Correctional Officer Recruits During the College Training Period: An Examination

2005 N° R-165

Philippe Bensimon
Criminologist, Ph.D

Correctional Service of Canada

October, 2005

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to begin by thanking the 233 persons who attended the 10 Correctional Training Program (CTP) courses given in the five Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) administrative regions from September 23, 2002, to October 4, 2004. Regardless of whether or not they passed the course, these persons are the very essence of this study; it could never have been carried out without their active participation.

The author also wishes to acknowledge the ongoing co-operation of all management and staff involved in training in the five staff colleges, especially: Éric LeBlanc and Danny LeBlanc in the Atlantic Region; Yves Malépart, Louise Dubreuil and Linda Goulet in the Quebec Region; Tracy Fenton in the Ontario Region; Max Dallenbach, Vince Streukens, Raylean Welter and Gordon Redhead in the Prairies Region; and Marg Fletcher and Brian Ferguson in the Pacific Region.

Thanks are also extended to the Steering Committee members, who in November 2001 were: union representative of federal correctional officers and the member of the union Ontario Regional Executive, who also represented Safety and Security; a member of Management Training and Career Management; a member of Labour Relations; and a Senior Project Manager, all of whom continue in these positions today; Pierre Mallette and Trevor Lee, correctional officers at Donnacona Institution and Kingston Penitentiary; Ian Nicholson, Director, Learning Programs, Learning and Career Development; Paul Braun, a former Director of Career Management who has since left CSC; Colleen Laframboise, Director of Labour Relations Operations; and Claude Tellier, Director, Security Operations and Procedures.

For all the statistical analyses, the author wishes to thank expressly Yves Lepage, Ph.D, full professor in the mathematics and statistics department at Université de Montréal, and his assistant, Miguel Chagnon, M.Sc.

For the trust he showed and the latitude he allowed throughout this sometimes difficult but always innovative and interesting process, gratitude is expressed to Larry Motiuk, Ph.D, Director General, Research.

For their great dedication, willingness to help and energy, the author wishes to express his appreciation to the staff of the library at Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada.

For the English version, the author expresses appreciation to Ms. Carol Edgar, Certified Translator (ATIO), Société Gamma Inc.

For rereading the original French text and its sea of typos, gratitude is extended to Suzette Fortin, a pillar of the Case Management Secretariat at the Regional Reception Centre (Quebec Region).

Finally, to those who have not had the opportunity to read the earlier introduction to this three-phase study, you should know that this study's scope, innovativeness and anticipated influence on future behavioural and organizational psychology studies in the prison environment would not have been nearly as marked without the hard work of my colleague Claude Tellier.

Executive Summary

Although much has been written about the prison environment, no one has really studied the development of correctional officer recruits. This longitudinal study covers 15 months of observations, from initial selection through a full year of on-the-job as a correctional officer.

What was our objective? It was to measure, assess and understand the behavioural and attitudinal adjustment among new correctional officers in their respective workplaces, in order to make appropriate recommendations to the staff colleges and correctional institutions. The recommendations focused on recruitment in the broadest sense of the term and on training, using 22 themes and 19 measurement scales. To these 19 measurement scales was added material compiled from 514 bibliographic references, as part of a review of the literature that allowed us to explore various topics including: demographic data such as age and social status; the advantages and disadvantages of correctional work; and health and lifestyle. Also explored were specific topics, covering the following: value acquisition and retention, group solidarity and attitudes; inmate rehabilitation; work-related stress; organizational commitment; motivation; support from superiors; empathy; and job satisfaction.

To gather data, six questionnaires were distributed at specific intervals: on the first day of their Correctional training program (CTP) at staff college; during the second week; after three months of training among committed participants; and then over a full year following these employees' initial assignment to a correctional institution, at three-month, six-month and one-year intervals.

From September 23, 2002, the date the first questionnaire was distributed on the basis of the various CTP schedules, until July 14, 2003, the date of the last scheduled CTP course. This study was carried out in the five CSC administrative regions: the Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies and Pacific. Of the 249 initial participants registered for CTP, including the 15 persons (9 men and 6 women) who did not show up at the staff college for the first day of training, 233 persons participated in the Pre A questionnaire.

As a result, no recruits in any of the five CSC administrative regions or the 10 CTP classes refused to participate in the Pre A questionnaire, and the attrition rate at this stage was zero.

This report presents the findings from phase two of a three-phase longitudinal study¹. The second phase presents the data from the first 12 weeks of training of 233 correctional officer recruits. In this group of 123 men and 110 women, the average age on the first day of training was 32 years old (by gender, age 33 for men and age 30 for women). Of these 233 individuals, 35 were Aboriginal persons and 35 were members of visible minorities, 116 were married or living in a common-law relationship, 113 had one or more children, and 174 had a college or university education. This demographic information indicates that correctional officer recruits' backgrounds include more extensive life experience than that may be found in other occupations.

¹ The report on phase one is entitled Correctional Officer Recruits and the Prison Environment: A Research Framework (Bensimon, 2004).

Dropouts and other forms of attrition began to appear only in the second week of CTP and continued over the following 10 weeks.

Overall, 86 (37%) participants (46 men and 40 women) did not complete the research. Therefore, 147 (63%) of the new recruits made up the final study sample. Among those who did not complete the research, 74 (86%) were not successful in the training, 7 (8%) did not respond to the Post questionnaire and remainder withdrew from CTP for others reasons (e.g., medical).

What happened during phase two of the study? Three questionnaires (Pre A, Pre B and Post) were distributed to staff college trainees covering a total of 16 exploratory themes² in three phases: the expectation phase, on the first day of training, when participants expressed their aspirations; the observation phase, after one week, as they acquired the basics; and the learning and perceptions phase, after 12 weeks of training. The 16 themes covered by the questionnaires were quite varied, and included: advantages and disadvantages of correctional occupations; expectations of group training;³ human service orientation; and the trainee peer group before and after CTP participation.

² The very scope of this study, where every theme is a thesis topic in itself, calls for limitation. The author therefore makes no claims of completeness, but hopes that the data base used to develop these themes will encourage other research on correctional work.

³ To avoid misinterpretation, it is important to note that this study is primarily an analysis of behavioural and attitudinal changes and in no way assesses the quality of CTP provided at the staff colleges. Training quality is a factor this study simply does not cover.

In spite of the particular cultural characteristics of each of the five CSC administrative regions and the demographic characteristics of the participants, all questions asking the recruits to express an opinion about inmates were entirely theoretical because, in the pre institutional context, the recruits were not confronted with the realities of the job. What they believed, learned, envisaged and observed gradually over their three-month training period formed part of the preparation for their entry into the prison environment.

Whatever reasons are given for this lack of continuity, it is nevertheless true that all the individuals whose names were on the CTP list were indeed selected in the hope that they would complete this training, which theoretically would have been followed by a year-long period on the job and completed with a position as a correctional officer. All of these individuals, then, whether they completed training or not, are important.

This report, then, covers the phase between the first day of training and, for those who completed the course successfully (147 persons), the last week before assignment to an institution.

Will the numerous themes examined in this study enable us to identify the persons who are the most determined and best able to walk the fine line between security and rehabilitation? Can we identify the ones who have the most empathy and are intrinsically the most motivated?

From these 13 measurement scales, among the 147 (77 men and 70 women) participants who completed these three months of CTP, a number of observations between the Pre A and the Post questionnaires emerge:

1. Pre-post analyses of scales revealed significant differences between men and women recruits on a variety of measures (Attitudes towards correctional work; Support for rehabilitation; Sources of motivation for correctional work);
2. Non-significant differences emerged between men and women recruits on a variety of measures (Attitudes towards inmates; Deterrence; Human service orientation; Social desirability; Intrinsic motivation; Self-efficacy; Expectations/Perceptions of training; Social cohesiveness and Credibility);
3. On three measurement scales specific to the occupation of correctional officers (Attitudes towards correctional work, Support for rehabilitation, and Sources of motivation for correctional work), the number of positive responses by women recruits to the statements presented is higher than those by men;
4. Initially, for Human service orientation, the number of positive responses by women recruits to the statements is higher, howewer, both gender groups increased overtime;
5. On five other measurement scales, the number of positive responses by both gender groups to shows a steady decrease: Support for deterrence (fewer positive responses by the women to the statements presented), Social desirability (more positive perceived self-image among the men), Intrinsic job motivation (decrease for women), Correctional self-efficacy (decrease for women), and Credibility (decrease for women);
6. The 147 recruits expressed higher levels of general motivation after 3 months on CTP;
7. Overall, 86 (37%) participants (46 men and 40 women) did not complete CTP and the research. Among those the non-completers, 74 (86%) were not successful in the CTP and others withdrew for various reasons. No significant differences emerged between recruits who completed CTP and participated in the research and those who did not on gender, age, education, or having dependents. However, it was observed that a substantially higher percentage of recruits did not complete CTP in the Atlantic (75%) and Prairies (69%) regions versus the Quebec (30%), Ontario (29%) and Pacific (26%) regions. Also found was that a high percentage of Aboriginal (57%) and visible minority recruits (57%) did not complete CTP. From the battery of measurement scales, a greater acceptance of deterrence and a lower sense of responsibility were more characteristic of those who did not complete CTP.

Regardless of gender, individuals may have skills, advantages, disadvantages, and other reasons for becoming a correctional officer that can be found in either group. Of course this does not rule out the fact there maybe gender-specific characteristics. As well, descriptive differences may exist without surfacing in statistical form.

Beyond statistics, an interest in interpersonal relations appears to be the best motivation for anyone wishing to engage in correctional work.

Phase three, the last phase, will conclude this study with an examination of the 147 recruits behaviours and attitudes as they begin correctional work.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgements
• Executive Summary
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Participation Levels and Questionnaire Schedule
• Dropouts and Other Forms of Attrition

• Pre A Questionnaire
• 1) Recruit profile information
• 2) Health and lifestyle
• 3) Advantages and disadvantages of correctional work
• 4) Attitudes towards correctional work
• 5) Attitudes towards inmates
• 6) Support for rehabilitation
• 7) Deterrence
• 8) Human service orientation
• 9) Social desirability
• 10) Sources of motivation for correctional work
• 11) Intrinsic job motivation
• 12) Correctional self-efficacy
• 13) Pre-Correctional Officer recruit expectations of training

• Pre B Questionnaire
• 1) Pre-group environment questionnaire
• 2) Pre-Correctional Officer social cohesiveness
• 3) Pre-credibility

• Post Questionnaire
• 1) Recruit profile information
• 2) Health and lifestyle
• 3) Advantages and disadvantages of correctional work
• 4) Attitudes towards correctional work
• 5) Attitudes towards inmates
• 6) Support for rehabilitation
• 7) Deterrence
• 8) Human service orientation
• 9) Social desirability
• 10) Sources of motivation for correctional work
• 11) Intrinsic job motivation
• 12) Correctional self-efficacy
• 13) Post-Correctional Officer recruit perceptions of training
• 14) Post-group environment questionnaire
• 15) Post-Correctional Officer social cohesiveness
• 16) Post-credibility

• Discussion of Findings
• Drop Modeling and Prediction
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• References

Introduction

After passing the first selection tests, men and women from many backgrounds, from all parts of the country and, as we shall see, for a broad range reasons, went to take CTP in their respective regions: Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies and Pacific. Some sought a new job opportunity, others had happened to see a hiring announcement, and some had already worked in a related field; others had not. Most participants did not know each other or realize that they shared certain specific characteristics, apprehensions, objectives, and the need to succeed at something new: learning a trade with peace officer status, ⁴ a difficult occupation that is not at all well known.

⁴ This status is conferred under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, Part I.

Together, men and women, Aboriginal persons and members of visible minorities, the young and the not so young, regardless of education and work experience, would experience many challenges during these first three months of training. A number of them would fail written tests at various times throughout the three-month elimination period, which covered over 95 learning modules (criminal law, legislation, regulations, case management, principles and theories of criminology, and crisis situations - not to mention problem-solving, self-defence, role-playing exercises, and firearms handling). Others, for various reasons, would opt simply to drop out because of another job offer, resignation, or such things as injury or illness requiring their temporary or permanent withdrawal from CTP.

Given the multiplicity of the questions, that made up the questionnaires used during this study, covering 16 themes including 13 measurement scales, a number of choices were necessary to ensure that the presentation of the questions was as unforbidding to the responders as possible. This was particularly true since, according to Sainsaulieu (1977), statistically monitored collective behaviours tend to provide a generalized picture of human relationships and, given certain trends, it is important not to jump to conclusions. Bearing this caveat in mind, and in order to ensure public observability and reproducibility for all the periods covered by this study in its entirety, we read the data using two types of analysis:⁵ descriptive and psychometric.⁶

⁵ Although the scope of this study goes beyond that of a laboratory analysis conducted in the field (staff colleges and penitentiaries) using six questionnaires over a 15-month period, the author wishes to point out how important it is to avoid certain quantitative excesses when reading theories of organizational or environmental psychology on transforming perceptual data into ratios. These data not only change constantly, but also will extend well beyond this initial 15-month period to cover participants' entire institutional careers.

⁶ T-test, logistic regression (Menard, 2002; Hosmer & Lemeshow, 2000), repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), chi-square tests, Cronbach alpha and McNemar's test (Siegel & Castellan, 1988). The McNemar's test is a non-parameter test dealing with a dichotomic Pre / Post variable, here Pre - and Post -CTP.

In this second part, the wording and complementary references for each of themes merely provide further support for the literature review presented in the first previous report. Accordingly, for all references not cited in the bibliography for this second report, please refer to Correctional Officer Recruits and the Prison Environment: A Research Framework R-146 (Bensimon, 2004).

Please note that the present version is a translation of the original French entitled: Examen de la période de formation collégiale chez les futurs agents de correction.

Participation Levels and Questionnaire Schedule

Following Correctional Officer Recruits and the Prison Environment: A Research Framework (Bensimon, ibid.) , this phase two of a series of three covers the period of CTP, that is, solely the period spent at a staff college. During this period, at various intervals, the participants were each given three questionnaires: the Pre A questionnaire (distributed in class on the first day of training at the staff college); the Pre B questionnaire (distributed seven days later); and the Post questionnaire (distributed at the end of CTP, that is, during the last week of the third month of classes).

In each of the five CSC administrative regions, the staff college had its own CTP class schedule, with start and end dates as follows:

⁷ Four recruits in this group belong to the Atlantic Region but will be counted as part of that group only when they are assigned to an institution (the Nova Institution) in their home region, that is, in phase three of this study.

For the Pre A questionnaire, although not given any time limit, the recruits took between one-and-one-half and two hours to respond to 13 themes including 10 measurement scales; the same time was allowed for the Post questionnaire). On the first day of CTP, in all five CSC administrative regions, 233  Pre A questionnaire participants responded to its 169 questions. Attrition was 0 participants, for a participation rate of 100%.

The Pre B questionnaire, with 20 questions and three measurement scales and taking barely a quarter of a hour to complete, was intended to provide initial observations of the group of recruits, the choice of a career as a correctional officer, and CTP itself, as perceived by each participant. The  Pre B questionnaire was completed by 227 of 233 participants. Attrition was 6 participants, for a participation rate of 97.4%.

The Post questionnaire includes the Pre A and Pre B questions, in 16 themes including 13 measurement scales with a total of 182 questions,⁸ to provide an observation comparing what the recruits anticipated on the first day of their training, what they learned, and the reality that was presented to them during these 12 weeks of intensive training. The Post questionnaire was completed by 147 of 227 participants. Attrition was 80 participants, for a participation rate of 63%.

⁸ In this study, only seven nominal qualitative variables appear in the Pre A questionnaire alone: date of birth (DOB), gender (GENDER), race (RACE), education (EDU), specialties (SPECIAL), work experience (WKEXP), and find employment (FDEMP).

Overall then during the period of CTP, that is, solely the period spent at a staff college, a total of 378 questions were presented to each participant. Total attrition non-completers during this period (that is, all participants who did not complete CTP) amounted to 86 participants, or 37% of the initial recruits.

Six themes that form part of the overall study were not measured during this phase two portion (that is, the period spent at a staff college): Empathy, Organizational commitment, Job satisfaction, Job stress, Role conflicts, and Supervisory support. These six themes will be analysed using questionnaires in phase threee covering three phases of work in an institution (at intervals of three months, six months and one year).

If the number of persons who did not respond to one or more questions is taken into account, 226 participants responded to the 189 questions on the 13 measurement scales from the Pre A and Pre B questionnaires presented in the following table (each quantitative variable has been assigned a numeric value):

Descriptive Statistics – 13 Measurement Scales

If we consider only the questions with open variables to which more than 10% of participants responded (recruit profile information, advantages and disadvantages of correctional work, health and lifestyle), according to the logistic regression in the Summary of Processing of Observations table below, 189 out of 233 participants responded to all these questions. This participation rate, too, is appreciable:

Summary of Processing of Observations Participation Rate

The statistical distribution of the two gender groups (123 men and 110 women) for these 13 measurement scales is as follows:

Group Statistics Distribution Men and Women

The mean from each of these measurement scales was compared by gender using an Independent Sample Test.

In the Independent Sample Test (13 scales) (p. 8 and 9), a number of these measurement scales are significant (but caution must be exercised, given the multiplicity of tests run):

1. Attitudes towards correctional work (p =.001);
2. Support for rehabilitation (p = .001);
3. and Pre -correctional officer recruit expectations of training (p = .005).

Independent Sample Test (13 Scales)

Before elaborating further on these 16 themes, however, we must acknowledge the effect of vicinity, or the spatial factor (involving field, placement, and constant movement within a field) on why some individuals manage to pass a series of tests while others do not. To what extent does vicinity,⁹ the intensity of which varies with participants' situation and role during a given period (here, during their occupational training), affect success and all forms of attrition? In the following section we shall attempt to answer this question.

⁹ Here, vicinity means all types of spatial closeness and movement. Examples are behaviour- and attitude-related affinities and interests, regardless of subject or object (Maisonneuve, 1966).

Dropouts and Other Forms of Attrition

The decision to begin with this topic was not made by chance or on a purely methodological basis, but primarily out of respect for the individuals who agreed to participate in this study. In any study that uses volunteers,¹⁰ too often attrition in all its forms (failure, refusal to participate, resignation, lack of interest, or simply dropping out) is still a field left fallow. Although attrition shows up in statistical data, too often we spend our time looking elsewhere.

¹⁰ The term "participant" was chosen because it implies a much more active approach by group members to the occupation and its pre-established locations than does the much less active approach implied by the term "respondent".

Whatever reasons are given for this lack of continuity, it is nevertheless true that all the individuals whose names were on the CTP list were indeed selected in the hope that they would complete this training, which theoretically would have been followed by a year-long period on the job and completed with a position as a correctional officer. All of these individuals then, whether they completed training or not, are important.

In addition, we must remember that these individuals thought that their hard work and numerous sacrifices (unpaid training, returning to school as an adult, deadlines, examinations on which hinged ongoing training, and family responsibilities on a very tight budget), would pay off in terms of a new career. For this reason too, all of these individuals, whether they completed training or not, are important.

