Beyond Correctional Officers and Prison Guards: Understanding Inmates’ Perceptions, Experiences, and Interactions with Correctional Counselors

ABSTRACT Inmates often accuse correctional officers and prison guards of mistreatment and abusing their power; however, much less is known about how inmates react to correctional counselors. In this study responses to Likert scale items revealed inmates largely perceived counselors as fair and respectable. However, the focus of this exploratory analysis was to review inmates’ written responses about their perceptions, experiences, and interactions with correctional counselors. A content analysis revealed themes including “not helpful”; “respectful”; “no contact”; and “caseload concerns” emerged. Written comments were analyzed separately for male and female inmates. A narrative compiled the most comprehensive comments and provided an overall picture about inmates’ perceptions of correctional counselors. Findings revealed female inmates more often described correctional counselors as rude and disrespectful than male inmates; however, male inmates more often expressed concern that counselors were not adhering to prison policies. Female and male inmates alike criticized correctional counselors for having a general lack of knowledge or were incompetent in their job and they believed counselors were not motivated or lacked responsiveness to inmate requests.