ISSUES AND PRACTICES.pdf - The Counseling Team International

Excessive stress can result in at least four serious problems for officers:Stress may result in physical illnesses, ranging from heart disease to eating disorders. Itmay also precipitate substance abuse among susceptible individuals.[18]Stress can lead to burnout among officers.[19]Stress has been implicated in excessive disability retirements.[20] Even when physicalailments are the reason for the disability, the illnesses may have been brought on bystress.Correctional officers experiencing excessive stress may damage their family relationshipsby displacing their frustration onto spouses and children, ordering family membersaround just as they issue commands to inmates (one officer locked his son out of theboy's room and searched it), and becoming distant by withholding information about theirwork that they feel family members will not understand. Shift work and overtime cancreate stress by preventing officers from attending important family functions.As discussed above, the effects of stress on correctional officers can degrade their ability toperform their responsibilities in the prison or jail in ways that compromise institutional safety,cost money, and create stress for other staff. The remainder of this report addresses theapproaches seven stress programs have implemented to prevent and treat officer stress with thegoals of enhancing the officers' lives and improving the operations of the correctional facilities inwhich they work.Notes1. Huckabee, R.G., "Stress in Corrections: An Overview of the Issues," Journal of CriminalJustice 20 (5) (1992): 479-486.2. Stephan, J.J., Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 1995, Washington, D.C.:U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997, NCJ 166582.3. Ibid.4. Data provided by the American Correctional Association, June 29, 1999.5. Camp, C.G., and G.M. Camp, The Corrections Yearbook, 1997, South Salem, New York:Criminal Justice Institute, 1997.