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Being Correctional Officer: Unattended Expectations and Coping Strategies

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Doing Shifts

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

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Abstract

The chapter analyzes the configuration of correctional officers’ identity as professionals, with a focus on the reasons for choosing this career path. Whether correctional officers enter the job for job stability or because they genuinely believe in its mission, they find themselves in an environment they are ill-prepared for, one where they must cope with daily emergencies and adapt to profound complexity. Contrary to the conventional perception that the public sector offers job security, career growth potential, and retirement/health benefits, all contributing to a better quality of life and work-life balance, working in the prison system jeopardizes these goals. The chapter presents the coping strategies employed by correctional officers to survive in a hostile environment, with a focus on the unique aspects of their context and their connection to the local community and social life. After introducing the dual nature of the use of discretion by correctional officers, seen both as a coping strategy to overcome perceived difficulties in achieving planned results and as a hindrance to their personal authoritativeness, the chapter illustrates how correctional officers’ exercise of authority shapes the quality of prison life. Finally, the chapter argues for the cultural and normative dimension of prison beliefs and values, which are shaped by correctional officers’ in-group narratives regarding the stereotypical image of a “respectful and deserving prisoner” specific to their local prison. Simultaneously, these beliefs have their roots in a shared universe of information about the differences between each prison.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    All the excerpts presented in the chapter are taken from the notebook and are reported as follows: the notes in the first person are transcribed in normal font style, while the quotations from correctional officers and prison operators are in italics.

  2. 2.

    Perry and Hondeghem describe public sector motivation as the desire to work for a particular type of organization, and public service motivation as the desire to engage in a specific type of work (Perry and Hondeghem, 2008: 220–221).

  3. 3.

    In 1968, Galli analyzed the Italian electoral geography by identifying territorial political subcultures (“white” and “red” areas) based on the ideological polarization between the two dominant parties in the Italian political landscape from the post-war years (1948) to the 1990s: the Christian Democracy (DC) and the Italian Communist Party (PCI) (Caciagli, 2011; Galli, 1968). The terms “red” and “white” regions continue to be employed to indicate the dominance of left-wing or right-wing parties.

  4. 4.

    In 1975, the Italian Ministries of Justice and Interior jointly established Article 41-bis of the Prison Administration Act, also known as the carcere duro—hard prison regime (Ordinamento Penitenziario, 1975). Article 41-bis has been applied to prisoners with the highest security risk in the prison system.

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  1. Istituto degli Innocenti, Florence, Firenze, Italy

    Serena Franchi

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  1. Serena Franchi
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Correspondence to Serena Franchi .

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Franchi, S. (2024). Being Correctional Officer: Unattended Expectations and Coping Strategies. In: Doing Shifts. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44553-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44553-8_5

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-44552-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-44553-8

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

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