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Ethical Leadership In Criminal Justice And Correctional Organisations Essay

The significance of ethical leadership in criminal justice and correctional organisations cannot be overemphasised. These organisations must put in place and enforce policies to ensure officers constantly act in accordance with the law and the expected ethical standards (National Institute of Corrections, 2014). Based on the Clinton Correctional Facility scenario, this paper provides a plan for implementing employment laws and policy to enhance ethical leadership at the organisation. In the scenario, correctional staff engaged in personal relationships with two felony inmates who subsequently escaped (De Avila, 2015). Such relationships have the potential to undermine the work of criminal justice and correctional relationships, underscoring the importance of ethical leadership. The plan specifically highlights the employment and policy issues in the scenario and their associated consequences, and recommends necessary steps to address the issues.      Legally and ethically, correctional officers are not allowed to have intimate relationships with inmates. Nevertheless, staff-inmate personal relationships in the U.S. remain a problematic issue, with many relationships being even consensual as opposed to forced (Carlson & Garrett, 2008). The trend has been attributed to, among other factors, an increase in the number of female prison officers, ignorance of rules and procedures, as well as a culture of complacency amongst...

The relationships can compromise the ability of correctional staff to act objectively (Bennett, Crewe, & Wahidin, 2012). More specifically, inmates can use personal relationships with prison employees to manipulate officers to act in their favour. In this scenario, for instance, a female prison officer Joyce Mitchell developed personal relationships with sentenced killers David Sweat and Richard Matt, which ultimately aided the inmates in escaping from prison. Additionally, personal relationships between prison officers and inmates may put the safety of both the officer and the inmate at risk. Other forms of misconduct may also crop as a result of close staff-inmate relationships – e.g. subjection of prison staff to extortion demands and to violation of prison rules, smuggling of contraband into prison, bribery, and deception of authorities (Carlson & Garrett, 2008). All these outcomes can hinder correctional organisations from achieving their core mandate. 
            In the scenario, prison officials had suspected a personal relationship between Ms. Mitchell and Sweat, but did not take any action against her in spite of investigations. This without a doubt points to ethical failure on the…

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References

Bennett, J., Crewe, B., & Wahidin, A. (2012). Understanding prison staff. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.

Carlson, P., & Garrett, J. (2008). Prison and jail administration: Practice and theory. 2nd ed. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.

De Avila, J. (2015, July 28). Former New York prison worker Joyce Mitchell pleads guilty, agrees to up-to 7-Year prison term. Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/former-new-york-prisonworker-joyce-mitchell-pleads- guilty-agrees-to-7-year-prison-term-1438097115

National Institute of Corrections. (2014). Correctional leadership competencies for the 21st century. Charleston, SC: Bibliolife DBA of Bibilio Bazaar II LLC.


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