Salary Wages In Corrections

Correctional Officers play a very vital role in the criminal justice field. Their jobs are very dangerous when dealing with inmates that are in jail and prisons. ”The

This first major concern within the department is the fear of embarrassment and conflict. I completed an internship with department in 2011 under Chief Robert Bingham. The department seemed to run smoothly, employees seem to love coming to work and most of all Chief Bingham was very involved with each Officer and their well-being. The way the department was structured and the policies that were in place, kept the caseload numbers down to less than 80 per Officer and allowed Officers to spend more time with the clients. Also, all officers did not have to be certified for drug and alcohol evaluations because there was a team who specialized in that area. Under the current Chief Christine Kerl, a lot of those practices and policies were removed and new ones were implemented immediately. The department turnover rates have spiked since these changes have occurred. Chief Kerl has been resistant in reverting back to the old policies due to the fear of embarrassment and conflict within the Officers. Several Officers have complained and shared ideas, but most of the time those ideas are

Governor Wilma James’ state is facing severe budget cuts due to economic struggles and drops in tax revenues. The Department of Revenue had informed the governor that she must find ways to reduce the budget by $6 billion. There are several areas which the governor acknowledged as fixed and cannot be touched such as, health care and pension payments. Several proposals were brought to the governor’s attention and the one that stands out the most were the prison system. After conversing with the correctional commissioner, the governor decided to order an early release of inmates whose been charged with drug related crimes. Governor James believes that her action will reduce the state’s budget immensely; however, another problem that may transpire, is the rise of drug related criminal activities occurring all across the state. This essay will briefly highlight the contexts of prison labor and work release programs, and how it would be a better alternative as compared to the early releasing of felons incarcerated for drug related crimes.

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.

The first thing that I found was intriguing was the importance of the on- the-job training officers which qualifies recruits to become regular officers. “A training officer named Hill, told us that our job would be usually difficult, because OJT’s irritate inmates. Inmates appreciate a consistent set of keepers, he explained; they don’t like having the rules enforced differently everyday. This comes to show that it will either make or break a correctional officer, given that they will have a difficult time dealing with inmates or they will have to work extra hard to keep the inmates in line. An interesting fact that Conover points out is that, “you’re going to learn, correctional officers that some things they taught you in the academy can get you killed” (Pg 99). While he spent time on the work force at Sing Sing, Conover came to realize that many other officers don’t follow the rules instructed at the academy. The academy is successful in teaching the future officers how the field of law works. However, the correctional officers in the facilities have to change the rules quite a bit, so that the inmates follow the instructions. An example of a negative aspect of the academy is that it teaches CO’s to not communicate with the inmates. But, sometimes that isn’t practical and instead, CO’s should create a relationship with the inmate so that they have a strong bond. Lastly, I

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

Journalist, Ted Conover expresses an interest in writing a book about the lives of prison guards by proposing to the New York Department of Correctional Services to interview corrections officers, but his access is denied. He then decides to immerse himself into the culture and apply for a correctional officer position. After a brief training, Conover is randomly assigned to Sing Sing as a “newjack” or a rookie, to one of the most infamous maximum security male prisons in the United States. He meets other officers with goals of becoming involved in law enforcement; ex-military looking for a demanding, disciplined and tactical position; and those who just need a steady job with dependable benefits for their families. Some of these individuals are frantic enough to commute hours on end to make a living wage.

The criminal justice system has become an ad hoc medical and social service delivery institution with more than eight million offenders under correctional control. Offenders have more physical, substance-abuse disorders, social and psychological deficits than the general population. According to Estelle versus Gamble, correctional institutions are required to provide reasonable care for all offenders who are incarcerated. Other issues such as psychological and social services have become a burden. A recent survey of prison administrators sheds light on the capacity of offenders that needed medical, psychological, and social services for offenders. The survey also dissected the analysis of the organizational factors that may affect whether an

One problem that is faced in the corrections system today is overpopulation in the prisons. Prisons all over the United States are becoming overcrowded and that leads to many other problems such as

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

According to the “States Face Correctional Officer Shortage Amid A Cultural Stigma " article states that prisons have about thirty thee percent of shortage and the highest inmate homicide rate in the county. Furthermore, it states that more than 1.3 million people are incarcerated in the state prison in this country and to keep the prions running it requires tens of thousands of Correction Officers. As of right now the states are facing a major shortage. Due to the shortage, many states are offering special incentives, recruitments and retentions bonus to recruit more Correctional Officers. In most state prison overtime is mandatory for Correctional Officer.

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

When I first received a job offer from The Arizona Department of Corrections I was excited. The prospect of having a decent job with benefits was very new to me. I had been a waitress my entire adult life scraping by on tips and below minimum wage pay, but here was an opportunity to have a better life for me and my family. If I had known what an impact this career path would have on me maybe I wouldn’t have accepted the job. I can honestly say that being a Corrections Officer has molded my view of people, the ones I know and even ones I do not know. I see someone in a store with tattoos that are gang related or murder related such as tear drops below the eyes, or spider webs on the elbows. My first thought is when they were released

The turnover rate will always be the way it is in the department of corrections simply because of the type of job it is. Working with the type of people you have to work with makes the job very difficult. The main reason for a high turnover rate in this business is due to demanding hours and shift work; inadequate pay and

Building a prison obviously creates jobs, both for construction workers and correctional officers. King, Maurer and Huling name a number of requirements for construction workers employed at a prison. Besides being a member in a trade union (14), they usually need to have a very specific skill set. Most locals do not meet these two conditions, thus leaving only “low-skill and low-wage laborer jobs” (15) for them. According to Schlosser, the highly desirable jobs in corrections do not demand college education, often pay more than the county’s average salary, and provide “health benefits and a pension.” Therefore, he argues, less young people move away from their hometowns. However, studies show that the majority of correctional officials do