Unlocking correctional stress: an overview of the gaol keepers’ stress

Abstract

Stress has major financial and human implications across businesses and organisations. Stress in workers in correctional institutions may be under reported due to the ‘machismo’ attitudes displayed by prison officers charged with the, seemingly, conflicting roles of containment and care. Often the symptoms are either denied or ignored by people working in prisons due to the ‘emotional labour’ and ‘face work’ masqueraded by them. Major stressors that corrections officers face are environmental safety, violence, role conflict and ambiguity, emotional flashpoints, boredom etc. This paper looks at some research done on the subject and draws suggestions on what the administrators of prisons can do to alleviate the issue of stress.