I think Ethics is very important not only in corrections but police work. I wrote a special article on that and it should be posted this coming week.

This is directed to Mae….I was wondering if you would be willing to share your lesson plans/guidelines for the class that you taught to supervisors.

I work for the Oklahoma DOC and we require Ethics both for new staff members and at annual in-service training. I do believe many may “sleep” through this training, but at the same time think maybe someone who needs to may be paying attention – especially when we have to listen to it annually.
Sometimes you’ll get a class provider who makes it a little more interesting and brings everyone into the discussion, so maybe…hopefully…some will get it who need it. We also have a “Code of Silence” class in our online training annually – so this touches on some of the same issues.

training program focused just on ethics? kool just keep it a way from bleeding die hard liberals

CorrectionsOne.com isn’t bad either. No spam there.

I’ve thought the same thought as the thought that you thought, Shakey. This site must be on automatic pilot. I can ignore spam, but when there are a dozen new posts and they’re all spam, it’s a pain that we have to look at each new post to clear it. (PS – PrisonOfficer.org is pretty good. Is it unethical to mention a different site on this one?)

I e-mailed this site about the spammers and have yet to recieve a reply, If this keeps up, I might have to go else where for enjoyment. This really sucks.

It’s almost humorous to have an automated spam response to a question about ethics.

Why is House Arrest so SLOW? For years now it gets harder and harder to Bond some one out. The Judge sets a bond with house arrest,Ok now you get to the jail ask for your person, and your on the phone to House Arrest at the same time and give both the info needed to post a bond. Your at the jail at 5:00pm calling House Arrest and keeping up on the Records Clerk at Jail. were sitting it out…. 7:45 you call up at the jail to see whats up? They are just waiting for House Arrest to get the fax. Time passes Slowy 8:01pm we call House Arrest, Now they say they cant do it . its after 8:00pm we can come back at 6:00am.
This has happend over and Over again. It has NOT always been this way. The House Arrest Department is located within the Adult Residential Center, and operates on a 24-hour basis. “they do not have any one trained to set up the House Arrest equipment”; This has been the story Ive got for YEARS. Than TRAIN SOME ONE! I do not get paid by the hour. Only by what I get out. so my time is useless to HOUSE ARREST. and if a Judge sets a bond can House Arrest say other wise to his release? when the jail is ready and the Judge says ok then House should have some one there. is their a Lawer in the House? or can we vote whoever OUT to get this fixed! Johnson County Kansas

As a healthcare provider in corrections, I have found the imperative “to do no harm” difficult when dealing with some officers in treating inmates as patients. A class which stresses ethics should be a requirement for all staff, including medical. Any attempt at rehabilitation will fail without models of ethical behavior in the prison environment. I’m not suggesting “mollycoddling” at all but I do think prison provides an excellent opportunity to “manage up” some of the population.

I just finished teaching an ethics class to new supervisors. Instead of telling students what to do, we focus on a “triangle of integrity” where we concentrate on how to make an ethical decision by balancing personal beliefs and needs with the needs of the agency in order to do what is right and prudent. Traditional ethics classes focus on “this is what we consider ethical (our rules) and you better do it”. AND employees disregard the things they don’t agree with and spend their efforts trying to get around the “rules”. The employee begin think differently about ethical situations and to realize the agency has needs just like they do. The class is well received.

pickle that sound like a good ideal. would like to join you know i work for outside road detail where i took inmates out to civillan work site to work. i found out that inmates knows what type of officer that they are dealing with tha.t what kept me from having problems

I have come accross other information like this, and it seems plain rediculous that this aspect of corrections seems to fail in multiple locations.

I am currently involved in producing a website where it is easy to provide situations and feedback in a specialized (and anonymous) online “forum” that divides all aspects of corrections up into an accesible and easily collaborative spaces for professionals to come together in unification of providing accurate information and supporting the improvement of certain policies or reforms. More specifically, contributing to a concentrated wealth of informational-support that voters, legislators, and politicians can easily account for; is one of the goals of the website beyond working together in the present to discuss and collaborate for improvements of state, National, and international correctional policy.

Is anyone here interested in using, and contributing to such a website?

I am trying to find out if I am using my time intelligently, or if a different approach may work better.

Isn’t that the truth Pickle. We do have a 3hr ethics course that we have to attend every year in our in-service training. By the looks of it we are not diffrent from you all in the fact that I think most of the new Officers and other staff sleep throughout the entire training. Dont know if it does much good but we do have the training. I guess it just shows that either you have your own ethics or you dont.

Although my Dept. does have a “code of ethics” that all employees are required to be familiar with, the idea of “ethical behavior” as the subject of a class in our annual training apparently has not occurred to anyone although I do think it would be a good idea.

All Officers in my Dept. are required to be “board certified” through B.P.S.S.T. (the Board on Public Safety Standards and Training) but as I was “grandfathered” in many years ago I have no idea as to the contents of the training they receive at the academy. Given what I have observed from many of the new Officers little things like “ethics” and “hard work” are not stressed all that much. :)

yes it does because alot of new officers have no discpline no ideal on how to be proffessional .

Do you have a training program focused just on ethics? Should ethics training be required?