CORRECTIONAL PROFESSIONALS

Institutional correctional personnel consist of:

– Correctional officers and supervisors

– Treatment professionals (i.e., educators, counselors, psychologists, and others)

Correctional officers have discretionary powers, such as charging an inmate with a disciplinary infraction versus delivering a verbal reprimand

Disciplinary committees also exercise discretion when making a decision to punish an inmate for an infraction

CORRECTIONAL PROFESSIONALS

Correctional officers have a full range of control, including denial of liberty and application of physical force

Treatment personnel have a responsibility to the correctional client

The needs of inmates must be balanced against the larger needs of the system or institution

CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS

In the 1970s, prison guards adopted correctional officer as a more descriptive professional title

The period also saw such dramatic changes as:

– Increased on-the-job danger– Loss of control– Increased stress– Racial and sexual integration– Deviant behavior among correctional officers– Unionization– Higher standards of professionalism– Expanded bureaucratization

CODE of ETHICS

The American Correctional Association recommends these behaviors:

Act professionally

Use professional language

Be assertive, not aggressive

Maintain honesty and integrity

Be consistent

Act impartially

Confront bad behavior

Reinforce good behavior

Practice the Golden Rule

Encourage teamwork

Respect inmates/coworkers

Don’t abuse sick leave

Be truthful with inmates

Admit mistakes

CORRECTIONAL OFFICER SUBCULTURE

Correctional officers:

– May consider inmates, superiors, and society in general as “the enemy”

– Accept use of force as a routine job element

– Show a tendency to redefine job roles to meet minimum requirements only

– Show a willingness to use deceit to cover up wrongdoing by staff

CORRECTIONAL OFFICER SUBCULTURE

Norms of the correctional officer subculture include:

• Always go to the aid of another officer

• Don't lug drugs

• Don't rat

• Never make a fellow officer look bad in front of inmates

• Always support an officer in a dispute with an inmate

• Always support officer sanctions against inmates

• Don't be a white hat

• Maintain officer solidarity against all outside groups

• Show positive concern for fellow officers

RELATIONSHIPS WITH INMATES

The majority of the institutional population, both guards and inmates, prefer to live in peace

Yet both feel they must take sides when conflict occurs

Prisoners sometimes come to the aid of officers in physical confrontations, but…

In general, inmates support fellow inmates and guards support fellow guards

A brutal guard may be protected by his fellows, and a racist guard will not be sanctioned

An assaultive inmate will not be kept in check by other inmates unless his actions are seen to hurt their interests

RECIPROCITY in SUPERVISION

Officers become dependent on inmates for completion of important tasks

In return, officers may overlook inmate infractions and allow a degree of favoritism

Officers who become personally involved with inmates compromise their professional judgment

An officer who is too close to inmates is not to be trusted

Prison management, for the most part, relies on information supplied by snitches

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Officers have the power to make life difficult for inmates they do not like

The officers’ powerlessness relative to superiors and society in general leads some to take advantage of the only power they do have—over the inmates

An alliance sometimes forms between guards and inmates that is not unlike foreman-employee relationships

Officers insist that “you can be friendly with inmates, but you can never trust them”

Mature officers learn to live with this inconsistency

TYPES of OFFICERS

Violence-prone: use the role of correctional officer to act out an authoritarian role

Time-servers: serve time in prison much the same as most inmates do (trying to avoid trouble and hoping nothing goes wrong on their shift)

Counselors: seek to enlarge their job description; perceive their role as inmate counselor/helper

“Good” officers:

– Treat inmates fairly and don’t show favoritism– Don’t always follow rules to the letter– Use force only when necessary– Treat inmates professionally and respectfully– Treat inmates as anyone would want to be treated

ADDITIONAL CONCERNS

Like police, many correctional officers feel that court decisions and administrative goals have not supported their needs

Correctional officers report experiencing much job-related stress

Stress-related illnesses such as hypertension are common among correctional officers

So, too, are social problems such as alcoholism and divorce

USE of FORCE

Physical force is often necessary in prison situations

Prior to the 1980s, overt physical force was used routinely in U.S. prisons

This force was often excessive, even brutal

Today, the incidence of excessive force is less common, but it is still used in some institutions

Excessive physical force is commonly reported in prisons around the world

When correctional officers fail to maintain proper order, inmate gangs may fill the void and use force on rival inmates

CORRUPTION

Officer and administrator misconduct in prison settings is not uncommon

Examples:

– Bribery for access to legitimate activities– Bribery to protect illicit activities– Mistreatment/harassment/extortion of inmates– Gross mismanagement (e.g., prison industries)

Possible solutions:

– Proactive investigation and detection– Reduced opportunities– Comprehensive psychological screening– Improved working conditions– Strong, ethical supervisory role-models