We must therefore take the time to ask ourselves a few questions. Is there a factor or indicator that could distinguish the recruits who passed from those who completed CTP from who continued from those who resigned? Is there a specific profile or characteristic that distinguishes those who resigned or refused to participate from the others that could help us better understand a possible error in our questionnaire presentation, objective or structure (although the questionnaire has no direct relationship with failure other than the fact that withdrawal from CTP automatically means withdrawal from the study)?

Of the 249 initial participants registered for CTP, including the 15 persons (9 men and 6 women) who did not show up at the staff college for the first day of training,¹¹ 233 persons participated in the Pre A questionnaire. From a purely epistemological point of view, the participation rate in the initial stage of a study involving questionnaires in a specific location (here, a staff college) and with a specific group (here, correctional officer recruits) is usually very high and then, for various reasons, rapidly declines. This high participation rate in the initial stage (the Pre A questionnaire) can be largely explained by six factors:

¹¹ Data on these recruits, identified by a CTP class code, are not analysed in phase two, but were included by region in phase one, Correctional Officer Recruits and the Prison Environment: A Research Framework, at p. 49.

1. the specific nature of participants, in a closed location and on the first day of CTP;
2. the fact that the participants knew they were being observed by various forms of authority (Matalon, 1988) and called onto the carpet, given the importance attached to CSC's first study on its own employees¹² (here, correctional officer recruits);
3. most likely a strong desire to please (Blalock, 1972) or simply to conform to the persons in a position of authority who presented the objectives of this study;
4. the fact that the participants were also members of a group, selected for numbers and for specific reasons, who were not in a position to dispute the justification of the study;
5. fear of refusing to participate, although the protocol of agreement left recruits free to agree to participate or not; and
6. simply out of belief and adjustment to behaviours apparently sought by the questionnaire.

¹² This study should not be confused with surveys carried out in the past.

As a result, no recruits in any of the five CSC administrative regions or the 10 CTP classes refused to participate in the Pre A questionnaire, and the attrition rate at this stage was zero.

Dropouts and other forms of attrition began to appear only in the second week of CTP and continued over the following 10 weeks. A total of 86 participants eventually withdrew during the period spent at the staff college (6 during the Pre B questionnaire, and 80 during the Post questionnaire).

Concerning the specific nature of the questionnaire themes and the reasons for all forms of attrition, each question will record whether habits change over time, not only in terms of tobacco use and alcohol consumption, but also in terms of the participants' perceptions of change in their immediate environment. Participants may indicate a certain answer or check off a certain statement on a measurement scale in the Pre A questionnaire, continue to provide the same responses in the Post questionnaire and the questionnaire distributed after three months of working in an institution, and then indicate an entirely different response in the questionnaires administered after six months and one year. As was noted in the introduction, changes in responses over time reflect sequential changes in the participants that may not be evident to them and may cause them to stop participating.

A second question is, if a participant who has never taken antihistamines starts taking them after six months of working in an institution, whether there is a relationship and, if so, whether it is significant.

For persons responding to each of the questions, boredom may rapidly lead to disinterest and will inevitably increase the number of dropouts from the study. Of course, although the process itself was clearly explained in the classroom on the morning of the first day of CTP, the participants may find the repetition of certain parts of the questionnaires redundant or feel that they have already answered all the questions in the previous questionnaire.

Nor, as we shall see in the final report, should the prison environment be underestimated. Later, on the job, the purpose of a study fades in the minds of participants unless it is reactivated by the same persons who explained why it was important: the content of the questionnaire appears to reflect another time, the period spent at a staff college, since which time participants have been in contact with many other realities.

In order to offset these forms of attrition from the study, particularly for the questionnaires covering intervals of three months, six months and one year of working in an institution, a follow-up e-mail message was sent to each CTP class in all the CSC five administrative regions, actively encouraging participants to continue with the study. A number of recruits who had not read the questionnaires because of a change of assignment or had simply forgotten to return them were personally asked to do so, and were reminded that the study was a first at CSC and that would produce results only with their full and complete participation.

Although this point is not made explicit in the questionnaires, the syntax of the questions (Likert scales from 1  to 5 or from 1 to 7) gives the participants some latitude in terms of response options. Although the questions are not always clear, a number of them are as worded by their authors, and the present author was not responsible for changing wording that may have left something to be desired.

That said, regardless of linguistic shortcomings, on the study as a whole only 11 handwritten comments in the margins or on the cover pages of the questionnaires, indicate that a question is repeated more than once or that a statement, not a question, is meant. For reasons of objectivity the present author does not consider it necessary to belabour these points, particularly since random responses can readily be identified using axiomatic logic. As well, during the 15-month CTP period, from all five CSC administrative regions, two isolated questionnaires were returned (one at the six-month interval and one at the one-year interval of working in an institution) on which zigzag responses (from 1 to 7 and from 7 to 1) led to the questionnaires being considered void. That said, from an enumeration of the reasons given for dropouts and other forms of attritions among 86 participants, seven clearly stand out:

1. 74 failures were directly related to CTP (theoretical and practical examinations);
2. 7 participants did not respond to the Post questionnaire or voluntarily withdrew as was allowed in the protocol of agreement;
3. 1 participant resigned (to take another job, in policing);
4. 1 participant withdrew for medical reasons;
5. 1 participant withdrew because of injury during training;
6. 1 participant withdrew because of illness; and
7. 1 questionnaire was lost in the mail.

If we include the seven participants who did not respond to the Post questionnaire, the 1 participant who resigned to take another job, the 1 participant who withdrew for medical reasons, the 1 participant who withdrew because of injury during training, the 1  participant who withdrew because of illness, and the 1 questionnaire that was lost in the mail, we have a total of 86 participants lost through attrition (by 46 men and 40 women) from across the five CSC administrative regions over the first 12 weeks of CTP. Thus, after the various written examinations, there remained a total of only 147 participants in CTP at a staff college who were to be assigned to institutions in accordance with pre-established needs set by the regions during the initial CTP period. Further attritions were to follow at each of the three later intervals, of three months, six months and one year.

For comparison purposes, in a 1988 study (although in a non-Canadian context), Kauffman calculated a 20% dropout rate during the first year of assignment to federal institutions. This rate is very high indeed, not only primarily from a human point of view, but also from the point of view of the training costs incurred.

About the actual number of persons who dropped out even before showing up for the first day of CTP at a staff college, our only information is demographic. The reasons these 15 persons dropped out are unknown since, as has been noted, they were not enumerated in the list of dropouts and other forms of attrition in the Pre A questionnaire.

