Correctional officer attitudes toward inmates and working with inmates in a “get tough” era

The past few decades have seen an ideological shift to a more punitive attitude in policy and practice toward crime and criminal offenders. This study examined the orientation of local correctional officers toward inmates and worked with inmates to ascertain whether their attitudes mirror this punitive inclination. Findings indicate that despite the more punitive sentiment among the public and policymakers, officers still do not express a punitive attitude toward inmates and generally support rehabilitation programs for inmates. The study also looked at the impact of several individual characteristic and work variables on officer attitudes. Results show work variables are more strongly associated with attitudes among correctional officers. The implications of this research for correctional management are discussed.     

The sources and consequences of corrections officers' stress: A South Korean example

Corrections officers play crucial roles in the functioning of correctional institutions. They create and maintain the social and security milieu within prisons and often have direct impact on the behavior of inmates through their daily contact with inmates. Studies showed, however, that the correctional work environment was fraught with stress. Many studies found that corrections officers experienced excessive stress, which manifested in physical illnesses, burnout, family problems, or their inability to perform their duties—compromising institutional safety and creating further stress for other staff. These studies were instrumental in instituting improvements in the correctional work environment; however, most were conducted in Western societies. To extend the knowledge of corrections officers' work environments, this study examined correctional work among officers in South Korea. Specifically, stress-related issues outlined in previous studies were examined here to assess their relevance and applicability in the South Korean society. Implications for policy and future endeavors are discussed.     

Games guards play: a self-report study of institutional deviance within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

While most correctional officers adhere to the highest level of professionalism, some engage in institutional deviance during the course of their eight-hour shifts. In the present study, we administered 501 self-report questionnaires to correctional officers within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Respondents who reported that their supervisors were not supportive tended to admit to higher levels of institutional deviance than their peers, though peer support did not contribute to correctional officer deviance. Additionally, respondents who perceived their jobs to be less dangerous than other officers were more likely to have attitudes that were conducive to institutional deviance. Moreover, a perception of deviance among others also helped ‘normalize’ these acts in the prison setting and contributed to more favorable attitudes toward institutional deviance by correctional officers. Theory X and Theory Y is used to explain the lack of supervisory support that leads to institutional deviance among correctional officers. These findings have important policy implications toward reducing deviance among correctional officers, thereby making prison facilities safer and more secure.     

Attitudes of police recruits towards domestic disturbances: An evaluation of family crisis intervention training

Police student officers' attitudes towards domestic disputes following family-crisis-intervention training are analyzed. A total of 359 student officers from fourteen training classes participated in the study. The most dramatic improvement in attitudes was observed in officers' perceptions of disputants and in their perceptions of domestic disturbance calls. The study also investigated the attitudes of student officers toward organizational policy, training, and community relations. Student officers' attitudes significantly improved in thirty-one of fifty-one items (p < .05). In general, the changes in attitudes demonstrated that the family-crisis-intervention program did affect the attitudes of student officers in the predicted direction of change. Following training, student officers were more likely to view domestic disputes as legitimate police business and more likely to believe that their actions could influence families in crisis and that people in crisis both want, and will benefit from, assistance. It is concluded that crisis-intervention training appears to be responsible for the change in officer attitudes and that family-crisis training should be included in the curriculums of police training academies.     

Maximum Security Correctional Officers: An Exploratory Investigation into Their Social Bases of Power

Correctional officers are responsible for maintaining prison order, establishing institutional security and managing inmate behavior. To accomplish these goals, officers are sometimes required to deploy available bases of power, which are mechanisms of behavioral control used to achieve certain objectives, and include reward, referent, legitimate, coercive and expert. While power bases have been researched at length across numerous organizational settings, they have received comparatively less attention within corrections. Using questionnaire data from a statewide population of maximum security correctional officers (N?=?559), several ordered logistic regression models were estimated in order to explore the power bases upon which officers rely the most, as well as the antecedents to this decision. Referent and legitimate power ranked highest concerning their ability to control inmates, while measures of officer risk perceptions and work-related attitudes significantly predicted their power base reliance. To ensure inmate compliance with institutional regulations, it is recommended that correctional officers utilize softer forms of power such as referent and legitimate.     

