The two faces of the correctional role: An exploration of the value of thecorrectional role instrument

Correctional scholars once portrayed correctional offenders as hacks, littl e inferested in the welfare of the inmates they supervised. Later researche rs related how this conception of the officer as hack failed to take into a ccount and explain the human service functions in which many officers are e ngaged. A role instrument was developed and administered to staff at a medi um-security prison to measure the extent to which today's officers identify with the old hack or the newer human service conception of their work Anal ysis of the data indicates that the instrument appears useful in measuring correctional role orientation, as the alpha is .84. In addition, examinatio n of responses to individual items indicates that selected sociodemographic characteristics are related to perceptions of the correctional role.