Jail Personnel Research Articles

Organizational Commitment in Relation to Occupational Stress, Work-Family Conflict, and Work Ethics among Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Personnel

Organizational commitment is the psychological bond between employees and their employer, influencing their choice to stay or leave the organization. Three exogenous variables were utilized to generate the best-fit model: occupational stress, work-family conflict, and work ethics. The data were gathered from 400 jail personnel in Region 11, Philippines. Descriptive correlation and structural equation models were utilized as the study design. Further, this study adopted standardized instruments and gathered the data through online platforms in consideration of the healthy protocol of Jails in the adversities of COVID-19. Initially, analysis using descriptive statistical tools, namely mean, standard, and deviation, was utilized, followed by the inferential analysis of data such as Pearson r, multiple regression analysis, and structural equation modeling (SEM). Results revealed that occupational stress is moderate means it sometimes manifests, work-family conflict is moderate means it is sometimes felt, work ethics is very high means it is always observed, and organizational commitment is high means it oftentimes manifests. Moreover, there are links between occupational stresses, work ethics to organizational commitment; however, work-family conflict is not significantly correlated to organizational commitment. The test of influence also reveals that occupational stress and work ethics influence organizational commitment among BJMP personnel. In table 9, model 5 is the best-fit model, this model excludes work ethics and reveals that occupational stress and its correlation with work-family conflict is significantly influencing organizational commitment. Hence, these two factors significantly influence or predict the level of organizational commitment within the organization.

Alternative Learning System Formal Education in Jail Student Learning Experiences

The purpose of this study was to explore the Alternative Learning System( ALS) Students Learning Experiences in jail in Zamboanga City in terms of describing the student’s learning experiences taking Alternative Learning System in jail, identifying the challenges experienced of the student’s taking Alternative Learning System in jail and gain an in depth understanding on how do the students in jail continue to learn in the presence of these challenges. The study employed a qualitative design utilizing a case study method and purposive sampling. This was administered to three (3) of the students under ALS program in the jail and found that their experiences were good in terms of (1) overcoming their obstacles and personal growth; (2) increasing their interest in learning due to teachers’ motivational strategies and support; (3) overcoming their hesitations due to the feeling of inappropriateness of education; (4) and experienced a long-term impact of education. However, the inmates also posted challenges despite of the positive experiences they receive from their teachers under ALS program in term of educational preparedness, struggling in comprehension and understanding, open-minded teachers and jail personnel and education for better future living. Thus, it is concluded that the ALS Program provides a realization of educational value to each of the inmates inside and a motivation as well to become a more responsible person even after breaking laws. It is also an indication that implementing ALS Program inside the Jail provided an equal opportunity for all. This study recommends further, by conducting a research on understanding the barriers faced by learners with diverse geographic and socio-economic backgrounds, more in-depth local representative studies are encouraged to inform evidence-based policymaking for the betterment of education for ALS learners.

Death and denial of care in Indian prisons.

Custodial death is generally linked in the public mind with police brutality and torture, not with indirect brutality through negligence and callous treatment in jail custody. Yet it is not known how many of the thousands of prisoners who die in our jails every year die due to neglect by the jail authorities. The official Prison Statistics India (PSI) in its most recent report states that 1,879 men and women died due to "natural causes" in prisons across India in 2021. Natural causes are defined in the report as "illness" and "ageing". According to the report, 185 more prisoners died of "unnatural" causes, and 52 of "causes not yet known". [1: p 179]. "Unnatural deaths" include "deaths due to negligence or excesses by jail personnel"a. The vagueness of this classification in the PSI data had been noted by Justice Lokur in a landmark Supreme Court judgment, in 2013, when he said: "The distinction made by the NCRB [National Crime Records Bureau] between natural and unnatural deaths is unclear. For example, if a prisoner dies due to a lack of proper medical attention or timely medical attention, would that be classified as a natural death or an unnatural death?" [2].

