A Typology of Correctional Officers

Abstract

This descriptive study examined types of correctional officers in a systematic fashion across four dimensions: orientation toward rule enforcement, orientation toward negotiation or exchange with inmates, extent of norms of mutual obligation toward coworkers, and interest in human service delivery. In-depth interviews were conducted with officers to characterize their approaches to the job and what they perceived as officer styles. A typology was constructed from interviews with 79 officers at two medium-security state correctional institutions. The data indicated that there were distinct and varied types. Rule enforcers, hard liners, and loners reproduced official goals, values, and modes of conduct of the organization. Other types, people workers and synthetic officers, modified formal definitions and imperatives and developed their own norms, values, and ways of doing the job. Still other types identified by respondents rejected or ignored the official organizational goals.