Doing time from 8 to 5

1. Doing time from 8 to 5 • Guards were once seen as having on the life of the inmate • 1960s • Officers influential than treatment staff • on inmates due to rehabilitative focus • 1970s and 1980s • Retribution returns, inmate abuses

2. Corrections Officers • In general: • Must deal with clients impersonally and follow formal procedures • Expected to counsel, supervise, protect, and process inmates under their care • Problems recruiting and retaining high-quality staff • Burnout

3. Doing time from 8 to 5 • Structured Conflict • “You can be friendly with an inmate, but you can’t trust him…” • Vast institutional differences • Only a small percentage of bad apples • The role of exchange relationships (again) • Traditional informal roles being by other staff

4. Doing time from 8 to 5 • Officer’s attitude toward inmates predicts the nature of his/her experiences, which further reinforces that attitude • Officers report levels of job satisfaction when they have a

5. Corrections Officers • levels of stress of any CJ job, and all the medical issues that come with it. • Heart disease • High rates of disability leave for

6. Corrections Officers • High(est?) levels of stress of any CJ job, and all the medical issues that come with it. • Causes • Constant feeling of • Lack of • Feeling in the job • Inadequate training • Lack of with management • Absence of policies, procedures, and rules

7. Guard – Inmate interactions • The relationship can be positive. • Guard assignments can influence/shape the interactions (more later from Newjack) • Four types of “power” COs can use:

8. The Officers’ Subculture • Always aid an officer in distress or perceived distress • Never make a fellow officer look bad in front of inmates • Always support an officer in a dispute with an inmate • Always support another officer’s sanctions against an inmate • Don’t lug drugs • Don’t be a “white hat”

9. The Officers’ Subculture • Do not admit mistakes • Do not stab a coworker in the back • Carry your own weight • Defer to the wisdom and experience of veteran officers • Mind your own business

10. Various ways of seeing the role of the correctional officer • Custody-oriented vs. Professionally-oriented • “subculture custodians” vs. “supported majority” vs. “lonely braves” • Professional vs. enforcer vs. reciprocator vs. avoider • Represents degrees of discretion, coercion, and human relations

11. Prison administration • Wardens used to rule the prisons • Today, they are more professional administrators • They face a variety of pressures

12. Prison administration • A well-run prison: • To get it:

13. Prison administration • Administrators tend to hold treatment in higher regard than the officers • Challenges facing correctional administrators: • Impact of the • Increasing • Civil service system and unions • Judicial interventions • Workforce diversity • The media • Rise of special needs and elderly inmates

14. The demographics of officers • 34% are members of minority groups and 22% are women • Presence of women believed to normalize sex-segregated prison environment and encourage self-control

15. Women in the correctional workforce • Still experience “tokenism” • However:

16. Women in the correctional workforce • Inmate views of female officers • Some differences:

17. Racial/Ethnic Composition of Correctional Officers and Inmates, Adult Systems, Nationwide

18. The use of force • Corporal punishment and excessive force are not permitted • Situations in which use of force is legally acceptable