Issues and Concerns of the Jail Officers in Dealing with Persons Deprived of Liberty: A Phenomenological Study

Correction, play a critical role in criminal justice system. Nevertheless, despite the existing laws that provide reformation and protects the rights of every Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL), jail officers are chronically understudied relative to their issues and concerns experiences in dealing with PDL. This study seeks to fill a gap in the literature related to jail studies by interviewing the City jail in Ozamiz in order to determine their issues and concerns towards the PDL. There are seven Jail Officers served as the participants of the study. Data obtained through interviews were analyzed through Houlton Thematic analysis it analyzed the qualitative data. The gathered data from the participants were analyzed and found four (4) themes which includes: (1) Struggles in eradicating contraband; (2) Difficulty in maintaining the security and other services due to lack of personnel; (3) Different personalities of the Persons Deprived of Liberty; (4) Lack of fund. We discuss the implications of these findings, includes in addressing the Philippine government to support the needs of National, Regional, and local jails especially in allocation of budget, providing additional enhancement programs for the personality development of PDL, and increased of jail personnel for effective performance of services.

Managing life behind the bars: A phenomenological inquiry

This phenomenological study explored the perception of jail personnel on managing overcrowded jail. This also included the alternatives and procedures they made to cope up with the tasks delegated to them as a jail personnel. The purpose of this study was to uncover what are the different experiences of the jail personnel in management difficulty and to study how the personnel managed to keep going while having such experiences. There were 14 informants involved in the study, 7 in the In-depth interview (IDI) and another 7 from the focus group discussion (FGD). Furthermore, the study used the phenomenological approach of qualitative study. Records of the interviews were analysed using the themes with the help of an expert. Ten (10) themes emerged from the two main questions addressed. Moreover, this phenomenological study could enhance awareness in the real-life situations happening in our jails today. As more additional laws to be enacted and more law offenders will be imprisoned, thus contributes to the jail congestion.

Jail Health Care in the Southeastern United States From Entry to Release.

Millions of people are incarcerated in US jails annually. These individuals commonly have ongoing medical needs, and most are released back to their communities within days or weeks. Jails are required to provide health care but have substantial discretion in how they provide care, and a thorough overview of jail health care is lacking. In response, we sought to generate a comprehensive description of jails' health care structures, resources, and delivery across the entire incarceration experience from jail entry to release. We conducted in-depth interviews with jail personnel in five southeastern states from August 2018 to February 2019. We purposefully targeted recruitment from 34 jails reflecting a diversity of sizes, rurality, and locations, and we interviewed personnel most knowledgeable about health care delivery within each facility. We coded transcripts for salient themes and summarized content by and across participants. Domains included staffing, prebooking clearance, intake screening and care initiation, withdrawal management, history and physicals, sick calls, urgent care, external health care resources, and transitional care at release. Ninety percent of jails contracted with private companies to provide health care. We identified two broad staffing models and four variations of the medical intake process. Detention officers often had medical duties, and jails routinely used community resources (e.g., emergency departments) to fill gaps in on-site care. Reentry transitional services were uncommon. Jails' strategies for delivering health care were often influenced by a scarcity of on-site resources, particularly in the smaller facilities. Some strategies (e.g., officers performing medical duties) have not been well documented previously and raise immediate questions about safety and effectiveness, and broader questions about the adequacy of jail funding and impact of contracting with private health care companies. Beyond these findings, our description of jail health care newly provides researchers and policymakers a common foundation from which to understand and study the delivery of jail health care.

“We Don’t Wanna Birth It Here”: A Qualitative Study of Southern Jail Personnel Approaches to Pregnancy

Each year, approximately 55,000 pregnant people are incarcerated in US jails. To learn about pregnancy and postpartum care in jails, we analyzed 34 qualitative interviews with jail personnel from facilities in five Southeastern US states. Themes included jail processes unique to pregnancy and burden on jails produced by liability and limited resources. Societal attitudes such as stigma, distrust of pregnant people, and a focus on fetal well-being were also important themes. Jail-community partnerships may mitigate the effects of scarce resources and improve jail perinatal care. Better community safety nets that decrease contact with jails are needed to improve pregnancy outcomes.

