Meeting Correctional Offender Needs: An Ethical Response to Cultural Differences

• Author: LAURA B. MYERS
• Date: 01 June 2000
• Published date: 01 June 2000
• DOI: 10.1177/0032885500080002004
• Subject Matter: Articles

THE PRISON JOURNAL / June 2000
Myers / MEETING CORRECTIONAL OFFENDER NEEDS
MEETING CORRECTIONAL
OFFENDER NEEDS: AN ETHICAL
RESPONSE TO CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
LAURA B. MYERS
Sam Houston State University
This article presents a process evaluation of a unique approach to cultural awareness
training designed to help correctional personnel provide a more ethical response to
the cultural differences of offenders and to reduce conflict between personnel and
offenders. Using moral development theory and cognitive learning theory, a human
relations approach to cultural awareness training was used for more than 200 correc-
tional personnel to assist them in improving their moral development levels. Analysis
results indicate that the human relations approach may be helpful in providing per-
sonnel with new thinking patterns consistent with higher levels of moral development.
Correctional personnel find themselves in the unique situation of respond-
ing appropriately to offenders. Because the criminal justice system deprives
offenders of their freedom, correctional personnel are charged with manag-
ing offenders’ time and making sure that offenders take part in court-required
conditions of their sentences. Community corrections personnel, in particu-
lar, must manage the offender within the dynamic situation of family, home,
community, and employment (Reid, 1996).
Conflict is an inherent part of the relationship between the correctional
worker and the offender, and reduction of this conflict makes life easier for
all parties involved. Numerous studies (Andrews et al., 1990; Gendreau &
Andrews, 1990; Gendreau & Ross, 1987) indicate that probation and parole
success may be largely contingent on officer attitudes and behavior. Offender
responsivity to the personality characteristics of officers and the ability of
officers to respond to offenders interpersonally may enhance offender suc-
cess. Development of these skills in correctional personnel can be achieved
through appropriate training and supervision (Fulton, Stichman, Travis, &
Latessa, 1997; Gendreau & Goggin, 1997; Gendreau, 1996).
Correctional supervisors are keenly aware of the role correctional workers
play in the success rates of offenders. They have responded with preservice
and in-service training curricula designed to help correctional personnel
THE PRISON JOURNAL, Vol. 80 No. 2, June 2000 184-209
© 2000 Sage Publications, Inc.
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Myers / MEETING CORRECTIONAL OFFENDER NEEDS
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improve their skills in working with offenders. Typical training curricula
developed by task forces and organizational entities concerned with correc-
tional treatment include discussions of the role of the correctional worker,
documentation/report writing, suicide prevention, officer safety, security
concerns, legal issues and offender rights, gang awareness, detention stan-
dards, and court testimony (C. Marquart, personal communication, Septem-
ber 1999; Brown & Maggio, 1997). Such topics are included to provide cor-
rectional personnel with the knowledge needed to perform the basic skills
necessary to accomplish their goals. In addition to these basic skill topics,
correctional supervisors and training academy staff are now beginning to
include topics designed to reduce conflict between personnel and their clien-
tele. These topics include cultural awareness, ethics, stress management, and
communication skills.
The recognition of the need to reduce conflict and tension are part of a
growing trend to assist personnel in responding to offenders ethically and
appropriately. It is no longer sufficient to perform the basic skills of the job. It
also is necessary to recognize the rights and needs of the offender, not only to
reduce liability, but to increase offender compliance.
The objective for correctional supervisors and academy training staff is to
discover an approach for training that will provide knowledge on ethical and
appropriate responses, while still enabling correctional personnel to perform
their basic skills. This article presents a process evaluation of a unique
approach that may assist correctional personnel in meeting the needs of their
clientele. The premise of this article is that one reason correctional personnel
do not always meet the needs of their clients may be cultural differences.
These differences can lead to miscommunication and distrust, preventing
personnel and offenders from accomplishing their goals. A more ethical
response is conflict resolution through improved communication. This arti-
cle discusses the failure of traditional cultural diversity training, the search
for a solution, and how the solution may be a more ethical response to meet-
ing the needs of the correctional offender.
PRIOR RESEARCH ON DIVERSITY TRAINING
On the surface, there appears to be no wider cultural gap than the gap
between the correctional worker and the offender. The biggest gap, of course,
is between the law-abiding citizen and the lawbreaker. This gap sets the stage
for continuous conflict, only exacerbated by other perceived differences that
make communication problematic and heighten tension.

