The Effects of Inmate Medical Issues on Correctional Staff Job Involvement and Organizational Commitment

Abstract

In the United States, institutional corrections is a major undertaking that requires substantial financial resources. Correctional staff are the essential element to ensuring the safety and security of these institutions, which house approximately 2.2 million adults. Thus, it is invaluable to explore work environment variables that contribute to their success. One area that has received scant attention is staff views of inmate medical care and their effect on job involvement and organizational commitment. This study focused on the effects of views concerning the proper handling of inmate infectious diseases, the quality of medical care provided to inmates, the timeliness of the responses to inmate medical needs, turnover of medical staff, and inmate medical privacy rights. Results indicate that proper handling of inmate infectious diseases and quality of medical care positively increase job involvement and organizational commitment.

Keywords

correctional staff perceptions of inmate medical issues job involvement organizational commitment correctional health care

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abbott

, Magin

, Hu

(2016). Healthcare delivery for women in prison: A medical record review. Australian Journal of Primary Health, 22, 523–529.

Allen

N. J.

, Meyer

J. P.

(1990). The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 1–18.

Armstrong

G. S.

, Griffin

M. L.

(2004). Does the job matter? Comparing correlates of stress among treatment and correctional staff in prisons. Journal of Criminal Justice, 32, 577–592.

Beck

A. J.

, Maruschak

L. M.

(2004). Hepatitis testing and treatment in state prisons (NCJ 199173C). Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Becker

H. S.

(1960). Notes on the concept of commitment. American Journal of Sociology, 66, 32–40.

Berry

W. D.

(1993). Understanding regression assumptions. Sage.

Bick

J. A

. (2007). Infection control in jails and prisons. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 45, 1047–1055.

Bronson

, Carson

E. A.

(2019). Prisoners in 2017 (NCJ 252156). Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Brown

G. R.

(2014). Qualitative analysis of transgender inmates’ correspondence: Implications for departments of correction. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 20, 334–342.

10.

Brown

S. P.

(1996). A meta-analysis and review of organizational research on job involvement. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 235–255.

11.

Brown

S. P.

, Leigh

T. W.

(1996). A new look at psychological climate and its relationship to job involvement, effort, and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 358–368.

12.

Camp

S. D.

(1994). Assessing the effects of organizational commitment and job satisfaction on turnover: An event history approach. The Prison Journal, 74, 279–305.

13.

Camp

S. D.

, Gaes

G. G.

(2002). Growth and quality of U.S. private prisons: Evidence from a national survey. Criminology and Public Policy, 1, 427–450.

14.

Chen

C.-C.

, Chiu

S.-F.

(2009). The mediating role of job involvement in the relationship between job characteristics and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Social Psychology, 149, 474–494.

15.

Culliver

, Sigler

, McNeely

(1991). Examining prosocial organizational behavior among correctional officers. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 15, 277–284.

16.

Dabney

D. A.

, Vaughn

M. S.

(2000). Incompetent jail and prison doctors. The Prison Journal, 80, 151–183.

17.

DeCarufel

, Schaan

J.-L.

(1990). The impact of compressed work weeks on police job involvement. Canadian Police College Journal, 14, 81–97.

18.

DeGroot

A. S.

(2000). HIV infection among incarcerated women: Epidemic behind bars. AIDS Reader, 10, 287–295.

19.

Dillon

, Allwright

(2005). Prison officers’ concerns about blood borne viral infections. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 44, 29–40.

20.

Elloy

D. F.

, Everett

J. E.

, Flynn

W. R.

(1991). An examination of the correlates of job involvement. Group and Organizational Studies, 16, 160–177.

21.

Fiscella

, Beletsky

, Wakeman

S. E.

(2017). The inmate exception and reform of correctional health care. American Journal of Public Health, 107, 384–385.

22.

Fiscella

, Sanders

M. R.

(2016). Racial and ethnic disparities in the quality of health care. Annual Review of Public Health, 37, 375–394.

23.

