Correctional Staff Research Articles

Medical decision-making when the patient is a prisoner

Although prisons provide on-site primary care, the corrections system relies on external hospitals to provide a variety of healthcare services. Compared to the general population, incarcerated patients experience higher rates of chronic medical conditions, mental illness, substance abuse, cancer, traumatic brain injury, assault, and communicable disease. Certain specialties of clinicians are likely to encounter patients who are incarcerated, which makes it important for clinicians to understand how medical decision-making may differ when the patient is a prisoner. The corrections system retains custody of inmates and is responsible for their welfare, including facilitating necessary medical care. However, this does not permit corrections personnel or a warden to automatically assume the role of the patient's medical decision-maker. Except for narrow exceptions, prisoners do not lose their rights to medical decision-making. In some instances, corrections staff or the prison warden have improperly asserted authority to act as the patient's medical decision-maker, such as when the patient lacks decision-making capacity. This violates ethical principles of bodily integrity, respect, and fairness. This paper provides an overview of medical decision-making for incarcerated patients, how surrogate decision-maker hierarchies apply to incarcerated patients without decision-making capacity, and special considerations for this subset of patients.

Stigmatising attitudes of probation, parole and custodial officers towards people with mental health issues: A systematic literature review and meta‐analysis

AbstractPurposeThis review aimed to examine (1) stigmatising attitudes of probation, parole and custodial officers (hereafter referred to as correctional staff) towards people with mental health issues, (2) the potential impacts of these attitudes on client treatment and (3) what is currently known about anti‐stigma interventions in correctional settings.MethodAcademic databases were searched for peer‐reviewed and dissertation literature published between 1 January 2000 and 10 February 2022. Eligible studies included observational and intervention studies investigating stigmatising attitudes of correctional staff towards people with mental health issues. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to assess the quality of studies. A meta‐analysis of anti‐stigma intervention studies was performed.ResultsA total of 35 studies were included for data extraction, including eight interventions, one longitudinal, 18 cross‐sectional and eight qualitative studies. Some studies indicated neutral or positive attitudes, but the majority showed a range of stigmatising attitudes towards people with mental health issues. The findings indicate these stigmatising attitudes can lead to negative treatment of justice‐involved clients, such as more coercive, restrictive and punitive approaches. The meta‐analysis of six intervention studies focussed on education found a small positive effect on stigmatising attitudes (d = .31, 95% CI: 0.16–0.45).ConclusionThe various stigmatising attitudes of correctional staff towards people with mental health issues can have detrimental impacts on the well‐being and treatment outcomes of clients presenting with mental health issues. Anti‐stigma interventions may be effective in mitigating these impacts; however, more rigorous evidence is needed.

The connection between work attitudes and Chinese correctional staff burnout

Officers are a valuable resource for prisons across the globe. Working in corrections is a demanding job with a higher-than-average risk of job burnout. Most prison burnout studies have focused on staff working in Western prisons, particularly those in the U.S. These studies have generally found an association between work attitudes and burnout among prison officers. However, a key question is whether the associations are universal or contextual, varying by nation . The current study examined the link between the major work attitudes of job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment and the burnout dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feeling ineffective at work among staff at two Chinese prisons. According to the results of ordinary least squares multivariate regression tests, job involvement, and job satisfaction had significant negative effects on emotional exhaustion, but commitment did not. Only job involvement had significant negative effects on depersonalization. Job involvement and organizational commitment had significant negative effects on feeling ineffective, while job satisfaction had nonsignificant effects. The results indicate that the major work attitudes are negatively linked to job burnout for the studied Chinese prison staff; efforts should be undertaken to build these work attitudes to reduce burnout since burnout is linked to negative consequences for officers, inmates, and the prison. Based on previous research and current findings, some of the effects of work attitudes appear to be universal, and others appear to be contextual.

Organizational Sensemaking Systems as a Determinant of Successful Organizational Change: A Grounded Theory Approach

Organizational Sensemaking has been in the literature for nearly three decades – however, classical theories of organizational sensemaking have studied it as an individual or team-level phenomenon rather than at an organizational level. As a result, the multi-level implications of organizational sensemaking and its relationship to organizational change have yet to receive significant empirical attention. A greater understanding of organizational sensemaking may yield insights on how the effectiveness of organizational change interventions can be improved. A grounded theory approach is being used to examine the introduction of a training program for corrections staff in support of participatory ergonomics to improve worker health and wellbeing. Early findings are being used to construct a theoretical framework to guide the design of organizational sensemaking systems (OSS). The potential for OSS to promote organizational situational awareness, shared mental models, and organizational readiness for change is discussed along with design implications and directions for future research.

The COVID-19 pandemic behind bars: Experimental evidence showing higher support for decarceration when framed as risk to correctional staff

This study examined the effect of framing COVID-19 spread in correctional facilities as impacting imprisoned individuals or impacting correctional staff on public support for decarceration. I employed an experiment in the 2021 Empire State Poll (n = 765) in which participants were randomly assigned to a treatment condition, which highlighted information about the number of COVID-19 cases among imprisoned individuals, or a control condition, which highlighted correctional staff instead. Participants reported how supportive or unsupportive they are of releasing imprisoned individuals to curb the spread of COVID-19. Overall, 35% of New Yorkers supported decarceration. A higher percentage of respondents supported decarceration when the impact on correctional staff was highlighted (40%) relative to imprisoned individuals (31%). There was also higher support among non-Hispanic Black (54%) and Hispanic (51%) participants relative to non-Hispanic White (28%) participants. Within racial/ethnic groups support for decarceration was higher when the impact on correctional staff was highlighted among non-Hispanic Whites, Hispanics, and those of another race, but not among non-Hispanic Blacks where support for decarceration was higher when the impact on imprisoned individuals was highlighted. Inferential analysis using log binomial regression found that the association between treatment condition assignment and support for decarceration was not significant. Public health practitioners and policy makers should consider leveraging the higher support associated with concerns over the health and wellbeing of correction staff found among some racial/ethnic groups to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fight or flight? Exploring suicide thoughts, experiences, and behaviours among correctional workers and their interventions of agency.

Research indicates that, relative to the general public and most other types of public safety personnel, correctional workers are more likely to engage in suicide ideation, planning, and attempts. Yet, less is known about lived experiences towards, of, and beyond suicidality among correctional staff. To contribute to this gap in knowledge, the current study draws on qualitative, open-ended survey response data (n=94) to explore how Canadian provincial correctional workers navigate experiences of suicide, with a focus on the individual, personal, and social factors tied to experiences towards and of suicide thoughts and behaviours. By engaging the seminal works of Foucault, Žižek, and Deleuze and Guattari, we explore respondents' distinct forms of agency when grappling with, challenging, and transcending thoughts around suicide. We then discuss the research implications, with an emphasis on providing correctional workers with confidential, non-stigmatised well-being and treatment-seeking resources and processes, and more health care funding to fully cover timely and sufficient mental health treatment, prevention, and intervention.

Increasing client motivation ratings across violence rehabilitation are promising predictors of reduced post-custody recidivism

ABSTRACT In forensic practice, clinicians often need to apply risk assessment results to complex correctional decisions, but a strong empirical base to support some practices (such as assessing strengths or measuring change) is limited and still emerging. Using data from 195 adult men (M age = 32.02, SD = 8.53) who completed a custody-based violence prevention rehabilitation program, we supplemented existing static and dynamic risk factor ratings recorded prospectively by correctional staff by conducting retrospective file reviews and coding additional dynamic risk factors and strengths (including motivation and program engagement). We observed small average reductions in dynamic risk ratings and increases in strength ratings. After controlling for static risk scores, increases in client motivation and program engagement predicted reduced violent recidivism. Results from multivariate models suggested clients’ interest in engaging with post-custodial support for staying crime-free was critical for post-release success. Although our methodology was innovative in this context, inconsistent interrater reliability (ICC1 = .05–.74) and results suggest clinicians should cautiously interpret change scores and strength factor ratings. Rehabilitation research would benefit from partnerships with corrections agencies to design rigorous prospective research on client motivation and program engagement.

