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Unethical Staff Behavior: Case Studies Exemplify Challenges Faced in Correctional Environments

NCJ Number
175096
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 60 Issue: 4 Dated: July 1998 Pages: 102-106-108
Author(s)
M A Henry
Date Published
1998
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article presents and discusses 11 case studies of unethical behavior by correctional personnel; the behavior involves abuse of inmates, inappropriate relationships with inmates, the introduction of contraband, and financial improprieties.
Abstract
Each case summary is accompanied by discussion questions and comments regarding appropriate behavior. However, administrators and supervisors are urged to follow their own agencies' codes of conduct and be guided by their own moral compasses. The cases involve a supervisor who receives a note stating that a male correctional officer met a female inmate at her apartment when she went out on her last furlough, a beating of an inmate by a correctional officer, informal personal interactions between an inmate and an officer, and an officer's provision of food and other contraband comfort items to an inmate. Other cases involve a free meal for a correctional counselor at a restaurant owned by an inmate's father, drug contraband smuggled by correctional officers under threat of physical harm by an inmate, and other situations.