The 'Othering' of Inmates by Correctional Officers

• In Event: Role and View of Correctional Officers

Abstract

Prior research suggests that prison environments are conducive to deindividuation among correctional officers in part due to the ‘othering’ of the inmates under their control. The othering of inmates also has the potential to reduce empathy and create a sense of social distance between officers and inmates that may reduce cooperative behavior and self-regulation among inmates and increase coercive control among officers. Given the potentially negative outcomes of othering offenders this study uses survey data from correctional officers and inmates from five prisons (2 female, 3 male) to explore the extent to which officers have othering attitudes toward inmates and the extent to which inmates feel othered by officers. Causes and consequences of these attitudes are examined.

Authors

• Thomas Baker, University of Central Florida

• Jill Gordon, Virginia Commonwealth University