The Psychological and Emotional Effects of Prison on Prison Staff

This chapter focuses exclusively on the uniformed sector of prison staff – prison officers – drawing upon their testimonies from research carried out in a high security and a local prison, as well as existing theoretical literature and previous empirical findings. It outlines the various effects that have been identified of working in prison on prison officers. Prisons are not only interesting sites of sociological study but of psychological and emotional inquiry too. The chapter then considers the extent to which an officer's job may be described as stressful and summarises the possible causes of this occupational stress, discussing the pressures and tensions encountered by staff. Finally, the chapter examines the coping strategies officers employ in order to deal with the demands of the job and addresses the question of whether relationships between staff and prisoners might be affected by the personal experiences of prison officers.