The nature and number of dropouts and other forms of attrition tend to show that CTP is not undertaken lightly. This occupational training demands not only implicit physical ability (even though less emphasis has been placed on physical ability since October 2002, when physical testing as a prerequisite was eliminated),¹³ but also considerable ability to quickly assimilate the 95 learning modules. While not jumping to conclusions (for reasons that we shall see), we can explain these dropouts in terms of the series of examinations on the general subject matter¹⁴ including tests of shooting ability.

¹³ Following an investigation by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Correctional Officer Physical Ability Test (COPAT) was eliminated because it did not meet the requirements set out in the Employment Equity Act. COPAT had been identified as a barrier to employability for women, Aboriginal persons, and members of visible and other minorities.

¹⁴ Subject matter included the CSC mission, the criminal justice system, types of criminal behaviour, intervention techniques, case management, internal and external resources, ability to communicate orally and in writing, and analytic, motivational and organizational abilities.

In response to certain questions, all the following statistical analyses, presented in table form, were carried out using chi-square tests in order to measure the association of variables and t-tests in order to measure equality of means. These questions were as follows.

1) Would there be a difference in number of dropouts among the men and among the women?

Answer :

In both the Pre A and the Post questionnaires, there is no significant difference between man and women, which have attrition rates of 37.4% and 36.4% respectively:

2) What effect does education have on CTP completion?

While physical characteristics are not factors that can eliminate participants during the selection process CTP, theoretically, at least, persons with more education would be expected to complete the program.

Answer :

Although the results are not significant, out of 86 participants who did not complete the Post questionnaire, 32 have a university degree, 27 a college diploma, and 27 a secondary school diploma. Thus higher education does not correspond to success in CTP since, although in each group the amount of attrition reflects the number of participants, 39% of university graduates did not complete CTP, the highest attrition rate among the three groups of all those participated:

That said, this self-identification question does not tell us whether participants were in undergraduate or graduate programs or whether they completed their studies. If participants with a university and with a college education are combined, between successful and unsuccessful CTP participants there is a 78% participants as compared with 68%.¹⁵

¹⁵ This figure includes all participants who did not respond to the Post questionnaire. The number of persons who did not respond (7%) is not significant.

For the moment, the initial hypothesis of Job Satisfaction (Bensimon, ibid.; Morgeson & Campion, 1997) linking dropouts to higher education cannot be corroborated since its results covered only a very short period (three months), not several years in a single occupation. Other variables combining highly diverse personal aspirations may eventually explain dropouts. These variables may include fear of and the nature of repetitive duties, lack of autonomy, limited career horizons, and anticipation of negative situations, and they will undoubtedly affect various social spheres after a few years of service.

Nevertheless, where education is concerned, ongoing training provided by the employer allows individuals to develop their knowledge and, if desired, to pursue a university education in accordance with a pre-established schedule and an annual performance evaluation within a defined career plan.

3) Does age play a role CTP completion?

Answer :

An examination, a reading of the data indicates no difference between those complete or do not complete CTP: the average age being 32.

Group Statistics

4) Are participants who are parents disadvantaged?

Answer :

Although among Post participants single individuals are still the largest group, a reading of the following table indicates no significant difference between participants with one or more dependent children and those with no children:

Thus family responsibilities do not appear to place recruits at a disadvantage in terms of training. Accommodation for participants from distant regions and meals except for lunch are covered by the staff college. That said, recruits have no guarantee whatsoever that they will pass their occupational training. Furthermore, recruits are not paid for their time for the duration of the CTP. For participants who are in a relationship with or without children, this situation demands a sufficient income to meet the most basic needs and, in particular, a great deal of courage and determination to learn this trade.

To this courage and determination is added the perverse effect of competition between those who will remain and those who will drop out, and between those who will quickly form part of the group for various reasons and those who will question their own motives for choosing this new and uncommon career.

5) Could one or more of the 16 themes (13 scales) explored during the three months of training have been decisive in determining success or dropping out?

Answer :

In this phase two, certain trends identified in the Independent Sample Tests (13 scales) table show a number of significant observations with regard to these 13 scales, including a greater acceptance of deterrence among those did not complete CTP and lower sense of responsibility among the same group.

This interpretation must be taken with care, however. It may be that the recruits became disappointed by their choice of career over time or simply show resistance to what they had perceived as secondary or not really important.

All work assigned to CSC employees is based on guidelines, values and the overarching principle of the rule of law, which must not only be learned and understood but also systematically applied, and a number of individuals may not have realized this fact during the first three months of training.

Independent Sample Tests (13 scales)

According to the phase two Group Statistics table, there is no significant difference between participants who pass and those who drop out of CTP on any of the 13 measurement scales (for the Post period):

Group Statistics

Two additional factors separate CTP participants who complete from those who drop out. The first of these is location: nationally, 36.9% of the participants did not complete CTP. However, two regions had substantially higher rates of attition: Atlantic (75%) and Prairies (69.2%):

The second of these remaining factors is race. According to this factor, of the 86 non-completers, 46 were Caucasians, 20 were Aboriginal persons, and 20 were members of visible minorities (the failure rate was the same in the latter two groups).

With the same failure rate of 57%, the last two groups, Aboriginal persons and members of visible minorities, are the groups most affected by dropouts:

Training future professionals calls for long-term investments. A reading of these data, observed from September 23, 2002 to October 3, 2003 during the staff college training period, showed us how little these responses highlight the vital importance we must attach to CSC philosophy in hiring candidates, here future correctional officers. Two former studies, the first in 1985 with Walher & Gendreau and the second with Simourd in 1997, showed how decisive attitudinal and behavioural abilities related to the five key CSC values (respect, desire to learn and to change, integrity, results-orientedness, and teamwork) could be, in the short and the medium terms, regardless of individuals' social status, gender, work experience or education.

A recent study has shown that, out of a sample of 1,357 recruits, 177 (13%) correctional officers left CSC within 30 months of being hired (CSC, 2001). This figure is relatively important if we consider that, in the present study, out of 233 participants, 126 chose to learn this trade for the job stability (extrinsic motivation). In the United States, in 1998 alone, turnover among public-sector security employees in correctional institutions was as follows: 63% remained, 15% retired; and 22% left that occupation for unknown reasons (Workforce Associates, 2004; Blakely & Bumphus, 2004).

The needs of the prison population, advances in the behavioural sciences, offenders' attitude towards the clinical aspect of available programs, and ever-greater ethnic diversity¹⁶ demand that correctional officers be fully in agreement with the mission of rehabilitation conferred on the CSC by law. This concern for investing in both the selection process and human capital is all the more crucial given that three-quarters of recruits will quite likely spend their entire working lives with CSC (Tellier et al., 2001).

