Coping in Alien Territory: Corrections Officers in the AIDS Ward

• NCJ Number: 141098
• Author(s): K Parks
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 25 pages
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Presented at the American Society of Criminology, New Orleans, Louisiana, November 4-7, 1992.

Annotation

Methods, including 500 hours of passive observation and informal interviews and discussions with corrections officers and hospital personnel, provided the basis for this examination of the coping mechanisms developed by corrections officers who work on a daily basis in a community hospital infectious diseases unit guarding inmates dying of AIDS.

Abstract

One source of discomfort for corrections officers is the conflict between the prison rules they are engaged to enforce and the conditions marking a hospital environment. They are challenged to maintain custody and control over inmates, retain their authority which is often overruled by hospital staff, deal with monotony, face a lack of respect from hospital personnel, and cope with the issues that are unique to AIDS. As a result of these factors, corrections officers on duty at hospitals must become flexible to a certain degree, invent new security measures, and learn to cooperate with hospital staff. The officers assigned to inmates with AIDS often become more sympathetic to their charges than other officers, exhibiting acts of kindness and increased tolerance.