How to Maintain High Morale Among Prison Staff While Ensuring Offender Safety and Well-Being A prison administrator has many responsibilities but two of the most important ones are maintaining high morale among their staff and ensuring the safety of the offenders within the prison. When it comes to maintaining high morale of prison staff essentially anything within reason can be done to maintain high morale among prison staff. On the other hand, ensuring the safety of the offenders within the prison is as simple as meeting and adhering to the Standards on Treatment of Prisoners approved by the American Bar Association House of Delegates.
Maintaining High Morale Among Prison Staff Given that working in a prison is a high-stress form
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Failure to meet these standards in any sort of capacity should result in a penalty of some sort for the correctional facility. Correctional facilities that are struggling to meet these standards should be able to apply for grants in order to help them meet any standards that they are struggling to meet on their own.
Specific Standards in Each Section Each section has their own set of standards regarding its subject matter with the exception being the first standard concerning definitions regarding these standards. The first section on general principles contains the following two standards:
• General principles governing imprisonment
• Treatment of prisoners
The second section regarding intake and classification includes the following nine sections:
• Intake screening
• Classification system
• Classification procedures
• Special classification issues
• Health care assessment
• Rationales for segregated
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References
American Bar Association House of Delegates (2010) Standards on Treatment of Prisoners (Standard No. 23-1.0 to 23-11.5) Retrieved from https://www.americanbar.org/publications/criminal_justice_section_archive/crimjust_standards_treatmentprisoners.html
Hartman, L. A., III. (2003, May 03). An Examination of Employee Morale in Correctional Institutions. Retrieved April 24, 2018, from http://www.ifpo.org/resource-links/articles-and-reports/protection-of-specific-environments/an-examination-of-employee-morale-in-correctional-institutions/
Redding, H. (2004, September). The Components of Prison Security. Retrieved April 24, 2018, from
The picture this book paints would no doubt bother corrections professionals in prisons where prisoner-staff relationships and officer solidarity are more developed. In training, Conover is told that "the most important thing you can learn here is to communicate with inmates." And the Sing Sing staff who enjoy the most success and fulfillment i...
The jobs of correctional officer are some times overlooked. Correctional officers are playing a huge role in society because they need to perform important tasks. A correctional officer’s job is not easy and can become very stressful at times. Correctional officers are required to enforce and keep order, supervise inmates, help counsel offenders, search inmate cells for contraband, and also report on inmate actions. Correctional officers need to contain power over the prisoners in order to enforce the rules of the prison, or else the prison will not function correctly. In the book, Conover says, “The essential relationship inside a prison is the one between a guard and an inmate…the guard, it is thought, wields all the power, but in truth the inmate has power too” (Conover, p. 207). In the book, the importance of power the prisoner’s hold can be seen through the sudden increase of prisoners, the Stanford Prison Experiment and through the contraband they make.
The correctional subculture is not described as extensively as the police subculture; however, many elements of misconduct and criminal activities are similar (Pollock, 2014). The parallelism of corruption between the police and correctional officer are as follows: (1) use of force; (2) acceptance of gratuities from inmates; (3) mistreatment/sexual coercion of inmates; and (4) abuse of authority for personal gains (Pollock, 2014). According to Pardue et al. (2011), there are two types of sexual coercion found within the prison subculture and they are as follows: (1) coercion between convicts; and (2) coercion between convicts and staff members (p. 289). The Department of Corrections is aware of staff sexual abuse and harassment of women prisoners, and they have been playing “catch up” to accommodate the challenges of this persisting problem (Clear et al., 2013, p.
Being a prisoner has more restrictions than one may believe. Prisoners are told when they should participate in daily activities and what they are allowed to say or do on a daily basis. This is not a life anyone is determined to experience during any period of time. However, all though for most prison life is just a depiction in a movie or on television, it is a reality for many. Their crimes and behaviors brought them into a world of being stripped of their freedom. Those who oversee the prisoners must control order within the brick walls. An article discussing the duties of a prison officer, defines it as one who “...has responsibility for the security, supervision, training and rehabilitation of people committed to prison by the courts”
institution plays in their community; the effect of different stakeholder groups on their organizational mission; the importance of their staff in achieving the organization’s goals; and the impact of providing a safe and secure correctional environment where inmates can work toward their rehabilitation and return to live crime-free in the community” (p. 80). This is a large undertaking. It would behoove organizations to ensure that they are training staff in ways that will help promote these habits while increasing the efficacy of their organization.
The way correction officers are treated in prison is dreadful. “A corrections officer was seriously burned Monday morning in an attack by an inmate at the Green Bay Correctional Institution” (Roberts, 2016). This topic interest me because most of my life my brother has described the working conditions of correction officers in prison. I remember him telling me how one officer had his finger bitten off by an inmate. Correction officers are the guards who work in prison to enforce prisoners, so that inmates do not find themselves constantly in trouble. In addition, the officers ensure inmates’ safety. Despite the fact that the officers want to secure the inmate 's safety, people are unaware of the hardships officers face every day. A great deal of the rigorous challenges guards go through are never mentioned on the news or make it to newspapers. Correction officers are rarely mentioned within society, even though they are a huge part of the law enforcement. There is a
Prisons exist in this country as a means to administer retributive justice for those that break the laws in our society or to state it simply prisons punish criminals that are to receive a sentence of incarceration for more than one year. There are two main sub-cultures within the walls of prison the sub-culture of the Department of Corrections (which consists of the corrections officer, administrators, and all of the staff that work at the prison and go home at the end of their day) and the actual prisoners themselves. As you can imagine these two sub-cultures are dualistic in nature and this makes for a very stressful environment for both sides of the fence. While in prison, the inmates experience the same conditions as described in the previous
There are two different kinds of influences on prison misconduct, there is the combined characteristics of the inmates themselves, and the combined characteristics of the staff in control of them (Camp, Gaes, Langan, Saylor (2003). Prison misconduct has been classified into significant fields related to drug use, violence, property offenses, prison accountability and escapes, security-related offenses, security offenses interfering with daily operations, along with a residual category (Camp, Gaes, Langan, Saylor (2003). Misconduct spoils the effective procedure of the correctional institution, detracting from its capability to present the intentional services to the superior society (Goetting & Howsen (1986).