¹⁶ This greater ethnic diversity reflects migration patterns.

Employees' contribution to the rehabilitation process and their agreement with the values of the CSC mission remain crucial in the selection of new correctional officers. This selection has been the subject of a number of additional studies, including that by the Ohio Correction Assessment Center (Stickrath & Sheppard, 2004).

Pre A Questionnaire

This first section does not take attrition into account and thus includes data on all participants, including those who did not complete the training. That said, the critical mass of responses must be read with great caution: the data indicate change, since what a participant stated on the first day is not necessarily what the same participant stated after three months. For this reason, the Pre A questionnaire provides only a descriptive statistical presentation, differentiated by gender alone. Some variables such as age group and education, and their effects on responses by participants who passed and those who failed, will be covered only in the section on the Post questionnaire, and will allow us to draw up cross-classification tables between these two periods.

The questions in the Pre A, Pre B and Post questionnaires are indicated in the order given to participants, in sections (1 to 5), not by theme.¹⁷

¹⁷ See Appendix 1.

1) Recruit profile information

We begin this first section with a series of demographic variables indicating the overall profile of the 233 recruits on a national basis.

1) Age

Out of 10 classes and a total of 233 participants, the average age among men and women in the five regions was 32.3¹⁸ with a standart deviation of 7.5. They ranged in age from 20 to 53, suggesting that while some are starting their first career, others are likely starting their second or even third career:

¹⁸ Age is calculated on the first day of CTP of the last class in each region.

The average age among the men (33.9) is higher than that among the women (30.6):

Among both the men and the women, this average age appears to show that recruits' background includes much more extensive relational experience than that of persons in many other occupations, where learning begins in a person's early 20s. It should be emphasized that the age group between age 20.5 and age 52.6 is not unaffected by the falling birthrate of the 1970s, economic factors and, in some cases, the choice to begin a second or even a third career (Foot & Stoffman, 2000). These factors did not affect members of the previous generation, who were able to spend their entire working lives in the same field and often in the same location.¹⁹ That situation is found among correctional officers with 20 or more years of service, unlike those who began their careers in the early 2000s.

¹⁹ Reference is made here to members of the "baby-bust" generation, as opposed to baby boomers, born from the mid-1940s to the early 1960s.

No significant differences in age were observed in relation to race:

2) Marital status

Of the participants:

• 101 (43.3%) were single (36 men and 65 women);
• 116 (49.8%) were married or living in a common-law relationship: 78 men and 38 women;
• 16 (6.9%) were separated or divorced: 9 men and 7 women; and
• 0 were widowed.

3) Gender

Of the participants, 123 (52.8%) were men and 110 (47.2%) were women:

4) Do you have any children? 1) Yes 2) No

Of the participants, 113 had one or more children. Of these parents, 15 were single, 84 were married or living in a common-law relationship, and 14 were separated or divorced. The percentage of participants with children is not negligible among persons entering a second or even third career:

5) Region of selection

Of the 233 participants, the regional breakdown was as follows:

6) What language(s) do you speak?²⁰

²⁰ Responses to this question indicate self-identification, not official certification of official languages proficiency.

English : Of the participants, 194 (83.3%) stated that they spoke English.

French : Of the participants, 72 (30.9%) stated that they spoke French.

Other language(s) : Although other languages were not specified, 26 (11.2%) participants stated that they spoke a language other than English or French; 1 participant did not respond to this question:

7) Race

Distribution of the participants by race is as follows:

• 163 (70%) were Caucasians;
• 35 (15%) were Aboriginal persons; and
• 35 (15%) were members of visible minorities.

By region, this distribution is as follows:

8) What is the highest level of education that you have achieved?

Secondary school level : Of the participants, 59 (25.3%) were secondary school graduates (37 men and 22 women), of whom 34 were Caucasian, 20 Aboriginal persons, and 5 members of visible minorities.

College level : Of the participants, 92 (39.5%) were college graduates (46 men and 46 women), of whom 71 were Caucasian, 11 Aboriginal persons, and 10 members of visible minorities.

University level : Of the participants, 82 (35.2%) were university graduates (40 men and 42 women) of whom 58 were Caucasian, 4 Aboriginal persons, and 20 members of visible minorities.

A noteworthy point is that, among the three groups, members of visible minorities had the highest percentage of participants with a university degree (57.1%):

9) If you have completed post-secondary training, did you specialize in corrections, criminology, criminal justice or related specialities (law and security)?

To this question, 11 (4.7%) participants did not respond; 113 (48.5%) participants had studied in a related field:

Pre A -Demo-Q5: SPECIAL

10) Please identify any related work experience.

Twenty-two participants (9.4%) did not respond to this question.

Policing : Of those who did respond, 13 (5.6%) had taken police training. Twenty-two participants (9.4%) did not respond to this question.

Security : Of those who did respond, 75 (32.2%) had work experience in the field of security. Twenty-two participants (9.4%) did not respond to this question.

Military : Of those who did respond, 20 (8.6%) had had a period of employment in the military. Twenty-two participants (9.4%) did not respond to this question.

Case worker : Of those who did respond, 57 (24.5%) had a background in social work. Twenty-two participants (9.4%) did not respond to this question.

Other : Of those who did respond, 100 had experience in various activities other than those listed. Twenty-one participants (9 %) did not respond to this question.

Of the participants, 41 stated that they had worked in two or more of these five occupational fields. Of this number, 30 had work experience in the field of security; 24 had experience in various activities other than those listed; 19 had a background in social work; and 11 had had a period of employment in the military. In total, then, the backgrounds of 108 (46%) participants out of 233 included the elements of order, surveillance and wearing a uniform.

11) How did you find out about this employment opportunity?

All the participants responded to this question.

• Applied through a job bank (Internet) : 16 (6.9%).
• Friends of mine who are correctional officers : 66 (28.3%).
• Family members who are correctional officers : 29 (12.4%).
• Advertising (media, job fair, etc.) : 42 (18%).
• Other : 105²¹ (45.1%).

²¹ "Other" may mean happenstance in a local setting (construction of a penitentiary in an outlying area with priority hiring for local residents) or an educational setting (classroom presentation on correctional officers and other careers in the criminal justice field).

12) What skill(s) do you feel you possess that will best assist you as a Correctional Officer? Please list a maximum of three.²²

²² See Appendix 2: this is the first of the qualitative questions, in which the words indicated by participants in the space provided are grouped using a series of key words. Although in a given questionnaire a key word may be used more than once, no key word is used in more than two of the qualitative questions, or used twice in the same qualitative question.This is true for all four qualitative questions, which give participants the option of indicating whatever words came to mind.

