Terry Burke, MANCI Corrections Officer of the Year, earns top honor for Ohio prison system

It's easy to see why the 2023 Mansfield Correctional Institution "Corrections Officer of the Year" also was chosen as Corrections Officer of the Year for the entire Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections.

Terry Burke, 50, said there are a lot of hard-working people at the prison along Ohio 13, and what he loves about working in corrections is trying to make a difference in inmates' lives.

"Every day when I put my badge on I tell myself to try and make a difference," he said. "That's what I do every day."

Burke said people at MANCI say he is always smiling and has "the gift for gab."

He added, "If you have a smile, it's hard to have a bad day."

Burke said he prides himself on being positive and hopefully show people he cares about them inside the prison. Burke has worked at MANCI for 10 years and has been in the same honor inmate living quarters or "pod" for four years, along with another corrections officer, supervising 118 inmates for eight hours each day.

"I like to get to know them more on a personal level but I keep it on professional at the same time," he said of incarcerated individuals.

'They still have lives on the outside'

"They're doing time, they're doing their punishment for whatever crime but they still have lives on the outside but a lot of their abilities to handle their lives gets stopped. All they can do is hear about their lives a lot of times so they have issues to deal with, they might lose a family member while in here or going through a divorce while they're in here and I've had where someone has lost a child while being in here," he said. "If you don't have a certain level of caring about them, then they feel hopeless because they don't have anyone to turn to.

"I try to let them know I'm an officer that you can come to and I have an open door policy at this desk, that's what I call it," he said.

"I'm proud to do what I do," Burke said.

Burke said he grew up in Clinton near Barberton and came to college late in life having always been fascinated with criminal justice. During college he heard a speaker from Indian River, a juvenile facility in Massillon.

He said he did not get hired at Indian River but he had always heard about MANCI and it was always a dream job of his. He interviewed for a job at MANCI where they were 200 people were interviewed for 50 job openings.

He said he told his wife Valarie he wasn't coming back home without a job and told the interviewer he had a letter of recommendation from the Magnolia police chief where he had an internship and that they should hire him.

"You hire me and I guarantee I will be the best officer you ever had," Burke said. He was taken to the next step to begin his testing.

Burke said he is the first in his family to have a career in corrections. His father was a truck driver and his brother a diesel mechanic.

He currently commutes an hour and 20 minutes each way on U.S. 30 to and from MANCI from Waynesburg.

Getting people on a positive path for life outside prison

He may be caring but he also believes in holding people accountable if they "go out of place" on him. Once, an inmate returned to the pod two hours late after lunch and Burke figured the inmate might have contraband so he strip searched him in private and ended up doing it a second time, and was strip searched again, which spurred the inmate to begin to follow the rules.

"I do have a very loud, boisterous voice," he said. "I don't know where it comes from."

Burke shared a story about the then 19-year-old inmate who is no longer incarcerated and, from the last time he heard, is living a positive life on the outside.

He said the man asked him why he cared about him and why Burke didn't just write him a ticket and put him in the hole and Burke told him he cares about him and he sees good in him. The inmate started coming to class, not getting in trouble, and was even showing Burke his homework.

The young inmate had grown up with a single mother working two jobs and had learned to fend for himself, stealing fruit and vegetables from a grocery store.

Burke came back from two days off work and found the inmate with two black eyes and a swollen cheek.

"He said, 'I did this for you,'" Burke said, learning the inmate told a gang called Heartless Felons he wanted out of the gang and they beat him up.

"He jumped out of the gang and ... he ended up getting out of the institution and doing good," Burke said.

Burke said for those inmates not getting out of prison, serving life with no chance for parole, he tells them everybody has a purpose and a reason for living. He told one man he was working in the prison to help others by telling his story and mentoring them.

His reward for his positive attitude at work is receiving word from former incarcerated individuals they are doing OK on the outside.

Burke also has been lauded for his diligence in finding contraband inside the prison and in May 2022 found a large amount of contraband not once but twice.

"I believe if I can change one person then that's my reward and I have done by job," he said.

Burke enjoys nature, fishing, hiking

In his spare time he and his wife enjoy hiking at Hocking Hills State Park, enjoying time with their three dogs, Zoey a pug, Puggle (pug/beagle mix) Precious and Husky Collie mix Robbie, all three of which are rescues.

He also has been invited by the prison Honor Guard to travel to Georgetown, Ohio, with them for Christmas in July, an event for wounded veterans where he will take woodworking items made by incarcerated MANCI individuals to give to veterans. He's also planning a trip to Sandusky for a similar event.

Burke said he was raised to respect others from both parents, who are from West Virginia. He has two half sisters, one of whom died. He served as a volunteer firefighter for four years and has always liked to do his part to contribute to society. He graduated from Northwest High School in Canal Fulton.

He is an avid catfish fisherman and said he enjoys night fishing.

Burke said a lot of people come to corrections and some get discouraged working weekends and second shift but he said the career comes with an opportunity for a free college education.

"ODRC is my extended family," he said.

lwhitmir@gannett.com

419-521-7223

Twitter: @lwhitmir

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Terry Burke, 50, corrections officer at MANCI, named Ohio's "top C.O."