STAFF STRESS IN CONTEMPORARY JAILS - ASSESSING PROBLEM SEVERITY AND THE PAYOFF OF PROGRESSIVE PERSONNEL PRACTICES

The presence of a high level of workplace stress among carefully recru ited and monitored personnel could signify that the long-term return o n selection and training resources invested in employees of podular, d irect supervision jails could be jeopardized as staff either leave emp loyment or withdraw psychologically from their work environment. Despi te the suspected scale of this problem, however, there is little direc t empirical evidence available as to the extent of staff stress proble ms in such jails. Using survey and organizational profile data from fi ve podular direct supervision jails, the extent of stress occurring is estimated and some likely causes are isolated. Evidence indicating th at the adoption of progressive personnel practices produces positive o utcomes with respect to the incidence of turnover and workplace stress is presented.