Everyday crimes are committed. Some of these offenses committed by perpetrators are more severe than others, and cause the individuals who carry out the crimes to be sentenced to time in the county or prison facilities. At the forefront of protecting these criminals from committing more crimes and jeopardizing the public’s safety are correctional officers. The main goal of corrections work is the safe and secure management and rehabilitation of justice-involved individuals, whether in locked facilities or within community supervision programs (Denhof, 1). Although, correctional officer’s sole job is to provide care, custody, and control for perpetrators, correctional officers have another job. That task is not to become subdued by the stress
In part 3, Morris (2002, p.171) discusses why prison conditions matter and why penal reformers, including himself, have devoted their lives and travelled thousands of miles
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
Working in a Correctional Facility is a very stressful environment. Everything is done by the book and not following the protocol could mean termination of your employment. A Corrections Officer is a Government job which means you get a great salary that could range from $35,000.00 - $70,000.00 a year. You get great benefits with health care and dental care. There are Correctional Facilities all over Canada, which means this job could allow you to move all over the country. Also, if you work in the
In the book, The Achievement Habit, by Bernard Roth, chapter two reasons are bullshit, he gives multiple examples on ethos, logos, and pathos. Logos which is the logical appeal, ethos are the ethical appeal, and pathos which is the emotional appeal to the reader. In chapter two, reasons are bullshit the author talks about the reasons people give are pointless. He also states that people should stop giving excuses. That any kind of excuse, besides being sick or a death in the family, should not be accepted. This book by Bernard Roth is intended for the audience of college students. I believe that chapter two is a very important chapter for college students. Most college students use excuses for a lot of things, even things that they don’t need
Although all employees should be assets to their organization, certain employees, because of their respective strengths and talents, may be better suited for certain tasks. In the organization I where I work, the Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office, there are several individuals who would be both happier and better suited for different areas of criminal investigations. Several problems persist within the organization that prevent both the agency and the individuals employed by it from achieving their full potential. While there are a host of departments within my organization, the focus of this essay will be on the Criminal Investigations Division in which I work. I will also include a few thoughts on the administrative structure of my department, address some of its problems and offer my own solutions for overcoming these
More specifically, the focus was on the patters, as well as characteristics staff and inmates involved (Sorensen et al., 2011). The research consisted of 79 coded incident reports, involving Texas corrections staff, who had been seriously assaulted, over a 14 month period (Sorensen et al., 2011). It was determined that serious assaults were reasonably infrequent, yet the characteristics and indicators of what led to attacks were delivered (Sorensen et al., 2011). Both of these articles aid in the process of indulging into the hardships that corrections officers have dealt with. The physical conditions and assaults are two of the undesirable aspects that are undeniably attached to such a career, as the next section will exemplify.
I believe that it is dire for criminal justice professionals to know and understand the history of the field of corrections to promote progressive change and enhancement. It is simply impossible to progress without knowing where the system has failed or faltered. I find this essential in a field that directly influences and affects humans. Professionals in the field of criminal justice are not only responsible for meeting the needs and desires of law-abiding civilians, but they are, more critically, responsible for responding to and reprimanding lawbreakers.
Training is how employee’s learn about the job and they also learn with continuous training, but corrections have cut the budget in such a way that the training of officers have been shorten or don’t provide the necessary training in order to prepare them for all of the situations in which they will encounter, this will put their lives at risk. The administration and state legislature have traded the safety of it employees for saving money. In a study by Kelly Dial showed, “In sum how emotional dissonance, role conflict, task control and direct contact with inmates are linked to correctional job stress” (Dial.2010). When officers and administrations are educated and trained they are less likely to be stress and will be able to handle any situation they may be caught in. In this line of work it is important that the employees are well trained in the new techniques and the latest information so they will be greater informed than the inmates they are guarding. According to Gary Cornelius, “Training must be dynamic and should discuss issues that are extremely important to correctional Staff. Knowledge keeps us safe; knowledge keeps us skilled” (Cornelius.2012). By training officers, it will give them the knowledge to the best job they can because they have receive the appropriate training to handle
Police, courts and corrections are part of criminal justice organizations. Each of these organizations face challenges every day and the leaders of these agencies must deal with these challenges (Duelin, 2010). The types of criminal justice leaders range from police chiefs and sheriffs to prison superintendents, and heads of government, state, or local task forces. Some of the challenges they confront are budget and staffing shortfalls, political perspectives on the roles of law enforcement personnel in society, and the changing nature of crime and the difficulties associated with keeping up with these trends (Bryant, 2010).
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.
I interviewed Mrs. Regina Bowman, a semi-retired case manager/career counselor for the city Workforce Program, Job Link (personal communication, March 18, 2014). Mrs. Bowman spent 35 years with the city, 20 of those years at Job link and 15 years with the police department. The purpose of the interview was to discover how Mrs. Bowman selected career counseling as her profession or life’s purpose.
1. Darrow claims that if the people currently incarcerated would have been given the opportunity to follow a career outside of crime, then those people would not be in jail. Darrow's assertion is supported by the knowledge that people are inclined to commit a crime when they are facing hardship as it is the path of least opposition. The underlying assumption that is associated with this idea is that people are willing to commit to their profession instead of reaching for the low hanging fruit provided by robbery or burglary. This assumption can go either way based on whether or not the group in question is truly committed to earning an honest living through hard work.