Possible opinions about an occupation have to do both with its emotional attractiveness in terms of assumed economic and social advantages and with the specific characteristics that distinguish it from other occupations (Cambon, 2004; Beauvois, 1995).

For this question, participants listed in writing the main skills they felt would assist them in their future occupation. In order not to waste energy on each and every skill noted or on certain frequencies that have no effect on the data (polarization of the Pre A questionnaire), while still not losing any factors that, as has been noted, will recur in the Post questionnaire, we retain only the frequencies by gender that are higher than 10 (5%).

Two themes emerge very clearly from this self-identification question:

1. empathy, with 156 responses from the 233 participants (66.7%);
2. and integrity on the job, with 150 responses (64.1%).

Far behind came: teamwork, with 37 responses (15.9%); sense of responsibility, with 34 (14.6%); and desire to learn and human experience, both with 30 (12.9%). At the bottom end of responses to this question that elicited extremes, good physical condition (ns) and affinity for security work (ns) were each noted by only 4 participants (1.7%). It should be noted that the participants themselves assigned priorities to the skills they noted, and that a number of these key words recur in the three other qualitative questions.

2) Health and lifestyle²³

²³ In the questionnaire given to the participants, the next two questions are numbered 9 and 10.

Tobacco

1) Do you use tobacco products? 1) Yes 2) Never

2) If you smoke, on average how many cigarettes a day do you smoke?

1) 1-4 2) 5-9 3) 10-19 4) 20-29 5) 30 or more

Out of 232 participants (1 did not respond), 66 (28.4%) stated that they smoked (29 men and 37 women). Overall, about three quarters (76.2%) of the men said they smoked compared to two thirds (66.4%) of the women. This raw figure (if significant) will be analysed only later, at intervals of three months, six months and one year in an institutional setting. That said:

The average number of cigarettes smoked per day is from five to nine, regardless of gender. Overall, almost two-thirds (65%) of smokers smoked nine or less cigarettes per day while just over a third (34.9%) smoked between 10 and 30 per day. Three participants did not respond to this question about frequency smoking.

Alcohol consumption

This theme might have placed participants in an extremely delicate situation, particularly on the first day of training and may reflect alcohol consumption much lower than is actually the case. The upshot is that, in order to avoid being stigmatized, 25 participants did not respond at all to questions 2 and 3 (questions 11 and 13 as presented in the questionnaire).

1) Do you drink alcohol (beer, wine, coolers, or hard liquor)?

1) Yes 2) I've never used alcohol.

Of the participants, one did not respond and 211 (90.9%), divided evenly between men (105) and the women (106), acknowledged that they consumed alcohol:

2) In the last three months, how many times did you have five or more drinks on one occasion?

Where frequency of alcohol consumption is concerned, with 27 participants not responding, 53 participants (26 men and 27 women) indicated once; 54 participants (25 men and 29 women) indicated from two to three times; and 18 participants (14 men and 4 women) indicated from four to six times:

3) During an average week, how many days do you have at least one drink of alcohol?

With 25 participants not responding, 47 participants (30 men and 17 women) indicated once a week, and 23 participants (14 men and 9 women) indicated from two to three times a week:

As is the case for tobacco and alcohol, the following theme of drugs or medication will be analysed using the consumption curve after the participants are assigned to an institution, at intervals of three months, six months and one year.

Drugs or medication

4) How often do you use the following over-the-counter drugs or medication?

To this question, one participant did not respond.

a) Painkillers (Tylenol, Aspirin, etc.)

• About once a week : 27 (11 men and 16 women).
• About once a month : 68 (22 men and 46 women).
• Rarely or never : 133 (88 men and 45 women):

b) Antacids (Tums, Rolaids, Maalox, etc.)

To this question, 9 participants did not respond.

• About once a week : 9 (4 men and 5 women).
• About once a month : 27 (16 men and 11 women).
• Rarely or never : 186 (99 men and 87 women):

c) Antihistamines (Seldane, Hismanal, etc.)

To this question, 8 participants did not respond.

• About once a month : 9 (4 men and 5 women).
• Rarely or never : 212 (115 men and 97 women):

3) Advantages and disadvantages of correctional work

1) There are advantages (benefits) and disadvantages (downsides) to any job. What do you consider are some of the advantages and disadvantages that go along with being a Correctional Officer? Please list what you consider are the advantages of the position of a Correctional Officer.

Among the participants (whose average age was 30 for the women and 33 for the men), expectations appear more marked than they would be in a group that included 20-year-olds. Generally speaking, older participants have expectations and greater social recognition related to their past work experience.

That said, although extrinsic factors recur a number of times, interestingly, on the first day of training, helping relationships were ranked second. A reading of the data indicates the following priorities:

2) Please list what you consider are the disadvantages of the position of a Correctional Officer.

Since the participants had never worked as correctional officers, unlike the potentially measurable advantages (helping relationships, job stability, pay, and fringe benefits), the disadvantages that were listed anticipated actual working conditions. This anticipation was based more on mental images than on actual experience, since the participants were only at the theoretical learning stage and had not yet had any contact with the prison population.

Among disadvantages of this occupation listed by the participants, stress (unfavourable public opinion or lack of recognition) heads the list with 145 responses. Far behind, but interacting directly with anticipation of stress, are: negative environment and atmosphere, with 49 responses; occupational accidents (risk of violence, hostage-taking, suicide), with 47; and difficult client group, with 12.

Other responses included: difficulties of shift work (day, evening and night shifts, as well as weekends and holidays), with 82 responses; disagreements, with 18; limited social life, with 15; and routine, with 11:

3) Besides the advantages and disadvantages of being a Correctional Officer, there may be other reasons for becoming a Correctional Officer. For example, other members of your family are or have been a Correctional Officer. Please list them.

With 73 responses, outside influences (family members, friends and acquaintances) dominate responses to this question. Following this were, affinity for security work, with 49 responses; job stability, with 22; study in a related field, with 18; helping relationships, with 12; and promotion, with 12:

N.B.: The following data were formatted using Excel so that descriptive statistical analyses could be carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 13 (SPSS 13) software and Pearson chi-square correlation coefficients calculated. As well, the statistical significance of results of less than 5% (0.05) is indicated in second tables presenting the results of chi-square tests.

4) Attitudes towards correctional work²⁴

²⁴ At risk of issuing repeated warnings, the author reminds readers that a number of the following Pre A and Post questionnaire themes have more to do with participants' expectations than with reality since the Pre A questionnaire is given on the first day of CTP. As well, the inverted questions appear only in the Post section.

