Our employment history with the CSC was very often a breeding ground for PTSD and this was never recognized as an occupational injury by the employer in my time. Even to this day staff members have to fight a lengthy up hill battle to claim PTSD job related injuries. I believe that West Yard should be a reference guide for those professionals treating our staff members who suffer from this work environment related disease. It cuts to the chase and identifies the root problems and issues that directly contributed to the conditions that created the disorder in us.
Here are a couple of the book reviews on Amazon Ca for West Yard.
5.0 out of 5 stars “A Sexualized And Violent Culture”
Reviewed in Canada on December 2, 2021
Verified Purchase
“A Sexualized And Violent Culture”
West Yard is an evidence and fact based biography that speaks truth to power about working on the front lines inside a Canadian prison in the 80s&90s. It’s a truly shocking and unbelievable culture of well earned distrust between those who managed the system and those who were victim to it. This book is a scathing indictment of how the Correctional Service of Canada deliberately kept hidden from the public many violent incidents against staff members and tampered with the evidence of prison escapes that took place in those years. West Yard is an eye opener for anyone wondering what it was really like to work behind the walls and fences of a Canadian prison. This book is fodder for your worst nightmares.
5.0 out of 5 stars Good recruiting tool . . . NOT!
Reviewed in Canada on December 5, 2021
Verified Purchase
Some will think, “Oh, that was in the 80s and 90s. Things must have changed by now.” The sad truth is that they haven’t really changed, just the vocabulary used to describe the violence, drugs, riots, hostage-taking, solitary, etc. In fact, little seems to have changed since the MacGuigan Report was tabled in the House of Commons in 1977 … 45 years ago. With his insider’s view, Dave Woodhouse has penned an honest portrayal of life in Canada’s penitentiaries, where the guards are as much prisoners as the prisoners themselves; where cruelty and vengeance are pursued by both the officers and the cons; where telling the truth and standing up for ethics and integrity can be severely career limiting. There is no sugar coating here. Just evidence- and fact-based telling it like it is from someone who did their time and not only got paid for it in salary but paid for it with PTSD and an early exit.