Prison officer

Prison officer

Finnish Prison Officer
Occupation
Names	Correctional officer, corrections officer, detention officer
Activity sectors	Law enforcement
Description
Competencies	See Working environment
Education required	See Training

A prison officer (Denmark^[1], Finland^[2], Sweden^[3], UK^[4] and Ireland^[5]), also referred to as a corrections officer (New Zealand^[6], US and Yukon Territory^[7]), correctional officer (Australia^[8], Canada^[9][10][11], Jamaica^[12], and US^[13]), or detention officer (US), is a person charged with the responsibility of the supervision, safety and security of prisoners in a prison, jail, or similar form of secure custody. Historically, terms such as jailer (also spelled jailor or gaoler), jail guard, prison guard, prison warder, and turnkey^[14] have also been used.

Prison officers are responsible for the care, custody, and control of individuals who have been arrested and are awaiting trial while on remand or who have been convicted of a crime and sentenced to serve time in a prison or jail. They are also responsible for the safety and security of the facility itself. Most officers are employed by the government of the jurisdiction in which they operate, though some are employed by private companies.

Duties

The duties of a prison officer can vary, but they often include:

• Maintaining order and discipline within the institution
• Enforcing facility rules, regulations, and applicable legislation
• Searching inmates and environs for contraband
• Transporting inmates to courts, other prison facilities, or into the community (e.g. medical appointments, escorted day-pass, etc.)
• Providing first-response in the event of assault, riot, fire, medical emergency, etc.
• Tactical response for ongoing emergencies, such as riot, hostage taking, or other major crisis

Working environment

A prison officer's job is often considered dangerous with inmate confrontations resulting in many injuries a year. A prison officer's working environment can vary considerably with some prison facilities being modern, well lit, air-conditioned, and ventilated while others such as San Quentin State Prison are old, overcrowded, and noisy. Prison officers often work on a rotating shift basis including weekends and holidays. Since many prison facilities have officer shortages, prison officers are often required to work additional shifts. Having to put in extra hours can result in fatigue, low morale, and family-related problems. Prison officers may also get burned out because their work is unpredictable, identity-threatening, tragic, incongruous, and stigmatized.^[15]

Because a prison, or similar detention facility is a controlled environment inmates will often attempt to disrupt it. Various remedies for such disruptions, including physical and less-than-lethal force, isolation and less-lethal weaponry are often adopted depending on the type of correctional facility and its jurisdiction. Due to multiple disruptions and challenging work environments prison officers often face high levels of stress, burnout, health problems, high turnover rates, low life expectancy, and decreased quality of life. The National Institute of Corrections in the US reports that after 20 years of service the life expectancy of a correctional officer is 58.^[16]

The duties a prison officer carries out will often depend on the type of facility in which they work. For instance, a prison officer at a minimum security facility may be responsible for casually supervising inmates as they work or participate in treatment programs while at a maximum security institution a prison officer would have duties involving the regular use of restraints, weapon searches, and tactical response.

Prison officers are also expected to control their emotions, remain impersonal, and engage in activities that are often conflicting. For example, they are expected to respect and nurture, yet suspect and discipline inmates and have an us–them mentality.^[17]

Training

Prison officer training will vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction as well as facility to facility depending on the legislated power given, the nature of the facilities, or even the socioeconomics of the region. Training may be provided by external agencies or at the facility with a peer-group or supervisor instructor.

In North America, standard training usually includes:

• Use of force and restraints (i.e., handcuffs, leg-irons, belly-chain, etc.)
• Weapons (firearms, pepper spray, batons etc.)
• Self-defense
• First aid and CPR
• Report writing
• Giving testimony in court
• Diffusion of hostility
• Criminal Law
• Case work and criminal investigations

Many jurisdictions have also, in recent years, expanded basic training to include:

• Suicide awareness and prevention
• Critical incident stress management
• Occupational Safety and Health Act (U.S.) or Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (Canada)
• Gang awareness and intervention
• Crisis or hostage negotiation

See also

	Law enforcement portal
	Criminal justice portal

• Correctional Service of Canada
• Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (Ontario)
• Bailiff (Ontario, Canada)
• Federal Bureau of Prisons
• Her Majesty's Prison Service
• New York State Department of Correctional Services
• Correctional Emergency Response Team
• Law enforcement officer
• Police officer
• Deputy Sheriff (United States)
• Punjab Prisons (Pakistan)
• Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Notes

1. ^ Prison and Probation Service - General Information
2. ^ The Training Institute for Prison and Probation Services, Finland
3. ^ Swedish Prison and Probation Service - Fact Sheet
4. ^ Her Majesty's Prison Service - Career Information
5. ^ Irish Prison Service - Recruitment
6. ^ New Zealand Department of Corrections - Job Description
7. ^ Yukon Department of Justice website
8. ^ Queensland Corrective Services - Employment Information
9. ^ Correctional Service Canada - Correctional Officer job profile
10. ^ Ontario Correctional Services - Careers
11. ^ British Columbia Corrections - Employment Information
12. ^ Jamaica Department of Correctional Service - Roles of Correctional Officer
13. ^ US Department of Labour - Correctional Officer job statistics
14. ^ Ontario Provincial Secretary and the Inspector of Prisons' report on the Toronto Central Prison
15. ^ U.S. Department of Justice, Addressing Correctional Officer Stress: Programs and Strategies
16. ^ National Institute of Corrections, 2008.
17. ^ Tracy, S. J. (2005). "Locking up emotion: Moving beyond dissonance for understanding emotion labor discomfort." Communication Monographs, 72, 261–283.

References

• Davenport, D. K. (2001). State of Arizona Office of the Auditor General Performance Audit: Arizona Department of Corrections. Sunset Factors Retrieved March 8, 2008 from http://www.auditorgen.state.az.us/Reports/State_Agencies/Agencies/Corrections
• National Institute of Corrections (2008). Retrieved March 12, 2008 from http://www.nicic.org
• Tracy, S. J. (2004). The construction of correctional officers: Layers of emotionality behind bars. Qualitative Inquiry, 10, 509–533.
• Tracy, S. J., Meyers, K., & Scott, C. (2007). Cracking jokes and crafting selves: Sensemaking and identity management among human service workers. Communication Monographs, 73, 283–308.
• Correctional Service of Canada; Correctional Officers and Their First Year: An Empirical Investigation