The World of Prison Staff Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The World of Prison Staff - Research Paper Example It is a general observation that in people oriented occupations fatigue and passivity results into burnouts. Positions in criminal justice system, like that of a correctional officer in prison, is stressful than other people oriented jobs, from many angles. It is a job of adversarial nature where, interaction is mostly negative. Correctional officers are required to supervise inmates who are not willing to be there and they are also required to make them co operate. Stress is more pronounced in female officers than males, due to working in male dominated environment and work-home conflict. Officers with more experience (12 years or more) or prolonged duration of duty (one year at a stretch) feel more stress than others. Similar is the case with older age officers. Two variables increase stress consistently; these are dangerousness of the job and role problems. Correctional officers have to perform two conflicting roles of ensuring custody of prisoners and taking care of their needs a s well. Conflicting roles at times create stress. Nature of job is definitely dangerous as prisoners are often criminal and dangerous. Educated and minority race officers face more stress due to maladjustment. If correctional officers remain satisfied within their organization’s strength, job satisfaction comes naturally. ... The general stress is the result of experiences in the workplace and occupational stress is due to nature of the job. The contributing variables towards stress of correctional officers can be divided into individual (gender, educational and correctional experience, role problems and perception of dangers), organizational (supervisory & peer support, administrative strength and job satisfaction) and jail factors (training, direct supervision and jail unit). Stress related to age and race is not significant. There is interesting evidence in studies, which suggest that results of stress related to correctional officers are, similar and these are independent of jail, prison or setting. By nature, the job of correctional officers is dangerous requiring him to maintain order and ensure custody and well-being of inmates. In addition to normal functions, they have to perform court related duties, which results into conflict in duties, and added stress. Officers experience lowest level of str ess in strict custody capacity. Improved communication with supervisors and focused performance of job can significantly reduce stress. If the jail is made organizationally sound, workforce feel more relaxed. If the correctional officer believes that he has more control over the work environment his stress is significantly reduced. When an officer has some say in policymaking, his supervisors hear him attentively, and sincerely, he enjoys his work more and feels relaxed. It is important that officers must have authority in their jobs and they should be rewarded on good performance in the form of salary increase and promotions. Job satisfaction is directly proportional to stress in jail environment, if it is not there, the situation leads to burnout. Job satisfaction not