The Keepers: Staff Misconduct as a Specific Responsivity Factor

• In Event: Staff Misconduct in Prison

Abstract

The RNRF Model (Risk, Need, Responsivity and Fidelity) is the centerpiece of effective interventions with criminal justice involved men and women. The responsivity principle not only isolates cognitive behavioral techniques as the most appropriate intervention modality (general responsivity), but recognizes the importance of identifying and addressing individual barriers that can interfere with treatment effectiveness (specific responsivity). Yet, research on responsivity is limited, as most studies narrowly focus on barriers within the individual such as motivation and cognitive deficiencies while ignoring the power that staff have to interfere with rehabilitation efforts. Using data from 30 qualitative interviews with men and women recently released from prisons in the Midwest, we describe the importance of including staff misconduct as a necessary element of specific responsivity. The data suggest that prisoners are exposed to regular acts of staff misconduct while incarcerated, including drug sales, perpetration of sexual violence, and complicity with physical violence. Given the impact staff misconduct can have on prisoners’ feelings of safety and trust, as well as the fact that the RNRF model is derived from social learning theory, we conclude that staff misconduct may constitute an especially potent barrier to effective interventions that must be addressed in programming.

Authors

• Meghan Novisky, Cleveland State University

• Robert L. Peralta, The University of Akron

• Ernest M. Oleksy, Cleveland State University