Memoirs of a Guard-Researcher: Deconstructing the Games Inmates Play Behind the Prison Walls

Recent media reports have attempted to shed light on correctional officers who end their careers in disgrace for either having sexual relationships with prisoners or for smuggling contraband into correctional facilities. In this article, I take an autoethnographic approach, reflecting on my seven years as a “guard-researcher” and demonstrate through real-life examples how inmates identify the weak links among prison employees, subtly feel them out, and then untiringly persist in establishing these inappropriate relationships. This article shows how seemingly benign gestures of inmates are actually calculated moves taken to gain leverage and exploit their marks, the weak correctional staff members, who fall for these tricks.     

The belief in a just world: an examination of reliability estimates across three measures

In this study, we utilized reliability generalization procedures to examine internal consistency estimates across 3 scales measuring the belief in a just world. The distribution of reliability estimates for the measures suggest low to moderate ranges of internal consistency reliability coefficients. The Global Belief in a Just World Scale (Lipkus, 1991) produced the highest average reliability score (alpha = .81) compared to the Just World Scale (Rubin & Peplau, 1973; alpha = .64) and the Just World Scale Revised (Rubin & Peplau, 1975; alpha = .68).     

Initial goals,goal trajectories,and serial argument resolvability: A growth curve analysis

This study examines dyadic patterns of goal pursuit during a serial argument interaction and their associations with perceived argument resolvability. The authors utilize a growth curve framework to highlight how both initial importance and trajectories (i.e., over‐time increases/decreases) of goal importance predicted perceived resolvability. Seventy‐six heterosexual couples discussed a current serial argument and reported their goals at 1‐min increments, using a video‐assisted recall method. Both initial importance and increases in actors' partner‐focused goals were positively associated with perceived resolvability, and increases in a partners' self‐focused goal importance across the course of the interaction were negatively associated with actors' postinteraction resolvability perceptions. Results suggest that partners should attend to both initial goals and trajectories of goal pursuit during argumentative interactions.     

Guards Gone Wild: A Self-Report Study of Correctional Officer Misconduct and the Effect of Institutional Deviance on “care” within the Texas Prison System

This is a study of the treatment of patients who are in severe medical distress. A code refers to the designation that stands for the range of treatments that the patient will be given. Code blue involves the full range of medical treatment to prevent death. No code involves denial of life‐extending treatments. Previous research has documented that social factors are related to the treatment of terminally ill patients. This study uses interviews with registered nurses and secondary sources to address the nature of patient codes (their location in the hospital, the perceptions of nurses relative to these codes, the interaction among health care professions relative to codes, etc.). It is suggested that there are normative (code blue) and nonnormative (slow code) codes given to these patients. The normative practices are outlined. Then some social, psychological, and medical factors that conflict with these normative codes are addressed (e.g., the physician's view of death as a failure). Finally, the non‐normative practice of slow code is analyzed. In the slow code, the medical staff goes through the rituals of a code blue, but in a deliberate manner. Nurses’ perceptions of nonnormative codes are explored. Some alternatives to the use of slow codes are discussed.     

prison guard predators: an analysis of inmates who established inappropriate relationships with prison staff, 1995-1998

Recently, media accounts have shed light on a number of correctional employees who were terminated for engaging in "inappropriate relationships" with prisoners. This study employed face-to-face interviews of 32 inmate "turners" who were investigated for engaging in inappropriate relationships with security officers. We found that many inmate manipulators share similar attitudes and beliefs regarding inappropriate relationships. Our findings indicate that there are three distinct types of inmate "turners," each exhibiting an entirely different set of motivations and behavior from one another. We conclude that inmates are very persistent in attempting to initiate an inappropriate relationship with prison employees.