CHAPTER 17

Professionalism in Corrections

Chapter Objective

1.      List the pressures that corrections faces as a result of the expansion of prison construction.

2.      List the ways that advances in technology help corrections.

3.      Discuss the impact of 9/11 on corrections budgets.

4.      Outline the results of the Correctional Education Association’s three-state recidivism study of education.

5.      Discuss why it is difficult to recruit correctional staff.

6.      Discuss professionalism among the execution team.

7.      Discuss the nature of professionalism.

8.      Describe the differences between a professional and a non-professional.

9.      Describe the ways a correctional leader can foster professionalism.

10.  Explain what professional development is and list three ways it can be achieved in corrections.

Chapter Outline

I. Today’s Challenges

A. The Limits of Punishment

·        More than half of all the prisons in the U.S. have been built within the past 20 years, an average of four new prisons constructed every year—more than the number of schools under construction.

·        In Texas, the competition for prison construction during the early 1990s grew so fierce that some communities offered free country club memberships and other perks to prison officials as an incentive to get them to make the right siting decision.

·        Overcrowding, one of the most pressing problems, created the dilemma of having to admit more inmates than available space.

·        Overcrowding placed enormous strain on classification, housing assignments, food, medical services, and the already limited spaces for treatment programs.

B. Changing Prison Populations

·        As society changes over time, corrections must keep up with the changes in the characteristics of the growing prison population.

·        Prisoners with more serious needs are entering the system than ever before, and their needs are often unmet.

·        Today, 60 percent of all women in the nation’s prisons are serving time for either drug or property offenses.

·        Increasing budget cuts make it more and more difficult to meet the treatment needs of shifting population trends.

·        Prisons are increasingly taking in disproportionate numbers of minority inmates—unskilled, uneducated, poor, city-raised blacks and Hispanics.

·        Special populations (i.e., offenders who are elderly, mentally ill, or physically disabled) have significantly increased.

·        With limited resources and increasing budget cuts, corrections is under tremendous pressure to provide inmate programs and train staff to stay current about the more complex needs of the incoming prison population.

C. New Technology

·        The overwhelming growth in prison and jail populations has yielded an increase in the rates of violence in our prisons and jails.

·        Not known for its innovative use of technology, corrections struggles to effectively perform its work with the limited resources available.

·        New technology is being implemented in corrections but theprocess remains slow. This lag is, in part, due to limited fiscal resources.

·        Advances in technology help correctional staff communicate, observe, document, evaluate, interrogate, detect contraband, and perform all aspects of business at faster speeds and with greater accuracy.

·        In addition to meeting the technological challenges, correctional staff must deal with complex issues that have become more prominent in recent years.

D. The Effects of 9/11

·        The economic downturn brought about by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has made the situation even more critical.

·        In preparation for attacks by terrorists, more funding has been allocated to homeland security at great cost to prison systems nationwide.

·        Funding to various correctional agencies has been cut, forcing several states to postpone prison construction, downsize prison space by closing housing units, and, in some states, close entire prisons

E. The Public Image of Corrections

·        Media distortion in the coverage of crime, prisons, prison administration, custody, and prisoners is not uncommon.

·        Several of the articles claimed that the American public should not be surprised by the events at Abu Ghraib because similar incidents routinely occur in U.S. prisons and jails.

·        The field of corrections is improving. The process, however, remains slow and difficult, primarily because the necessary funding is simply not available.

·        As it impacts the correctional administrator’s ability to recruit quality employees, provide essential intensive training, encourage continuous professional development training efforts and, ultimately, foster professionalism.

F. Safety First

·        Correctional administrators do not promote a culture of violence. They. see the mission of a professional correctional agency as delivery of safe and secure corrections services.

·        Corrections practitioners feel obligated to keep prisons a safe environment that encourages inmates to rehabilitate themselves and staff to facilitate the inmates’ rehabilitative efforts.

G. Inmate Programs Second

·        With severe correctional budget cuts, prisons struggle to obtain money for inmate programs.

·        With few rehabilitative, treatment, vocational, and educational programs, prisons have not done nearly enough to ensure decreased recidivism.

·        The majority of ex-offenders need substance abuse treatment, yet only a small fraction have the opportunity to receive it.

·        Upon release, without adequate health care, they are unable to receive and pay for prescribed psychotropic medications and often relapse return to prison.

·        Correctional education is one inmate program that does work.

·        The Three-State Recidivism Study of Correctional Education compared correctional education participants and nonparticipants in Maryland, Minnesota, and Ohio to assess the impact of correctional education on recidivism and postrelease employment.

H. Recruitment

·        The corrections profession remains in critical status because the turnover rate remains high.

·        The American Correctional Association embarked on a project titled “Building a Strategic Workforce Plan for the Corrections Profession.”

·        Individuals who do enter the corrections field, even those satisfied with their jobs, often leave as raises and other incentives continue to dry up.

