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Introduction
STRESS1 AMONG correctional officers2 is an important concern. While the pervasiveness and severity of correctional officer stress are open to question, many officers clearly experience considerable work-related stress. Furthermore, some of the sources of stress for correctional officers appear to be getting worse. In addition to the personal suffering it causes, correctional officer stress can compromise safety at prisons and jails, create turnover that may force departments to hire less qualified applicants than they would like, and require extra taxpayers dollars to pay overtime to officers covering for sick and disabled coworkers.
The number of officers exposed to or experiencing stress is potentially large. In 1996, there were 281,332 correctional officers working custodial and security functions in the nation-209,468 working in state prisons, 59,774 in jail and detention facilities, and 12,090 in federal institutions (ACA, 1997).
This article begins by examining the evidence regarding the pervasiveness and severity of correctional officer stress. It then summarizes research about what causes this stress and what effects stress has on officers and correctional institutions. A review of selected efforts to help prevent and treat correctional officer stress follows.
The article is based on a review of the pertinent literature identified primarily through database searches conducted by the National Clearinghouse for Criminal Justice Information and the National Institute of Corrections. The article also is based on telephone interviews with nine line correctional officers, four mid-level administrators (lieutenants and captains) and two superintendents, nine providers of stress prevention and reduction services, and nine other knowledgeable individuals. Officers and administrators included individuals from public and private prisons and from federal, state, and local prisons and jails. The appendix lists the individuals interviewed for the article.3
Correctional Officer Stress: How Bad Is It?
Most research on correctional officer stress has sought to identify the sources of stress among officers, not how much stress officers experience. Among the studies that have examined stress levels, no consistent evidence establishes the proportion of correctional officers who suffer stress or how severely they experience it (Huckabee, 1992). Nevertheless, the available empirical evidence suggests that stress is widespread and in many cases severe. For example, a 1984 study found that 39 percent of 241 line officers who returned a mailed questionnaire reported that their job...