Organizational Climate and its Impact in a Women’s Prison on the Mental Health of Correctional Staff

• Published date: 01 November 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10439862241272335
• Author: Joseph Kim,Heather Caspers,Ilma Jahic,Mindi TenNapel
• Date: 01 November 2024

https://doi.org/10.1177/10439862241272335

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2024, Vol. 40(4) 716 –734

© The Author(s) 2024

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DOI: 10.1177/10439862241272335

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Original Article

Organizational Climate and

its Impact in a Women’s

Prison on the Mental Health

of Correctional Staff

Joseph Kim1,2, Heather Caspers2, Ilma Jahic2,

and Mindi TenNapel2

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the organizational climate in a women’s

prison from the shared perceptions of correctional staff. This study was part of the

Prison Research and Innovation Network (PRIN) project, which began in the fall

of 2020. Forty-two correctional staff from a low-medium security women’s prison

in the Midwest were interviewed in spring 2021. Thematic analysis was conducted

to identify staff’s perceptions of organizational climate in the women’s correctional

facility. The themes identified as most important to staff were mental health,

correctional practices, job satisfaction, and workplace culture. An item pool was

developed from the themes identified, and a newly developed organizational climate

survey was administered to 80 correctional staff. Qualitative data point to the issues

of staff shortages and mandated overtime work impacting the mental health of staff.

In addition, organizational climate and its impact on mental health were examined

through multiple logistic regressions. The results indicated that having job promotion

opportunities, having daily communication between staff and administration, and

staff’s knowledge and awareness of correctional policies were positively associated

with mental health. This mixed-methods study contributes to understanding the

unique challenges correctional staff face working in women’s correctional facilities.

Keywords

organizational climate, mental health, correctional staff, burnout

1Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, USA

2State of Iowa Division of Criminal & Juvenile Justice Planning (CJJP), Des Moines, USA

Corresponding Author:

Joseph Kim, Department of Human Development and Family Science, Oklahoma State University,

Stillwater, OK 74078, USA.

Email: joseph.kim@okstate.edu

1272335CCJXXX10.1177/10439862241272335Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeKim et al.

research-article2024

Kim et al. 717

Prisons within the United States housed 1.23 million individuals and employed

351,420 correctional officers in 2023 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2023; Carson

& Kluckow, 2023). A significant concern is the increasing rate of incarceration of

women in the United States, with a total of 87,800 women incarcerated in the year

2022, a 5% increase from 2021 (Carson & Kluckow, 2023). The percentage of women

incarcerated increased significantly (9%) compared to men (3%) from 2021 to 2022

(Zeng, 2023). This contrasts with the demand needed for correctional officers for pris-

ons due to high turnover and absenteeism rates (Heffernan & Li, 2024; Kajstura &

Sawyer, 2024). The workplace environment, specifically the organizational climate of

prisons, is an understudied area for staff in women’s correctional facilities.

The goal of this study was to explore the shared perceptions of organizational cli-

mate from correctional staff in a woman’s correctional facility. The factors that com-

prise organizational climate have primarily been examined in men’s correctional

facilities. This study employed community-based participatory research (CBPR) to

work in partnership with the correctional staff as equal partners (Farell et al., 2021).

This approach acknowledges that correctional staff have firsthand understanding of

how prisons operate—the issues that need to be addressed in the prison (Brydon-

Miller & Maguire, 2009; Payne, 2017). The findings from this study will inform pol-

icy recommendations to improve the working conditions of correctional staff.

Organizational Climate

In examining the prison as a workplace environment, an understanding of the organi-

zational climate is crucial from a policy standpoint. Organizational climate refers to

the attributes of the organization, or the shared perceptions, attitudes, and norms prev-

alent within correctional facilities from the policies, practices, and procedures (Lugo,

2016; Schneider et al., 2013). It encompasses the collective interpretations and signifi-

cance attributed to the rules and practices governing an organization, alongside the

behaviors that are encouraged and rewarded within that framework (Schneider et al.,

2013). In simple terms, organizational climate refers to correctional staff’s perceptions

of the “personality” of their working environment. Examining organizational climate

is essential to understanding the factors impacting policies and procedures within pris-

ons (Finney et al., 2013), the quality of relationships among staff and incarcerated

individuals (Griffin, 2001), and the morale and well-being of correctional staff

(Armstrong & Griffin, 2004).

The factors that comprise organizational climate in the prison context have primar-

ily been examined in the context of the prison environment’s influence on incarcerated

individuals’ behavior and attitudes, and this work has primarily centered on male pris-

ons (Moos, 1974; Van der Helm et al., 2011). Common to these studies is that organi-

zational climate is a multidimensional concept, including factors such as support from

prison administrators, cohesiveness of relationships among staff, job satisfaction, job

efficacy, and organizational justice (Finney et al., 2013; Griffin, 2001; Saylor &

Wright, 1992; Taxman & Gordon, 2009). Support from prison administrators or orga-

nizational support is perceived in terms of the prison organization’s satisfaction with