Lynn native settles into job as female correctional officer

MIDDLETON – Underneath Vicki Varano’s gentle exterior lies one tough cookie.But the Essex County correctional officer didn’t always have such thick skin. When she first started part-time at the Middleton Jail five years ago as a reserve, working two shifts a week, Varano wasn’t so sure about her career choice.”I was scared to death,” the 29-year-old Lynn native quipped. “I worked at a law firm before and I remember sitting in my car being so nervous. Oh, my God, I felt like I was going to throw up in the parking lot.”After the jitters faded, Varano fell into a groove with life inside the jail. Since that shaky beginning, Varano said, she has, over time, learned how to stand her ground among the inmates.”It’s a men’s facility, so it makes it hard sometimes,” she said. “But it’s all how you talk to somebody and, after a while, you get to know the inmates and they get to know you.”With the second largest inmate population in Massachusetts, the Essex County House of Correction in Middleton is, according to March figures, home to 1,132 inmates. Many more are serviced through the Women in Transition Center, Lawrence Correctional Alternative Center, three Community Correction Centers and those on electronic monitoring bracelets.Varano began her career in the Gang Unit of the jail, switched to Central Control and now works in Treatment in Recovery from Addictions in Correction (TRAC), which houses pre-trial offenders due to drug and alcohol abuse. She is one of approximately 45 women on a staff of 400 correctional officers.”Every area is different and you learn new things, but in the gang unit there were more fights, some with two guys, others with five, six or seven guys involved,” she said. “It was more volatile and that’s when you worry about your safety.”During those situations, Varano said the most important person in the room is her partner, Patrick Barry.”I think I’m tough, but I’m not as tough as the guys,” she said. “I’ve never had anyone intentionally try to attack me, but I also don’t let many people into my personal space.”There are eight men to each cell block in the 80-bed TRAC program, which is located in a unit separate from the general jail population. Dressed in orange jumpsuits, several inmates eagerly peer through the narrow windows of their cells. Some shout comments, while others quietly keep to themselves.”They all say their comments and try to see what they can get away with, but that’s when you have to remind them why they’re here,” she said. “Sometimes they won’t take you seriously and will say, ‘Oh, you’re a woman, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ So, it’s very hard? every day there is a different obstacle.”Varano earned an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice from Middlesex Community College and Becker College. Law enforcement runs in her family and is something she also became intrigued with.”Everybody thinks I’m crazy because I chose this job,” she quipped. “But my mom was fine with it. She just wants me to be happy.”