Blog #18: Working With Inmates

When Britton argues that the norm becomes masculine when they attempt to establish gender-neutral policies, because in this field, the majority gender is male. They often times do not recognize the differences both emotionally and physically between men and women. There are more men in prisons today than women, therefore their training is geared towards dealing with both non-violent and violent males. This same training is applied to those who work in a women's facility, although this is not the appropriate way to handle women. Most correctional officers actually prefer working with the men because they feel much more capable to deal with a problem if it were to arise. The added emotional stress of the job is not something that can be taught in the training. Officers have felt unprepared to deal with the "petty and dramatic" women, and would much rather work with the violent males.

Most hands on training is done in male facilities focusing on very violent and resisting inmates, where most of the women in prison are not resisting or violent. Also, a huge population of correctional officers are male, and many believe that it should stay that way because women are not capable of dealing with violent criminals. It's important to train based on all situations that could happen because currently the correctional officers are explaining that their job is just as emotional as it is physical. The prisoners know what to say to an officer to put them in a more vulnerable state. If you are not trained for this happening, you can put yourself and other inmates in danger by not being prepared to assist in a situation. However, this will continue to be a masculine job if they do not change the way they are training their officers. More and more women are entering the prisons and correctional officers need to be fully prepared, to ensure the safety of everyone around them.