NCJ Number
153393
Journal
Keepers' Voice Volume: 15 Issue: 4 Dated: (Fall 1994) Pages: 36-39
Date Published
1994
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Using the three levels of analysis in the sociological study of work -- organizational, occupational, and societal -- this article discusses some aspects related to correctional officer training for confrontations with disease and death.
Abstract
Much of this analysis stems from research on correctional officers undertaken at Rikers Island who worked closely with HIV- infected inmates. Training correctional officers to deal with these situations is a first step in neutralizing the stress that can ensue. Neutralizing occupational stress not only benefits the officers, but benefits the organization by facilitating recruitment, retention, and productivity levels. Some factors which influence correctional officers' ability to deal with the death of an inmate include the inmate-staff relationship, the type of disease an inmate is dying from, shifts in inmate population, and changes in correctional administration. When implementing a training program on this issue or any other, correctional administrators need to establish an organizational position or image, determine the correct mix in training between professionals and peers, minimize role strain and role conflict, set up support services to neutralize occupational strain, and consider the potential for identification between inmates and correctional officers during recruitment and training. 9 references