Causes and Measures of Conflicts among Gang Inmates in Dipolog and Dapitan City Jails

Current jail management models strictly prohibit inmates from assisting with jail administration or governance. This is feasible in developed countries where governments can provide adequate resources, security, and personnel. It is not, however, realistic in developing countries like the Philippines, which is characterized by poverty, corruption, and under resourcing of correctional facilities. In such circumstances, inmate leaders tend to share governance with jail administrators. Gang leaders help in maintaining peace and order in jail. This paper explored the causes of conflicts among gang members in Dipolog and Dapitan City jails and identified preventive measures to eliminate threats caused by the conflicts. There were two groups of respondents who were considered in the study. The first group are the gang inmates composed of 188 who answered the survey instrument intended to determine reasons of joining gang and the different causes of conflicts. The second group was the jail personnel who answered the survey instrument on the measures to prevent the conflicts. study revealed that conflicts usually occur during the start and playoff time of National Basketball Association (NBA) and Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) because it is this time that gambling is usually occurred. Conflicts were mainly caused by unpaid debts, theft and overcrowding. Admonition and forfeiture of good conduct time, close confinement and reduction of visiting hours were among the most common measures to discourage conflict. It is recommended to prohibit gambling of any sort. Conduct more physical activities to make the inmates busy.

Disaster Vulnerability Assessment of Selected Jails Under Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in CALABARZON

The study evaluated the disaster preparedness of selected penitentiaries under BJMP in CALABARZON areas as to identify the profile of jails as assessed in terms of strategic location, jail infrastructure and construction, jail equipment and jail vehicles; to present the profile of the respondents in terms of job position, designation, years in service, trainings attended, and educational attainment; to determine the jail personnel’s assessment on disaster preparedness in terms of the following disasters: earthquake, typhoon, and flood; to design an intervention program on disaster preparedness which may be proposed to manage jail operations of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology in CALABARZON area. The study utilized descriptive research design specifically the quantitative methods with the questionnaire survey as the major tool for gathering data and evaluation from 161 jail personnel chosen through a lottery method with interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). Statistical treatment was applied utilizing frequencies, percentage, weighted mean and Pearson-R product correlation. The disaster preparedness described in terms of strategic location as jail location on CALABARZON are within the city or municipality capital since they are located near the city hall. The study revealed that the jail is equipped in terms of organizational management and available resources; the jail personnel are slightly equipped with readiness during flood in terms of strategic location, infrastructure and construction and the significant relationship between profile variables and the respondents’ assessment of their disaster preparedness varies.

Reducing the dangers of COVID-19 through shared governance in a Philippine jail

ABSTRACT The Covid-19 pandemic poses a grave threat to the welfare of detainees and personnel in correctional facilities worldwide. This is especially true in jails and prisons with acute problems of overcrowding, such as in the Philippines, where the congestion rate hovers around 463%. This article documents shared governance practices in Manila City Jail Male Dormitory, the Philippines' most populous jail. Despite limited space and resources, jail personnel and detainees cooperatively addressed the pandemic threat. Using interviews with jail personnel and detainees, and a review of social media postings and official internal reports, we document the varied manifestations of shared governance. Specifically, jail personnel and prisoner leaders cooperated by disseminating information, crafting policies, identifying makeshift quarantine areas, assigning prisoner medical staff, and instituting discipline. The shared governance approach entails addressing the Covid-19 crisis as community and family, where prisoners actively take part in identifying, reporting, and addressing problems. While other jails and prisons in the Philippines experienced Covid-19 infections and social tensions within their facilities due to restrictive protocols, the Manila City Jail Male Dorm experienced no infections or violent incidents. Implications to theory and practice of jail governance, especially in periods of public health emergency, are discussed.

