Essay Sample on BOP Staffing Practices: Ensuring Inmate, Staff, & Public Safety

Introduction

It is important to note that every concerned person shares the belief that the safety of both the inmates, staff, and the public, in general, is the supreme priority for the Bureau of Prisons. However, it cannot be denied that most of the correctional facilities have revealed how continual dangerous ignorance of the plights of correctional officers have been (Goodstein & MacKenzie, 2013). Therefore, this letter expresses my deep concern and interest in staffing practices of the Bureau, leading to over-reliance on few officers hence denying these officers the much-needed break because of the levels of exhaustion they experience while committed to their all-time duties.

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It is true that with the growth of the prison system in the United States in recent periods, there has been an increased need for a maintained operation by the correctional officers (Goodstein & MacKenzie, 2013). As a result, and with the limited number of correctional officers, there has been an increased need for the officers to adjust their work problems, thereby denying them the opportunity to break. It cannot be denied that every worker in any profession requires some time off to break for rest. However, this is not the case with the Federal Correctional Officer. Because of the increased number of prisons, coupled with the influx of inmates, these officers have had limited time to break (Goodstein & MacKenzie, 2013). In fact, due to the reasons above, the breaks that were initially there were scrapped away.

As a result of committing all their time in safeguarding the correctional facilities, these correctional officers have been engulfed in several problems. It should be understood that working without a break has created an increased demand for the performance and health of these officers (Clear et al., 2018). It is because when a person works while they should be resting or asleep, their biological clock or condition can lead to psychological, physiological, as well as behavioral changes that can compromise how they react, attention, risk-taking and reduced efficiency, which promotes poor decision making and a lot of errors in the workplace.

Due to the nature of their work, correctional officers have the second-highest rate of death of any profession. All these are facilitated by depression, extreme stress, substance abuse, workplace injuries, and suicidal thoughts, among others (Clear et al., 2018). Breaks for these officers to take time off with their families, friends, and relatives would be essential to relish their thoughts hence engaging in legal activities alongside squashing away bad feelings that they might be having.

It is essential to note that being the country with the highest number of inmates in the world, the demand of correctional officers in the United States is very high (Clear et al., 2018). Because of the high number of inmates and a limited number of guards, these offices are faced with several risks and drawbacks in the course of discharging their duties. Because of this, considering introducing breaks for these officers would be essential to enable them successfully and effectively discharge their duties (Clear et al., 2018). In my view, the breaks would be necessary even if there will be no pay for the days off duty.

As stated above, a correctional officer guards the whole facility. However, this is achieved through stopping prison riots, disrupting any prison gang, as well as protecting yourself from contracting infectious diseases. When an officer engages his or her life always in such a challenging duty, it wears out the whole body both physically and mentally (Clear et al., 2018). It is for this reason that these officers should be given a work break. To help solve this problem, Congress can approve of allowing the prison department to employ more correctional officers so that they can work in shift while others are on break.

Because of the lack of breaks for the officers, there has been increased stress and burnout in their lives (Lambert, Hogan, Griffin & Kelley, 2015). It has been noticed that the officers experience advanced Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. The disorder is known to affect people who have experienced shocking events, for example, sexual assault or warfare (Bezerra, Assis & Constantino, 2016). The symptoms are believed to appear after three months of the incident, even though they may also occur years later. Such symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, extreme fear and anxiety, chills, feelings of guilt, loss of motivation, among other (Bezerra, Assis & Constantino, 2016). To avoid such, the officers need to be given a break so that they can have time off work to think of productive things in their lives rather than stuck in the work environment.

Understandably, many correctional officers suffer in extreme silence because they lack people to share their problems with. It should be noted that even officers who do not develop post-stress traumatic disorder also experience high levels of stress and burnout (Lambert et al., 2015). The disorder is believed to be caused by traumatic events like receiving threats, being injured while on duty, as well as witnessing attempted suicides by inmates.

Also, lack of breaks for the officers has led to reduced morale as they always perform the same duty without getting enough time with their families and friends to relive themselves. The burnout because of overworking has also led to increased injuries to the officers, which consequently leads to tiredness (Lambert et al., 2015). As a result, frequent illnesses have been observed among most Federal correctional officers. Therefore, this is an issue that Congress should consider addressing to help these officers.

Another common problem why these officers highly require breaks is the increased suicide rates among correctional officers (Bezerra, Assis & Constantino, 2016). Due to depression, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder, correctional officers are more likely to commit suicide. As mentioned above, these officers encounter various devastating life events while guarding correctional facilities. To help these officers to forget such incidences, they should be granted time off by offering breaks so that they can have a rest.

Conclusion

Considering the above problems that are faced by correctional officers, it would be essential to bring sanity to our correctional facilities. However, without considering the condition facing the officers, this cannot be achieved. It is, therefore, my desire to request the Congress to consider approving breaks for the corrections officers just like any employee of the United States. I am confident that this will help eliminate the problems they have been facing; hence they will be able to discharge their duties effectively.

References

Bezerra, C. D. M., Assis, S. G. D., & Constantino, P. (2016). Psychological distress and work stress in correctional officers: a literature review. Ciencia & saude coletiva, 21, 2135-2146. Retrieved from https://www.scielosp.org/article/csc/2016.v21n7/2135-2146/en/

Clear, T. R., Reisig, M. D., & Cole, G. F. (2018). American corrections. Cengage learning. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carolyn_Petrosino/publication/254566591_American_Corrections_in_Brief/links/54fa2a8c0cf20b0d2cb6368f.pdf

Goodstein, L., & MacKenzie, D. L. (Eds.). (2013). The American prison: Issues in research and policy (Vol. 4). Springer Science & Business Media. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=IO3dBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=+problems+facing+prison+guards+in+United+States&ots=UL0oK1NGcZ&sig=V_hWiMBWW4DtWDfzdfGto7Q-I-o&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Lambert, E. G., Hogan, N. L., Griffin, M. L., & Kelley, T. (2015). The correctional staff burnout literature. Criminal Justice Studies, 28(4), 397-443. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1478601X.2015.1065830