How Severe Is Correctional Officer Stress?
Nancy K. Bohl, Ph.D. A review of the literature and interviews with more than 50 knowledgeable individuals make clear that job-related stress is widespread-and possibly increasing-among correctional officers. Many supervisors (lieutenants and captains) also experience considerable job-related stress. A few facts illustrate the stressful nature of correctional work: – Many officers do not answer their home telephones because it might be the institution calling for overtime. Some officers get a second, unlisted telephone number that they keep secret from the department. – Between 1990 and 1995, the number of attacks on correctional officers in State and Federal prisons jumped by nearly one- third, from 10,731 to 14,165, at a time when the number of correctional officers increased by only 14 percent. – Except for police officers, the number of workplace nonfatal violent incidents is higher per 1,000 employees for correctional officers than for any other profession, including taxi drivers,
