Michigan Department of Corrections Officer of Year Helps With PTSD

Devoted union rep helping staff with PTSD is Corrections Officer of the Year
MLive
Danielle Salisbury
March 03, 2017

One of about 6,500 officers in Michigan and nearly 300 at the Cotton prison, she was nominated by a peer; awarded as her facility's officer of the year; and selected state-wide from a pool of five finalists.

Michigan Department of Corrections Officer Cary Johnson

JACKSON, MI - With the exception of the leave she took when her son was born seven years ago, Cary Johnson hasn't called in sick to work in 16 years.

As a representative of her union, she realizes it is important to be exemplary.

"I am making sure the union is credible by being the officer they want me to be," Johnson, 43, said this week.

A corrections officer at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility just outside Jackson, Johnson is a leader and mentor whose work demonstrates care and concern for the well-being of her fellow officers.

For her "integrity and dedication to public safety," Johnson has been named the state's 2017 Corrections Officer of the Year.

She began her career in 1995 and has been a union leader since 1997, currently serving as the only woman on the Michigan Corrections Organization state executive board, according to a statement released by the corrections department and the union.
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