In a most recent report released by the department of Justice in September,2011, it has been determined that there is a rapid increase of misconduct among correctional officers for the past year as recorded. It is likely that there are many factors associated with these findings and that human resource administrators and training personnel should take the time to read this report to glean some very important information relevant to the application process, the screening procedures and the enhanced selection of potential correctional officers for their agencies. The report issued by the DOJ is very revealing and has substantiated a trend that has been observed through empirical evidence gathering and observations on the job when these issues came to light due to disciplinary action taken or the critical incident review process indicated issues with mistreatment, poor judgment making and unreliable reporting techniques that brought suspicion on the writer's accuracy to report and document these events as they actually occurred.
While it should be stressed that most correctional officers either on duty or off duty never engage in committing crimes or misconduct, there are those in the minority that do thus jeopardizing the reputation of others. Their job already entails an active role in providing safety and security within correctional settings that impact the safety and security of the public, other staff and inmates under their supervision. The mere fact is that this small group has committed enough crime and misconduct where the public's confidence in this profession has been severely jeopardized resulting in poor feedback of the profession in the manner of apathy of working conditions and non consideration for pay raises or increased benefits on the taxpayer's dime. The fact is, misconduct allegations, disciplinary issued and arrests have increased in the past ten years and has shaken the public's trust in correctional officers and the associated services provided understood or conveyed through the media, family friends or word of mouth as this makes the news often and is a matter of discussion at the watercooler. Associated with such perceptions are the facts that misconduct investigations are on the rise and the number of correctional officers sentenced to do time has increased as well.
Using an excerpt from the DOJ report it states “The number of misconduct investigations of BOP Correctional Officers doubled from FY 2001 to FY 2010, rising from 2,299 to 4,603. Correctional Officers were investigated disproportionately to their representation in the BOP workforce throughout the decade, in that while they accounted for approximately 40 percent of BOP staff, they were the subject of 53 percent of the misconduct allegations in FY 2001 and 63 percent of the allegations in FY 2010. Of the 32,455 misconduct allegations made against Correctional Officers between FY 2001 and FY 2009 for which there were final resolutions, 16,717 (52 percent) were substantiated.” Unable to gather similar data from state agencies to gather similar data to compare state versus federal statistics, it is reasonable to conclude that most states are statistically similar to the federal prison system. Looking at criminal behaviors or actual arrests of correctional officers the data is quite shocking. Again the DOJ report states “Arrests of Correctional Officers as a result of substantiated allegations of criminal conduct have also increased. From FY 2001 through FY 2010, a total of 272 Correctional Officers were arrested, rising 89 percent from 18 in FY 2001 to 34 in FY 2010. Correctional Officer staffing levels at the BOP during the same time period rose only 24 percent.”
Having written on the pitfalls of the early years on the job and subjected to an entire new culture with severe politics in the interpretation of policies and procedures the DOJ has gleaned that misconduct and criminal arrests are most common [58 %] in the officer's early first two years of development. Types of behaviors included “ arrests were made included introduction of an illegal substance into a prison and having a sexual relationship with an inmate.” much of these crimes and misconduct are hidden from the administrator because of the code of silence or the fear to report this type of activity for fear of retaliation or repercussions for reporting a fellow officer.
Because of these events and the severity of the numbers showing a growing trend within the federal prison system they are recommending a new tool labeled to be a “Tool for Composite Scoring” that will enhance the hiring and selection process for new hire correctional officers. It is highly likely that states as well as county and municipal entities may seek to use this tool to enhance their hiring practices and reduce costs on training and other investments of individuals who are deemed to be unfit for correctional work and screened out of the process before actually hired on a permanent basis.
It stands to reason that the most common denominator in hiring new employees is the background check. In the DOJ report it states “The BOP official in charge of background investigation adjudication attributed the decrease to three primary reasons. First, OPM decreased the amount of time it took to conduct background investigations. Second, the BOP decreased the amount of time it took to adjudicate the completed investigations by adding 6 positions to the SBIS staff in January 2009, bringing the total number of employees to 32. Third, SBIS developed a system that identifies employees who have been employed at least 10 months and whose background investigations have not been adjudicated. SBIS then assigns a specially designated team in an effort to complete the adjudications before the employees’ 12-month probationary periods end.”The BOP’s improvement in the timely adjudication of background investigations puts it in a stronger position to remove unsuitable Correctional Officers before they become permanent employees. It is highly recommended that state, county and municipal agencies pick up this tool and do the same to balance their work force needs and capture this enhancement methodology to screen for successful candidates and save their employers a lot of grief and work on those employees who fail to perform and violate agency policies and procedures as well as federal and state statutes.
Source:
http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2011/e1102.pdf
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