Fox

J. G.

(1982). Organizational and racial conflict in maximum-security prisons. Lexington Books.

24.

Gorsuch

R. L.

(1983). Factor analysis (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum.

25.

Griffin

M. L.

, Hepburn

J. R.

(2005). Side-bets and reciprocity as determinants of organizational commitment among correctional officers. Journal of Criminal Justice, 33, 611–625.

26.

Gronlund

N. E.

(1981). Measurement and evaluation in teaching (4th ed.). Macmillan.

27.

Hackman

J. R.

, Lawler

E. E.

(1971). Employee reactions to job characteristics. Journal of Applied Psychology, 55, 259–286.

28.

Hammett

T. M.

, Roberts

, Kennedy

(2001). Health-related issues in prisoner reentry. Crime & Delinquency, 47, 390–409.

29.

Hartley

D. J.

, Davila

M. A.

, Marquart

J. W.

, Mullings

J. L.

(2013). Fear is a disease: The impact of fear and exposure to infectious disease on correctional officer job stress and satisfaction. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 323–340.

30.

Hogan

N. L.

(1997). The social construction of target populations and the transformation of prison-based AIDS policy: A descriptive case study. In Hallett

M. A.

(Ed.), Activism and marginalization in the AIDS crisis (pp. 77–115). Haworth Press.

31.

Horn

, Parra

(2018, May 16). Report: Health care delays for prisoners at Vaughn partly due to staff shortage. The News Journal. https://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/crime/2018/05/16/report-staff-shortage-vaughn-prison-contributes-health-care-delays/614636002/

32.

Johnson

(2016, March 28). Feds struggle to provide prison medical care. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/28/bureau-of-prisons-justice-department-review/82337734/

33.

Kamerman

(1991). Corrections officers and acquired immune deficiency syndrome: Balancing professional distance and personal involvement. Death Studies, 15, 375–384.

34.

Kanungo

R. N.

(1982a). Measurement of job and work involvement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67, 341–349.

35.

Kanungo

R. N.

(1982b). Work alienation: An integrative approach. Praeger.

36.

Keeton

K. B.

(2004). AIDS education needs assessment: A comparative study of jail and prison correctional officers. Criminal Justice Review, 29, 341–357.

37.

Kincade

(2018, May 21). The economics of the American prison system. https://smartasset.com/mortgage/the-economics-of-the-american-prison-system

38.

Laffan

(2001). Nationwide nursing shortage: Is it causing stress within correctional facilities?. Corrections Today, 63, 26.

39.

Lambert

E. G.

(2004). The impact of job characteristics on correctional staff members. The Prison Journal, 84, 208–227.

40.

Lambert

E. G.

, Barton

S. M.

, Hogan

N. L.

(1999). The missing link between job satisfaction and correctional staff behavior: The issue of organizational commitment. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 24, 95–116.

41.

Lambert

E. G.

, Edwards

, Camp

S. D.

, Saylor

W. G.

(2005). Here today, gone tomorrow, back again the next day: Antecedents of correctional absenteeism. Journal of Criminal Justice, 33, 165–175.

42.

Lambert

E. G.

, Gordon

, Paoline

E. A.

III , Hogan

N. L

. (2018). Workplace demands and resources as antecedents of jail officer perceived danger at work. Journal of Crime and Justice, 41, 98–118.

43.

Lambert

E. G.

, Griffin

M. L.

, Hogan

N. L.

, Kelley

(2015). The ties that bind: Organizational commitment and its effect on correctional orientation, absenteeism, and turnover intent. The Prison Journal, 95, 135–156.

44.

Lambert

E. G.

, Hogan

N. L.

(2010). Wanting change: The relationship of perceptions of organizational innovation with correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 21, 160–184.

45.

Lambert

E. G.

, Hogan

N. L.

, Barton

S. M.

(2002). The impact of work-family conflict on correctional staff job satisfaction: An exploratory study. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 27, 35–52.

46.

