NCJ Number
89296
Journal
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1983) Pages: 44-55
Date Published
1983
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Three commonly observed attitudes of Australian prison officers are their reliance on disciplinary authority, their negative stereotyping of inmates, and their antagonism towards noncustodial staff.
Abstract
The research was conducted in institutions under the Western Australian Department of Corrections (recently renamed the Prisons Department) over 4 years. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 402 uniformed staff in all institutions. The first section of the questionnaire sought respondents' definitions of the main purposes of imprisonment, their perceptions of their roles, and the extent of their reliance on authority and control over inmates. Other sections of the questionnaire sought information on attitudes toward and interaction with noncustodial staff, beliefs about inmates, and respondents' backgrounds. The findings support the hypotheses that the greater the extent to which support the hypotheses that the greater the extent to which prison officers see their primary task as maintaining order and security within the prison the greater will be their reliance on disciplinary authority, the more likely they are to hold negative beliefs about inmates, and the greater will be their antagonism towards noncustodial staff. The pattern of findings also suggests that such attitudes are related not only to the custodial role of prison officers but to the problems that arise in performing that role. Comparative analysis of findings for the different institutions indicates that the less severe the conditions of confinement, the lower are the levels of officer-inmate conflict and the less hostile prison officers are towards noncustodial staff. Tabular and graphic data and 28 references are provided.