Carla Ann Humphrey: CO of the Year

Despite the risk of exposure to the AIDS virus or other bio-hazards that could have been present in the prisoner’s blood, CO Carla Ann Humphrey saw what had to be done and did it.

As a result of her quick and selfless actions, Humphrey received the thanks of a troubled man whose life she helped save as well as the acclaim of her colleagues.

On May 1, in Arlington, Va., the International Association of Correctional Officers (IACO) honored Humphrey — a member of AFSCME Local 1644, Atlanta, Ga., Public Employees — as Correctional Officer of the Year.

The IACO met just as the annual week-long National CO Week honoring slain officers across the United States was about to begin.

Humphrey’s heroic act, in April 1998, was the kind COs do every day with no expectation of being recognized for what is, essentially, doing their job.

As a member of the Emergency Response Team and the Corrections Honor Guard at the Atlanta City Detention Center, Humphrey had seen a lot during her seven years at the center. But as she peered into one of the cells, she was shocked to see an inmate lying on the cot in a pool of blood.

“I really and truly did not think that was blood, because I did not know blood was that dark,” she says.

The man was not dead, but his life was bleeding out onto the sheets.

“I climbed up in the bed to see where it’s coming from, and that's when I saw the blood gushing up from his arm,” the apparent result of a self-inflicted wound from his shaver blade, she recalls.

“Officer Humphrey took charge, ignoring the risk and possible danger involved in pulling the bed sheet from under the inmate, as blood continued to spatter, and she applied a tourniquet to stop the bleeding,” according to the IACO. “She then assisted in his removal from the cell and continued to work aggressively to save his life and accompanied him by ambulance to the hospital.”

Three days later, the inmate returned and thanked her for saving his life.

Humphrey, who holds a Master of Arts in Criminal Justice from Oklahoma Central State University, is now thinking of working in probation or helping inmates who she said have gone through the prison system “and want to get counseling to be productive in society.”

“Her peers,” says the association’s biography, “consider her a truly good officer.”

“She’s very, very courageous,” says Marie Robinson, executive director of Local 1644. COs are “generally there not only to guard those people that are incarcerated, but also to protect them, and that's exactly what she did,” she adds. “Corrections officers are exposed to all kinds of dangers ... and should be compensated accordingly.”

Humphrey downplays her heroism. “I just really like to work with people,” she says.