Lambert

E. G.

, Hogan

N. L.

, Barton

S. M.

, Elechi

O. O.

(2009). The impact of job stress, job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment on correctional staff support for rehabilitation and punishment. Criminal Justice Studies, 22, 109–122.

47.

Lambert

E. G.

, Hogan

N. L.

, Cheeseman Dial

(2011). The effects of job involvement on private correctional staff: A preliminary study. Journal of Applied Security Research, 6, 158–183.

48.

Lambert

E. G.

, Hogan

N. L.

, Cheeseman Dial

, Barton-Bellesa

S. M.

(2013). The relationship between job stressors and job involvement among correctional staff: A test of the job strain model. The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 52, 19–38.

49.

Lambert

E. G.

, Hogan

N. L.

, Griffin

M. L.

(2008). Being the good soldier: Organizational citizenship behavior and commitment among correctional staff. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 35, 56–68.

50.

Lambert

E. G.

, Hogan

N. L.

, Jiang

(2008). Exploring antecedents of five types of organizational commitment among correctional staff: It matters what you measure. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 19, 466–490.

51.

Lambert

E. G.

, Hogan

N. L.

, Keena

L. D.

(2015). The impact of job attitudes on private correctional staff’s continuance and affective organizational commitment. Journal of Applied Security Research, 10, 1–22.

52.

Lambert

E. G.

, Keena

L. D.

, May

, Haynes

S. H.

, Buckner

(2017). To be committed or not: Examining effects of personal and workplace variables on the organizational commitment of Southern prison staff. Criminal Justice Studies, 30, 223–239.

53.

Lambert

E. G.

, Kelley

, Hogan

N. L.

(2013). The association of occupational stressors with different forms of organizational commitment among correctional staff. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 480–501.

54.

Lambert

E. G.

, Kim

, Kelley

, Hogan

N. L.

(2013). The association of affective and continuance commitment with correctional staff life satisfaction. Social Science Journal, 50, 195–203.

55.

Lambert

E. G.

, Paoline

E. A.

III . (2005). The impact of medical issues on the job stress and job satisfaction of jail staff. Punishment and Society, 7, 259–275.

56.

Lambert

E. G.

, Paoline

E. A., III

. (2008). The influence of individual, job, and organizational characteristics on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Criminal Justice Review, 33, 541–564.

57.

Lambert

E. G.

, Paoline

E. A.

III . (2010). Take this job and shove it: An exploratory study of turnover intent among jail staff. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38, 139–148.

58.

Lambert

E. G.

, Paoline

E. A., III

. (2012). Exploring potential antecedents of job involvement: An exploratory study among jail staff. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39, 264–286.

59.

Lanier

M. M.

, Zaitzow

B. H.

, Farrell

C. T.

(2015). Epidemiological criminology: Contextualization of HIV/AIDS health care for female inmates. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 21, 152–163.

60.

Lawler

E. E.

, Hall

D. T.

(1970). Relationship of job characteristics to job involvement, satisfaction, and intrinsic motivation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 54, 305–312.

61.

Lincoln

J. R.

, Kalleberg

A. L.

(1990). Culture, control and commitment: A study of work organization and work attitudes in the United States and Japan. Cambridge University Press.

62.

Lindquist

C. H.

, Lindquist

C. A.

(1999). Health behind bars: Utilization and evaluation of medical care among jail inmates. Journal of Community Health, 24, 285–303.

63.

Lodahl

T. M.

, Kejnar

(1965). The definition and measurement of job involvement. Journal of Applied Psychology, 49, 24–33.

64.

Mahaffey

K. J.

, Marcus

D. K.

(1995). Correctional officers’ attitudes toward AIDS. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 22, 91–105.

65.

Maruschak

L. M.

, Berzofsky

, Unangst

(2015). Medical problems of state and federal prisoners and jail inmates, 2011-12 (NCJ 248491). Bureau of Justice Statistics.

66.

