NCJ Number
148037
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 56 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1994) Pages: 190-194
Date Published
1994
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The application of community-policing concepts to inmate-staff relations in correctional facilities can facilitate positive inmate adjustment to and participation in facility routine and programs.
Abstract
Community policing emphasizes continuous officer interaction with citizens where they live to assist them in making the community safer. The correctional facility and its residents can be viewed by correctional staff as a "neighborhood," to which community-policing principles can be applied. Correctional personnel can interact with inmates in such a way that their needs for safety, predictability, and basic services are met. Corrections officers, regardless of their tasks, can reinforce the positive aspects of relationships and communal life. In community policing, the police officer is a permanent part of the neighborhood and knows its strengths and weaknesses. This can also be applied to a cell block. A cell block many be a temporary neighborhood where corrections officers and inmates interact. Corrections officers should be aware of the dynamics of their unconventional neighborhood and deal with the inmates within that context. This provides inmates with a positive role model for relationships that manifest fairness and caring.