CHAPTER 13

Correctional Professionals: Misconduct and Responses

Lecture slides prepared by Lisa J. Taylor

Corruption

• Bribery for access to legitimate activities

• Bribery to protect illicit activities

• Mistreatment/harassment/extortion of inmates

• Gross mismanagement (e.g., prison industries)

• Malicious or purposeful abuse: excessive use of force; rape and sexual harassment; theft and destruction of personal property; false disciplinary charges; intentional denial of medical care; failure to protect; racial abuse and harassment; excessive and humiliating strip searches.

• Negligent abuse: negligent denial of medical care; failure to protect, lack of responsiveness; negligent loss of property or mail.

• Systemic or budgetary abuse: overcrowding; inadequate medical care; use of isolation units

Corruption (Bomse)

Prison GuardDavid

ArmstrongColorado

(1999)

• Armstrong—a former guard at a federal prison in Colorado—admitted that he and other guards often beat inmates to punish them for being problematic.

• Armstrong later pleaded guilty to conspiring to deprive inmates at the Florence penitentiary in Colorado of their right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

• In a plea agreement, he implicated “at least'' 10 former or current guards. The group called itself “the Cowboys'' and beat inmates in multiple incidents from January 1995 to October 1996.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA 2003)

Mandated that every state keep a record of prison rapes and allocated money to study the problem and develop solutions.

Prison Rape

Elimination Act

(2003)

• Zero tolerance prison rape policy.

• Makes the prevention of prison rape a top priority in the prison system.

• The National Institute of Corrections was ordered to offer training and technical assistance, provide a clearinghouse for information and produce an annual report to Congress.

• Required the DOJ to create a review panel designed to conduct hearings on prison rape; this panel was given subpoena power as well.

• Authorized the Attorney General to dispense grant monies to facilitate implementation of the act. These grants are administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National Institute of Justice.

Abu Ghraib in the U.S.?• Gladiator fights in Corcoran Prison

• The “Tucker telephone” in Arkansas

• Using “dog boys” as live quarry for Texas dog handlers

• Beatings and the use of dogs on prisoners

• Looking the other way while inmates beat and raped a victim

• Inmates being forced to wear pink underwear as punishment

• Inmates being stripped as punishment

• Inmates being made to wear black hoods

Thinking

Point

The California Department of Corrections has been implicated in a series of inappropriate behaviors towards inmates. In May of 2010, several California state senators demanded Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger begin an investigation in multiple reports of prison corruption. According to accusations, correctional officers withheld medical care, participated in using racial slurs, and punished correctional officers who reported unethical behavior.

What implications may occur if the Governor decides to investigate? What may occur, if he

does not?

Is such behavior commonplace in many prisons?

Can it be prevented?

Community Corrections• Most offenders are under some form of

community supervision. o probation or parole

o halfway houses

o work release centers

o community-based correctional facilities (CBCF’s)

o intermediate sanctions

Community supervision poses different ethical challenges than institutional corrections.

The Zimbardo Experiment • In the 1970s, a mock prison was set up in the basement of a

building on the grounds of Stanford University.

• College men were arbitrarily assigned to be guards or inmates.

• Many of the “guard” subjects became brutal toward the “inmate” subjects.

• Many of the “inmate” subjects became docile and submissive.

• Behavioral changes in both groups were so profound that the experiment was canceled after six days.

• The study illustrates the profound effect of a prison experience.

Reducing the Culture of Violence in Prisons

The Commission on Safety and Abuse in American Prisons developed the following list of recommendations to reduce the “culture of violence” in prisons:•Improve staffing levels, hiring, and training•Provide independent oversight for complaints and investigations of misconduct•Increase access to the courts.•Increase the level of criminal prosecution of wrongdoers.•Strengthen professional standards

Management and Unions

• Have been successful in some states in obtaining greater benefits for their members.

• Have not been especially effective at promoting professionalism and ethics among their members.

Management Ethical Goals • Treat staff fairly and impartially

• Make merit-based promotions

• Show no prejudice

• Lead by example

• Develop a clear mission statement

• Develop a code of ethics that is a list of “dos,” not a list of “don’ts”

• Create a performance-based culture, not a seniority-based culture

• Solicit staff input on new policies

• Be respectful

• Create an culture that values ethical behavior

A New Corrections Paradigm?

• America has one of the world’s highest rates of incarceration.

• High recidivism rates suggest that prisons and other deterrence mechanisms are not particularly effective in reducing crime.

• Some advocate a new approach to crime and punishment.

Restorative Justice Goals

• Meeting a clearly defined and obvious need.

• Symbolically linking offender and victim, or offender and community.

• Viewing offenders as resources, with outcome measures directed to the work itself, rather than to the offender's behavior.

• Involving offenders in project planning and execution.

• Achieving a sense of accomplishment, closure, and community recognition.

Restorative Justice Goals

Sentencing circles or healing circles: offender meets with the victims, family and others; the group determines sanction.

Victim-offender mediation: brings victims face-to-face with their offenders so the victims can tell the offenders how being victimized affected them.

Community reparative boards: seeks to devise sentences that meet the needs of both parties.

Victim education: similar to victim-offender mediation, does not match victims with their particular offenders, but instead uses volunteer victims to meet with offenders and explain the effects victimization had on them.

ShamingReintegrative and Stigmatizing

A variety of punishments inflicted on offenders today incorporate the concept of shame.

• Some convicted of drunk driving must obtain special license plates.

• Some sex offenders must post signs on their houses.

• Some offenders have been required to publicly confess and seek the forgiveness of their community.

• Sex offender registries (have led to offenders being injured or killed in a few instances)

Forgiveness

• Should only victims be able to give forgiveness?

• Is it possible to be too forgiving?

• What is the ethical justification for forgiveness?

• Is it wrong not to forgive?