day inside the perimeter at the MDOC’s Special Alternative Incarceration (SAI) program at Cassidy Lake.
“When I first talked about going to the SAI, staff at the prisons warned me away. ‘You’ll have to work in the rain and the snow. You’ll have to do everything there, Yolanda,’ they said. I thought to myself, ‘That’s for me.’”
Perez-Glass, whose physical size doesn’t come close to her stature at the facility, has been named Michigan Corrections Officer of the Year for 1999.
Her selection was made by the Michigan Correctional Officers Training Council. Boot camp Administrator Gene Borgert said Perez-Glass “is an excellent role model for the trainees who are housed at SAI. Her success demonstrates that dominant physical size is not necessary to gain the respect of those who do not typically respect authority.”
At 4 feet, 11 inches tall , Perez-Glass said she has worked hard to convince offenders that she means business. Her youthful appearance hasn’t held her back, either.
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“Like everyone else doing this sort of work, you have to quickly establish yourself as a professional,” she said in an interview after being told of the award. “You have to let everyone know that you won’t put up with games. Once you’re able to do that, you gain respect.” |
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Perez-Glass doesn't tolerate slackers at afternoon physical training sessions.
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A new mother, Perez-Glass said dealing with SAI trainees, who include prisoners and probationers, is somewhat like parenting.
“If you give them an opportunity to slack off, cut corners or cheat, they’ll do it. You are continuously tested in this job and you have to consistently let the trainees know that you expect them to follow the rules.”
Making sure men and women who haven’t followed the rules on the outside follow rules in SAI, Perez-Glass can be a relentless enforcer.
During afternoon physical training, her child-like smile quickly disappears and her eyes study trainees with a hard, assessing glare. A half-hearted effort by any of the 260 orange-clad figures jumping and counting on the asphalt tarmac earns her immediate response.
She quickly rebukes a trainee’s efforts, insists that he do the exercise correctly.
“Louder,” she tells a small group of female trainees as they count their exercises.
“Before I came to SAI I felt I was more or less ‘herding’ inmates. I wanted to do more,” she said.
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Perez-Glass joined the MDOC in 1994 because she felt her previous employment was “monotonous. At first I was impressed by the benefits of the job of a corrections officer, but when I found out that the job could actually be a career, I got excited. I could see there would be no limits.”
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For some, it's the first time they've been in shape.
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Perez-Glass began her career as an officer at the Riverside Correctional Facility in Ionia. She has also worked at the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer.
Perez-Glass, along with the other corporals at SAI, lead afternoon physical activities, which usually include a half hour of calisthenics and a half-hour of running. She also leads an educational programming class that helps trainees practice taking notes in class and writing papers.
The normal chores of an officer are also part of a corporal’s job at SAI. These include taking count, doing searches, and handling discipline. The corporal designation is unique to the SAI and its pay level is comparable to the post of an RUO at a traditional prison.
Corporals are rotated so that at various times they work with new trainees, the intermediate group and those nearing graduation.
Borgert said not everyone is suited for a job at SAI. “SAI isn’t a job for everyone. To be successful, you have to become completely involved. You have to be assertive, consistent, very focused. You simply can’t stand back and let the job just flow around you. You have to step into the stream and get wet. Cpl. Perez-Glass brings to the job the perfect combination of these requirements.”
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