NCJ Number
101557
Date Published
1985
Length
48 pages
Annotation
An Australian researcher visited correctional institutions in the Netherlands and interviewed administrators and 27 correctional officers to determine correctional staff understanding and perceptions of the Dutch Government's correctional objectives and of changes that had taken place in inmate rules and privileges during the last 10 to 15 years.
Abstract
Prison officers rated 21 specific changes in terms of how well they had worked out in practice. They also stated their agreement or disagreement with five statements about inmates and ranked five job areas in terms of importance. The prisons studied all housed male prisoners only. Each prison had a main strategy: to change the organization, to change relations between staff and inmates, and to change prisoners. Usually one strategy was dominant. Most prison officers had favorable attitudes about the changes that had taken place in the prison system. They did not feel that the changes had made their work more difficult. They had mixed views about inmates and differing ratings of the importance of various parts of their jobs. The most positive feelings about the correctional reforms in the Netherlands tended to be among the officers with long periods of service. Those with reservations about the changes often indicated acceptance of the specific reforms studied. Figures, tables, and list of 88 other research studies available through the Ministry of Justice in the Netherlands.