Correctional officers (COs) are subject to the development of burnout syndrome. This investigation focuses on those factors that contribute to burnout syndrome in COs who work in Italian penitentiary institutions. Utilizing a qualitative methodology with 50 northern Italian COs, the study finds burnout to be caused by two types of factors, organizational and psychosocial. Notably, the results highlight feelings of anguish, sadness, and abandonment and CO requests for psychological help.
AebiM.TiagoM.BurkhardtC. (2017, March). SPACE I – Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics: Prison populations. Survey 2015 (p. 141). Council of Europe Annual.
2.
AndersenD. R.AndersenL. P.GadegaardC. A.HøghA.PrieurA.LundT. (2017). Burnout among Danish prison personnel: A question of quantitative and emotional demands. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 45(8), 824–830. https://doi.org/10.1177/1403494817718644
3.
ArmstrongG. S.Atkin-PlunkC. A.WellsJ. (2015). The relationship between work–family conflict, correctional officer job stress, and job satisfaction. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 42(10), 1066–1082. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854815582221
4.
AtkinsonR. (2002). L’intervista narrativa. Raccontare la storia di sé nella ricerca formativa, organizzativa e sociale. Cortina Raffaello.
5.
AuerbachS. M.QuickB. G.PeggP. O. (2003). General job stress and job-specific stress in juvenile correctional officers. Journal of Criminal Justice, 31(1), 25–36.
6.
BaudinoM. (2014). La polizia penitenziaria tra sovraffollamento carcerario e burnout: Il dibattito interno. Rivista di criminologia, vittimologia e sicurezza, VIII(2), 104–119.
7.
BorgogniL.ConsiglioC. (2005). Job burnout: Evoluzione di un costrutto. Giornale Italiano Di Psicologia, 32(1), 23–58. https://doi.org/10.1421/19690
8.
BoudoukhaA. H.AltintasE.RusinekS.Fantini-HauwelC.HautekeeteM. (2013). Inmates-to-staff assaults, PTSD and burnout: Profiles of risk and vulnerability. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 28(11), 2332–2350. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260512475314
9.
BriaM.SpânuF.BəbanA.DumitraşcuD. L. (2014). Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey: Factorial validity and invariance among Romanian healthcare professionals. Burnout Research, 1(3), 103–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.burn.2014.09.001
10.
CarlsonJ. R.AnsonR. H.ThomasG. (2003). Correctional officer burnout and stress: Does gender matter?The Prison Journal, 83(3), 277–288. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885503256327
11.
CastiglioneC.RampulloA.GiovincoC. (2017). Self-representations, burnout syndrome, and job satisfaction among correctional officers. TPM - Testing, Psychometrics, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 24(4), 571–581. https://doi.org/10.4473/TPM24.4.7
12.
CheekF. E.MillerM. D. S. (1983). The experience of stress for correction officers: A double-bind theory of correctional stress. Journal of Criminal Justice, 11(2), 105–120.
13.
DialK. C. (2010). Stress and the correctional officer. LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC.
14.
DialK. C.DowneyR. A.GoodlinW. E. (2010). The job in the joint: The impact of generation and gender on work stress in prison. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38(4), 609–615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2010.04.033
15.
FarneseM. L.BarbieriB.BellòB.BartoneP.T. (2017). Don’t abandon hope all ye who enter here: The protective role of formal mentoring and learning processes on burnout in correctional officers. Work, 58(3), 319–331.
16.
FerrariG. (2016). Pena conDivisa. Rischi psicosociali e valorizzazione della professionalità degli operatori dell’Amministrazione penitenziaria. Edizioni Ferrari Sinibaldi.
17.
FreudenbergerH. J. (1974). Staff burnout. Journal of Social Issues, 30(1), 159–165.
18.
GlaserB. G.StraussA. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Aldine de Gruyter [trad. It. La scoperta della GT, Roma: Armando, 2009].
19.
HarizanovaS. N. (2016). Assessment of the personal losses suffered by correctional officers due to burnout syndrome. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 7(1), 33–41. https://doi.org/10.15171/ijoem.2016.680
20.
IsenhardtA.HostettlerU. (2020). Inmate violence and correctional staff burnout: The role of sense of security, gender, and job characteristics. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(1–2), 173–207. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260516681156
21.
JurikN. C. (1985). An officer and a lady: Organizational barriers to women working as correctional officers in men’s prisons. Social Problems, 32(4), 375–388.
22.
KeinanG.Malach-PinesA. (2007). Stress and burnout among prison personnel: Sources, outcomes, and intervention strategies. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 34(3), 380–398. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854806290007
23.
LambertE. G.HoganN. L.AltheimerI. (2010). An exploratory examination of the consequences of burnout in terms of life satisfaction, turnover intent, and absenteeism among private correctional staff. The Prison Journal, 90(1), 94–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885509357586
24.
LambertE. G.HoganN. L.Barton-BellessaS. M.JiangS. (2012a). Examining the relationship between supervisor and management trust and job burnout among correctional staff. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39(7), 938–957. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854812439192
25.
LambertE. G.HoganN. L.DialK. C.JiangS.KhondakerM. I. (2012b). Is the job burning me out? An exploratory test of the job characteristics model on the emotional burnout of prison staff. Prison Journal, 92(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885511428794
26.
MartinJ. L.LichtensteinB.JenkotR. B.FordeD. R. (2012). “They can take us over any time they want”: Correctional officers’ responses to prison crowding. Prison Journal, 92(1), 88–105. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032885511429256
27.
MaslachC.JacksonS. E. (1981). The measurement of experienced burnout. Journal of Occupational Behaviour, 2(2), 99–113. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030020205
MoonB.MaxwellS. R. (2004). The sources and consequences of corrections officers’ stress: A South Korean example. Journal of Criminal Justice, 32(4), 359–370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2004.04.006
PratiG.BoldrinS. (2011). Fattori di stress e benessere organizzativo negli operatori di polizia penitenziaria. Giornale Italiano Di Medicina Del Lavoro Ed Ergonomia, 33(3 Suppl. B), 33–39.
35.
SpinarisC. G.DenhofM. D.KellawayJ. A. (2012). Post traumatic stress disorder in United States corrections professionals: Prevalence and impact on health and functioning. Desert Water Correctional Outreach.
36.
SteinerB.WooldredgeJ. (2015). Individual and environmental sources of work stress among prison officers. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 42(8), 800–818. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854814564463
37.
TriplettR. (1996). Work-related stress and coping among correctional officers : Implications from organizational literature. Journal of Criminal Justice, 24(4), 291–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2352(96)00018-9
38.
TriplettR.MullingsJ. L.ScarboroughK. E. (1999). Examining the effect of work-home conflict on work-related stress among correctional officers. Journal of Criminal Justice, 27(4), 371–385. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0047-2352(98)00066-X
39.
ViottiS. (2016). Work-related stress among correctional officers: A qualitative study. Work, 53(4), 871–884. https://doi.org/10.3233/WOR-152238
40.
VuoloM.KruttschnittC. (2008). Prisoners’ adjustment, correctional officers, and context: The foreground and background of punishment in late modernity. Law and Society Review, 42(2), 307–336. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2008.00343.x
41.
ZupanL. (1992). The progress of women correctional officers in all-male prisons. In MoyerI. L. (Ed.), The changing roles of women in the criminal justice system: Offenders, victims, and professionals (pp. 230–249). Waveland.
