Concerns for Corrections Staff and Inmates

Part 1: Correctional Staff 

Administrative Staff 

The administrative staff operates as correctional facilities personnel responsible for overseeing the daily activities of state prisons as well as country jails. They play the role of managing the personnel and budget of the facility while at the same time managing procedures aimed at ensuring the facilities security. They also lay emphasis in ensuring the security of the inmates as well as the prison personnel security together with the surrounding community. The importance associated with administrative staff revolves around efforts they employ in terms of managing vital incidents in the dangerous environments, which are characterized by inmate assaults, as well as risky incidents, including riots. In this sense, they facilitate in drafting as well as reviewing emergency plans that ensure that response reams are ready in dealing with incidents once they emerge (Bosworth, 2011) .

Program staff 

The program staff undertakes initiatives aimed at recordkeeping, coordinating, and performing clerical duties affiliated with the operations of the prisoners. They also play the role of supervising inmate housing, disciplinary actions, programs, work release, as well as disciplinary actions. Furthermore, they perform tasks, including supplying correctional reports, records, and testimony while also maintaining as well as verifying processes and participation paperwork. The importance of the program staff at correctional facilities revolves around ensuring that they established procedures and policies are followed in relation to the services and programs for inmates at correctional facilities. They also assist in receiving the complaints and grievances that the prisoners raise while maintaining and securing various facility records, such as fiscal records of inmates, disciplinary records, work release records, and other vital information related to prisoners (McElreath, Keena, Etter, & Stuart, 2011) .

Custodial Staff 

The custodian staff plays the role of ensuring that correctional facilities sustain clean and sanitary environments such as through mopping, sweeping, scrubbing, bonnet cleaning, vacuuming, disinfecting surfaces, refinishing surface floors, removing trash, and cleaning widows. They also regulate and maintain jail inmate via performance of scarce duties. Furthermore, they undertake various custodial duties in housing units and common areas. The importance associated with the custodial staff entails fostering the overall cleanliness of the correctional facilities while also training inmates on the ideal utilization of cleaning products and products to make sure that cleaning operations are carried out efficiently. Cleanliness is a major requirement in the correctional facilities, hence cleaning the establishments is vital, especially when it comes to preventing the spread of various outbreaks (Bosworth, 2011) .

Part 2: Powers of Correctional Staff 

Enforcing rules for sustaining order ranks as the first power of correctional staff. Without rules, prison environments would be disorderly, which would contribute to cases of violence that would put everyone at risk even the personnel. Therefore, correctional personnel should ensure they enforce rules and regulations by addressing any disputes that prevail among inmates, hinder escapes, assaults, and disturbances. They can ensure these via enhancing effective communication and utilizing unending sanctions that revolve around punishments (McElreath, Keena, Etter, & Stuart, 2011) .

Supervising the different activities that the inmates undertake ranks second among the roles that the connectional staff undertakes. They need to do this via making sure that the inmates obey the prevailing rules while at the same time making sure that all the whereabouts of the inmates are accounted for, such as making sure the officers escort prisoners to different areas, including medical facilities and courtrooms as well as other institutions (Bosworth, 2011) .

The third power by the correctional staff entails searching for contraband items. They should make sure the search inmates as well as the areas they reside for contraband, including drugs and weapons to ensure the safety of the staff and other inmates. They should also ensure the officers screen visitors as well as incoming males to make sure that no contraband reaches jails or prisons (McElreath, Keena, Etter, & Stuart, 2011) .

The fourth power by the correctional staff revolves around inspecting facilities periodically to make sure they meet the required standards. They are required to make sure they search all the cells as well as other areas associated with unsanitary situations, contraband and security breach to make sure the environment is clear and safe for the inmates and the personnel as well (McElreath, Keena, Etter, & Stuart, 2011) .

Part 3: Compassion Fatigue 

It is broadly acknowledged that corrections personnel often encounter “compassion fatigue,” which refers to the reduced capability of being empathetic to the circumstances of an offender. In the event of such behavior, various reasons are attributed to such kind of indifferences while it can have long-term influence on the personnel. In this case, the personnel might lack sufficient interest in expressing concerns about the conditions that the inmates experience irrespective of the challenges they go through. In this case, it is crucial to note that the corrections staff encounters hardened criminals on a daily basis on shifts, which might extent from eight to around sixteen hours. In these house the officers, the personnel usually go head on with prisoners while they experience their stresses while the staff also embarks on controlling their own in their entire shifts. For the inmates that the staff encounters, they usually add to the stressors that the staff encounter from their homes, administration, as well as coworkers. In this sense, it is crucial to note that the officers end up being pushed to points past their capabilities. In such cases, the staff finds it appropriate to dissociate themselves from the people surrounding them during the long run in such a manner that they can arrive at work in body but not their minds (Nolen, 2011) .

References

Bosworth, M. (2011). Encyclopedia of prisons and correctional facilities. London: SAGE.

McElreath, D. H., Keena, L., Etter, G., & Stuart, E. (2011). Introduction to corrections. Lanham: CRC Press.

Nolen, A. (2011). Compassion fatigue and corrections officers. Retrieved from http://www.corrections.com/news/article/27036-compassion-fatigue-and-corrections-officers