McIntyre

, Marquart

J. W.

, Brewer

(1999). Toward an understanding of the perception of HIV/AIDS-related risk among prison officers. Journal of Criminal Justice, 27, 525–538.

67.

McKee

K. J.

, Markova

, Power

K. G.

(1995). Concern, perceived risk and attitudes toward HIV/AIDS in Scottish prisons. AIDS Care, 7, 159–170.

68.

Mercurio

Z. A.

(2015). Affective commitment as a core essence of organizational commitment: An integrative literature review. Human Resource Development Review, 14, 389–414.

69.

Meyer

J. P.

, Allen

N. J.

(1984). Testing the “side-bet theory” of organizational commitment: Some methodological considerations. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 372–378.

70.

Meyer

J. P.

, Allen

N. J.

(1997). Commitment in the workplace: Theory, research, and application (1st ed.). Sage.

71.

Mowday

R. T.

, Porter

L. W.

, Steers

R. M.

(1982). Employee-organization linkages: The psychology of commitment, absenteeism, and turnover. Academic Press.

72.

Mudrack

P. E.

(2004). Job involvement, obsessive-compulsive personality traits, and workaholic behavioral tendencies. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 17, 490–508.

73.

Neeley

, Addison

, Craig-Moreland

(1997). Addressing the needs of elderly offenders. Corrections Today, 59, 120–123.

74.

Pew Charitable Trusts. (2017). Prison health care: Costs and quality. http://www.pewtrusts.org/∼/media/assets/2017/10/sfh_prison_health_care_costs_and_quality_final.pdf

75.

Pfeffer

(1994). Competitive advantage through people: Unleashing the power of the work force. Harvard Business School Press.

76.

Simon

(2016). California’s new carceral logic: Health care, confinement, and the future of imprisonment. Boom: A Journal of California, 6, 22–31.

77.

Slate

R. N.

, Vogel

R. E.

(1997). Participative management and correctional personnel: A study of perceived atmosphere for participation in correctional decision making and its impact on employee stress and thoughts about quitting. Journal of Criminal Justice, 25, 397–408.

78.

Stohr

M. K.

, Self

R. L.

, Lovrich

N. P.

(1992). Staff turnover in new generation jails: An investigation of its causes and prevention. Journal of Criminal Justice, 20, 455–478.

79.

Tabachnick

B. G.

, Fidell

L. S.

(1996). Using multivariate statistics (3rd ed.). Harper Collins.

80.

Taştan

S. B.

(2013). The influences of participative organizational climate and self-leadership on innovative behavior and the roles of job involvement and proactive personality: A survey in the context of SMEs in Izmir. Procedia—Social and Behavioral Sciences, 75, 407–419.

81.

Tewksbury

, Higgins

G. E.

(2006). Prison staff and work stress: The role of organizational and emotional influences. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 30, 247–266.

82.

Tewksbury

, Mustaine

E. E.

(2005). Insiders’ views of prison amenities: Beliefs and perceptions of correctional staff members. Criminal Justice Review, 30, 174–188.

83.

Wagner

, Sawyer

. (2018). Mass incarceration: The whole pie 2018 (Report). Prison Policy Initiative. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018.html

84.

Wallace

J. E.

(1997). Becker’s side-bet theory of commitment revisited: Is it time for a moratorium or a resurrection?. Human Relations, 50, 727–749.

85.

Whiteoak

J. W.

(2015). The utility of job involvement over job satisfaction in contributing to an individual’s effectiveness in flourishing at work. International Journal of Recent Advances in Organizational Behaviour in Decision Science, 1, 239–251.

86.

Zacharová

(2015). The quality of healthcare from the perspective of the client in prison. Clinical Social Work, 5, 70–75. https://doi.org/10.5604/2222386X.1161982

87.

Zeng

. (2019). Jail Inmates in 2017 (NCJ 251774). Bureau of Justice Statistics.

88.

Zhang

(2014). Impact of job involvement on organizational citizenship behaviors in China. Journal of Business Ethics, 120, 165–174.