The Nature and Quality of Staff-inmate Relationship in Lithuanian Prisons: Correctional Officers‘ Perspective

• In Event: Changes in Prison Officers’ Professional Roles within the Shifting Lithuanian Custodial Sentencing Policy and Practice

Abstract

A professional and positive staff-inmates relationship during prison sentence is suggested to be
one of the key elements of the quality of prison life (Lieblieng & Arnold, 2004). The
introduction of dynamic security methods in Lithuanian prisons also presumes the necessity to
shift daily officers‘ practices from control and supervision to building professional rapport and
responding to inmates‘ daily needs. However, recent studies revealed a low level of trust in
correctional staff among inmates (Sakalauskas et al., 2019) and the lack of proper training about
dynamic security practices in Lithuanian prisons (Uscila, 2020). This study aims to reveal
correctional officers‘ perspective on the quality and nature of staff-inmates relationship in
Lithuanian prisons. The insights provided by the correctional officers during semi-structured
qualitative interviews draw attention to the practical challenges of adopting dynamic security
methods and defining correctional officer‘s professional role in Lithuanian penal service system.

Author

• Liubovė Jarutienė, Law Institute of the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences