Correctional Officers\u27 Perceptions of Working with Inmates with Mental Illnesses and the Effectiveness of Mental Health Training

Many correctional officers have voiced not receiving adequate training in mental health and how to best work with inmates who may be experiencing mental health symptoms. Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training has improved officers’ responses to working with individuals during a mental health crisis The purpose of this project was to examine correctional officers’ perceptions of working with inmates with mental illnesses and how prepared they feel working with inmates who are in crisis. Seventy correctional officers were surveyed in two county jails in Minnesota. The sample of participants included officers who have been certified in CIT. Results were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. While findings indicated there were no differences in perceptions of inmates with mental illnesses between correctional officers certified in CIT and correctional officers who were not, correctional officers who were certified in CIT self-reported they felt more prepared to work with inmates experiencing mental health symptoms and inmates who were in crisis. A third finding demonstrated correctional officers who indicated they were prepared to work with these inmates also had more positive perceptions of them. The participants surveyed were unrepresentative across gender and race. Conducting further research will help gain a better understanding on the views correctional officers have towards mental illnesses and responding to inmates who have mental illnesses, or who are in crisis

Predictors of Job Satisfaction Among County Jail Correctional Officers

Job satisfaction among jail correctional officers is important because it ensures the continuity of officers who can promote and maintain a safe environment inside the jail for all staff and inmates. Most job satisfaction studies on correctional officers, however, are focused on prison officers and not county jail officers. The purpose of this correlational study was to test and extend Herzberg\u27s Motivation-Hygiene theory by exploring job satisfaction and motivation among jail correctional officers in Miami-Dade Florida. Survey data were collected from 149 correctional officers using Specter\u27s (1994) Job Satisfaction Survey. Data were analyzed through correlational and multiple regression analyses. Findings of the correlation results indicated positive relationships at the .05 level between the motivators and hygiene predictors with job satisfaction. Regression results indicated a statistically significant relationship between the motivators and hygiene predictors with job satisfaction (p = 0.00). The implications for social change include recommendations to jail administrators to provide channels through which their employees can inform them of prevalent issues to aid in increasing job satisfaction. Implementation of this recommendation may improve job satisfaction among jail correctional officers, thereby improving perceptions that the jail correctional officers are appreciated and trusted, increase their sense of self-sufficiency, improve morale problems, and help jail administrators invest in the well-being of current and future jail correctional officers that are needed to maintain the safety and security of correctional facilities

Correctional Officers\u27 Perceptions of Working with Inmates with Mental Illnesses and the Effectiveness of Mental Health Training

Many correctional officers have voiced not receiving adequate training in mental health and how to best work with inmates who may be experiencing mental health symptoms. Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training has improved officers’ responses to working with individuals during a mental health crisis The purpose of this project was to examine correctional officers’ perceptions of working with inmates with mental illnesses and how prepared they feel working with inmates who are in crisis. Seventy correctional officers were surveyed in two county jails in Minnesota. The sample of participants included officers who have been certified in CIT. Results were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. While findings indicated there were no differences in perceptions of inmates with mental illnesses between correctional officers certified in CIT and correctional officers who were not, correctional officers who were certified in CIT self-reported they felt more prepared to work with inmates experiencing mental health symptoms and inmates who were in crisis. A third finding demonstrated correctional officers who indicated they were prepared to work with these inmates also had more positive perceptions of them. The participants surveyed were unrepresentative across gender and race. Conducting further research will help gain a better understanding on the views correctional officers have towards mental illnesses and responding to inmates who have mental illnesses, or who are in crisis

Correctional Officers Through the Looking Glass : Understanding Perceptions and their Impact on Personal and Professional Identity

ABSTRACT The external and institutional stressors that correctional officers face while performing their duties, such as managing a demanding workload, staffing shortages, and monitoring potentially dangerous inmates, have received some attention in the literature. However, researchers have not examined correctional officers’ perceptions of how others view their role and professional identity—whether prisoners, their families, or members of the general public—and how these perceptions are believed to influence an officer’s perspective of their work and their well-being. To explore this gap in the literature, this project seeks to analyze whether or not correctional officers sense these perceptions while performing their duties and if acknowledging these attitudes influences their views of the job. This study is interpretive and framed around the emerging perceptions and experiences of correctional officers and sensitizing concepts of stigma (Goffman, 1963), the “looking-glass self” (Cooley, 1902) and symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969). Ten male and female correctional officers employed with the Ontario Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services were interviewed about their workplace experiences and about the portrayal and public engagement of correctional news media. The analyses found that officers view their work through three distinct perspectives (individual, media-centred and organizational). Keywords: correctional officers, perceptions, experiences, perspectives, symbolic interactionism, perceived stigm

Behind the Scenes: Correctional Officers’ Perceptions on Serious Mental Illness Training

