Individual and Environmental Influences on Prison Officer Safety

• NCJ Number: 252408
• Date Published: January 2017
• Author(s): Benjamin Steiner, John Wooldredge
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: Maintaining Prison Order: An Evaluation of the Effects of the Detection and Processing of Inmate Misconduct Within and Across Ohio Correctional Institutions

Annotation

Using data collected from just over 1,800 corrections officers working in 45 prisons, this study applied a multi-level opportunity framework in examining the individual and environmental influences on objective and subjective measures of officer safety.

Abstract

Prison officers are exposed to violence and other safety risks at rates higher than workers in most occupations, and indicators of workplace safety have been linked to a number of negative health and occupational outcomes among corrections officers. Yet, few researchers have examined the sources of prison officer safety. The current study found that officer safety is affected by officers’ routines (e.g. frequency of contact with inmates) and characteristics that might reflect officers’ suitability as targets (e.g. age, race). The study also determined that indicators of both micro- (e.g., coworker support) and macro-level (e.g., architectural design) guardianship influence prison officers’ safety. (Publisher abstract modified)