Computer crime enforcement in Texas: Funding,training, and investigating problems

As a new challenge to law enforcement, computer crime has recently received increasing attention from law enforcement and government officials. However, most writings about this issue are not empirical. This study fills this void by examining the attitudes of computer crime officers in Texas in two areas: general problems in dealing with computer crime, and the impact of demographic and institutional support factors on officers' attitudes. The results are: (1) more budgetary support and training are needed; (2) lack of computer skill/knowledge is the most problematic for computer investigations/forensics; (3) the idea of cooperating and sharing resources has already been utilized; and (4) officers understand the complexity of computer crime but are uncertain about its seriousness. The size of the city and whether the departments have a computer crime unit are the most significant factors that impact officers' attitudes toward the need for institutional support. This study suggests four elements (officers' attitude, institutional support, personnel, and network) that are important to successfully combat against computer crime; these elements need to be included in the development and implementation of both short-term and medium-term plans. Authors' Note: Dr. Sutham Cheurprakobkit is Associate Professor of Criminal Justice in the Department of Sociology, Geography, and Anthropology, Kennesaw State University, 1000 Chastain Road, Kennesaw, GA 30144. Gloria Pena is a criminology major at The University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Odessa, TX 79762.     

Changing approaches to corrections

A new training program was developed for correctional officers and other new employees. The training was designed to focus on a positive philosophy toward rehabilitation rather than emphasizing techniques for managing inmates. Attitude questionnaires were developed to test attitudes on treatment and security. The questionnaire was administered before and after the training to determine changes in attitude. The trainees' attitudes were compared to those of college students who had completed an internship. There was a significant difference in the attitudes of employees before training and after training. There was also a significant difference in attitudes of interns and employees before training but not after the employees had been trained.     

INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL DETERMINANTS OF CORRECTIONAL OFFICER ATTITUDES TOWARD INMATES*

This paper analyzes the impact of individual attributes and organizational influences in the determination of correctional officers’attitudes toward inmates. Drawing on survey data from 179 line-level correctional officers, the analysis evaluates the expectations of prison reformers that more highly educated, female, and minority officers will hold more positive attitudes toward their inmate clientele. Contrary expectations drawn from the sociology of work literature suggest that the work-role socialization will overshadow the effect of individual attributes in the determination of officer attitudes. The analysis reveals that minority officers hold more positive orientations toward inmates, while education and gender exert no impact. In addition, organizational-level characteristics are also important in the prediction of officer views of inmates. These findings suggest that correctional reforms that focus primarily on changing the demographic composition of correctional officers are quite unlikely to ameliorate significantly the tension in today's prisons. It is necessary for both reformers and social scientists to develop more sophisticated analyses of the interplay between individual attributes and work organization characteristics and their joint effects on behavior in the prison setting.     

Do staff attitudes vary by position?: A look at one juvenile correctional center

Correctional staff are a vital part of an inmate’s institutional experience. Prior research suggests interaction between staff and inmates may be a function of worker attitudes toward crime and punishment. The current study examines attitudes about crime causation and punishment by surveying correctional staff members at a single-purpose juvenile treatment center. Correctional officers and treatment personnel exhibit different levels of support for rehabilitative ideals. Organizational ramifications stemming from these divergent outlooks are discussed.     

Correctional officers' perceptions of the competency-based counseling training program in taiwan: a preliminary qualitative research

The purposes of this exploratory study are to present a model of the competency-based counseling training program with correctional officers in Taiwan and highlight findings from a qualitative exploration. Grounded theory procedures are used to explore 23 correctional officers' perceptions of the training program. This training program results in positive feelings about the significant learning experience, greater theoretical knowledge, and a greater understanding of the counseling work. In addition, eight themes emerging from the data pertain to the significant experiences of the training process. These themes are outlined and discussed. Implications for correctional officers' counseling training program and research questions for future study are also suggested.     

