A lone Anchorage prison guard sits at the receiving end of Alaska's failed mental health system, trying to keep 28 acutely disturbed men from harming themselves or others.
The Mike Module, as the unit is called at Anchorage Correctional Complex, is staffed by a single corrections officer and a single nurse except when clinicians visit. I sat down with two retired officers to find out what that job is like.
"It can be miserable," said Bobby Houser, who worked in the unit for a dozen years before retiring recently. "You've got to grow eyes in the back of your head with some of them, because some of them will just pop, like flipping a switch."
[For more of this story, written by Charles Wohlforth, go to https://www.adn.com/opinions/2...laskas-toughest-job/]
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