286 i 1 Corrections and Prison Practices—Civic Forensics
Martinez (1997) states that there are two different types of stress that correctional
officers experience in the course of their duties. The first was described in the
previous case illustration. This was an episodic stressor where a traumatic incident
happened to or was witnessed by a guard. The other type of stress is what the
author refers to as chronic stress. This is stress that officers encounter every day. It
is the routine of doing the same thing over and over. This can be very damaging
psychologically if the officers do not have the appropriate abilities to deal with it.
It may even lead to a psychological disability. For example, in the case of h'asainiro t>,
County of Rocklcind (1995), the petitioner was a correctional officer who began to
suffer from a stress-related disability. The doctor who evaluated him indicated that
the pressures from his job had become too much for him and recommended that
the officer take a leave of absence. This case arose because he was denied disability
benefits. The court ruled in favor of the correctional officer and stated that if
stress exists at work, then any stress-related anxiety disorders and disabilities can be
causally related to the job and the employee should be allowed to collect Workers
Compensation.
A stress-related anxiety disorder is just one possible consequence for correctional
officers. A more serious consequence may be suicide. Kamerman (1995) found that
speaking about correctional-officer suicide is a taboo. After examining New York
City statistics for a 5-year period, he reported that correctional-officer suicides were
at least as great a problem as police suicides, and that the number of suicides were
most likely greater than what was actually reported. In little over a year, a correc-
tional facility in New York had three guards commit suicide. Kamerman proposed
that the overcrowded prisons and the building of new facilities without the nec-
essary funding for additional correctional officers will only increase the pressures
faced by these personnel. Kamerman further indicated that the lack of research
on officer suicides reflects the public's diminished concern for the stress that cor-
rectional guards confront. However, clearly, the effects will continue to manifest
themselves in extreme ways such as mental disability and suicide.
The traumatic events occasionally experienced by correctional officers, as in the
case illustration, can also have debilitating consequences. Bergmann and Queen
(1987) report that there are three characteristics which must be present for an event
to be traumatic. There must be an extremely high level of stress, a denial of the
importance of the event or a shock-like response, and a normal set of feelings
or consequences following the event. They labeled this normal set of feelings as
an acute stress response where individuals may withdraw from important people
and activities, reexperience the event through flashbacks, feel depressed, have sleep
difficulties and nightmares, feel anxious and bypervigilant, feel guilty, and have
difficulty returning to work.
Davis (1995) also described stress related to traumatic incidents. He described a
traumatic incident as being a routine day where suddenly a fight breaks out among
the inmates, and one inmate cuts the other in the neck and creates a gaping wound
with blood spraying everywhere. According to the author, possible consequences
for the guards are confusion, sweating, depression, anger, grief, and changes in