Abstract
The maintenance of public “safety and security” drives the functioning of correctional systems, yet rarely addressed are the ways the individuals who work in such systems maintain their own psychological safety and security. In the tradition of practice-informed research, the author designed and implemented an exploratory, qualitative research study of former parole agents (N = 23) that aimed to understand how they experience their work. Findings suggest that parole agents recognized and held a fundamental tension between casework and law enforcement, were regularly exposed to intense affective experiences that influenced their practices, developed characteristic ways of managing the anxieties and stressors in their work, and found organizational dynamics to be sources of strain and sustenance. This article provides an overview of the study design and findings, as well as their implications for social work practice and practice informed research.
Published Version
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