Evidence for the ecological validity of the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen: Positive predictive value among remanded men and women.

Individuals with severe mental illness are over-represented in correctional institutions. The scarcity of mental health services in prison settings has increased the demand for tools to screen effectively for mental health need. While the need for sensitivity is widely recognised, there has been less attention to specificity of screening tools. In addition, prior studies have focussed on research-informed diagnostic performance rather than real-world service provision. To examine the performance of the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS) for indicating secondary mental health need in 'real world' conditions. Retrospective data were collected from 2977 individuals (2256 male) remanded in either of two correctional facilities in Ontario, Canada, who had been screened on reception as having clinically significant mental health needs by correctional health staff using the BJMHS and examined by specialist mental health staff at triage. The positive predictive value (PPV) of the BJMHS was calculated, using actual secondary mental health service referral as the performance criterion. Overall, the positive predictive value of the BJMHS was 67.2%. It was significantly higher for men (69.5%) than women (60.1%). While these findings add support to the use of the BJMHS in screening mental health need among people under custodial remand, its false positive rate, particularly among women suggests a need to improve its performance. One potentially important avenue for future research would be whether repeating the screen after an interval prior to specialist referral would improve efficiency.

Dynamics of Respiratory Infectious Diseases in Incarcerated and Free-Living Populations: A Simulation Modeling Study.

Historically, correctional facilities have had large outbreaks of respiratory infectious diseases like COVID-19. Hence, importation and exportation of such diseases from correctional facilities raises substantial concern. We developed a stochastic simulation model of transmission of respiratory infectious diseases within and between correctional facilities and the community. We investigated the infection dynamics, key governing factors, and relative importance of different infection routes (e.g., incarcerations and releases versus correctional staff). We also developed machine-learning meta-models of the simulation model, which allowed us to examine how our findings depended on different disease, correctional facility, and community characteristics. We find a magnification-reflection dynamic: a small outbreak in the community can cause a larger outbreak in the correction facility, which can then cause a second, larger outbreak in the community. This dynamic is strongest when community size is relatively small as compared with the size of the correctional population, the initial community R-effective is near 1, and initial prevalence of immunity in the correctional population is low. The timing of the correctional magnification and community reflection peaks in infection prevalence are primarily governed by the initial R-effective for each setting. Because the release rates from prisons are low, our model suggests correctional staff may be a more important infection entry route into prisons than incarcerations and releases; in jails, where incarceration and release rates are much higher, our model suggests the opposite. We find that across many combinations of respiratory pathogens, correctional settings, and communities, there can be substantial magnification-reflection dynamics, which are governed by several key factors. Our goal was to derive theoretical insights relevant to many contexts; our findings should be interpreted accordingly. We find a magnification-reflection dynamic: a small outbreak in a community can cause a larger outbreak in a correctional facility, which can then cause a second, larger outbreak in the community.For public health decision makers considering contexts most susceptible to this dynamic, we find that the dynamic is strongest when the community size is relatively small, initial community R-effective is near 1, and the initial prevalence of immunity in the correctional population is low; the timing of the correctional magnification and community reflection peaks in infection prevalence are primarily governed by the initial R-effective for each setting.We find that correctional staff may be a more important infection entry route into prisons than incarcerations and releases; however, for jails, the relative importance of the entry routes may be reversed.For modelers, we combine simulation modeling, machine-learning meta-modeling, and interpretable machine learning to examine how our findings depend on different disease, correctional facility, and community characteristics; we find they are generally robust.

Mental Illness and Racial Disparities in Correctional Staff-Involved Violence: An Analysis of Jails in the United States.

In this study, we draw on theories of opportunity and focal concerns to examine how mental illness and race correspond to correctional staff-involved violence, particularly within the transient and diverse context of jails. Using a sample of 3,936 people incarcerated in jails from the 2011 to 2012 National Inmate Survey (NIS-3), we analyze how an individual's mental health status (number of mental illness diagnoses) and race relates to the risk of staff-inflicted victimization. Using a series of Firth's logistic regression models, we find that Black and Hispanic individuals are much more likely to be victims of correctional staff assault than their White counterparts. Those with one and two or more mental illness diagnoses are also at greater risk for staff-involved violence, respectively. Supplementary models show that those who suffer from serious mental illness are at particularly high risk for staff victimization. In a subsequent moderation analysis, we find that race does not condition the influence of mental health diagnoses on risk for staff-involved violence. Our findings reinforce the need for more research on correctional staff-involved violence and the implications of this research support calls for enhanced training of correctional staff regarding mental illness and racial bias.

Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment in Correctional Settings.

Medical Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment in Correctional Settings.

Workplace Safety: Perceived Dangerousness Versus Experienced Fear Among Community Corrections Personnel

Little research has assessed community corrections staff members’ perceptions of the dangerousness of their job or experiences that make them fear for their safety. Although not the same as a prison environment, there are nonetheless dangerous aspects of working with probationers and parolees in community corrections. The purpose of this study is first to determine predictors of both perceived dangerousness and experienced fear among a sample of probation/parole officers and residential officers. Then we assess the differential impact of perceived dangerousness and experienced fear on the negative workplace outcomes of burnout (comprised of three components: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment), secondary trauma, job stress, and job satisfaction. The findings indicate both overlapping and distinct predictors of perceived dangerousness and experienced fear. Also, higher perceptions of job dangerousness were associated with lower job satisfaction, while more experienced fear was related to greater emotional exhaustion and secondary trauma.

Mediating Effects of Depression in Perceived Health Status and Suicidal Ideation among Elderly Male Inmates in South Korea

This study examined whether depression mediated the relationship between perceived health status and suicidal ideation among elderly male prisoners in South Korea. Male inmates aged 50 years or older in the correctional facilities were surveyed in December 2020; 141 male participants were included in the statistical analysis. The hierarchical regression results showed that suicidal ideation increased with poorer perceived health among elderly male inmates. Further, perceived health status negatively affected depression, while depression positively affected suicidal ideation. Depression had a significant partial mediating effect between perceived health and suicidal ideation. First-time offenders were more vulnerable to suicide risk than repeat offenders. These findings highlight the need for treatment programs and cognitive-behavioral models to identify inmates' psychosocial risk factors, and assess their mental health. Additionally, correctional facility staff should be educated in suicide prevention, and systematic crisis intervention programs should be provided for those who attempt suicide. This study contributes consideration of the Korean context to the literature on the association among perceived health status, depression, and suicidal ideation in elderly male inmates.

PREDICTING RECIDIVISM RISK: COPING STYLES IN OFFENDERS WITH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL

Conventionally, intervention programs and risk assessment tools have emphasized the shortfalls that criminal offenders hold. Most prevailing programs emphasize treating specific challenges relating to external and internal acts/behaviours, like aggression or substance abuse. Therefore, increasing support for rehabilitation, reformation, and reintegration treatment programs in correctional settings to evaluate and foster the strengths and virtues of individuals has been observed lately. Locus of Control is an individual’s expectation of specific reinforcement, in a certain situation, which depends greatly on their attitude toward the situation relatively than the situation itself. Attitude towards law was understood to be influenced by the locus of control with the internally located having a better attitude and awareness towards the law when compared to the externally located individuals. Coping with life hardship and maladaptive coping behaviour were considered to be related to offending and re-offending. Implications are noteworthy presuming that our consideration of coping can upsurge the ability of correctional staff to reduce later recidivism in the community. Recidivism is measured by various social and psychological variables and factors that could influence the offender to engross into reoffending. This study focused on exploring the coping skills as possible predictors of recidivism risk amongst prisoners with respect to their orientation of locus of control. 30 female and 50 male convicted inmates older than 18 years, serving their sentences for cognizable offenses at Telangana Central Prisons were involved as the participants. The correlations between Locus of control and coping skills were drawn and further analyzed for prediction of recidivism risk. Results indicated that the external locus of control in offenders is inversely related to their coping and the avoidant coping style in them was observed to be a significant predictor of Recidivism risk. Further, rehabilitation, reformation, and reintegration treatment programs were proposed for correctional settings based on the results.

