Preview

Correctional Staff Attitudes

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1946 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Correctional Staff Attitudes
Correctional Staff Attitudes and its Effects on the Entire Facility
Teresa McCroskey
CJ503 – 01NA Organizational Behavior Unit 3
April 13, 2010
Instructor Colleen McCue

Correctional Staff Attitudes and its Effects on the Entire Facility The correctional staffs work environment is largely a part of the issue of why it is hard to keep efficient staff. The correctional supervisor must be able to find solutions for staff to be able to handle the hostile work environment, job dangers, shift work, and dealing with the family stressors. This can cause many issues such as lack of sleep, issues with child care, along with dangerous inmates the correctional officers deal with, medical issues, among a few. This causes many of the officers to have absenteeism from work, and develop negative attitudes, work habits, and feelings towards the people he/she is supervised by or receive promotions before them. Correctional workers work in a unique work environment. (Dial & Johnson, 2008)
Correctional officers can develop medical issues that can cause them time off work called stressors. These stressors can come from lack of sleep which can disrupt much of an officers day. Some of the symptoms are what is called Shift lag. “Shift lag is impaired performance. Lack of sleep can cause gastrointestinal issues, depression and apathy, sleepiness or falling asleep at work, and sleep interference during the daytime. Medical issues that can come from the stressors of lack of sleep can cause much disruption in an officers work day. Some of the symptoms are: shift lag, impaired performance, gastrointestinal dysfunction, depression and apathy, sleepiness/sleeping at work, and sleep disruption during the daytime sleep. Women face the issue of cardiovascular and obstetric problems more so then men. Women face having low birth rate babies, preterm babies, and spontaneous abortions. Where men may have issues with cardiovascular issues and sleep disorders.” (Dial & Johnson, 2008)
There



References: Cocoran, R. (2005, April 1). Changing Prison Culture. Retrieved April 17, 2010, from allbusiness.com: http://www.allbusiness.com/employee-turner.retention/4973045.html Dial, K. C., & Johnson, W. (2008). Working Within the Walls: The Effect of Care From Coworkers on Correctional Employees. Professional Issues in Criminal Justice , 3 (2), 17 - 31. Judge, T. A., & Robbins, S. P. (2007). Organizational Behavior. New Delhi of India: Prentice Hall.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Throughout the years, there has been one major dilemma that continues to hassle the administration whose sole purpose is to provide institutional sanctions, treatment programs, and services for managing criminal offenders. This dilemma is the high turnover rate of the Corrections Officers, whom agencies nation wide are losing at an extremely high rate. Recent statistics indicate that nearly half of all Corrections Academy graduates will have left their agency within a two-year period (“State questions high, “2004). This high turnover rate is causing a staff shortage, which is forcing agencies to put new officers on the job immediately while being untrained. Though the amount of Corrections Officers departing from their agencies continues to rise, the amount of inmates entering prisons remains the same. This of course can become a serious safety issue for the departments employing these new hires that are inadequately trained.…

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Spector, P.E. (2012). Industrial and organizational psychology: Research and practice (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley…

    • 1408 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Peter, I totally agree with your statement. Keeping a sane mid gram in the work force is imperative. AS a supervisor of staff and inmates, I find myself often times caught up in the games that both sides play. I can only inmagine how stressful it is to be a police officer in today's society. Being in corrections for 12 years has changed my perspective on the way i view people and their circumstances. Before entering my job, I literally have to mentally prepare myself that I may not leave out the same way as I came in. However, I try to think about it too much because it will literally drive you…

    • 114 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the prison documentary Predators at Prey, we learn about the daily challenges correctional officers face every day. The Lebanon Correctional Institution, located in Ohio, is a rehabilitation based prison that focuses on inmate reentry by offering various services. Just like most other prisons, correctional officers at this institution have to deal with individuals who have committed murder, sex crimes, and drug related crimes. As a result, stress is seen to manifest in different forms in an environment such as this one. Sanford Whitlow, a correctional officer of twelve years, made an interesting observation of correctional officers being unsung heroes who never receive credit for dealing with the worst people in society. Hence, the…

