The data are drawn from "Unusual Incident Reports" submitted to the central offices of the New York State Department of Correctional Services by staff members of the State's correctional facilities. The results suggest that prisoners' assaults on staff members occur in a framework of opposed interests of prisoners and guards. Inmates are subject to the overt and subtle deprivations of prison life and therefore feel compelled to resist attempts to deprive them of the valued commodities of liberty, autonomy, goods and services, sexual relations, and security. On the other hand, correctional officers are called upon to support and maintain the deprivations and pains of imprisonment. Many assaultive acts follow an order, a command, or an expectation communicated by an officer. Conduct by an officer that is perceived to be inconsistent with accepted practice or to be arbitrary, spiteful, or unnecessary may be viewed as an occasion for resistance. Regardless of the immediate cause of the episode, its culmination as an officially reported assault incident stems from the attitudes and behaviors of both prisoner and guard. 2 tables, 5 footnotes, and 30 references (Author abstract modified)
Downloads
Similar Publications
- Self-Assessment of Professional Capacity, Competence and Values of Prison Officers in Slovenian Prisons (From Policing in Central and Eastern Europe: Dilemmas of Contemporary Criminal Justice, P 146-154, 2004, Gorazd Mesko, et al., eds. -- See NCJ-207973)
- Policing, Order Maintenance and Legitimacy (From Policing in Central and Eastern Europe: Dilemmas of Contemporary Criminal Justice, P 38-48, 2004, Gorazd Mesko, et al., eds. -- See NCJ-207973)
- Parent-Reported Child Reactions to the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center Attacks (New York USA) in Relation to Parent Post-Disaster Psychopathology Three Years After the Event