1. Chapter 9 The Staff World: Managing the Prison Population

2. Learning Objectives
List the staff roles within the organizational hierarchy of correctional institutions
Identify the types of power available to correctional officers, and list and describe the most common correctional officer personality types
List and describe the seven correctional officer job assignments

3. Learning Objectives (continued)
Identify five significant correctional staff issues
Detail the nature of workplace corruption among correctional personnel, and explain its causes
Explain the impact that terrorism is having on prisons and on the operation of correctional institutions today

4. Staff Hierarchy
Roles: Normal patterns of behavior expected of those holding particular social positions
Staff roles: Patterns of behavior expected of correctional staff members in particular jobs

5. Staff Hierarchy (continued)
Operate the institution and its programs and set policies
Administrative staff
Clerical personnel
Encourage prisoners to participate in educational, vocational, and treatment programs
Program staff
Most directly involved in managing the inmate population
Custodial staff
Service and maintenance staff
Volunteers

6. Goals of Correctional Staff Members
Provide for the security of the community
Promote the smooth and effective functioning of the institution
Ensure that incarceration is secure but humane
Give inmates the opportunity to gain skills required to develop a positive lifestyle

7. Correctional Officers’ Power Bases
Legitimate power
Derived by the virtue of position in the organization
Coercive power
Based on the inmates’ belief that COs can and will punish disobedience
Reward power
COs’ ability to dispense both formal and informal rewards

8. Correctional Officers’ Power Bases (continued)
Gain time: Time taken off an inmate’s sentence for participating in certain activities
Expert power
Based on inmates’ perception that certain COs have valuable skills
Referent power
Based on the inmates’ respect for a fair and non-abusive CO

9. Staff Subculture Beliefs, values, and behavior of staff
Greatly differs from inmate subculture
Structured conflict: Tensions between prison staff members and inmates that arise out of the correctional setting
Subculture: Beliefs, values, behavior, and material objects shared by a particular group of people within a larger society

10. The Officer Code Always go to the aid of an officer in distress
Do not lug drugs
Do not rat on other officers
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
Do not be a white hat or a goody two-shoes
Maintain officer solidarity in dealings with all outside groups
Show positive concern for fellow officers

11. Exhibit 9.2 - Correctional Officer Pay in 2016, by Selected Jurisdictions

12. Exhibit Profile of Custodial and Administrative Correctional Personnel in Federal Bureau of Prisons Facilities, 2016

13. Correctional Officer Personalities
Distinctive personal characteristics of correctional officers, including behavioral, emotional, and social traits
The dictator
Enjoys giving orders and the feeling of power derived from doing so
The friend
Tries to befriend inmates who, in turn, try to gain special treatment

14. Correctional Officer Personalities (continued 1)
The merchant
Provides commodities to inmates, often in violation of institutional rules
The turnkey
Unmotivated and bored does little beyond the basic job requirements
The do-gooder
Reformer who is motivated by a personal agenda such as religious proselytizing

15. Correctional Officer Personalities (continued 2)
The climber
Diligent worker who respects the corrections profession and is focused on rapid professional advancement
The reformer
Know-it-all who constantly complains and endlessly criticizes institutional policies, procedures, and rules

16. Correctional Officer Job Assignments
Supervise inmates in housing areas
Block officers
Oversee the work of individual inmates and inmate work crews
Work detail supervisors
Ensure efficient use of training and educational resources within the prison
Industrial shop and school officer
Supervise inmates in the prison yard
Yard officers

17. Correctional Officer Job Assignments (continued)
Control keys and weapons and may oversee visitation
Administrative officers
Assigned security tower, wall, and perimeter patrol posts to prevent escapes and intrusions
Perimeter security officers
Temporarily replace absent officers or fill staffing vacancies
Experienced COs who know and can perform any custody role in the institution
Relief officers

18. Gender and Staffing Women use a less aggressive work style than men
Use communication rather than threats or force to gain inmate cooperation
Rely more heavily on established disciplinary rules when problems arise
Female officers were assaulted only about one-fourth as often as male officers

19. Gender and Staffing (continued)
Most male staff members are pro-woman
Some express concerns about women’s ability to provide adequate backup in a crisis
Sexual harassment is a major issue
Fair amount of harassment is tolerated in the correctional officer subculture

20. Stress
Tension in a person’s body or mind, resulting from physical, chemical, or emotional factors
COs frequently deny being under stress
Fear that admitting to feelings of stress might be interpreted unfavorably
Resort to medication or alcohol

21. Factors That Create Stress
Feelings of powerlessness
Feelings of meaninglessness
Social isolation
Self-estrangement

22. Exhibit 9.6 - Major Sources of Correctional Officer Stress

23. Techniques for Avoiding or Reducing Job Stress
Communicating openly but avoiding resentment, gossip, and complaining
Learning to feel confident in one’s skills, values, beliefs, and oneself
Developing a support system
Being a conscientious worker but not a workaholic
Learning to manage one’s time and avoid procrastinating
Watching one’s diet and getting sufficient sleep
Exercising regularly and learning some relaxation exercises
Spending time cultivating self-understanding, setting goals, and making plans

24. Staff Safety Major stressor for COs
Primary management concern for correctional administrators
Can be improved through:
Safety programs tailored to the needs of correctional officers
Comprehensive planning and effective training

25. Job Satisfaction in Correctional Officers
Reasons for low satisfaction
High levels of stress
Feeling alienated from policymaking
Perception that their profession suffers a generally poor public image
Media portrayals of COs
Determinants of job satisfaction
Working conditions
Level of work-related stress
Quality of working relationships with fellow officers
Length of service

26. Professionalism Commitment to agreed-upon values for:
Improving the organization
Maintaining the highest standards of excellence and dissemination of knowledge
Professionals must present humanistic qualities
Selflessness, responsibility, accountability, Leadership, excellence, integrity, honesty, empathy, and respect for all

27. Professionalism (continued)
Elements of correctional professionalism that need to be established
Purpose: Reason for an organization’s existence
Mission: That which is done to support an organization’s purpose
Vision: Planned future direction of an organization

28. Officer Corruption Smuggling phones to prisoners
Misusing of confidential information
Drinking and abusing drugs while on duty
Sleeping on duty
Unnecessary roughness or brutality against inmates
Racism
Filing false disciplinary reports on inmates

29. Impact of Terrorism on Corrections
Inmates may be more vulnerable to recruitment by terrorist organizations:
As a result of their marginal social status
If they have no contact with their families and are angry and embittered

30. Anti-Terrorism Planning
Administrators and corrections personnel must be vigilant against the threat of terrorism
Interaction with inmates provides information

31. Anti-Terrorism Planning (continued)
Interaction with inmates provides information
Flow of information between inmates and the outside world should be monitored