Female Corrections OfficersWorking in Male Prisons
...en correctional officers attempting to get into management had all eyes on them as they worked in the correctional facilities. They were sent to difficult assignments in various prison settings in order to polish their skills, but they were watched endlessly along the way (Johnson, 1997). Critics attempted to trip those pioneers of corrections on every turn and they faced resistance from supervisors and their male counterparts. According to Dale Galley, who worked in corrections in the late 1970’s, “Female officers were never called by the male officers to break up fights or to roll-in on unruly inmates. Women were viewed as being incapable of handling violent situations and of being too emotional or sensitive” (Galley, 2004). In fact, the male inmates were less of a problem to the women than the male staff members were. The male members of the correctional facility tried to isolate the women socially. Not only their fellow officers, but also those in supervisory positions, placed the females outside of the network of communications. Surprisingly, the male inmates were the ones that came to the assistance of the female officers. Some of those male inmates were able to coach the female officers (Johnson, 1997). One issue that has been re-examined lately is the concept of women not only working in the correctional environment, but also working in facilities where males are imprisoned. When females were first brought into careers in corrections, they worked in facilities that housed only female inmates (Booker, 1999). This changed in the 1970s and by 1993 female corrections officers were allowed to work in federal high-security prisons, which mainly contain male inmates (Booker, 1999). Staff equality has occurred as the result of proper training. According to Booker, "The Federal Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) training program, in which all staff are initially trained in the same manner and taught to perform any task in an emergency situation, illustrates this. Regardless of position, all personnel are trained to be correctional officers first and to understand that the security of the institution is their foremost responsibility" (Booker, 1999, p. 94). Booker argued that, "generally, male and female staff develop different methods of communicating and problem-solving with inmates. Female staff members have introduced more verbal and less threatening methods of inmate management, which provide both employees and inmates different avenues for resolving or preventing conflicts. The increased interaction between male and female staff can result in improved interpersonal communication skills for the men" (Booker, 1999, p. 95). Rowan voiced an interesting concept when suggesting that females are safer in male maximum-security prisons than males are. In fact, in maximum-security prisons, male officers are more likely to be attacked than are female officers. The violent assaults on male officers occurred more than three times as often as did those on female officers in male institutions (Booker, 1999). Booker theorized that female officers were less prone to violent attacks by male inmates because of their non-violent means of implementing policies (Booker, 1997). According to Rowan, "Their presence also tends to calm inmates and they do not have the domineering masculine image which male officers tend to project" (Rowan, 1999, p. 187). Male inmates are more prone to escape and are historically more violent. In response to this, female corrections officers are not as confrontational as male officers are. In fact, they have what is considered a "calming effect" on the male i...