LIBERTY — Longtime Corrections Lieutenant Steve Katz was honored at Mister G's Grille in Liberty recently, where friends, family and colleagues gathered to celebrate his retirement after a nearly four decades long career.

“After 37 years, Steve is finally being paroled,” joked his beloved wife, Pam.

The Katz family has deep roots in Sullivan County. Steve's grandfather, Morris Katz, owned Katz's Walnut Mountain House. His father, Leonard Katz, owned a fur business on Main Street in the Village of Liberty.

But Steve always knew he wanted to do something with law enforcement, so he went to college for criminal justice. He had taken the state police exam and other local police department tests and got called back for interviews, but at that time corrections officers were making more. “It was a very good job,” Katz said. “I started at $12,144, which was a lot of money for a 20-year-old kid in 1981.”

Katz's 37 years in corrections was spread across seven different prisons. He's worked as far west as Attica Correctional Facility and as far south as Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. Yet he spent most of his career right here in Sullivan county, serving at the Sullivan and Woodbourne facilities.

“The superintendents would call Steve to seek his advice and counsel. Steve gave his advice and counsel whether we asked for it or not,” joked retired Woodbourne Superintendent Raymond Cunningham. Then becoming more serious, “One of the best [employees] was Steve Katz. He kept us all safe, and that's one of the most important things anyone in uniform can do. He did his job well and he did it professionally.”

The best part of the job, Katz remembers, was the sense of comradery with his colleagues that existed. “It was a very tight knit group … the parties and families getting together for dinner,” he said.

It was important to get to know your fellow COs, because like firefighters, police officers or soldiers, you're highest responsibility is to the buddy next to you. “You're surrounded by murderers, rapists, paedophiles, drug dealers, burglars … you're not dealing with nice people. You learn to develop a sense of dependence with your co-workers because when the gate slams shut, you're all you've got.”

Outside of work, everyone has different ways of coping with the day's events. The first rule is to have a hearty sense of humor. “If you don't have a good sense of humor, you're not going to make it. You see things that some people couldn't imagine … and you can't dwell on it, because it will eat at you.” Katz said. “I don't think I ever had a day when I didn't laugh at some point during my shift.”

The second piece of advice is to leave work at work. “Every day when he came home and I asked him how his day was,” Pam said. “He always gave me the same answer - ‘I'm home,'”

It can be a very negative working environment, Katz said. There's not often a lot of positivity in your day. A “good day” in corrections is when everyone goes home safe and the count was right.

Katz admits it's not a career for everyone. “With the new guys coming in, I tell them ‘if it's not you, there's nothing wrong with admitting you're not cut out for this job. Don't wait until your five or ten years in. You'll know within the first year if it's for you.”

Katz says you don't need to be a physically big and tough person to do the job either. “Common sense in this department can take you a long way. “

In the next chapter of his life, Katz says he looks forward to spending more time with his family and hopefully grandchildren soon.