An Evaluation of the Maintenance of Peace and Order in Nueva Ecija Provincial Jail

The study was conducted in the Nueva Ecija Provincial Jail (NEPJ) located at Caalibangbangan, Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija. Ninety (90) inmates and ten (10) jail personnel served as respondents of the study. The NEPJ provides the strict implementation of the rules and regulations in the custody and security of inmates. Both provincial personnel and inmates know that all the security procedures in the jail activities are highly implemented. A prisoner accused of breaking the rules does not have all the rights during the trial because a prison disciplinary proceeding is not the same as in criminal prosecution[1]. Among other things, the researchers recommended that the administration of NEPJ should continue the way and manner on how they provide very effective security operation, as well as in maintaining the activities that help the inmates make a better relationship with the provincial jail and other inmates.

The Effects of the Workplace on Jail Staff: The Issue of Perceptions of Pay Fairness

ABSTRACTDrawing from person–environment fit theory, the current study adds to recent empirical inquires that have considered how workplace factors affect jail staff. In doing so, the focus is on how perceptions of pay fairness effect the job stress, job involvement, and organizational commitment of jail personnel. Utilizing survey data from a large county correctional system in Orlando, Florida, the results of multivariate analyses reveal that staff that hold more favorable perceptions of pay fairness are more involved in their jobs and more committed to the overall organization. The implications of these findings for correctional research and practice are considered.

Behind Bars: Experiences Conducting Behavioral Addictions Research in a County Jail.

Individuals who are incarcerated experience disparities in mental health, warranting study by nurse researchers. However, nurse researchers' unfamiliarity with the jail environment may pose a barrier to conducting research with this vulnerable population. The current article presents an account of the planning and implementation needed to study perceived health and gambling behavior in county jail inmates. The challenges and rewards of research that aim to better understand the mental health issues affecting this population are also identified. Developing relationships with jail personnel and understanding the incarcerated population and their surroundings are key to conducting research in this environment.

The Issue of Control in Jail: The Effects of Professionalism, Detainee Control, and Administrative Support on Job Stress, Job Satisfaction, and Organizational Commitment among Jail Staff

Jails are important, yet understudied, components of the American criminal justice system. While most research on correctional personnel has focused on prisons, a growing body of work is beginning to emerge on jails. This is encouraging given the unique circumstances that occur within jail environments (e.g., diversity and mobility of offenders, health issues among detainees, overcrowding, lack of training among staff, etc.). Given these conditions, the staff members who run jails become the glue that holds them together. The following study contributes to this burgeoning area of empirical inquiry by examining a variety of antecedents of job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among jail personnel. Using survey data collected from a large county correctional system in Orlando, Florida, the findings indicate that staff perceptions of professionalism, detainee control, and administrative support all significantly impact degrees of job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.

The impact of medical issues on the job stress and job satisfaction of jail staff

The work environment of corrections has received a great deal of attention, with several empirical studies focusing on the causes and consequences of employee job stress and job satisfaction. Researchers have recently begun to explore the impact of medical concerns in correctional settings, though most of this research has focused on prisons or inmates’ perception of the problem. As American jail populations continue to grow as part of what has been referred to as ‘mass imprisonment’, it seems likely that already deficient medical services will suffer, impacting not only inmates, but jail personnel as well. Unfortunately, the nature of these problems (and effects) is relatively unknown. The current study seeks to fill a research void by examining the degree to which jail staff perceive medical issues as problematic in their work setting, as well as the role that such concerns play as a cause of both job stress and satisfaction. Using survey data collected from a large county jail system in Florida, the findings suggest that medical issues are a concern among jail personnel, though only a few of these issues explain job stress and satisfaction.

Characteristics of suicide attempts in a large urban jail system with an established suicide prevention program.

