Correctional Staff: Who's Who in the Facility? - Essay Sample

Introduction

Correctional staff is made up of wardens, associate wardens and administrators, executive assistants, department heads, unit officers, case managers, and counsellors. The Warden leads each correctional facility who serves as the chief executive officer, and some few have a camp administrator who acts as the CEO (Prison Professors). Then, there are associate wardens and who then lead over specific departments in the correctional facility. The associate wardens then preside over various segments, for example, Associate Warden of Charge, who leads all team members in the security docket, Associate Warden of Actions who leads over units such as food, provision, and upkeep and other departmental associate wardens (Prison Professors). Then, there executive subordinate who assists as the Warden’s principal minion, and he/she may be allowed to talk to the media other than other correctional officers. The Associate Wardens, Camp Superintendents, and the Executive Subordinate comprise the Warden’s Policymaking Staff. The Policy-Making staff (Executive of the Warden) checks on the numerous units within the correctional facility and the Subdivision Head leads on the daily operations of the facility. Various examples of the Department Heads are Unit Directors, Supervisor of Education, Head, and Amenities Manager (Prison Professors).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The Four Main Goals of Correctional Staff Members Importance of Each Goal

The four chief goals of correctional staff members include; retribution, deterrence incapacitation, and rehabilitation (Marson, 2015). Retribution is ensured through ensuring that the inmates serve their sentences, and it is termed as the core of most judicial systems. The retribution penalty should fit the type of crime that has been committed (Marson, 2015). Secondly, the incapacitation is ensured through restricting an individual from liberty and freedom that they would enjoy while being with the rest of society. This makes the individuals to be prevented from committing future crimes. Thirdly, the other goal is rehabilitation, which ensures that the individuals are back to their normal beneficial life (Marson, 2015). Lastly, deterrence, which is another goal of the correctional members, ensures that the individuals are afraid of committing crimes in the future through punishment threats.

Available Powers to Correctional Staff

There are several available powers to the correction workforce which are:

• Legitimate power
• Reward power
• Referent power
• Coercive power
• Expert power

Legitimate power- I think this is the most essential power because it is termed as the highest in power. They are the powers that ensure that there is the implementation of the law. The second most important power is referent power, which is comprised of trust and respect. I term it in this level of importance as it makes the prisoners view the correctional officers as protectors rather than those who torture and are ruined. The officers with this power project benefit the performance of their responsibilities and duties, thus likely to influence expert power.

The next significant power is the expert power, and it has been described as the evaluation from inmates that some correctional officers may have valuable traits. The correctional staff gets this power from the practices, expertise, and knowledge. In my opinion, this power is the third most important since the inmates may inquire for aid from the correctional officers with these powers and influence them positively. Forth most important power is the reward power, which is acted upon when inmates become cooperative and obey the rules in the correctional facilities; therefore, they are rewarded for their good traits. This is vital since it allows the formation of a mutual bond between the correctional officers and the inmates. Finally, the fifth most crucial power of correctional staff is the coercive power, which is used to implement various directives. This is done through the application of physical force, and this may lead to an increase in the disrespect levels by inmates and cause riots, also, making this power to be of least importance. This is the power that I feel is the least effective.

Factors That Have Contributed to Correctional Officer Corruption within Correctional Facilities

The action of corruption in the correctional facilities is caused by external factors such as vulnerability to external threats about physical harm, whereby the inmates may threaten the correctional officers while they serve their sentence (Pittaro, 2018). Secondly, working with an undesirable staff workforce, who at times are ruthless and greedy, thus making the other employees imitate them or even do corruption for their gain. Thirdly, the lack of appreciation by the administrators of the correctional facilities (Pittaro, 2018). For example, in 2018, a federal jury in Baltimore, Maryland, convicted a correctional officer by the name Jessica Vennie, 28, from Texas who was found guilty of racketeering in the Eastern Correctional Facility in Westover, Maryland, (The U.S Department of Justice, 2018). Jessica had been connected to smuggling of contraband, drugs, and other illegal goods facilitated through payments to correctional officers (The U.S Department of Justice, 2018).

The Underlying Factors and Symptoms of Stress for Correctional Officers and the Methods That Correctional Officers Use To Deal with Stress and the Effectiveness of These Methods.

Various factors cause stress among correctional officers which include; shifts while working, overtime burdens, injury risks from inmates, (McCarthy & Daniel, 2012) inadequate time with family, work overload, conflicting roles, inadequate administrative support, low-quality training, not being involved in the decision-making process, low job satisfaction, inmate relations, riots and crisis, low salary and many others. The symptoms for stress in correctional officers include; emotionless traits, sadness, frustration, fear, and anxiety (Pittaro, 2015). Moreover, symptoms such as lack of concentration and participation in the decision making process, wanting to be alone, headaches, decrease in appetite or increase in appetite, muscle pains, decrease in interest. Other symptoms may include; anger issues, tension, and temper in officer’s increase in the consumption of drugs by officers (Pittaro, 2015).

The stress management strategies that are used by the correctional officers include solving the problem they faced, letting their emotions out, seeking advice from family members, spiritual assistance, exercising, using drugs such as alcohol, (McCarthy & Daniel, 2012), and viewing things in different perspectives. Other management plans include criticizing each other, seeking therapy, indulging in some entertainment activities such as movies, television, listening to music, sleeping, meditation, and learning how to live with the situations (McCarthy & Daniel, 2012). These stress management strategies are also applied by McCarthy & Daniel (2012), where they have stated related strategies to cope with the stress. In my opinion, some stress management mechanisms are more effective than others; for example, the strategy of avoiding unnecessary stress is better than sleeping and the use of alcohol to calm stress. Some strategies are effective and have higher benefits, for example, acceptance of things (McCarthy & Daniel, 2012) that may not change, thus letting off anger and resentment, adopting a healthy lifestyle through participating in activities that strengthen the physical and emotional health through regular exercises. Having healthy diets, not indulging in drugs, and getting quality sleep.

References

Dr. Michael Pittaro. (2015). Stress Management Strategies for Correctional Officers. In Public Safety. Retrieved from https://inpublicsafety.com/2015/01/stress-management-strategies-for-correctional-officers/.

Dr. Michael Pittaro. (2018). Why Some Correctional Employees Are Corrupt - In Public Safety. In Public Safety. Retrieved from https://inpublicsafety.com/2017/02/why-some-correctional-employees-are-corrupt/.

Marson, J. (2015). The History of Punishment: What Works for State Crime?. The Hilltop Review, 7(2), 4.

McCarthy & William Daniel. (2012). Causes of Correctional Officer Stress and Its Consequences. National Institute of Corrections. Retrieved from https://nicic.gov/causes-correctional-officer-stress-and-its-consequences.

NIC. Causes of Correctional Officer Stress and Its Consequences. National Institute of Corrections. Retrieved from https://nicic.gov/causes-correctional-officer-stress-and-its-consequences.

Prison Professors. Staff Hierarchy in the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Problems - Sentencing and Prison Guidance. Sentencing and Prison Guidance. Retrieved from https://prisonprofessors.com/staff-hierarchy-federal-bureau-prisons-problems/.

The U.S Department of Justice. (2018). Final Defendant Convicted of Federal Racketeering Conspiracy at Maryland’s Eastern Correctional Institution. Justice.gov. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/final-defendant-convicted-federal-racketeering-conspiracy-maryland-s-eastern-correctional.