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| Integrity and The Correctional Professional |
| By William Sturgeon |
| Published: 07/19/2010 |
The other day I had an opportunity to think about the topic of Integrity and the Correctional Professional. I guess I just assumed that the two areas went together like peanut butter and jelly. All correctional professionals, I am sure, believe they have Integrity and they probably do in the philosophical sense. Where I believe correctional professionals’ integrity is tested is in the ‘real world’ application of integrity. As I probed my logic, I started to question, what does integrity in a correctional setting mean – specifically!
I looked-up the definition of integrity:
My experience has demonstrated to me that your integrity “inside the walls” is as important to you as it is to offenders. Offenders will soon size you up and test the boundaries of your personal integrity. Correctional professionals who let their personal integrity slip will loathe themselves more than the offenders will. The offenders will just take great enjoyment in bringing them down. I have seen good correctional professionals lose their way (integrity) and end-up as offenders themselves, and who had be to housed in Protective Custody Units, their lives in complete ruin. Integrity for correctional professionals manifests itself via multiple dimensions. Each day the integrity of every correctional professional is measured by multiple groups of people:
Other Correctional Employees Other correctional employees may try to compromise the integrity of correctional professionals by approaching them to not follow policies and procedures, falsify reports, cover-up incidents, and/or lie! For correctional professionals, as for all of us, there are two ways for us to compromise our integrity:
OFFENDERS Offenders will use multiple methods and techniques to see if they can entrap correctional professionals. Offenders try to have correctional professionals compromise their integrity for a variety of reasons:
Regardless of what the reason, once a correctional professional compromises his/her integrity to offenders, that person is in serious trouble. If a correctional employee has compromised his/her integrity, the only thing left to do is report it to a supervisor or to the administration. Depending on how serious the issue, the correctional employee may be terminated, or worse, arrested. One thing is certain. The longer it takes a correctional employee to report his/her breakdown in his/her integrity, the more trouble he/she can get into. Families of Offenders Correctional professionals can compromise their integrity when dealing with offenders’ families when they fail to step up to the plate and tell it like it is. Correctional professionals on occasion have to interface with offenders’ families. When these occasions take place, the offenders’ families are totally dependent on the correctional professional. Therefore, the correctional professional should:
The Criminal Justice System Correctional professionals can compromise their integrity when dealing with others elements of the Criminal Justice System when they fail to follow the laws, policies and procedures for:
General Public Correctional professionals can compromise their professional integrity by not conducting themselves as professionals and performing their duties in a professional way. Additionally, correctional professionals should always adhere to the policies and procedures of their agencies. The general public expects correctional professionals to:
Integrity in the field of corrections is one of the characteristics that helps separate the correctional professionals from the offenders they are charged with incarcerating. Every time I hear of a professional in the criminal justice system compromising his/her integrity, it troubles me deeply. When this happens, the person who has compromised his/her integrity has let down the entire criminal justice system, all the men and women who daily place their lives on the line. Every time anyone in the criminal justice system compromises their integrity they betray the public’s trust and weaken the entire system. 1.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/integrity+ Visit the Bill Sturgeon page Other articles by Sturgeon: |
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NO COMPROMISE 08-11-2010 I have spent many years as a Feild Traing Officer in Corrections. Integrity seems to be the most ignored facet of many Correctional Professionals. It is preached but is quite often not practiced. New Officers are told that their integrity is vital to the success of a departments mission and responsibility to the publics trust. However it soon becomes quite evident, to new Officers, that integrity or lack of integrity serves other purposes. The realization that the word intergity has many uses. It is depended upon who uses it, when it is used, for what purpose, and to gain what. It is all too often used for personal gain. I agree with Turnkey. We the keepers are challenged daily to maintain our integrity. We are challenged both from within our institutions and from without. We must remember the oath we have taken and stand by that oath in the face of opposition no matter where it comes from. Never compromise. Stay strong and stead fast.
I admit your generalization of the meaning of what you say is very sound; however, you neglect to incorporate the lack of integrity of the justice system itself, whose ideas and morals we are bound to uphold. The "system" as we know it has become weak and flawed and that, unfortunately, translates into a changing of officers basic abilities and behaviors. Society’s moral groups now dictate how we are to behave within the very walls we must patrol. Our management teams, whom we need to support and protect us, are powerless to maintain institutional control and disciplinary procedure in the face of public ideology and backlash. Fear of retribution on all levels has led us to become a "tolerant" system. A system where "turning your back" to avoid involvement and possible prosecution, has become the norm. Our system, to placate the social masses, is just as quick to throw people "with integrity" to the wolves as they would one without integrity. Not a system needed in the bowels of criminal institutional life where threat of violence is a daily occurance. I for one DO believe in the integrity of the role I carry and IT IS NOT AN EASY ROLE THESE DAYS. I have been pounding the floors for 21 years and will, hopefully, be doing it for another 13. I don't mean to offend any of my hard working Correctional peers, this is just how I see it. I am hopeful that the integrity of the "system" gets fixed so I can carry out all facets of my duties as a just officer. I would like to go home after every shift and feel comforted in knowing I did my job to the fullest of my abilities and that the actions of those I affect will be as just.
A very, very good article. I like the explainations of how different persons can attempt to curb a corrections officer's integerty. Right on the money.