Dealing With Death in Custody: Psychosocial Consequences for Correctional Staff

Cassidy, Tony; Bruce, Stephanie

doi:10.1177/1078345819879752

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Studies which focus on the stresses intrinsic to the job consider the safety risks to which prison officers are exposed. These include the real or perceived risk of personal assault to self or colleagues, the stress inherent in balancing the need to keep order with the desire to fulfill the needs of the incarcerated, the stress of using discretion to manage imprisoned populations using interpersonal skills, and the stress of dealing with traumatic events such as deaths in custody (Cassidy & Bruce, 2019). In their study in Spain, Ghaddar et al (2008) found that occupational stress in the form of such psychological demands and a low level of perceived control, had negative effects on prison officers' mental health.…”

Section: Prison Officer Wellbeing and Sickness Absencementioning

confidence: 99%

Nature Contact in the Carceral Workplace: Greenspace and Staff Sickness Absence in Prisons in England and Wales

Moran

Jones

Jordaan

et al. 2021

Environment and Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper demonstrates for the first time that prisons with a higher proportion of natural vegetation within their perimeter have lower levels of staff sickness absence. It makes three significant contributions. First, it extends studies of workplace nature contact into the un-researched carceral context. Second, whereas previous workplace nature contact studies have largely utilized single-site surveys, it presents national-level, statistically robust analysis. Third, it brings a novel new perspective to studies of sickness absence within correctional workforces, by considering the effect of the physical environment. Econometric estimations presented in the paper confirm lower levels of staff sick-leave in prisons with more greenspace. This relationship persists when we control for prison size, security level, age, level of crowding, levels of self-harm and violence among prisoners, and assaults against staff. The findings are significant in demonstrating the benefits of nature contact in workplaces in general, and carceral environments in particular. Importantly, this has the potential to influence future prison design.

show abstract

Section: Prison Officer Wellbeing and Sickness Absencementioning

confidence: 99%

Nature Contact in the Carceral Workplace: Greenspace and Staff Sickness Absence in Prisons in England and Wales

Moran

Jones

Jordaan

et al. 2021

Environment and Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In two studies, 'prison staff' were referred to without specifying which group/s this included. 54,64 The total number of participants across all studies, accounting for duplicate samples, equalled 6389 prison staff, although one study did not report sample size. 39…”

Section: Studies Included In the Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This allowed them to draw on broad skills and knowledge, resolve prisoners' issues more quickly and achieve greater consistency of care. 39,41,42,54 However, staffing and communication difficulties sometimes prevented effective teamwork, in addition to conflicting team perspectives and complex team structures. 38,41,45,63 Subtheme 1.3: emotional effects of self-harm on prison staff Numerous reactions to self-harm were described by prison staff, varying from frustration and feeling attacked to feeling 'sad' and 'touched'.…”

Section: Qualitative Data Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ten studies used quantitative methods alone, 30,[53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61] and six mixed methods. [62][63][64][65][66][67] All 16 studies used surveys to obtain quantitative data relevant to this review.…”

Section: Quantitative Data Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two studies used the Trauma Symptom Inventory ,68 tool to examine self-reported post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among UK prison staff. 54,61 Cassidy and Bruce found that 31.8% of prison staff closely involved in prisoner suicide in the past year reported clinical-level symptoms of PTSD. 54 Furthermore, Wright et al discovered PTSD symptoms reported by 36.7% of prison officers, and that experience of prisoner suicide predicted such symptoms.…”

Section: Trauma Symptom Inventorymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

A systematic review and mixed-methods synthesis of the experiences, perceptions and attitudes of prison staff regarding adult prisoners who self-harm

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Self-harm, including suicide, is common among prisoners. Staff attitudes and perceptions regarding self-harm may affect quality of care and patient safety. Aims To systematically review the experiences, perceptions and attitudes of staff in adult prisons regarding self-harm. Method Systematic searches of EMBASE, Medline, PsycINFO and CINAHL databases were conducted, and supplemented by hand-searching and grey literature review, to identify relevant English-language articles published since the year 2000. Articles were screened by two authors and evaluated with standardised quality appraisal tools. Qualitative data were analysed thematically, whereas quantitative data were narratively synthesised because of high study heterogeneity. Results Two thousand articles were identified, of which 32 were included, involving 6389 participants from five countries. Most studies were moderate (n = 15) or poor (n = 10) quality, and seven were rated as good quality. Staff frequently witnessed self-harm and described multiple perceived risk factors and causes of this. Perceptions that self-harm is ‘manipulative’ or ‘attention-seeking’ were associated with hostility toward prisoners and lower quality of care. Perceived barriers to preventing and managing self-harm included low staffing levels, prison environments and culture, poor staff confidence and insufficient training. The importance of multidisciplinary teamwork and building staff–prisoner relationships were highlighted. Staff occasionally experienced intense psychological reactions to self-harm, which resulted in adaptive or maladaptive coping that influenced their capacity to care. Conclusions There are mixed attitudes and perceptions toward self-harm among prison staff. Further training, support and resources are required to protect staff's well-being and improve self-harm prevention and management in prisons.

show abstract

Incarcerated Young Men and Boys: Trauma, Masculinity and the Need for Trauma-Informed, Gender-Sensitive Correctional Care

Vaswani

Cesaroni

Maycock

2021

The Palgrave International Handbook of Youth Imprisonment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this chapter we bring together three previously unconnected areas of research relating to young men and boys: trauma and prison; trauma and masculinity; and prison masculinities. Within the existing literature there emerges a significant focus on incarcerated young women and trauma, while there is a relative dearth of literature focusing on young men and boys and their trauma experiences prior to, and as a consequence of, incarceration. Furthermore, we consider the ways in which masculinity and trauma interact to reduce the likelihood that young men and boys are able to seek help or benefit from treatment. Consequently, this chapter advocates that there is a pressing need to better understand how prison masculinities interface with trauma-informed care. It is evident that more research is needed with young men and boys about their trauma experiences; the manifestation of their trauma symptoms; and how to better support their recovery. Ultimately, through considering these areas and exploring areas of connection and disconnection, we argue for both trauma-informed and gender-sensitive correctional care for incarcerated young men and boys, whose vulnerabilities have tended to be overlooked.

show abstract

Dealing With Death in Custody: Psychosocial Consequences for Correctional Staff

Cited by 6 publications

References 26 publications

Nature Contact in the Carceral Workplace: Greenspace and Staff Sickness Absence in Prisons in England and Wales

Nature Contact in the Carceral Workplace: Greenspace and Staff Sickness Absence in Prisons in England and Wales

A systematic review and mixed-methods synthesis of the experiences, perceptions and attitudes of prison staff regarding adult prisoners who self-harm

Incarcerated Young Men and Boys: Trauma, Masculinity and the Need for Trauma-Informed, Gender-Sensitive Correctional Care

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About