Research: Prison and Correctional Officers Essay

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Leadership is important in every career field and even more important in the correctional atmosphere. Correctional officers need to be leaders and show responsibility to the inmates who are incarcerated. The inmates will look up to the correctional officers, so they need to be good role models. “Leadership in the field of corrections starts with the recognition that there are two core purposes of correctional systems” (Carlson & Garrett, 2008). First “To protect society by incapacitating criminals (preventing escapes and providing a safe, secure, humane environment within the prison for all staff and inmates)” (Carlson & Garrett, 2008). All of the inmates are incarcerated for a reason and should not be in public, so correctional officers need to make sure that they do their job and make sure that inmates do not leave the facility. Second “To reduce recidivism (the rate at which inmates who have served their sentences commit new crimes and are returned to the corrections system)” (Carlson & Garrett, 2008). While an inmate is incarcerated the purpose is for the convict to improve and learn from their mistakes. The hope is that once one is released they will not reoffend and return to prison. Great traits to have while working in corrections are delegation, communication, optimism, the ability to provide a safe and environment for all, and integrity
In an organization many tasks will need to be completed during a short amount of time. Delegation will be a perfect tool to accomplish all of the responsibilities in a small amount of time. “A leader must delegate the responsibility for specific tasks to qualified individuals while remaining ultimately responsible for these functions” (Carlson & Garrett, 2008). Leaders cannot do everything alone and they should work with others to complete objectives. This will allow others to have the feeling of importance and cohesiveness. When one uses delegation in leadership it will help build trust, honesty, and communication. When a correction officer delegates a project they have to trust the other person to do their part. The leader has to tell the others what they want to be done and to be honest with how they want the finished product to look like. To have a great finished product the group members need to communicate between each other and share ideas how to accomplish the task. Once the task is complete the officers will have satisfaction in their job performance. “There are always positive direct relations between having the opportunity to participate in tasks and job satisfaction, effectiveness, commitment, and passion to do more jobs” (Khosravi, B., Manafi, M., Hojabri, R., Aghapour, A., & Gheshmi, R., 2011). In the correction field delegation can be scary because everything needs to be done correctly. When a leader puts tasks in his or her employees’s hands and it is not done correctly serious conquests can occur. Delegation“{This} Can be a frightening concept in a prison or jail, where so many things can go wrong, and some errors have extreme consequences” (Carlson & Garrett, 2008). Even though delegation can put a lot at risk it still has to happen in the correction area. When a facility is open twenty four hours a day workers will need help from other co-workers to do their jobs correctly. A leader must pick reliable employees to reach their goals. This will produce more leaders which is great for the facility.
Second, communication is an important trait for correctional leadership. Every worker in the prison or jail needs to be ‘on the same page’ so everything goes smoothly. Once a worker does not know what to do or what is going on during the day is when a problem can occur. Communication has to be clear and understandable. Once a worker does not understand what they were told to do, something could go wrong in the facility. Every institution should have the “Ability to establish and communicate high performance standards and expectation, listen and
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