Dade Functional Institution Research Paper

But systems of power may fail for other reasons as well. Those who are in charge may not be willing to exert their power. There may be some corruption among the custodians. Custodians are in close proximity to the prisoners so there may be some blackmail involved in not taking action when supposed to. “In the second place, the guard’s position as a strict enforcer of the rules is undermined by the fact that he finds it almost impossible to avoid the claims of reciprocity” (Sykes, 1958, 56). Third reason is the constant infringement of the guards’ dominance by prisoners. Some of the inadequacies of prison officials have been said to be linked to the fact more than fifty percent of the guards are temporary employees. There is also the low salary for the guards. The job is not seen as very glamorous or worthwhile as well (Sykes,

Most of his time at Sing Sing was consumed being in close contact with the inmates, in dining halls and housing galleries, doing strip searches, searching cells, writing disciplinary infraction reports, and confiscating inmate contraband. In addition, because they live in an enforced state of near powerlessness, answering to inmates who required support with a seemingly endless range of personal complications occupied much of Conover’s time. Conover’s account of the correctional officer’s role is consistent with those opinions offered by others who have firsthand experience of prison life. Virtually all serious, firsthand interpretations of correctional work define a gap between the training and the realism of the job, official policies and procedures that require routine avoidance, poor associations between line officers and administrators, and the undermining power of stress on professional conduct and personal life.

Also, in some cases, records were falsified to justify the actions of the corrections officers. Another example was the misuse of the prisons’ integration policy. Within an isolated location known as the security housing unit, this policy was supposedly established to bring unity among rival inmates in effort that they could ultimately transfer to the prisons’ general population. As of a result of these unethical actions the civil rights of the inmates were violated. (Dryburgh, 2009, pp.164-165).

Ted Conover’s book, New Jack, is about the author's experiences as a rookie guard at Sing Sing prison, in New York, the most troubled maximum security prison. He comes to realize that being a correctional officer isn’t an easy task. This is shown from the beginning when he is required to attend a 7 week training program to become a correctional officer. He comes to realize what inmates have to endure on a daily basis. Throughout his experience into a harsh culture of prison and the exhausting and poor working conditions for officers, he begins to realize that the prison system brutalizes everyone connected to it. New Jack presents new ideas of prisons in the United States in the ways facilities, corrections officers, and inmates function with

The three health officials will also be required to critique the social worker's form of being an assistance to the top three health care officials in the program as well as the patients who are receiving treatment. With the social workers being trained by the top three health care officials. The social workers in the facility will be taught to have passion for the rehabilitation of the inmates and are strongly encouraged to have a positive influence on the inmates as they help the mentally ill inmates cope with their internal issues. Social workers will be required to train the correctional officers as to recognizing any suspicious actions. Also the correctional officers will be trained by the correctional facility on how resolve most conflicts involving an inmate and the staff by use of his or her voice rather than using physical violence which could worsen the mental status of the inmate. Any suspicious actions or mood swings should be monitored by any part of the staff, much of the prison population dealing with mental health issues end up committing

Conover’s purpose in writing this book not only to share his experience as a correctional officer but to also help readers get beyond the stereotype of the brutal guard seen on television and rumors but to see correctional officers as individuals, offering us a chance to understand

As the Warden, William has a very tough job. He is in charge of everyone in the prison and now a days “focus has shifted to ensuring the safety and security of the community, staff, and inmates” (Ruddell, 2008). Now that the budget was cut, William believes that an off-site work release program would be beneficial in making sure the prison isn’t as crowded all the time. Staffing has become an issue and the union representative wants to know how the warden intents to ensure the safety of the officers. The ethical question here is what should he do in order to make sure his staff is safe. The warden is motivated by the fact that he does not want to lose officers due to them feeling threatened. Therefore something needs to be done to ensure they will stick around and do their job without being harmed. As the

In the case of the California’s Corcoran State Prison the prisoners were being mistreated. The situation that brought this case to the forefront was Dryburgh (2009) found that “Preston Tate was shot and fatally wounded by a corrections officer after Tate and his cellmate fought against two rival Hispanic gang member. Tate death was at the hands of a prison guard prompted two whistle – blowers to approach the FBI with tales of abuse and brutality toward inmates by correction officers”. Moreover, this was not the first time that an inmate had been shot by a correctional officer.

At any given time, a single corrections officer, can expect to be outnumbered by upwards of 400 inmates (Conover, 2011). It can be chilling to work in the midst of hundreds of inmates, some of which initiate attacks and inappropriate relationships. However, other issues have impacted the psychological health and physical safety of the staff. Detrimental factors have included heavy workloads, the prisons physical structure, and a lack of support from both peers and superiors. Each workplace issue has been in addition to role problems, specifically role ambiguity and role conflict (Schaufeli & Peeters, 2011). It is believed that anyone of these undesirable facets of prison should be enough to deter the public from attempting to enter such

Joe had hired the two supervisors during the early spring after interviewing a number of applicants. Both were young (23 and 24), from the city, and had degrees in agricultural management from Penn State, but had not known each other previously.

In spite of the fact that the situation is intricate, and some conflicting discoveries have risen, for the most part the literature supports the idea that the more coercive the jail environment the more prominent the potential for savagery becomes. This is particularly so where jail administration and treatment of detainees are seen by detainees as unreasonable or illegitimate, as this reinforces detainee solidarity contrary to the authorities. A jail approach that keenly consolidates situational and social counteractive action techniques upheld by fitting administration strategies and exploration based staff enlistment and preparing practices, is likely the most encouraging model for lessening interpersonal savagery in correctional facilities.

In the book NewJack: Guarding Sing Sing, the book discussed the life of a guard. Most people feel that the guards are bad guys in the criminal justice system and with the politics of the criminal justice systems there are many assumptions of the way in which the stereotype of prison guard’s life should be. The author Ted Conover explains first hand on the experiences behind the scenes that many guards experiences throughout their careers that is an untold story of the truth in the prison system. Conover was curious about the subculture of the prison guards’ duties and wanted to know the truth about if the assumptions that most have about the prison guards is truthful. Conover entered the Academy with many other young men and a few women who wanted good jobs with security. The training was modeled after boot camp for the military. Those who had been in the military fared better than those who had not been so initiated. Once Conover crossed the training hurdle, he was tossed over to Sing Sing for his first assignment.

When we do research on daily prison life, we come across two typical but less than ideal situations: either social imaginaries cloud our judgment or information provided by the prisons themselves hide certain weak or bad aspects that they do not want to make public. We can also find information on TV, but most of the time it either exaggerates or minimizes the facts. In order to obtain more reliable information, we have to have access to people who are working or have worked in this institution, and such will be the sources of this essay. We will be describing and giving examples of prison violence according to three types of violence: sexual, physical and psychological violence.

more interested is paid in the criminal and justice systems in the USA, the role played by correctional officers not only in the jails and prisons but society as well has gained increasing attention. In the most basic sense, the officers and staff, in general, are charged with the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the public. This is done primarily through the provision of care, custody, control, and the general

A Corrections Officer has many duties to consider as they manage the activities of inmates. They are charged with the responsibilities of conducting head counts, monitoring recreational activities, and supervising their work assignments while maintaining a safe environment ensuring the welfare of those who are incarcerated in the correctional facility and employed there, as well as protect the safety of the public communities. They are investigators trained to search for illegal or prohibited goods smuggled into the institution, respond to riots, transport inmates and write reports. Although the job of an officer is challenging still the manner in which they ought to interact with the inmates should exemplify a standard of discipline that displays ethical professionalism, and respect at all times.