A career in corrections brings with it the potential of both physical and emotional danger. From inmates trying to psychologically gain the upper hand with staff to experiencing burnout, everyone from officers to upper administration must be constantly aware of how the correctional environment can affect them.

Manipulative Inmates
At any time, in any correctional facility, any staff member can be a target for manipulation at the hands of inmates. Often, because of the strict limits offenders are under, they will use the skills they honed on the outside to try and loosen those limits any way they can. Because of this, correctional personnel have to not only be aware of how an inmate acts towards them, but also of their own behavior.

"A lot of inmates spend their life [thinking of] how to manipulate people, from members of their own family to those in the department of corrections," says James Topham, a former Criminal Investigator with the New Hampshire Department of Corrections. "Not every inmate [is out to manipulate], but every inmate in the right set of circumstances can own any officer. It's a game, but it can be a dangerous game. A lot of officers can maybe stray from basic rules and then they are under the inmate's thumb and don't realize it."

If an inmate does win over and gain mental control of an officer to the point of the officer doing things for them, such as bringing in contraband or performing sexual acts, then one officer's discrepancies have a ripple effect on the environment around him or her, says Topham.

At the South Dakota State Penitentiary, staff get firsthand knowledge about manipulative inmates and the consequences that follow from an innovative training exercise called "The Con Tree."

The tree is actually a representation of an apple tree with pictures of inmates who are at high-risk or have a history of manipulating as the "bad apples" on the tree and fallen leaves of the tree representing staff members who have lost their position as a result of an inmate's manipulation. There are currently 46 inmate "apples" on the tree, each of which will be discussed as to how they manipulated staff and what to watch out for.

"We get conned everyday, but we want officers to be smart enough to realize it, come clean right now and stop the madness," says Lieutenant Joe Miller of the prison's Special Security Office, who conducts the training. "Hopefully we get to staff before they are embarrassed, hurt themselves, hurt the institution or someone else."

Every year during the 36-hour block of in-service training, staff at the penitentiary spend one hour looking at the tree and listening to cases of manipulation that have cost colleagues their jobs. According to Miller, no names are used of those who have been manipulated, both for protection and to not to embarrass them further.

"[We want officers to walk away with] the understanding as to what people are capable of - using, abusing and throwing you away," he says. "It will cost you your health, your job, your family and your life, given half the chance."

Sexual Misconduct
It is next to impossible to weed out every bad apple that would engage in sexual activities with inmates, but that doesn't mean corrections administrators are completely helpless to prevent it.

A serious effort to crack down on sexual misconduct in any facility should include an examination of the facility's culture, specialized training for staff and the implementation of policies that indicate the gravity of such an offense.
"I think it has been very important for corrections professionals at all levels to understand that sexual misconduct is a security issue. Security is the core mission. It is always jeopardized when relationships cross boundaries," said A.T. Wall, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.

Wall should know. He and others in the department helped to bring new, enhanced training on sexual misconduct to the department several years ago and simultaneously implemented new policies with state legislation that made sex with inmates a felony.

"Sex is so combustible. It is the most extreme form of breakdown in boundaries. And, as staff understand the security implications of staff sexual misconduct, they realize how important it is to prevent it and to deal with it when it arises," Wall said.

Others in the corrections field have also focused on this issue in recent years, including the National Institute of Corrections, which has funded new training on sexual misconduct, as well as research of prison culture, which can promote many of these boundary breakdowns.

"Within prison, formal rules say we'll proceed in a legal way regarding the treatment of prisoners, for example, but informally if someone messes up on the way to the box, they get beat up," said Kevin Wright, a Professor at the State University of New York in Binghamton, who is researching prison culture through an NIC grant in conjunction with the Criminal Justice Institute.

"Code of Silence"
While some in the field may not freely acknowledge it, the code of silence amongst staff is alive in well in corrections. This unwritten and often unspoken rule, while meant to protect, can often result in irreparable damage to individual careers as well as the reputation of an entire facility and department.

"[The code of silence] is an issue every administrator should pay attention to," says Edward Brennan, former Superintendent of the State Correctional Institution (SCI) Albion in Pennsylvania. "In the end, it is insidious. If people [in corrections] cover-up for others, then they basically become no better than the charges they are watching."

Brennan spent nine of his 31 years in corrections running SCI Albion and says that administrators need to be up front, say that this behavior is wrong and say it frequently to engrain that message in the operational philosophy of both their facility and department. If this is not done, officers and staff will assume that the practice is acceptable. When this happens, looking the other way or not reporting what seem to be "minor" events can become a risky habit.

"This is one issue that grows and feeds on itself," he says. "Usually, the cover-up is worse than the behavior. I think administrators have to give officers and staff freedom to do something wrong and learn from it, but also be there if they go too far over the line [and hold them accountable]."

As warden of the New Hampshire State Prison for three years, Raymond Helgemoe was able to see firsthand how the code of silence can affect the correctional environment.

"The biggest problem [regarding the code] is the establishment of a group that thinks they can enforce the rules as they see appropriate," he says. "We had a [group like this] - they were good officers, who set good examples in terms of keeping their uniforms neat and clean, but they took things into their own hands and didn't let us find out about it, so there is an inherent problem there."