LOYALTY and WHISTLEBLOWING

Loyalty—esprit de corps—is one reason officers do not report wrongdoing

Unwillingness to violate a code of silence is another

Although the term whistle-blower has negative connotations, it actually describes someone who is responding to a higher ethical code than those whose behavior is exposed

DETENTION OFFICERS in JAILS

In many respects, local jail officers have more difficult responsibilities than state prison officers

Jail population is transitory and often unstable

Offenders may come into jail intoxicated, suffer from undiagnosed diseases or psychiatric conditions, or be suicidal

Visitation is more frequent, and family issues are more problematic

The constant activity and chaotic environment of a jail often create unique ethical dilemmas

TREATMENT STAFF

The professional goal of all treatment specialists is to help the client

This goal may be fundamentally inconsistent with the punitive prison/jail environment

A dilemma of treatment programs is deciding who is to participate

Psychiatrists in corrections may feel that they are being used more for social control than treatment

TREATMENT ISSUES

Disruptive inmates needing treatment pose security risks; thus, intervention often takes the form of control rather than treatment

Some allege that psychotropic drugs are used to control inmates, rather than for legitimate treatment purposes

The principle of responsibility mandates that psychologists prevent distortion, misuse, or suppression of their psychological findings by their employing institution/agency

Institutional psychologists may feel that their findings are compromised by custody concerns

TREATMENT ISSUES

The fact that prisoners are captive audiences makes them attractive subjects for experimentation

Inmates assume that release is tied to compliance; what may appear to be voluntary participation may actually be the inmate complying because he feels he has no choice

Emphasis on security puts the treatment worker in a role of a custodian with professional training being used only to better control inmate behavior

Emphasis on treatment puts the treatment worker in an antagonistic role in relationship to the security staff

TREATMENT ISSUES

Faith-based treatment programs in prison raise ethical issues:

– Should the state support those religious programs that are successful in lowering rates of recidivism?

– Should inmates of other faiths join these programs at the risk of abandoning the principles of their first religion?

MANAGEMENT ISSUES

Access:

– Should access be denied to outside parties seeking to enter the institution to provide treatment services to inmates?

– What if the presence of these outsiders poses a threat to security?

Budget:

– Should funding of treatment programs for inmates take priority over funding safety resources for staff, or vice versa?

MANAGEMENT ETHICAL GOALS

Treat staff fairly and impartially

Make merit-based promotions

Show no prejudice

Lead by example

Develop a clear mission statement

Develop a code of ethics that is a list of “dos,” not a list of “don’ts”

Create a performance-based culture, not a seniority-based culture

Solicit staff input on new policies

Be respectful

Create an culture that values ethical behavior

MANAGEMENT and the COURTS

During the 1970s and 1980s, prisons across the country were held legally responsible for substandard conditions

Many administrators were held accountable for constitutional violations that they knew of or should have known of within their correctional systems

Administrators were faced with the ethical decision of supporting either the longstanding policies of their institutions or constitutional standards

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Historically, prison work was male-dominated

Recently the number of female corrections officers has increased

The arrival of female employees has brought charges of work place gender discrimination and hostile work environments

Administrators have an obligation to eliminate sexual harassment and discrimination in prisons

MISTREATMENT of INMATES

A sensitive problem for administrators

If seen as too sympathetic to the plight of inmates, the staff feels they are not supported

If seen as too protective of staff, the misconduct continues or even accelerates

Allegations require firm, fair, impartial responses

MANAGEMENT and UNIONS

Correctional officer unions:

– have been successful in some states in obtaining greater benefits for their members

– have not been especially effective at promoting professionalism and ethics among their members

CROSS-SEX SUPERVISION

Until the 1970s, women were barred from working in men’s prisons

Today, women perform both correctional officer and supervisory duties in many male prisons

Most research indicates that females perform equally as well as men

Some studies indicate that women are actually more effective with male inmates because of their non-threatening manner

More male officers are now assigned to female prisons

Not unexpectedly, the number of sexually-based complaints has risen

SUPERMAX PRISONS

Prison authorities have long segregated the most notorious prisoners into special units

Today, some states have constructed the most secure facilities, referred to as supermax prisons

Supermax conditions are extremely harsh, including individual separation of all inmates around the clock and limited recreational activity

Despite a number of court challenges, the prisons continue to operate, but remain under close judicial scrutiny

THE ZIMBARDO EXPERIMENT

In the 1970s, a mock prison was set up in the basement of a building on the grounds of Stanford University

College men were arbitrarily assigned to be guards or inmates

Many of the “guard” subjects became brutal toward the “inmate” subjects

Many of the “inmate” subjects became docile and submissive

Behavioral changes in both groups were so profound that the experiment was canceled after six days

The study illustrates the profound effect of a prison experience