NCJ Number
90532
Date Published
1983
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The black correctional guards in two Illinois prisons were younger, more urban, better educated, and more liberal than their white colleagues, but they did not show consistent differences in their attitudes toward prisoners, staff, correctional goals, or their occupations.
Abstract
The study sample of 231 guards from the Stateville and Joliet maximum security prisons in Illinois included 165 white guards and 66 black guards. The prisons' populations were about 75 percent black and 10 percent Hispanic American. The guards completed questionnaires between the summer of 1974 and the fall of 1975. On several questionnaire items, the black officers showed less empathy for the prisoners than did the white officers. Contrary to expectation, the less experienced black guards were not consistently more inmate-oriented. However, blacks tended to be attracted to assignments requiring intensive inmate contact, while the majority of whites preferred the towers. Blacks were more active disciplinarians, however. Young black officers showed stronger support for the prison administration than any other subgroup. Both black and white guards supported rehabilitation as the main justification for imprisonment, although blacks felt that punishment should be the main goal more frequently than whites. However, fewer blacks than whites felt that rehabilitation programs were a waste of time and money. In general, the prison guards of both races did not plan to change jobs. Prison organizations may screen out black guards who are sympathetic to prisoners. Alternatively, the prison guard position may be a master status that eliminates allegiances beyond the organization. Although recruitment of minority guards is desirable because it expands job opportunities, it will not necessarily improve a prison's atmosphere. Tables and footnotes are supplied.