The King County Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention in Washington State, like many jail systems across the nation, implemented a suicide prevention program in response to high suicide rates. A review committee was formed to prospectively study the patterns of suicide attempts that occurred in the system after the program was implemented and to make recommendations for improvements. All first suicide attempts per jail booking over a 33-month period in two of the department's jails were studied. For each attempt, characteristics of the individual and of the attempt were abstracted by trained staff. A total of 132 first suicide attempts were made by 124 individual inmates during the study period. The prevalence of mental illness among inmates who attempted suicide was 77 percent, compared with 15 percent in the general jail population. Seventy-five percent of the inmates who attempted suicide had received a mental health evaluation from jail personnel before the attempt. Suicide attempts that were made in observation units for suicidal inmates (42 percent of all attempts), particularly those made in group observation units, necessitated fewer visits to an emergency department than those that occurred in general areas of the jail. On the basis of these findings, the jails implemented interventions such as more suicide screening and treatment for inmates who have active substance abuse, greater consensus building in decisions about housing, and structural changes such as greater use of group-housing units and the use of barriers to prevent the inmates from jumping from balconies.

Telemedicine services to a county jail.

Local and county jails rarely offer telepsychiatry services to their inmates. We have established a telepsychiatry pilot project between the Kansas University Medical Center and the Lyon County Jail in Emporia, Kansas. A total of 264 telepsychiatry consultations were conducted with jail inmates. Of these, 70 were initial evaluations and 194 were follow-up visits; only one inmate refused to be seen. Approximately one-third of all inmates were seen for psychiatric consultation within one week of their incarceration and 68% were seen within one month of incarceration. Among lessons learned during the first year of service were: the monthly demand for consultations was five times greater than projected; moderately to severely ill inmates with a broad range of psychiatric illness can be seen and treated effectively using videoconferencing; and the technology was accepted by the jail personnel and the inmates alike and integrated into the jail's routine in terms of the delivery of psychiatric care.

The MacArthur Adjudicative Competence Study: diagnosis, psychopathology, and competence-related abilities.

A set of measures assessing abilities related to legal standards for competence in the adjudicative process were administered to mentally-disordered criminal defendants with diagnoses of schizophrenia, affective disorder, other psychiatric disorders, and to criminal defendants without diagnosed mental disorder. Mentally-disordered defendants were recruited from two groups: those who had been committed for restoration of competence and those who had been identified by jail personnel as mentally ill. Significant impairments in competence-related abilities were found for approximately half of the defendants with schizophrenia. Defendants with schizophrenia scored lower on measures of understanding, reasoning, and appreciation related to the adjudication process. The association between symptoms and competence-related abilities was explored within diagnostic groups. Conceptual disorganization was found to be inversely correlated with performance on all measures in both defendants with schizophrenia and those with affective disorders. For other psychotic symptoms, differing patterns of correlations were found in the two major diagnostic groups. The implications for policy designed to safeguard the rights of defendants to be tried while competent are discussed.

The MacArthur adjudicative competence study: diagnosis, psychopathology, and competence‐related abilities

A set of measures assessing abilities related to legal standards for competence in the adjudicative process were administered to mentally-disordered criminal defendants with diagnoses of schizophrenia, affective disorder, other psychiatric disorders, and to criminal defendants without diagnosed mental disorder. Mentally-disordered defendants were recruited from two groups: those who had been committed for restoration of competence and those who had been identified by jail personnel as mentally ill. Significant impairments in competence-related abilities were found for approximately half of the defendants with schizophrenia. Defendants with schizophrenia scored lower on measures of understanding, reasoning, and appreciation related to the adjudication process. The association between symptoms and competence-related abilities was explored within diagnostic groups. Conceptual disorganization was found to be inversely correlated with performance on all measures in both defendants with schizophrenia and those with affective disorders. For other psychotic symptoms, differing patterns of correlations were found in the two major diagnostic groups. The implications for policy designed to safeguard the rights of defendants to be tried while competent are discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The New York State Model Suicide Prevention Training Program for local corrections officers.

Suicide in our jails and police lockups has emerged as a critical problem facing detention center administrators and health care providers. From a national perspective, suicide is the leading cause of death in our jails and lockups. Experts have concluded that with proper training of jail personnel, suicides may be prevented as well as the serious repercussions that follow