Correctional Officers and Trauma

Work-related stress is increasingly recognized as one of the most serious occupational health hazards affecting individuals. The effects of work-related stress include health-related problems, systemic pressure, absenteeism, burnout, and long-term disability. The correctional institution is a highly stressful work environment because of exposure to critical incident stress (CIS) in addition to normal work stress. Experiencing CIS repeatedly may have an immediate effect or a cumulative effect that shows up years after the incidents have occurred. The correctional environment is a paramilitary environment, with the related stress-ors that such a setting involves. Administrators may expect high performance under situations of severe stress and may not be empathetic with the effects the environment has on the staff. The actions of the inmates are often traumatic for correctional personnel and may include hangings, stabbings, riots, kidnappings, death threats to staff, assault toward staff, sexual assault of staff, and stalking of staff.

For some correctional officers, the unpredictability of what awaits them upon going into work may cause a high degree of anticipatory anxiety. Waiting for events such as personal panic alarms or fixed-point alarms, which can occur at any time, require an immediate staff response in which the “fight, flight, or freeze” mode is activated. In training, staff members are encouraged to engage in what-if situations to prepare for potential incidents. Staff members may find themselves playing ruminative what-if games in their heads and become highly stressed as a result. Because of the nature of the training to respond to potentially high-risk situations, correctional officers are in fight mode and remain in that state for prolonged periods prior to an actual incident happening (anticipatory fight mode). Stress hormones are activated and remain activated for lengthy periods, which research shows can wreak havoc on physical systems. Some staff members appear to thrive in this mode (at least temporarily) whereas others suffer from health-related problems such as heart conditions, high blood pressure, stress-related illness, anxiety, and depression.

Working in the correctional environment is a unique experience. Inmates in federal institutions often have long sentences and may suffer from mental illness. As a result, some of them commit suicide, often via hanging. Staff members are vigilant and check the inmates once per hour; however, on occasion inmates will hang themselves in such a way that staff may not see them or realize that they have committed suicide. When officers come upon an inmate in this manner, they must cut the inmate down and start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), [Page 150]even if signs indicating death (such as rigor mortis, evacuated bowels, and so forth) are apparent. Staff members are legally required to continue CPR until relieved by qualified medical personnel. The act of performing CPR on a deceased inmate is often traumatizing. Additionally, correctional officers may suffer from stress of missing the signs of suicide and must deal with the investigation that will inevitably be performed. Such investigations themselves may be traumatizing and can take several years to be completed. Officers are often left to work the rest of the shift after such incidents in an atmosphere where there is an expectation that they not let the incident bother them. The Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team is not always called in, and individual staff members may be left on their own to contact one of the CISM members for support. The CISM team members make sure that the staff members enter into a contract with them, including the promise to use self-care, such as getting enough exercise, sleeping and eating regularly, and having a trusted person with whom to talk. Team members check in with staff members periodically to ascertain if they need further support.

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