Prisoners' Willingness to Approach Prison Officers for Support: The Officers' Views

• NCJ Number: 197660
• Journal: Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 34 Issue: 4 Dated: 2002 Pages: 33-46
• Author(s): Greg E. Dear; Kelly A. Beers; Gita Dastyar; Flynn Hall; Beti Kordanovski; Elizabeth C. Pritchard
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper reports on a survey of prison officers to solicit their perspectives on various issues pertinent to inmates' willingness to approach prison officers for support help.

Abstract

Participants were 120 prison officers on duty on a particular day at 5 Western Australian metropolitan prisons, including 1 women's prison. The survey had four goals. The first aim was to examine officers' perceptions of how often inmates sought practical assistance and emotional support from officers for each of the eight types of problems examined by Hobbs and Dear (2000). The second aim was to determine whether officers' perceptions showed a similar pattern across the eight problem types to the pattern obtained from inmates by Hobbs and Dear. The third aim was to analyze, across each of the eight problem types, officers' perceptions of their competence in providing emotional support to inmates and the appropriateness of this aspect of their role. The final aim was to determine whether those types of problems that inmates indicated they were least likely to discuss with officers were the same problem types that officers perceived to be least appropriate for them to provide support and perceived themselves to be least competent in addressing. The study found that both inmates and officers reported that inmates would be more likely to approach officers for practical assistance than for emotional support. Also, both inmates and officers reported the same types of problems that inmates would most likely discuss with officers. The primary difference between inmate and officer perceptions was that officers rated inmates as being more likely to approach them for support than did inmates. The problem types that both inmates and officers viewed as least likely for inmates to discuss with officers were also the problem types that officers considered themselves to be least competent to address and least appropriate for inmates to discuss with them. The consistency of the findings between this study and Hobbs and Dear's survey of inmates lends credence to Hobbs and Dear's main conclusion; i.e., that prison authorities should provide inmates with direct access to support assistance that cannot be provided by or expected from prison officers. 2 figures, 2 tables, and 15 references