    • 298 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Guarding Sing Sing

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Some of the individuals in Conover's entering "class" of corrections trainees had always wanted to work in law enforcement. Others were ex-military, looking for a civilian job that they thought would reward structure and discipline. But most came looking for a steady job with good benefits. To get it, they were desperate enough to commute hours each way, or even to live apart from their families during the work week. Their job consists of long days locking and unlocking cells, moving prisoners to and from various locations while the prisoners beg, hassle and abuse them. Sometimes, the prisoners' requests are simple, but against the rules: an extra shower, some contraband cigarettes. Other times, they are appropriate, but unbelievably complicated: it can take months to get information about property lost in the transfer from one prison to another. Meanwhile, the orders officers give are ignored. Discipline -- even among the…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    What are the effects of treatment programs and how do these programs assist the rate of recidivism?…

    • 1881 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Inmate Culture

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Two theories of how culture became a part of prison life was one indigenous, because it develops as a result of the environment in which inmates find themselves according to Clemmer. Also Sykes believed that it was the deprivations and loss of freedom due to being locked up. The second theory was that the culture is imported within the inmate’s values from the outside. This created a subculture of convicts, thieves and square johns.…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Culture is indigenous to prisons; it was believed that it was developed as inmates’ loss connection to their previous environment and freedom.…

    • 262 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Essay On Prison Violence

    • 1740 Words
    • 7 Pages

    After discussing the problem of stress management prison violence in detail, a lot of questions arise in the mind of the readers that how the workers work in such stressful environment of high security prison? How those employees or worker manage their medical, mental as well as physical conditions? How these correctional officers and other coworkers adjust them with the violent subculture of prison? How all the stressful factors affect the individual, married, home life, professional life and career, social interaction of prison employees? How they react with their…

    • 1740 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Given the limited amount of statistics for this topic, I will bring in personal experience from working at Monroe Correctional Facility. During the first week of working at the jail, two inmates in program were experiencing the loss of a loved one. The mother of one inmate’s child was shot to death in New Jersey leaving the inmate to grieve her loss and to be concerned about the placement of his child. Another inmate’s grandfather, the positive role model in the family, died of cancer and had been sick for a…

    • 3257 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    History of Corrections -Punishment or Rehabilitation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2010, from Prisons as Workplaces: http://www.libraryindex.com…

    • 2612 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Correctional Officer

    • 358 Words
    • 1 Page

    Many officers find the field to be stressful because it holds the highest risk of injury and illness, often resulting from confrontations with inmates. Jail and prison security must be provided 24 hours a day, officers work all hours of the day and night, weekends, and holidays these factors affect their daily lives very heavily but they do it in the name of justice. The daily interactions with inmates are a big responsibility which I do not take lightly. Although an officer is an authority figure they are civil servants and are required to respect the inmates rights and treat them with respect.…

    • 358 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Workplace Violence

    • 2808 Words
    • 12 Pages

    A summary paper for the partial fulfillment of the requirements for completion of the Pacific Union College Degree Completion Program leading to a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration. Napa Valley College November, 1999 INTRODUCTION Preface This paper is intended to explore the issues of violence in the workplace. It does not recommend a specific course of action or purport to address all of the issues associated with the problem. It is my desire to examine particular elements of workplace violence with the idea that I may author a policy for my employer. Background Crime continues to be a controversial topic in American society. Debate regarding the cause of crime may be found in the media on any given day. What to do about crime is also the topic of much discussion. 5.5 million people were on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole at year's end 1996. (U. S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.) Many changes have taken place within the Department of Corrections in California during the 1990s. Most significantly, dwindling financial recourses have reshaped the priorities of the department. It cost $21,470 a year to house an inmate in a California state prison. (Inmate Costs, 1997-1998 p.1 Corrections: Public Safety, Public Service). There are currently about 161,033 inmates in California Prisons. Since staffing levels must remain more or less constant, it is inmate programs that suffer from lack of funding. Criminals sentenced to prison are under the custody of the Department of Corrections. In addition to fiscal pressure, the department is subject to political pressure at all levels. Public reaction to crime is responsible for the denial of weight yard and other recreational activities; "Three Strikes", and the loss of conjugal visits. All place varying levels of stress upon inmates and staff. Nature of the Problem Violence is universally recognized as a pervasive part of contemporary American society and of our…

    • 2808 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Sumter, M. (2008, August). The correctional work force faces challenges in the 21st Century. Corrections Today, 70(4), 100.…

    • 1401 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Prison Health Care Paper

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Magaletta, P. R., & Peyrot, M. F. (2000). Telehealth in the Federal Bureau of Prisons: Inmates '…

    • 1487 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics