How Prison Changes the Human Psyche of the Employee

Yahoo — Every article you read is written about the change of mindset in prisoners who are incarcerated and placed inside these dark places called prisons. Not much is really talked about or even written about the "behavioral modification" of staff or correctional officer specifically and that is sad because there is so much to learn about the human mind when put into a place such as this.

Society has made it clear that through the numerous studies provided by state universities and private grants, that the environment that exists within these prisons influence or affects the human psyche more than it is led up to do as we all agree that the prison world is an isolated world. Isolated from the norms of society and where rules and cultures oversee the daily events dictated by power, greed and control.

Every day, the warden and those employees paid to work closely with these convicted felons are faced with challenges that include life and death situations as well as routines that are common inside a small town or city resembling some sort of social order but different none the less. The power is between three cultures that exist behind the walls.

The first culture belongs to the prisoners who fall into the category of predatory and manipulative. These groups consist of violent and non-violent offenders but share common ground on their culture and their "code" to survive inside a prison. It is true that many join gangs based on their ethnicity or race to receive personal protection from the masses and do so to reap the benefits of belonging to a gang. Whether violent or non-violent they find a position within the cultural phenomena that gangs are a reality for the administration to deal with daily. The second culture is the warden and executive staff that oversees the entire prison operation and has to impose those policies and procedures to maintain a firm control over behaviors, spending and threats. The last culture, no less the least, is the culture that exists within the correctional ranks that enforce those rules and policies to the point they have to put their lives on the line to gain compliance from those who have already demonstrated a will of anarchy and refusal to comply with societal rules and now prison rules. continue reading...