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THE PRISON JOURNAL / June 2000
One perceived difference, culture, is so complicated that numerous
employees find it simpler to do the basics of the job and ignore those differ-
ences. Cultural differences, however, may be preventing correctional person-
nel from accomplishing their goals. Offender failure may partially be the
result of miscommunication with and distrust of the keepers.
As the correctional population continues to grow and as we reach the turn
of the century, it is clear that the nature of the correctional population is only
becoming more diverse. Any homogeneity of that population is a relic of the
past. Women are committing crimes in growing numbers. Minority offenders
are not just Black, but Hispanic, Asian, or a multicultural mix. Prisons are
now being designated for the growing numbers of disabled offenders, and the
elderly offender has become a specific population to be dealt with (Irwin &
Austin, 1994; Messner & Rosenfeld, 1994; Myers, Cintron, & Scarborough,
1994). If correctional personnel choose to ignore diversity as a potential
source of conflict, then they may be doing a disservice not only to themselves
and to their clients, but to the members of the community they serve.
A POTENTIAL SOLUTION
Initial attempts to provide diversity knowledge to correctional personnel,
as well as other private and public sector employees, has taken the form of
cultural sensitivity training. Sensitivity training is designed to provide cur-
rent knowledge on diverse populations, including politically correct termi-
nology, mannerisms, and identifying characteristics (Back, 1973). Endless
hours have been devoted to such training.
The author’s 10 years of experience with cultural diversity training has
shown that the response to this training has been less than satisfactory, pri-
marily because such an approach is of little help. No matter how many diver-
sity rules a person knows, or how much terminology they can use, it usually is
the wrong information in application. Referring to a person as African Amer-
ican, for example, can be a problem if the person does not define himself or
herself as African American. Sensitivity to politically correct knowledge
does not prepare a person to work with people of different cultures. Many
correctional personnel know this, so they resist the training and often choose
to ignore the problem (Myers, 1998).
The solution may be a human relations approach to cultural diversity
issues (Myers, 1998). Instead of providing sensitivity knowledge regarding
as many groups as possible and setting people up for failure, the human rela-
tions approach, derived from the human relations school of administration,
begins with the premise that there are no rules about groups of people. In
essence, all people are different and cannot be categorized. To understand a

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Myers / MEETING CORRECTIONAL OFFENDER NEEDS
187
person, you must learn about that person, not the group you think he or she
belongs to.
The human relations approach, by definition, teaches personnel how to
communicate with people so that they can learn about each person they inter-
act with. The knowledge obtained from these interactions can be used to form
a trusting relationship in which goals can be accomplished (Fine, 1995).
Such an approach can be a solution for correctional personnel who must
bridge cultural differences if goals are to be met.
This article describes a process evaluation of presenting the human rela-
tions approach to correctional personnel. This exploratory analysis began by
confronting the frustration personnel have with the traditional sensitivity
approach. By exploring their expectations for training, the researcher/trainer
was able to discover the nature of their discontent and their needs. The human
relations approach was then presented. Instead of just presenting the infor-
mation and setting them free to use it if they wished, the researcher/trainer
acknowledged their role as experts and asked them to integrate the knowl-
edge with their actual experiences during the training. This permitted them to
integrate the new skills with their basic skills. Responses to the training indi-
cated the level of success with the process.
KOHLBERG’S MORAL STAGES
AND COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY
The use of the human relations approach with correctional personnel is
based on a psychological theory of moral development. Kohlberg (1976)
paired moral development with...