"Everything has changed": detention officer roles and recreation time changes due to COVID-19 policies at a Southwest County Jail.

COVID-19 Correctional officer Detention officer Job duties Recreation time

Journal

Health & justice
ISSN: 2194-7899
Titre abrégé: Health Justice
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101626355

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
04 Jun 2022
Historique:
received: 28 04 2021
accepted: 08 05 2022
entrez: 6 6 2022
pubmed: 7 6 2022
medline: 7 6 2022
Statut: epublish

Résumé

The COVID-19 pandemic responses in jails have forced detention officers to adjust how they approach the confinement and care of individuals while they are incarcerated. One aspect of incarceration affected was detention officers' roles. The aims of this research project were to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the general duties of detention officers at a Southwest County Jail. Detention officers were recruited via email to participate in an online questionnaire from October to December 2020. Participants answered Likert scale and open-ended questions regarding how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their job duties. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to identify themes and patterns in the responses. Among 24 detention officers, 87% indicated agreement that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the duties of detention officers at CCDF. The most discussed change was the introduction of a 14-day quarantine process for newly incarcerated individuals. The 14-day quarantine increased the workload of detention officers. The COVID-19 pandemic responses in jail may have unintended negative consequences for the job duties of detention officers. Current and future pandemic response strategies in jails would benefit from taking staff perspectives into consideration as they are directly impacted by the COVID-19 response strategies put into place. Policy implications are discussed.

Sections du résumé

BACKGROUND BACKGROUND
The COVID-19 pandemic responses in jails have forced detention officers to adjust how they approach the confinement and care of individuals while they are incarcerated. One aspect of incarceration affected was detention officers' roles. The aims of this research project were to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the general duties of detention officers at a Southwest County Jail. Detention officers were recruited via email to participate in an online questionnaire from October to December 2020. Participants answered Likert scale and open-ended questions regarding how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their job duties. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to identify themes and patterns in the responses.
RESULTS RESULTS
Among 24 detention officers, 87% indicated agreement that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the duties of detention officers at CCDF. The most discussed change was the introduction of a 14-day quarantine process for newly incarcerated individuals. The 14-day quarantine increased the workload of detention officers.
CONCLUSION CONCLUSIONS
The COVID-19 pandemic responses in jail may have unintended negative consequences for the job duties of detention officers. Current and future pandemic response strategies in jails would benefit from taking staff perspectives into consideration as they are directly impacted by the COVID-19 response strategies put into place. Policy implications are discussed.

Identifiants

DOI: 10.1186/s40352-022-00181-x PMID: 35661271 PMC: PMC9166172
pubmed: 35661271
doi: 10.1186/s40352-022-00181-x
pii: 10.1186/s40352-022-00181-x
pmc: PMC9166172
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Pagination

18

Subventions

Organisme : NIMHD NIH HHS
ID : K01 MD015749
Pays : United States
Organisme : NIMHD NIH HHS
ID : U54 MD012388
Pays : United States
Organisme : National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities
ID : U54MD012388

Informations de copyright

© 2022. The Author(s).

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Auteurs

Travis Pinn (T)

Center for Health Equity Research, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA. tap227@nau.edu.
Department of Health Sciences, Northern Arizona University, 1395 S. Knoles Drive, ARD Building, Suite 140, PO Box 4065, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011-4065, USA. tap227@nau.edu.
ORCID: 0000-0003-0471-6869

Heather Williamson (H)

Center for Health Equity Research, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
Department of Occupational Therapy, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.

Bethany Robinson (B)

Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.

Sara Shuman (S)

Department of Health Sciences, Northern Arizona University, 1395 S. Knoles Drive, ARD Building, Suite 140, PO Box 4065, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011-4065, USA.

Maria Evans (M)

Department of Psychological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.

George Pro (G)

Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA.

Ricky Camplain (R)

Center for Health Equity Research, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
Department of Health Sciences, Northern Arizona University, 1395 S. Knoles Drive, ARD Building, Suite 140, PO Box 4065, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011-4065, USA.

Classifications MeSH