Ethical Standards in Correctional Facilities Essay

I will have an internship with the Department of Juvenile Justice in Chicago during this summer, so this book provided examples of how to approach the prison environment. The case histories which impacted me, mainly was the Case Histories I, which illustrated Mrs. Chase and her interactions with the inmates. I feel this case influenced me because I am also female with no experience, who is about to work in a juvenile facility. I will face some of the same obstacles as Mrs. Chase since some of the juveniles are not far from my ages. However, this book taught me ways to hinder the interaction with inmates into a professional only demeanor. For instance, when approaching me, I will make it clear that I will only be addressed by my last name, and will not respond anything other than my last name. Additionally, I will not disclose any personal information to the inmates; however, I will provide information if it’s appropriate for the situation. Moreover, I want to build a relationship with the inmates to show that I am here to help them, better themselves, but not for personal reasons, such as intimate relationships or outside

He explained that many of the people that he face in doing his job make it especially hard to compartmentalize convicts characteristics and charges versus the fact that they are nonetheless human beings – and with that must be treated accordingly. Of course, there is extensive training prior to becoming an active employee. Training continues on the job after the fact. Initially, he found it the most difficult to know that some of these inmates were child molesters and rapists, and he was, by law required to treat every inmate professionally and equally. In addition, in order to gain the respect needed from each inmate he had to first show them respect. Earning their trust was the key to

The two officers expressed their concerns for the department of corrections along with their concerns for the prisoners; under their set of moral rules it is possible they felt they were a part of the problem and not of the solution and felt the need to take further action to resolve the conflict. The officers may have been able to avoid their ultimate outcome if they investigated alternate approaches.

The American Penal System has become a laughing stock to many citizens who view the system as lacking and useless. The correctional facilities have become overpopulated and are housing more repeat offenders than ever in American history. To find out what could be the cause of this, the focus need to be put on the training of the officers which provide security, the management of the facilities and the legislature which make the rules for governing such an enormous body of people. The training of people, who will be guarding the all offenders, especially those with mental challenges, required in-depth training, which correctional officers do not receive. Correction is the punishment intended to reform, improve or rehabilitate (Corrections.2014).

The main forms of corruption committed by correctional officers, include “theft, trafficking, embezzlement, and misuse of authority” (Pollock, 2017, p. 403). An officer misuses authority when, “Accepting gratuities for special consideration during legitimate activities,” “Accepting gratuities for protection of illicit activities,” “Mistreatment/harassment or extortion of inmates,” “Mismanagement,” and “Miscellaneous abuses” (Pollock, 2017, p. 403-404). Correctional officers can take advantage of their power and use it excessively, such as acting bias toward the inmates, acting inconsiderate or careless toward inmates, and using their authority to gain something on a personal level, such as smuggling or theft (Pollock, 2017). Over the past five

Correctional facilities are not a safe environment for people to reside in. However, prisons are home too many. That being said, one of the jobs of a correctional officer, or CO, is to keep the inmates, as well as fellow workers safe (Gaines & Miller, 2015, p. 258). The CO’s are the men and women on the front line who deal with the inmates’ face to face (Gaines & Miller, 2015, p. 259). As a result, the CO’s possess a great deal of power over the inmates, and this can sometimes lead to abuse. However, there are measures that were put into place to prevent the inmates from being physically harmed by the CO’s. To better elaborate, CO’s can only use force against inmates under specific disciplinary acts (Gaines & Miller, 2015, p. 260). According to the textbook, there are 5 reasons why a CO is

While the recognition of this unethical behavior was now being recognized the behavior still continues. Prisons cannot rely on employees to enact ethical behavior when dealing with inmates, institutions must set up standards and systems that check and re-check employees ethics. As DeAmicis (2005) suggests, “Every institution needs a strong internal investigative body. This unit should act independently for the warden or the superintendent of the institution” (p. 80).

Correctional officers or prison guards: these classifications are used to identify those in authority in institutions throughout the world. Correctional institutions in the United States are formulated on fairness and productivity, and the administrators within the institutions are held at the highest responsibility to see fit the safety and wellness of inmates during their time of rehabilitation. However, with the vast exposure of insubordination overtime, prison guards are being targeted as the true criminals. In certain cases, correctional officers are abusing their authority and neglecting inmate’s constitutional rights. This misconduct has tainted the integrity of correctional officers throughout much of the United States. Evidently, I will further demonstrate the unlawful misconduct among those in positions as correctional officers, the reason for their misconduct, and their effects on inmates.

The main purpose of Corrections is to incapacitate, and rehabilitate an inmate with the hope they will become law abiding citizens once released back into society. However, while in the correctional institution serving their time, many inmates dealing with pressure from being away from their families or pressures from their peers if they are in a gang, to assault staff members that work at these institutions. These assaults have made it very dangerous for Correctional Officers to perform his or her job duties. This reform will look to take advance measures to protect our correctional staff employees as they try to protect society from these violent/non-violent criminals. This paper will help one to better understand the

Some of the Correctional Officer functions are, to enforce and keep order, they supervise activities of inmates, aid in rehabilitation and counseling of offenders, routinely search inmates for contraband items, and often report on inmates conduct on a day to day basis. While the daily duties of a correctional officer can truly be viewed as the proverbial “daily grind”, they often have to perform these prison duties while dealing with stressful and often times very dangerous situations. While most of us on the outside world try to make a routine day more enjoyable, routine for the correctional officers within the prison is not a negative thing in the least, as a routine day is very important to the successful operation of a correctional facility. “Routine in a prison environment is the consistent, scheduled, and expected activities that make up the day within a prison” (Seiter, 2011).

(2011) studied deviance in the criminal justice system and found that there is very little discussion as to the types of deviant acts committed by correctional employees. Worley referred to Goffman (1961) in his study as identifying prisons as “total institutions”. There are numerous examples in how a prison guard can engage in illegal activities, like guards allowing other prisoners to engage in brutality against one another or guards themselves engage in the brutality, it can also be something as small as guards helping prisoners acquire illegal

The ability to apply acquired knowledge in a situation outside the typical educational structure often results in exceptional learning. The experience of working with the corrections officers at the Allen County Juvenile Detention Center helped me to think critically about the application of justice. There is much that can be said specifically about the correction officers and some of their attitudes and actions. They do contribute to the atmosphere, however, changing other aspects such as the rules or the actual building has been my focus. Throughout this reflection, I will cover a typical work day with some commentary on the procedures and the environment intermixed. Working at relatively the same time each day caused a rather repetitious experience and there were only minor changes day to day. I will conclude with some notes about how justice “looks” at the JDC along with some suggestions.

To understand the ethical challenges in the criminal justice system, I took a look at the three parts of criminal justice, Policing, Courts, and Corrections. In doing so I found that this is quite a large topic. The areas I would like to touch on are; those areas in which the newly hired police officer, lawyer, and corrections officer my face. Having only the training he/she was given in their respective academy’s or in the case of attorneys Law School, and with the Oath of office they had just sworn to, hopefully still in, and the men and women they are placed with to guide them; above all their own sense of ethical behavior and morality. Ethics

Individual people are the remedy for ethical misconduct, primarily if we as individuals made a decision that our morals are important and should be guarded from those who would encourage us to “just go along” there would not be as big a need for remedies for ethical misconduct. This course Professional Ethics in Criminal Justice was created to help make us aware that our morals, our values and how we apply them in our careers once we graduate will dictate the kind of career we will have. When we make decisions, we need to go back to the basics that we have learned and apply them each and every time to all situations.

Ethics is defined as a division of philosophy that deals with morals. This is what a person believes is right or wrong, it separate the good and evil of human actions, and distinguishes between the honest and dishonest characteristics of people. Ethics play three major roles within the criminal justice system.(1) A misconception that many people have is that their behavior to law enforcement agents doesn’t have anything to do with the ethical balance. It is important for people to be willing to share information and to be part of the system. This means for people within the community to come forward with information they may have on crimes or criminal activity and also participating in jury duty. (2)When it comes to police officers, they have