Describing Correctional-Security Dropouts and Rejects

Abstract

High turnover among correctional workers is a chronic problem in today's prisons. Despite the concern surrounding this issue, there is little empirical research that deals with the instability of prison staffs. This article attempts to identify the major predictors of correctional officer turnover in one minimum-medium security prison in the western United States. Multivariate discriminant analyses suggest that three factors are of primary importance in distinguishing continuing from terminating officers—race, opportunities to influence institutional policy decisions, and most important, satisfaction with perceived working conditions. The findings suggest that the development of individual personality profiles may lead correctional administrators to overlook the role of prison organizational environments in contributing to security staff turnover.