The development,function and future of home furlough programs

Home furloughs are widely recognized as serving valid correctional aims. This was not always the case: when temporary release programs were first established, prevailing penal philosophy emphasized isolation from the community and institutional efforts to achieve inmate reform. It was not until penologists began to address the offender’s post-release adjustment difficulties that temporary release came to be viewed as a valuable aid to offender rehabilitation. Today, the graduation of release that home furloughs can provide make temporary release programs a routine and valuable aspect of correctional programming. Home furloughs can serve a variety of correctional objectives in addition to their principal function of facilitating inmate readjustment to the community. Temporary respites from confinement may humanize the prison experience and promote therapeutic goals. Home visits may act as incentives for good inmate behavior and may serve broader aims than those addressed by more narrowly focused conjugal visiting programs. Finally, observations of the offender’s performance on furlough may assist parole officials in evaluating an offender’s readiness for release. Although the future of temporary release programs is unclear, it appears that the multitude of functions served by home visits will insure their place in correctional programming. However new influences on correctional managers, such as the reforms proposed in the “justice model for corrections,” will undoubtedly modify the administration of temporary release programs and may well lead to some unanticipated consequences for the correctional community.     

How staff attitude and support for inmate treatment and rehabilitation differs by job category: An evaluation of findings from Pennsylvania's Department of Corrections' employee training curriculum ‘Reinforcing Positive Behavior’

In July 2006, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections began delivering a training session titled Reinforcing Positive Behavior to all new employees. The training educated staff about the department's philosophy on inmate treatment programming and about staff responsibilities for reinforcing treatment concepts. Findings from a survey administered immediately after the training revealed that treatment and clerical staff strongly agreed that how they treat inmates and how they behave in a correctional facility impacts inmate rehabilitation efforts, and that reinforcing positive behavior among inmates was a requirement of their profession. Also, treatment and clerical staff, more so than correctional officers, recognized that staff support of treatment programs impacted inmate rehabilitation outcomes and that staff actions and interactions with other staff and inmates can make a correctional facility a more positive place.     

First do no harm: a look at correctional policies and programs today

Objectives

This paper reviews the historical changes in correctional policies and the impact these changes have had on the operations of corrections and correctional programs. Social changes and theoretical perspectives moved corrections away from a focus on rehabilitation to programs characterized by deterrence, incapacitation, and control. Similarly, theoretical criminology encouraged corrections to move away from rehabilitation towards programs designed to provide social opportunities such as employment and housing for offenders. This paper examines whether these changes in policies and programs have been effective in reducing recidivism. The question is: What works in corrections?

Methods

This paper reviews the research examining the impact of correctional policies and programs on the later criminal activities of offenders and delinquents. Research using systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and the Maryland method scores is used to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of various types of programs, management strategies, and policies.

Results

Research demonstrates programs based on deterrence, incapacitation and increased control do not reduce the future criminal activities of offenders and delinquents. Nor have programs targeting social opportunities such as employment and housing been effective in reducing recidivism. The most effective programs target individual-level change in thinking and information processing.

Conclusions

In the search for ways to sanction offenders, U.S. correctional policies and programs using control, deterrence, and incapacitation have harmed individuals and communities. Such programs have not been effective in reducing recidivism. While programs that provide social opportunities for offenders do not necessarily harm offenders neither do they decrease later criminal activities. Effective programs bring about a cognitive transformation in offenders and delinquents. Theorists have begun to develop hypotheses about how and why these transformations are effective. The current emphasis on evidence-based programs, the research evidence on what is effective and the need to reduce the cost of corrections suggest we are on the brink of another paradigm change. Where this will take us is still unclear, but the paradigm will have to address the current problems facing the U.S. correctional systems.     

The custody orientation of correctional officers: An international comparison

Correctional officers are the most numerous of staff in correctional institutions, and thus an important component in the functioning of the prison. Previous research has identified a subgroup of correctional officers who have been termed “custody oriented.” These officers value the security and supervison aspect of corrections work, and many times hold negative attitudes towards inmates. In order to ascertain the variables that may give rise to a custody orientation and to determine if these variables operate cross‐culturally, the attitudes of American (n = 229) and Canadian (n = 339) correctional officers were examined. The custody orientation of both groups was virtually identical, but the determinants of this custody orientation were quite different for the two groups of officers.     

