NCJ Number
112981
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 50 Issue: 5 Dated: (August 1988) Pages: 132,134
Date Published
1988
Length
3 pages
Annotation
To assess the legitimacy of female correctional officers (CO's) authority, this study analyzed reports of inmate violations of prison rules and the consequences of such reports between 1986 and 1987 at a midwestern, medium-security correctional facility housing 650 male inmates.
Abstract
Each report contained a description of the incident, the reporter, the reviewing officer, and the reviewer's reasons for destroying the report or proceeding with a hearing. Inmate pleas made at the time of the hearing and their outcomes also were examined. A total of 1,170 reports filed by 45 female and 115 male CO's were examined. Females accounted for 28 percent of the staff and wrote 24 percent of the reports. For most infractions, male and female CO's wrote comparable numbers of reports. Females wrote more reports for inmate insolence and sexual misconduct. CO gender did not affect inmate guilty/not guilty pleas: 86 percent pleaded not guilty. Reports written by females were as likely to be upheld as those written by males. Loss of privileges, the most frequently applied sanction, was the disposition for 70 percent of inmates reported by males and 81 percent of inmates reported by females. Gender of the hearing officer also had no effect on findings (guilty, not guilty) for inmates reported by male and female CO's. Results clearly indicate that gender makes no difference, and that the authority of female CO's is as legitimate as that of their male counterparts. 1 table and 1 reference.