I. The Importance of Training

·        Faced with staggering budget cuts and a spurt in prison population growth, corrections is struggling to utilize available limited resources to balance management with treatment.

·        The importance of training cannot be overstated. Lack of proper training may result in poor decision making, and the consequences may be problematic.

·        Lack of proper training may result in poor decision making, and the consequences may be problematic.

J. Execution Teams

·        Executions are complex and very difficult processes that require a high level of training and professionalism.

·        Candidates who volunteer to serve on the execution team are carefully screened to weed out those who may experience adverse reactions to performing execution duties.

·        At the end, the job is carried out with precision, humility, and teamwork.

·        Those who take part in the process are affected by the psychological burden.

·        The condemned are not dragged or weeping, but they seem to submit to it with some level of acceptance.

·        In the eyes of the executioner, the execution process is not killing, nor is it a vengeful act. It is a job to be done, a lawful sanction.

K. Inmates

·        Prisoner reentry is one of the most pressing problems we face.

·        The reality is that 95 percent of prisoners will be released at some point. Our goal should be to ensure that those released from prison do not return to a criminal lifestyle.

·        Ex-offenders have difficulty finding services such as housing, employment, and child care assistance.

·        Helping ex-prisoners successfully return to society can greatly improve their chances of staying out of trouble.

·        Today, reentry is more problematic because, while inmate populations are increasing, inmate programs are being cut back due to the unavailability of funding.

·        We must conduct inmate programs to prepare inmates to return to communities as law-abiding citizens.

II. Participation In The Larger Corrections Community

·        A professional corrections organization has an obligation to participate in its national community.

·        The corrections field is fortunate to have several professional organizations that offer much valuable support.

A. The American Correctional Association (ACA)

·        The ACA is the oldest and largest membership organization dedicated to the improvement of corrections. As part of its mission, the ACA conducts workshops, seminars, exhibits, and networking opportunities.

·        It also hosts two annual conferences that bring correctional personnel from the United States and countries around the world together for a variety of activities.

B. The Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA)

·        The ASCA, comprising all state correctional administrators, is dedicated to the improvement of correctional services by promoting:

o    The exchange of ideas and philosophies at the top administrative levels

o    Public support for the understanding of the corrections systems

o    Research in correctional practices

o    The development of correctional standards and accreditation

o    The fostering of appropriate legislation

o    The exchange of information with international correctional organizational agencies

·        The ASCA also conducts training for new directors that helps them survive and excel as they begin their assignments.

C. National Institute of Corrections (NIC)

·        The NIC, part of the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons, provides a variety of services including training, technical assistance, information services, and policy and program development assistance.

·        The NIC also provides leadership to influence professional correctional policy and practice nationwide.

III. Professional Development

·        Professional development is the lifelong or career-long dedication to quality selection, training, and development of employees.

·        Correctional leaders must take a systems approach to professional development.

·        A considerable amount of time and money is devoted to new employee selection and training.

·      Components of the recruitment program include:

o    A comprehensive application

o    A written examination

o    A local agency check

o    A background investigation

o    Psychological screening

o    A personal interview

o    In some instances, a polygraph

·      Maintaining a correctional academy provides the basic foundation of new officer training.

·      It is the place where the correctional officer learns the lessons necessary to begin his or her career, where professional attitudes are developed, and where pride in the profession is established.

·      The Adult State Training Director’s Network (TDN), sponsored by the NIC, suggests that annual inservice training be based on a needs assessment that reflects an agency’s problems and issues, not just on a list of topics given year after year.

A. A College Education

·        Many people come into corrections with a high school diploma. As a result, many correctional employees are adult learners who attend classes while working.

·        The Maryland DOC made arrangements to have community college courses taught on the prison grounds at times convenient to shift personnel.

·        Maryland regions, staff actually received their training on the community college campus with access to all amenities including the library.

B. Rotational Assignments and Collateral Duties

·        Employees should be rotated through a variety of assignments over the course of their careers in order to learn many different aspects of the career field.

·        Employees should be assigned to different prisons with different custody levels and missions and should be given different shifts and different responsibilities within the respective prisons.

C. Leader Development

·        The Maryland Division of Corrections conducted this course three times on-site in Maryland.

·        The NIC covered the cost of the instruction and provided the curriculum and instructors.

·        The staff members who completed the training became the foundation of the future leadership of the organization.

·        Most of them were promoted, some several times. Many went on to complete their degrees and enter graduate school.

·        Other formal leadership training included sending people to the NIC Academy in Longmont, Colorado; the University of Maryland; the Federal Executive Institute; the American Correctional Association; Leadership Maryland; and the Leadership Challenge Program.

·        Women leaders in the executive program function at the decision-making level of warden/superintendent or above.

IV. Employee Recognition

·        The importance of recognizing staff accomplishments cannot be overstated.

·        When an employee performs his or her duties beyond expectations, receives a promotion, completes a degree program, and so on, that employee’s efforts should be recognized.