Sources of stress among Federal Correctional Officers in Canada

• Published date: 01 August 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548231174900
• Author: Marcella Siqueira Cassiano,Rosemary Ricciardelli
• Date: 01 August 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2023, Vol. 50, No. 8, August 2023, 1229 –1251.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548231174900

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2023 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1229

SOURCES OF STRESS AMONG FEDERAL

CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS IN CANADA

MARCELLA SIQUEIRA CASSIANO

ROSEMARY RICCIARDELLI

Memorial University

Most correctional officers describe their jobs as stressful. The current study advances the scholarship on correctional stress

by offering a rare qualitative analysis that identifies, provides meaning, and contextualizes sources of stress in correctional

services. This study complements the correctional stress literature, which, until now, has relied primarily on quantitative

methodologies to identify and assess stress determinants. Forty-four correctional officers from Canada’s federal prisons were

interviewed about their primary source of stress. Findings indicate that staff (i.e., co-workers and managers), not prison

residents, represent a primary source of stress in correctional work. In addition, job seniority and gossip were the main stress

triggers associated with co-workers, while centralization of decision-making processes and a lack of instrumental communi-

cation and support triggered stress coming from managers.

Keywords: correctional office; correctional work; stress triggers; staff; co-worker; manager; prison resident

INTRODUCTION

Most correctional officers (henceforth “COs”) describe their jobs as stressful. In addition

to enforcing rules and maintaining routines at correctional institutions, COs experience

continued exposure to suffering, harm, and violence. Their job also entails witnessing or

responding to critical incidents, such as psychological distress, self-harm, stabbings, and

suicide, while also managing the risk of being victimized by prison residents (henceforth

“residents”; Ellison & Jaegers, 2022). In addition, COs navigate staff-perpetrated harms

and an often “toxic” workplace culture (Burdett et al., 2018). The risks and stressors under-

pinning correctional work may result in the officer developing mental health injuries such

as generalized anxiety disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder (Regehr et al., 2021).

Concerned with the occupational realities of correctional work and how it affects workers’

AUTHORS’ NOTE: The research supporting this article received funding from the Canadian Institute of

Health Research (grant nos 449140, 211387, and 411385), Correctional Services Canada, and the Union of

Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO-SACC-CSN). Correspondence concerning this article should be

addressed to Rosemary Ricciardelli, Fisheries and Marine Institute, Memorial University of Newfoundland,

155 Ridge Road, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada A1C 5R3; e-mail: rricciardell@mun.ca.

*Marcella Siqueira Cassiano is now affiliated to University of Winnipeg

1174900CJBXXX10.1177/00938548231174900Criminal Justice and BehaviorSiqueira Cassiano, Ricciardelli / Sources of Stress

research-article2023

1230 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

health and well-being, scholars have dedicated considerable effort to measuring stress lev-

els and identifying its determinants. This article discusses sources of stress in Canada’s

federal correctional system based on interviews with 44 COs. The data supporting this

article was collected under CCWORK (Ricciardelli et al., 2021), a multiyear mixed-method

longitudinal study of CO’s occupational well-being.

OCCUPATIONAL STRESS IN CORRECTIONAL WORK

The literature on stress in correctional work is vast, primarily quantitative, and mostly

based on studies conducted in the United States. Job stress, often associated with job satis-

faction and organizational commitment, is the leading topic of correctional research (Butler

et al., 2019). Scholars use correlations and regression analyses to order stress determinants

according to their impact on well-being. A careful examination of the literature reveals three

somewhat intertwined types of stress determinants in correctional work (Lambert et al.,

2006): job stressors (i.e., intrinsic to the job); organizational stressors (i.e., resulting from

the organizational structure); and employee characteristics, which are usually addressed as

a potential correlate of job and organizational stressors.

JOB STRESSORS

Job stressors include how COs perceive their job (i.e., as safe or dangerous; Cullen et al.,

1985), their professional worthiness (Shamir & Drory, 1981), and work arrangement (e.g.,

workload, overtime, and understaffing; Finney et al., 2013). Despite covering many topics,

the job stressor literature within correctional services has emphasized two themes: work

arrangement, particularly workload, and role problems. These two themes deserve attention

as they are relevant for the current article.

Intuitively, more work would mean more stress and vice versa. However, studies on

work arrangement have presented inconsistent findings. Although several studies have

demonstrated that increased workload was a predictor of stress (Dignam & West, 1988;

Huckabee, 1992; Schaufeli & Peeters, 2000; Schiff & Leip, 2019), others (Castle, 2008;

Moon & Maxwell, 2004b) have found that over time, which technically presupposes an

excessive workload, was not a stress determinant. Financial gain might mitigate any stress

caused by voluntary overtime. Researchers studying work arrangements have also explored

and confirmed boredom, a common feature of correctional work, as a source of stress

(Hughes & Zamble, 1993; Hughes, 1991).

The scholarship on role conflict and stress emerged in the 1980s with correctional phi-

losophies that required correctional services to reconcile custody with the care and rehabili-

tation of federally sentenced men and women. The need to reconcile potentially conflicting

demands has made numerous COs feel frustrated and burnt out due to role conflict (Arnold,

2005, 2016; Crawley & Crawley, 2008; Cullen et al., 1985; Liebling et al., 2011; Philliber,

1987). To explain the frustration and the stress stemming from changes in the correctional

role and mind-set, scholars have explored whether COs’ orientations (i.e., punitive vs reha-

bilitative) toward correctional work influenced stress levels. Scholars have demonstrated

that COs with a punitive orientation experienced higher stress levels (Cheeseman et al.,

2011; Cullen et al., 1985; Dignam et al., 1986; Ferdik & Hills, 2018; Misis et al., 2013; Toch

& Klofas, 1982; Whitehead, 1989). As prison reforms advanced, COs’ orientations became

multidimensional and nuanced, and dualist orientation analyses became outdated. However,