Correctional Officers and Prison Staff Ethical Issues

Though inmates may lack a solid moral fiber, the prison is a site of numerous ethical issues for guards, lawmakers and officials who run correctional systems.

Except in the rare cases of innocence, convicts are in jail because they did something bad and or wrong. In many cases, they have stolen, killed, or caused other harm to people and society. Punishing prisoners by locking them up in an extremely unpleasant place for a long time aims to deter potential criminals from perpetrating similar deeds. However, at the same time, poor and unsafe conditions harden their anti-social instincts, making it difficult for them to re-enter society after release. To make them productive citizens, educational and vocational training can help as well as a reasonable guarantee of protection against brutality from guards and other prisoners.

Prison guards face numerous ethical dilemmas on the job. For example, well-connected prisoners have many opportunities to bribe them for better treatment. Other inmates may be abusive to guards for no reason. In either case, the guard must treat prisoners equally. They must enforce prison rules firmly and consistently. Not only does this policy ensure smooth prison administration, it provides an ethical model for prisoners to follow.

According to An Ethical Dilemma in Corrections by Albert De Amicis (2005), the problem of sexual misconduct committed by male correctional officers on female prisoners is a problem that has reached epidemic proportions throughout the nation. The corrections profession is considered to be one of the most challenging careers in existence today.

Why? You might ask.

 This is because a normal day consists of dealing with some of the most difficult, violent, and unruly criminals locked behind bars. Whether correctional staff work in large, medium, or small in facilities, there is one common factor. Personnel, by their position and authority, are empowered to control the environment at their correctional facility. When a staff member falls prey to an inmate who manipulated him or her into an indiscretion, this breaches the security network. This break can result in injury or death of staff/inmates/visitors, escape, and/or introduction of contraband (Cornelius 2001, p.175).

Although a difficult profession the ethical standards are important and must be maintained such as rendering professional service to the justice system and the community at large in effecting the social adjustment of the offender. And the upholding of the law with dignity and integrity displaying an awareness of responsibility to offenders while recognizing the right of the public to be safeguarded from criminal activity.

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Independent Commission of Investigation (INDECOM) Focus on Ethics

Police brutality!!! Wi waah justice! Him neva do nut’n! him innocent and dem just kill him fi nut’n!

Sounds familiar?

Here in Jamaica cases of police misconduct is quite common and we often see and hear reports of it on our daily news.  This issue of police misconduct is a problem that plagues our society.

The rate of lethal police shootings in Jamaica is one of the highest in the world. An average of 140 people per annum have been shot and killed, according to official statistics, for the last ten years, in a country whose population is only 2.6 million. Police accounts of victim-initiated "shoot-outs" continue to be disputed in many cases by witness accounts and contradicted by forensic evidence.

 There is an unparalleled level of police shootings in Jamaica, so says Baroness Nuala O’Loan, a member of the United Kingdom House of Lords and a former police ombudsman of Northern Ireland while speaking at an open day staged by the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) on, August 16 at the Old Hospital Park, in Montego Bay, St. James as seen in an article from the North Coast Times Jamaica in August 2013. The article also stated that statistics now show that between January and June of this year; 2013 there was 147 fatal shootings by police.

The Independent Commission of Investigations is an organization created to take on impartial investigations concerning actions by members of the Security Forces and other agents of the State that result in death or injury to persons or the abuse of the rights of persons; and for connected matters. The Commission took over from the Police Public Complaints Authority on August 16, 2010 and the scope of its operations is outlined in the Independent Commission of Investigations Act.

As stated in a Jamaica Observer editorial, the issue of loyalty among squad members, in particular, is a feature of most police departments worldwide. In some jurisdictions, it is known as the ‘Blue Code of Silence’ or the ‘Blue shield’. Here in Jamaica it is labelled it the ‘Squaddie Mentality’. Basically it is an unwritten agreement among cops not to report crimes, misconduct or mistakes committed by their colleagues. (Jamaica Observer Editorial, June 12, 2012) The editorial also stated that Mr. Terrence Williams and his team at the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) in his quarterly report to the Legislature stated that, “It is striking that in all our current cases, no member of the security forces implicates themselves or their colleagues in misconduct. Perhaps an explanation may be the ease with which agents of the state may collude before giving a statement.”

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The Most Honourable Michael Manley- The Political Hostilities of the Manley Era-1970s

According to The People's National Party Facebook page today, March 6, 2016 marks nineteen years since the death of The Most Honourable Michael Manley, former Prime Minister and leader of the People's National Party at the age of 72. The Facebook page went on to state that Comrade Michael "Joshua" Manley legacy lives on. He lived a life of passion for people, progress, equality and Justice.

Focusing directly on the Manley Era, there was extensive conflict in relation to politics in Jamaica. According to michaelmanley.org Manley entered representational politics in the 1967 general election, winning the Central Kingston constituency. After his father’s retirement, he comfortably won the People’s National Party (PNP) contest for party leadership. He was consequently appointed Leader of the Opposition. Manley zeroed in on the failings of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration, which had held the reins since independence in 1962. He inveighed against social injustice and inequality, which, he claimed, pervaded Jamaica.

Economic conditions in Jamaica deteriorated in the 1970s. Amid accusations of destabilization by the CIA, the IMF, foreign investors, the US media and opposition, politically motivated violence escalated, worsening an already problematic situation. Crime and violence was rampant. In June 1976 Mr Manley, in response to popular demand, declared a state of emergency during which there was some curtailment of civil liberties, including detention of scores of alleged troublemakers.

But how much do we know about political hostilities? Is this the point in time that political violence in Jamaica began?

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