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Fear and Perceived Risk among Correctional Officers

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Prison Officers

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology ((PSIPP))

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Abstract

Correctional officers have a challenging job; they are responsible for ensuring the safety of prisoners, but also for protecting the community by kee** prisoners separate (i.e., incarcerating them), often against their will. Ensuring the safety and security of prisoners can place officers at risk and can lead officers to be concerned about their own safety; these concerns are particularly acute in relation to victimisation and/or exposure to infectious disease. Nevertheless, few scholars have examined correctional officers’ perceptions of safety at work, particularly the challenges they face in their daily work environment. As a result, we know little about the factors that predict their fear and perceived risk of being harmed while on the job. Understanding officers’ perceptions is important because concerns about safety and perceptions of risk influence how correctional officers perform their jobs. In the current chapter, we review research on fear and perceived risk among correctional officers. We also describe how these perceptions vary as a function of both personal characteristics (e.g., age, gender, race) and workplace characteristics (e.g., input into decision-making, role ambiguity, training). Finally, we discuss the strategies correctional institutions employ to address officers’ safety concerns.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This number includes correctional officers (i.e., front-line staff) and jailers, as well as deputy sheriffs and police who spend most of their time guarding prisoners Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021b).

  2. 2.

    Individuals who directly supervise and coordinate activities of correctional officers and jailers.

  3. 3.

    Other examples of personal characteristics may include marital status, number of children and membership in a trade union.

  4. 4.

    The vulnerability perspective would suggest that perceptions of safety among correctional officers may vary by sexual orientation or by gender identity, but no research of which we are aware has explored these differences.

  5. 5.

    The phrase “disobedient prisoners” is used here because this was the label given to officers in the data collection instrument for this study.

  6. 6.

    Membership in a trade union is another potential source of social support, but no research of which we are aware has explored this factor.

  7. 7.

    The Covid Prison Project compiles data from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849, USA

    Makeela J. Wells

  2. Department of Sociology, Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, 39762, USA

    Stacy H. Haynes & David C. May

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  1. Makeela J. Wells
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  3. David C. May
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Correspondence to Makeela J. Wells .

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  1. Criminology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Helen Arnold

  2. Criminology, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Matthew Maycock

  3. Marine Institute, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada

    Rosemary Ricciardelli

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Wells, M.J., Haynes, S.H., May, D.C. (2024). Fear and Perceived Risk among Correctional Officers. In: Arnold, H., Maycock, M., Ricciardelli, R. (eds) Prison Officers. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41061-1_17

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