Susan Canfield went to work as a corrections officer for a Huntsville prison each day knowing that she could be putting her life on the line, her husband said Tuesday.
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Special to The Eagle
Huntsville corrections officer Susan Canfield, shown with her horse Pecos, was killed Monday as she confronted two prisoners trying to escape.
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But that was a risk the 59-year-old New Waverly resident willingly accepted, he said.
"She was comfortable with the job; she wasn't afraid of it," said Chuck Canfield, a training officer with the Houston Police Department. "She knew what her role was to be, and she knew how she would have to react under given circumstances."
Susan Canfield died Monday after she was run down by two inmates trying to escape from the Wynne Prison Unit in Huntsville.
Canfield was one of seven guards supervising 76 prisoners working in an open field near the prison Monday morning.
Two inmates - 40-year-old John Ray Falk Jr. and 37-year-old Jerry Martin - overpowered another guard and stole a truck from a nearby municipal building, according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials.
Canfield, on horseback, confronted the prisoners but was hit by the truck, officials said. She died of injuries suffered in that collision, said TDCJ spokeswoman Michelle Lyons.
Canfield's horse was euthanized Monday night after officials discovered a bullet wound that was previously thought to be a minor injury, Lyons said.
The guards and escaping prisoners exchanged gunfire, Lyons said, adding that it was unclear Tuesday who shot the horse.
Falk and Martin were caught within hours of their escape Monday.
"Susan acted in her capacity, and she was stopping an escape," Chuck Canfield said Tuesday. "She did know she had a responsibility she took on, and she did not take that lightly."
There are 9,251 female corrections officers and 13,385 male corrections officers working in 106 prison facilities across the state, Lyons said. More than 350 corrections officers serve in the Wynne Unit, she said.
Lyons said she doesn't think female officers face challenges within the system that men do not.
"They are effective at their job, and they're good at what they do," Lyons said. "Just like the men, they have a difficult job and they do put their lives on the line in the interest of public safety."
But Chuck Canfield said that his wife often felt she had to prove herself in a job traditionally held by men.
"She went into a traditional male role, so for a great degree, she felt she had to prove herself," he said. "She had to perform to a higher degree than other people around her so that she wouldn't be viewed in a negative light as being a female in that role."
Canfield said his wife had a reputation for being strict with prisoners. But she was patient, too, and that probably helped her handle the stress that came with her job, he said.
"She had compassion for why some of the people in prison ended up there and that some of them really should be able to get the chance to prove that they were going to be able to correct themselves," he said. "But that didn't excuse some of them for what they were put there for."
The couple had been married 18 years and had three grown children: Christopher Canfield of Gray, Maine; Christina Canfield of Hickory, N.C., and Kara Holub and her husband, Allen, of Needville.
Funeral services are set for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. at Sam Houston Memorial Funeral Home.
Chuck Canfield said Tuesday that what he will miss the most about his wife are things that most couples take for granted each day.
"I miss seeing her come down the driveway," he said quietly as he began to cry. "I miss getting up in the morning and being able to help her get ready for work. I miss every little daily thing I could do for her when she was here."
• Arena Welch's e-mail address is arena.welch@theeagle.com.
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