Trepidation among the “keepers”: Gendered Perceptions of Fear and Risk of Victimization among Corrections Officers

Determining the attitudes of correctional officers relative to their level of fear and risk of victimization is important to investigate due to the relationship of the conditions of confinement and the care and custody of offenders. Furthermore, consideration of such attitudes by gender may uncover differences because of the unique obstacles female corrections officers face. This study examines the level of fear and risk of both inmate and staff related victimization by gender through administering a survey to all corrections officers employed in the adult prisons within one-state. The overall analysis indicated some level of apprehension among officers regarding their fear and risk of victimization for inmate-precipitated victimization more than staff-to-staff victimization. Female officers were also more likely to demonstrate a higher level of perceived fear and risk of inmate-precipitated and staff-precipitated victimization. In addition, race and security level were shown to be significant as predictors of both fear and perceived risk of victimization among officers.     

The goals of community-based corrections: An analysis of state legal codes

The increased reliance on community-based correctional programs has been influenced by rising offender populations and the need for states to lessen prison crowding. The ability of community-based corrections to provide rehabilitation, punishment, reintegration, and counseling services has been an issue among both researchers and administrators. Some researchers have asserted that community-based correctional programs have multiple or competing functions. This study examines 1992 legal codes for all fifty states to determine the legally prescribed goals as mandated by state legislatures. The findings suggest that rehabilitation is the primary legislatively mandated goal, and that most states have multiple purposes for handling offenders in the community. Suggestions for future research in the area of community-based corrections goals are made.     

The Re-integration Process from the Perspective of Prisoners: Opinions, Percieved Value and Participation

In this article the presence of the rehabilitation goal in the policy of the prison system in the Netherlands will be discussed first. Particular attention will be paid to the question as to why the rehabilitation goal, in spite of the doubtfull status of its impact, still plays a role in the increasing instrumentalist policy of the Dutch criminal justice system. In addition, some limitations of a one-sided 'nothing works' approach of rehabilitation will be discussed. Next, empirical research is examined for what it teaches about the functioning of correctional programmes within the prison system. Special attention will be paid to the attitudes of inmates toward rehabilitation. It will be shown that in spite of a considerable body of research on institutional adaptation, little is known about the dynamics between inmates' attitudes and personal, situational and organisational background variables. In addition, the results of a survey, conducted on the nature and sources of inmates' attitudes towards rehabilitation, will be presented. Finally, this article will offer reflections on the benefits of a process-evaluative approach of correctional interventions.     

Gender differences in police officers' attitudes: Assessing current empirical evidence

Research on attitudinal differences between female and male police officers has burgeoned since the 1980s, producing a rich albeit at times contradictory legacy. Focusing on quantitative studies published after 1990, this current study reviewed empirical results regarding attitudinal differences between female and male police officers. A comprehensive search of the literature yielded thirty-three articles where gender was used either as an independent or control variable in multivariate regression analysis. A general finding was that officer gender has only a weak effect on officers' attitudes toward community policing, the community and neighborhood residents, job satisfaction, and domestic violence. There was some limited evidence showing that male and female officers differ in their attitudes toward the police role and stress. The limitations of this research are pointed out, and the directions for future research are identified.     

Alienation and the correctional officer: A multivariate analysis

The increased pressures which have been placed upon correctional institutions in the 1980’s have made the retention of quality correctional officers imperative. Yet many of these officers find prison work to be an unsatisfying experience. This paper attempts to measure levels of alienation among correctional officers and identify factors which may be related to its occurrence. The amount of alienation experienced by 126 correctional officers at a Western state prison was measured utilizing Dean’s Alienation Scale. Alienation levels were found to be related primarily to institutional, and opposed to non-institutional, variables. The implications for correctional administration are discussed.     

Police officers’ attitudes toward their role and work: A comparison of black and white officers

This study tests whether Black and White police officers differ in job-related attitudes. The analyses focus on officers’ attitudes toward police role, selective enforcement, legal restrictions, and departmental problem-solving efforts. Survey data were collected from the Indianapolis Police Department (IPD) during the summer of 1996. Findings show that compared to White officers, Black officers tend to have a broad role orientation, be less selective, and have positive attitudes toward legal restrictions. Implications for future research and policy are also discussed.