Multi-Level Barriers to Prison Mental Health and Physical Health Care for Individuals With Mental Illnesses.

ObjectivesPeople with mental illnesses are overrepresented in the U.S. prison population. It is well established that incarceration for this population poses physical and mental health risks including greater likelihood of victimization and suicide compared to the general prison population. Yet, research is less clear about how staff and services shape these prison experiences. The aim of this study was to examine how people with mental illnesses experience incarceration through interactions with correctional officers and treatment staff and their use of physical and mental health care services.MethodsThis project utilized a non-experimental design and qualitative research approach to address the research aims. Adults with mental illnesses who were formerly incarcerated were recruited from three different sites in the Midwest and East Coast. Participants completed an in-depth interview and brief survey on health histories. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the framework method for qualitative analysis.ResultsParticipants (n = 43) identified challenges to utilizing health and mental health care including perceived access and quality of mental health, medical, or substance use treatments obtained during prison as well as participant's willingness to engage in services. Access to health care was marked by cumbersome procedures required for service use requests and inadequate staffing. Participants reported mixed experiences with medical and mental health staff ranging from experiencing kindness to feeling staff did not believe them. Participants perceived most correctional officers as exhibiting professionalism while some enacted stigma and created additional stressors.ConclusionInteractions with correctional staff and health care services have the potential to buffer the stressors and risks inherent in prisons for people with mental illnesses. Perceptions from participants suggest both individual- and systems-level opportunities for intervention to better support people with mental illnesses in prison.

Louisiana State Penitentiary: A Textual Analysis of Correctional Staff Views on End-of-Life Care.

As prison-based hospice programs are slowly implemented across the United States, scarce attention has been devoted to the views of correctional staff who provide essential end-of-life care to dying incarcerated individuals. These professionals must maneuver their diverse responsibilities and emotional perspectives to deliver compassionate care to a marginalized population. A textual analysis of narratives of correctional staff participating in the hospice program at Louisiana State Penitentiary was incorporated to explore the transformative experiences resulting from staff members' collaboration with incarcerated volunteers to dispense hospice-based care for critically ill incarcerated individuals. Prevalent themes focus on provider identity, role satisfaction, bonds with incarcerated individuals, and achieving care mandates. Future research should further examine end-of-life care provider narratives to effectively address the unmet needs of dying incarcerated individuals.

Reducing the Use of Segregation for People with Serious Mental Illness

This study, using data from a state correctional agency, examines the use of segregation for people with serious mental illness in prisons. Our investigation shows deviations from departmental policy regarding the housing of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI); frequent use of segregation as a response to self-harm episodes and suicide attempts; and that people determined to be most impaired by a serious mental illness were typically placed in segregation. These findings suggest that correctional staff need to decouple disciplinary actions and responses from mental health symptoms, and avoid a punitive approach to incidents of self-harm or suicidality.

Insecurity in Nigeria and Correctional Staff and Inmates Safety: A Looming Danger

Insecurity in Nigeria and Correctional Staff and Inmates Safety: A Looming Danger

The Role of Prison Climate and Work Climate in Understanding Subjective Safety Among Correctional Staff

The Role of Prison Climate and Work Climate in Understanding Subjective Safety Among Correctional Staff

The Role of Prison Climate and Work Climate in Understanding Subjective Safety Among Correctional Staff

To perform their work effectively, correctional officers should feel safe. Yet, research explaining officers’ subjective safety is scarce and overlooked the context in which these feelings arise. This study explores the impact of shared perceptions of prison climate and work climate. Survey and administrative data of incarcerated individuals and staff from the Dutch Life in Custody Study were used. Multilevel analyses on 1,427 correctional officers (135 prison units) showed that (a) almost 20% of the variance in officers’ subjective safety was clustered at the prison unit level; (b) both prison climate (satisfaction with activities and visits, relations with peers, and meaningful activities) and work climate factors (organizational satisfaction and workload) contributed to officers’ safety; (c) the relative importance of work climate was high in comparison to prison climate. These findings indicate that officers’ subjective safety is to a substantial extent a matter of climate rather than an individual trait.