In fact, one of the most leading violence in the prison setting is sexual victimization. It involves different behaviors from sexually abusive contact to nonconsensual sexual assault. These assaults present bigger issues within the prison such as being exposed to sexually transmitted diseases like HIV, causing the inmate to retaliate, depression and suicidal gestures. (Wolf, N, 2006) In 2011, a random sample of not less than 10% of all federal, state prisons, county prisons, and municipal prisons in America was drawn. At the end of the annual sample, 8,763 allegations of sexual victimization were reported by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. (Roberts, N., 2014) As stated, this only included 10% percent of the prison excluding the other 90 % of prisons in America. In 2009, 7,855 allegations were filed and in 2010, 8,404 with 51 percent involving nonconsensual sex acts or abusive contact amongst inmates. The other 49% involved prison staff that resulted in sexual misconduct and sexual harassment. In 2012, the Department of Justice estimated that about 1 in 10 inmates were sexually assaulted by officers with high expectation that it would only continue to increase. (Roberts, N.,
To Health Service In Correctional Evironments: Inmates Health Care Measurement, Satisfaction and Access In Prisons.” Howard Journal of Criminal Justice 50.3. (2011): 262-274. Academic Search Complete. Web. 5 May 2014.
During the early half of the 19th century, there were two new models of prisons being built in the United States. Along with the new styles of prisons being constructed, two new styles of correctional systems were developed, the Pennsylvania system, and the Auburn, New York system (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Although the designs of the actual prisons were dramatically different, both systems shared similar ideals, with regards to how inmates should spend their days. Ultimately, the Auburn system prevailed as the more popular system of corrections in the United States, with some of the system’s correctional philosophies being used well into the 20th century (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Before discussing the actual philosophies, which were used to manage the inmates in each system, we should first look at the difference in the design of the prisons used in each system.
In the United States prison system inmate’s struggle and face conflicts within the culture, they live in on a daily basis. Prison life is very structured and within this system, there are multiple layers of racism, bigotry, and injustice. As a result of extreme conditions and the prison climate, many prisoners often experience stressful situations that influence their mental health. In addition to mental health issues, many prisoners often experience emotional, social, organizational, and arduous physical conditions while incarcerated. Due to these harsh conditions, further research is needed in our prison systems to evaluate the impact of our prison culture and the climate that these inmates are subjected to when incarcerated. Corporate
Even though prisons have such a hard effect on correctional officers some may argue that they should not be complaining about their job. Correctional officers chose their job so they cannot complain about the conditions they endure. Some correctional officers join prisons to be correctional officers so they can get their bottled up anger out and let it out on the prisoners. Correctional officers like this are creating a harsh environment for the prisoners for no reason. Prisoners already have to deal with overcrowding problems and terrible food so if correctional officers lash out on them and beat them up it creates more of a harsh environment. This can affect prisoners psychological wellbeing more than correctional officers since they have to be in prison 24/7. Correctional officers are not properly trained therefore they are not entirely ready to deal with prisoners and the environment of the prison. This can create a worse environment for the prisoners because they will not know how to handle the prisoners
Prison was designed to house and isolate criminals away from the society in order for our society and the people within it to function without the fears of the outlaws. The purpose of prison is to deter and prevent people from committing a crime using the ideas of incarceration by taking away freedom and liberty from those individuals committed of crimes. Prisons in America are run either by the federal, states or even private contractors. There are many challenges and issues that our correctional system is facing today due to the nature of prisons being the place to house various types of criminals. In this paper, I will address and identify three major issues that I believe our correctional system is facing today using my own ideas along with the researches from three reputable outside academic sources.
In the 1970s and 1980s, a massive amount of inmates began fillin up the United States prison systems. This huge rate of growth in this short amount of time, has greatly contributed to the prison overcrowding that the United States faces today. In fact, the prisons are still filled to the seams. This enormous flood of inmates has made it practically impossible for prison officials to keep up with their facilities and supervise their inmates. One of the main reasons why many prisons have become overcrowded is because of states’ harsh criminal laws and parole practices (Cohen). “One in every 100 American adults is behind bars, the highest incarceration rate in the world” (Cohen). The amount of inmates in corrections systems, throughout the nation, sky-rocketed to 708 percent between 1972 and 2008. Today, there are about 145,000 inmates occupying areas only designed for 80,000 (Posner). Peter Mosko, “an assistant professor of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice” (Frazier) stated, “America, with 2.3 million people behind bars, has more prisoners than soldiers” (Frazier). There have been studies that have shown “there are more men and women in prison than ever before. The number of inmates grew by an average of 1,600 a week. The U. S. has the highest rate of crime in the world” (Clark). Because of this influx in inmates, many prisoners’ rights groups have filed lawsuits charging that “overcrowded prisons violate the Constitution’s 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment” (Clark). It is clear that the United States corrections system needs to be reformed in order to eliminate this problem. Prison overcrowding is a serious issue in society due to the fact it affects prison ...