Word of their behavior came through a few inmates who wouldn't say directly who was responsible, but would allude to things. This was helpful, says Helgemoe, because there were bits of information that he could grab onto and follow, without putting either those inmates or other officers in jeopardy.

"You've got to be on the lookout for outward symptoms that start to appear and listen to what is being said [around the institution]," says Helgemoe. "Even if comments are vague and veiled, you need to listen to them and read between the lines."

As an administrator, he adds, you need to get out from behind the desk and need to listen to what is being said in your facility. In hearing all the complaints and gripes by inmates, managers can pick out little information here and there that may be able to break up a group who adheres to the code instead of correctional policies and procedures.

As the group at the state prison grew, they became more identifiable in the way they started to stand out from other staff. Along with being "cliquish," hanging out together constantly both at work and in their free time, they also started to dress similarly, right down to wearing the same type of belt buckle.
The group was eventually discovered and disbanded with most of the officers involved leaving the department. According to Helgemoe, to avoid similar situations, these types of groups should be eliminated as soon as possible.

Professionalism in Corrections
For the leaders of a large company, being responsible for thousands of people while also dealing with financial and public relations issues is an everyday reality. For those in corrections, these same actions are placed in the hands of administrators and training needs to reflect this growing sense of responsibility.

"Professionalism goes to the heart of who and what we are," says William W. Sondervan, Commissioner of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. "The profession has changed dramatically - it is far more complex and challenging than ever before."

As evidence of this change, Sondervan points to the role of warden. No longer is the position occupied by someone who began as a correctional officer, who was a high school graduate and worked their way up. Instead, today's warden is "a CEO of a small business who needs to be college educated and multitalented," he says.

Beyond security issues, a warden needs to deal with the public, legislators, disseminating public information, personnel and, in most cases, managing multimillion-dollar budgets.

"They need to deal with a variety of both staff issues as well as understanding inmate issues to prepare them to go home," says Sondervan.

The intricacy of a correctional professional's position can also be difficult at times because while maintaining a sense of security and well-being for both employees and offenders behind prison walls, they must also ensure that those on the outside are content.

"When you have massive growth and a lot of money comes into the business, as it has in corrections, there is an expectation from those paying money that something be done well," says Chase Riveland, consultant and President of Riveland Associates and former Secretary of the Washington State Department of Corrections.

The development of correctional employees is also an important element to ensure that future leaders will thrive. According to Riveland, the growth of corrections has changed the landscape of how younger officers become prepared to take on greater responsibilities. As more veteran personnel move towards retirement, a shortfall is created in the number of role models to enhance the professionalism of younger employees.

"There are so many people being promoted so quickly," he says. "It is no longer 'watch me for five or six years,' but now, [employees] become a sergeant in two to three years and a lieutenant in three to four years. We need to look at other ways to make sure that skill set is there [when they are promoted]."

Investigations
The Suits vs. the Code of Silence. It's an old-fashioned image but one that corrections officials still battle when it comes to internal investigations. In recent years, whether acting on their own or with a push from the state legislature, corrections agencies are getting serious about stopping crime behind bars.

Corrections leaders are providing additional support and better mechanisms to uncover and investigate crimes by inmates and staff in prisons. This is important so that both law-abiding staff and the public know that corrections is doing its job.

"Issues of integrity are so often implicated in correctional settings. These can be corrupting environments; even good people can be corrupted here. The entire system depends on staff performing their duties conscientiously and professionally. We have a great deal of power over the inmate population and that kind of power calls for very tight supervision of staff and monitoring of any questionable activity," said A.T. Wall, Director of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.

Today corrections leaders are working to instill the belief that when staff are involved in situations of excessive use-of-force, sexual misconduct and the smuggling of contraband, they put not only themselves, but their co-workers and the institution at risk.

"It's always embarrassing when you are a corrections officer and the newspaper headline reads that a corrections officer has been arrested for beating an inmate," said Aaron Aldrich, Chief Inspector for the Rhode Island Department of Corrections.

Aldrich, who began his career in corrections as a line officer, knows that some staff still question the fairness of "Internal Affairs" and assume that they are "out to get you." So, in addition to his job of weeding out the bad guys, he also tries to interface with staff to show them that his intentions are different than this perception.

"One of the most important steps is demystifying the role of the Internal Affairs office. So many people associate it with a bad thing and someone is in trouble," Aldrich said.

Aldrich spends six to eight hours each week teaching classes at the corrections academy to both seasoned officers and new recruits. The topics are his specialty - the hostile work environment, avoiding staff sexual misconduct, crime scene and evidence preservation.

"I am seen by staff at all levels. I believe 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.' I will tell you how to avoid certain pitfalls, how to avoid circumstances in a hostile, toxic work environment and how to prevent the Internal Affairs interview," he said.

Wall, who receives reports daily from Aldrich, said it is important to help staff understand the true role and the significance of Internal Affairs to the department on several levels.

"An Internal Affairs unit is considered a kind of spy organization by many line staff. That's natural in these settings, but it can be overcome," he said.

Back to A Look Back at Corrections in 2002