Correctional officers working within county jails are limited in training for mental health crisis intervention strategies. This study explored correctional officers’ insight after fulfilling training on SMI provided by the National Alliance on Mental Illness: Minnesota, in which insight was gained of professional attitudes and perceptions, evaluating program effectiveness. A focus group was employed with correctional officers who were purposefully invited to participate in this study as they have direct, firsthand knowledge of the strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement of the training. The findings indicate that correctional officers feel jail is not a place for individuals with a mental illness. The stigma of mental health behavior is another finding noted within the correctional officers discussion. Lastly, with the collected perceptions and judgments of correctional officers’, it is duly noted that this training provided by NAMI: MN is a solution to overcoming barriers of increasing knowledge of SMI. Recommendations for the program include increasing knowledge on signs and symptoms of mental health behaviors, teaching ways to approach individuals who are not in crisis, collaboration techniques, and ensuring administrators are made aware of how important this training is for correctional officers and ways it benefits their jails, as an organization and a system. One last recommendation is that more correctional officers’ need to be taught about mental health, signs and symptoms, truths about mental illnesses and stigmas surrounding SMI, increasing knowledge

Behind the Scenes: Correctional Officers’ Perceptions on Serious Mental Illness Training

Correctional officers working within county jails are limited in training for mental health crisis intervention strategies. This study explored correctional officers’ insight after fulfilling training on SMI provided by the National Alliance on Mental Illness: Minnesota, in which insight was gained of professional attitudes and perceptions, evaluating program effectiveness. A focus group was employed with correctional officers who were purposefully invited to participate in this study as they have direct, firsthand knowledge of the strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement of the training. The findings indicate that correctional officers feel jail is not a place for individuals with a mental illness. The stigma of mental health behavior is another finding noted within the correctional officers discussion. Lastly, with the collected perceptions and judgments of correctional officers’, it is duly noted that this training provided by NAMI: MN is a solution to overcoming barriers of increasing knowledge of SMI. Recommendations for the program include increasing knowledge on signs and symptoms of mental health behaviors, teaching ways to approach individuals who are not in crisis, collaboration techniques, and ensuring administrators are made aware of how important this training is for correctional officers and ways it benefits their jails, as an organization and a system. One last recommendation is that more correctional officers’ need to be taught about mental health, signs and symptoms, truths about mental illnesses and stigmas surrounding SMI, increasing knowledge

The Experience of Correctional Officers Who Have Witnessed Inmate Suicide

Correctional officers are tasked with supervising individuals in custody. Their duties are plentiful and include responding to critical incidents, such as inmate suicide. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the experience of correctional officers in the United States who have witnessed inmate suicide. Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model of stress and coping was used to guide this study. Participants included eight correctional officers within the United States who have witnessed inmate suicide. These participants were selected using purposive and snowball sampling. Virtual, semi-structured, audio recorded interviews were conducted with participants. Data were analyzed using Braun and Clarke\u27s thematic analysis to explore the experience of correctional officers who have witnessed inmate suicide. Five themes were identified through data analysis: additional resources for correctional officers who have witnessed inmate suicide need to be made available by correctional agencies, there is a need for social support following the witnessing of an inmate suicide, experience of emotions in witnessing inmate suicide, the “hard truth” about witnessing inmate suicide, and prison culture and operational factors related to the correctional officers\u27 experience of witnessing inmate suicide. The findings from this study add to the literature by exploring the experience of correctional officers who have witnessed inmate suicide. Recommendations for future research include exploring how correctional officers in the United States cope with the experience of witnessing inmate suicide. The findings of this study may also lead to the creation and implementation of additional staff wellness initiatives, a great potential for positive social change

Use of Force By Correctional Officers: A Test of General Strain and Scial Bond Theories

Use of force in corrections is significantly less studied when compared to other fields, such as policing. This is a problem as unnecessary and unjustified use of force in corrections needlessly raises the violence level in correctional facilities, which endangers persons in custody and correctional officers alike. The current study examines use of force in corrections using a theoretical approach. First, Robert Agnew’s general strain theory is applied to understand use of force encounters between persons in custody and correctional officers. Second, Travis Hirschi’s social bond theory is used to investigate whether certain social bonds may relate to reductions in use of force. Interactions between social bonds and correctional workplace strains are examined to see whether social bonds serve as protective factors against these strains. To investigate these hypotheses, an online survey was sent out to correctional officers in the state of Washington who were represented by the King County Corrections Guild (KCCG) and the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) Jail. This study found a significant relationship between correctional workplace strains and both lethal and less than lethal use of force in corrections, specifically strains that relate to correctional officer safety. Correctional officers were not observed to be satisfied with their social bonds, and the limited social bonds that correctional officers hold were not observed to have a significant direct effect on either lethal or less than lethal use of force encounters. This study concludes that by reducing violence against correctional officers, use of force encounters in correctional facilities may also be reduced. Further, correctional officers do iii not appear to have sufficiently strong social bonds that could serve as protective factors against workplace strains and reduce use of force encounters