Search

U.S. state statutes provide the minimum hiring and training requirements for correctional officers (COs), but it is unclear whether COs have achieved professionalism. This article utilizes a statutory analysis to examine state hiring qualifications and training requirements for COs. The findings reveal that not all 50 have statutes outlining CO hiring and training requirements. Although some states are very specific, many provide only general standards. As such, statutes regarding CO hiring and training are far from uniform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) mandates that U.S. state correctional systems regulate and reduce staff-on-inmate sexual misconduct in state correctional facilities. As data on correctional officer sexual misconduct are limited and its legal definition varies across states, this study utilized statutory analysis to document how staff sexual misconduct is defined and how it is punished across state correctional systems. The most notable finding is that although all 50 states have statutes designed to protect incarcerated persons from being sexually victimized by correctional staff, they are far from uniform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of studies find that solitary confinement is associated with mental impairment. Yet, confinement dosage and which individual and exogenous variables lead to mental impairment have received less attention. This study of 2 years of data on disciplinary segregation male inmates employs a repeated measures design to examine how isolation affects mental health and psychological needs. The findings indicate that the duration of disciplinary segregation and incarceration, incidence of homelessness, and other individual-level factors had deleterious effects on mental health and psychological needs. Vocational programming and a high school education were found to be protective factors for psychological needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]