The Maine Sheriff’s Association has awarded a two-year employee of Two Bridge Regional Jail the distinction of Corrections Officer of the Year.
Despite a relatively short period of time in corrections, Correctional Officer James Read has caught the attention of his superiors leading to the honor.
Read’s supervisor, Lt. Richard Thompson, who nominated Read, said, “The cleanest, quietest, most organized unit in our facility is consistently the one run by CO Read and a correctional officer he trained follows the same values.”
Thompson, submitted the nomination for the award to Correctional Administrator Mark Westrum in November, and Westrum forwarded it to the Sheriff’s association, which in turn selected Read over numerous candidates nominated. Read will received the award Thurs., Jan. 15 at the association’s annual training and banquet ceremony at the Holiday Inn in Portland.
Speaking about his task as a correctional officer in one of the direct supervision pods at the Wiscasset facility, he said, “I enjoy it a lot.”
For the past 18 years Read worked for Shaw’s Supermarket serving as a crew leader on the night shift at the Shaw’s in Bath until 2006.
“For 18 years I helped people in a grocery store setting, and I thought I could make a difference in people’s lives,” he said. “I try to help them get back into their everyday life they had before coming to jail.”
Thompson’s nomination letter states, “CO Read is one of the few officers who has been trained in and regularly works all areas of the jail, and only a few officers can claim that proficiency.”
Thompson said in his “consistent and meticulous role” as a booking officer, Read attended the yearly bail commissioner training.
“His superior communication skills made him the obvious choice when we sought employees to receive additional crisis intervention training provided by (National Association of Mental Illness),” Thompson said. “Combined with his ability to communicate, to act appropriately under pressure and think on his feet, he was also chosen to receive additional training as a pepper ball launch operator.”
Thompson said pepper ball provides a less than lethal force option added at Two Bridges, which Read has demonstrated “excellent judgment” in using.
Read has also attended gang awareness training giving him the ability to pass on information to his peers based on tattoo recognition and other intelligence gathering methods.
On the jail’s officer advisory team, Read has been an extraction team member in multiple cell extractions and represents his shift on the team. He trains other correctional officers show them teaching them things he has learned as a field training officer as well.
