NCJ Number
180346
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 27 Issue: 6 Dated: November/December 1999 Pages: 525-538
Editor(s)
Kent B. Joscelyn
Date Published
1999
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article presents an analytical framework to examine factors that might influence prison staffs' perceptions of the threat of infection from offenders.
Abstract
One consequence of the drug war has been the incarceration of many offenders who pose a health risk to staff. Four risk domains influence an officer's self-rated threat of exposure: (1) psychosocial factors; (2) HIV/AIDS-related knowledge; (3) perception of risk in the prison environment; and (4) risk reduction efforts. Officers with lower levels of education, those who work with medium- and maximum-custody inmates and those who have more high-risk encounters with inmates rate their chances for infection as high. Prison organizations might serve their employees better if they develop training schedules about HIV/AIDS on the basis of duty assignments; generic training schedules are inadequate to address diverse staff needs. This article shows that drug policies have even affected an occupational group far "downstream" from visible enforcement activities. Policymakers must realize that using laws to enforce morality has consequences not only for those being targeted for punishment but also for occupational groups within the criminal justice system. Tables, note, references, case cited