Abstract
Misconduct in prison is a phenomenon, which by its nature is hard to observe. Little is known about its origins and its modifiability. This study presents data on the level of misconduct in prison perceived by staff members and examines its impact on occupational factors. Data from officers, which also included i.e. team climate, job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and sick days, was collected at three different correctional units in Berlin, Germany (N = 60). The study reveals higher rates of perceived misconduct in prison on regular units as compared to treatment units within the observed facilities. In addition, regression analysis provides evidence for an association of rates of misconduct in prison, sick days, and low self-efficacy. Results are discussed in terms of providing a model that supports the idea of a network entailing occupational factors and misconduct in prison and which can be utilized to target misconduct in prison with suitable interventions.
Highlights
Providing safety through regulation is one of the main aspects of the daily work of correctional officers
In the present study we were aiming at addressing the following hypotheses focusing on prison misconduct: Firstly, we investigated whether officers perceived differences in misconduct in prison on regular units compared to treatment units
Two-tailed Pearson-correlations for perceived misconduct in prison ratings and occupational factors (OF) confirmed our hypothesis that perceived misconduct in prison moderately correlate with team climate (r = −.34, p < .05), job satisfaction (r = −.38, p < .01), and sick days (r =.42, p < .01)
Summary
Providing safety through regulation is one of the main aspects of the daily work of correctional officers. It is common for correctional facilities to be a place where both, inmates and officers, face highly adverse experiences. For a complete overview of dangers that officers are confronted with, see Ferdik and Smith [8]. These and other adverse experiences at correctional facilities are harmful in many ways. Indirect or direct exposure to threats, violence, and the perception of not being safe in an environment can be harmful to inmates, employees, and visitors. A constantly growing body of research points to serious negative consequences in terms of job stress for employees of correctional facilities which are associated with the described adverse experiences [11]. In comparison to other occupations, studies on prison officers report elevated burnout rates [12,13,14,15], more frequently diagnosed post-traumatic stress
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