FEMALE CORRECTIONS OFFICERS

Female Corrections Officers

Female Corrections Officers

Introduction

The first prisons had been designed by men, for men, and no women worked as guards in them, but by 1850, states began providing matrons for growing numbers of women prisoners. Matrons were responsible for the “female ward,” typically small numbers of women prisoners confined in the absence of a facility for women. Women were hired to minimize the threat of exploitation, and consistent with the “matron theory” of prisoner reformation, to serve as good examples for female lawbreakers (Stinchcomb, 2008). More often than not, women became matrons as part of a “package deal”: The warden or superintendent lived on site and the warden's wife assumed clerical and other administrative responsibilities.

The women's reformatory movement, beginning in 1870, led to the establishment of separate institutions for women lawbreakers. Copying the model of juvenile institutions, these women's prisons were built in rural areas on the cottage plan; inmates lived in small units under the supervision of matriarchal matrons (Lombardo, 2006). The title of “matron” survived until the middle of the 20th century, when it was changed to “cottage officer” and “cottage warden.”

Discussion

Women began working in men's prisons following enactment of the 1972 amendments to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The amendments to Title VII strengthened the antidiscrimination provisions of the act and extended the nondiscrimination provision to public as well as private employers. By the late 1980s, women supervised male inmates in every state prison as well as the Federal Bureau of Prisons. The notion that men and women may be involved in similar work had come to prevail, although correctional staff experienced tensions as women took up their role in the control of inmates. By 1987, there were more than 519 women in correctional officer positions within the Bureau of Prisons, and women began to claim increasing numbers of upper-level management positions. Margaret Hambrick, appointed in 1981 to head the Federal Correctional Institution at Butner, North Carolina, was the first woman superintendent of a federal prison for men (Kerle, 2008).

One of the main challenges faced while recruiting the female corrections officers is a prevailing perception that women officers fail to fulfill the constant vigilance in guarding against unwanted behavior and/or consequences of inmate behavior. Since most institutional routine is just that—routine—it is not unusual for female officers to become complacent and neglectful of their duties. Inmates will learn the female officer's behavior and will take advantage of those who are not vigilant. One of the most serious situations that can occurr partially as a result of female correctional officers not performing their duties as specified by institutional procedure. They “trusted” the inmate involved, they “knew” the inmate involved, and they failed to conduct searches as they knew they should. As a result, three revolvers (two .38 caliber revolvers and one .357 magnum revolver) and a considerable amount of ammunition came into the secure institution (Jenne, 2008). Those weapons were subsequently used in the hostage standoff that resulted in the aforementioned deaths and injuries, and in ...