Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Prison Ethics
In the earlier days many prisons had abuse that went unreported. Officers were not watched as closely as they are today, and felt free to govern as they saw fit. This unregulated freedom could also result in prison corruption, brutality, and abuse.
Prison violence is for some inmates a common way of communicating who is the more dominant and a method of settling disputes. For correctional officers violence in prison is used for a variety of different reasons. Some officers use this as a method of self defense, others may use violence as a common method for respect, co-operation, or superiority. Prison ethics may become hard to find because for some guards because there must be a loyalty amongst fellow guards while at the same time maintaining the officers code of conduct. The officers code of conduct includes guards must report any unethical behavior and make sure the inmates' basic rights are protected as well.
Violence in prison is dangerous for both the inmates and the officers. Officers face daily challenges dealing with some of the most dangerous people while trying to maintain professional yet still in control. In prison there is a completley different sub-culture compared to the rest of society and it is important that officers are aware of such differences. Guards face the difficult challenge of juggling different roles such as the treatment role and custodial role. Guards must be able to handle a variety of different difficult situations. Banks (2004), states that guards do not have absolute power over the prisoners and must use their verbal skills and negociate with inmates. Guards depend on inmates for their personal safety (gaurds are vastly outnumbered), while at the same time they must maintain authority and show their supervisors they are in control.
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4 comments:
Whats going on Stephen. I read your post on Prison Ethics and a saw your video clip, good stuff man. I always enjoy reading and seeing your video clips. Im going to have to agree with you correctional officers have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. I don't know how C.O maintain professional in dealing with prisoners and their problems. Being in prison is a total different type of society. C.O's face some of the most difficult tasks every day of their lives. I can state this because I personally know a C.O. My girlfriends brother is a C.O and she is always telling me how stressful and difficult it is for him to separate his work from home. He has two daughters and she says he is always harder on them. Overall great post...
Hey Omar, thanks for the response. Yeah prison is a very different environment compared to the outside. Some prisoners hate C.O.s simply because of their position. C.O.s have to establish authority in prison, and many times that stress can spill over to home and vice versa.
Hey gyro, good job on the blog and I agree that correctional officers do have a very dangerous job. I think that it is pretty hard for C.O.'s to control violent offenders on a daily basis because at any minute they could snap and a disastrous outcome can occur. Therefore, most C.O.'s do rely on their verbal/negotiation skills to diffuse certain situations, due to the fact that they are clearly outnumbered in prison. I have even heard that some C.O.'s let lower level crimes happen on a daily basis in order to gain rapport with the inmates. It is clear that the inmates run the show and could turn the prison into a full out riot at any minute if they wanted to, which is why the C.O.'s and inmates are constantly at a power struggle to gain the upper hand. Keep up the good work bro.
hey Jorge, thanks for your comments. That's too bad there is a constant struggle for power between the inmates and the CO's. If CO's can't control these inmates that who will? Prison is pretty much the end of the line for dealing with criminals, so if CO's can't maintain order then prison gangs will end up establishing order which will only make things worse as far as rehabilitation.
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