In this first series of 12 closed statements to which participants responded True or False, the group of 233 was divided between those with a positive vision of correctional work and those for whom this opportunity was based on considerations other than the actual purpose of the work for which they were initially selected. Still, for many participants, this very general vision could change over time depending on positive or negative reinforcements related to the environment and experience on the job.

1) For good reasons, the type of work we do in corrections has a bad image with the public.

To this question, 2 participants did not respond; 92 participants (49 men and 43 women) indicated True (39.8%); and 139 (74 men and 65 women) indicated False (60.2%):

Although social disapproval expressed in prison architecture (enclosure, walls and constraints) and extending to everyone working in correctional institutions was not a factor that surfaced in response to the qualitative question on the disadvantages of correctional work (since that question was semi-structured), in the view of 3% of the participants there is public stigma associated with correctional work. That same perception constitutes subjective baggage for 92 of the respondents to the present question, even before they begin work in this occupation.

As Mbanzoulou (ibid.) writes, in today's world, freedom and human rights have become so important that, however useful their duties, correctional officers confront people with the ambivalence of their feelings about the sentences imposed on inmates. As a result, writes Mbanzoulou, in the history of penitentiaries there has been a persistent inclination to conceal correctional workers and what they do.

2) One of the most rewarding elements of correctional work is that it is challenging.

Despite more negative than positive responses to the previous question on the public image of correctional work, to this question, 1 participant did not respond, and 205 (108 men and 97 women) agreed with this intrinsic factor of the challenging nature of correctional work:

Here again, as they anticipated possible incidents (riots, hostage-taking, injury) and without the benefit of experience on the job, the participants associated correctional work with a wide range of images of the prison atmosphere, including security alongside latent and omnipresent insecurity (unlike other justice-related occupations, where crime is intermittent), helping relationships, suspicion, and time management forever postponed.

Correctional officers are police officers " inside ", whose job is not to find and charge persons who have committed crimes, but to keep these persons and others like them, for whom being enclosed is a constant hindrance, in a closely restricted area.

3) If I had the choice, I'd much prefer to work with non-offenders than with offenders.

Aside from 3 participants who did not respond, 37 participants (31 men and 6 women) indicated True (16.1%), and 193 (90 men and 103 women) indicated False (83.9%):

It is surprising, to say the least, that on the first day of CTP, outside the prison environment, 37 participants (6 women) whose primary role and responsibilities would be those of correctional officers working with inmates acknowledged that, if they had the choice, they would much prefer working with quite a different client group.

4) If it wasn't for the good pay, I would probably not choose a career in the field of corrections.

To this question 4, 2 participants did not respond, 213 (107 men and 106 women) indicated False, and 18 men and women acknowledged that they while the vast majority of 92.2% chose correctional work solely on the basis of pay. Previously, in response to an open question on the advantages of correctional work, 77 participants indicated pay. The present, more subtle question is intended to provide closer focus by isolating pay as a single objective:

In a study on motivational synergy, Amabile (1993) notes that persons are extrinsically motivated when the work is merely an activity that achieves objectives unrelated to the work itself. We shall return to this theme later in exploring sources of motivation for correctional work, as adapted for this study from Weiss (ibid.), and also to intrinsic job motivation as analysed by War, Cook & Wall (ibid.).

5) While every job has its rewards, offenders are the most interesting and challenging types of people to work with.

Although this question may appear provocative, the questionnaire uses a balanced approach in order to measure attitudes from one extreme to the other. In response to this question, 4 participants did not respond, 133 (62 men and 71 women) indicated True , and 96 (by far mostly men) indicated False :

6) In general, there are more good things than bad things about having a career in corrections.

With 3 participants not responding, participants indicated that the advantages of correctional work clearly win out over the disadvantages. A total of 219 participants (115 men and 104 women) agreed that the advantages, taken together, clearly outweigh the disadvantages:

7) Being involved in the field of corrections gives me a personal sense of pride and accomplishment.

This question mainly assessed the values on a job well done, and belonging. Three participants did not respond, and 219 (116 men and 103 women) indicated True (95.2%):

8) Usually, I am not very proud to tell people that I earn my living working with offenders.

With one participant not responding, 216 participants (115 men and 101 women) indicated False in response to this question (93.1%):

9) Generally, I would prefer to have a job in a different field than corrections.

With one participant not responding, 213 participants (110 men and 103 women) indicated False in response to this question:

10) What most attracts me to corrections is the type of work I do, and not the pay, fringe benefits, or working conditions.

With 3 participants not responding, 173 participants (84 men and 89 women) stated that they were attracted by the nature of their future occupation. This question refers again to the advantages already indicated in the qualitative questions. However, nearly one-quarter of recruits (57) in the 10 CTP classes in all parts of the country indicated False in response to this question. In other words, 57 persons beginning CTP were doing so that had the same pay, fringe benefits or working conditions. This figure is thought-provoking in light of the expectations of CSC policies on and investment in training:

If this is the case, that is, if one-quarter of recruits on the first day of CTP are not even interested in the work, how can rehabilitation be reliably implemented?

11) I would have to agree that work in corrections is not a very respectable kind of job to have.

With one participant not responding, 217 (113 men and 104 women) indicated False in response to this question:

If peace officers' respectability is dissociated from what they do in the minds of even a small number of participants (15 or 6.5%), there may be some discrepancy between the candidate selection process and the learning process.

12) Working in corrections would be OK as long as you didn't have to deal with offenders directly.

To this question on attitudes towards correctional work, 1 participant did not respond, 223 (118 men and 105 women) indicated False, and 9 (4%) indicated True :

In varying degrees, this attrition from the purpose of correctional work is found at the hard core of each of these 12 statements. Although these questions appear innocuous, will the responses to them not be even more striking on the job with the prison population, than in a classroom barely three hours into the first day of CTP? We shall attempt to discover the answer to this question in analysing the data and in phase three of this longitudinal study.

5) Attitudes towards inmates²⁵

²⁵ Likert-type measurement scales (Likert's Organizational Profile, 1967) present various active statements, in gradations between two extremes, that measure degree of agreement. Here they express opinions and ideas, not facts. They are intended to be brief and adapted to the vocabulary of the sample so as not to distract participants.

In a study conducted nearly 20 years ago, Jurik & Musheno (1986) established a correlation between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in correctional officers' attitudes towards inmates, with a higher number of negative attitudes when motivation for choosing this occupation had more to do with security than with helping relationships. As Larivière & Robinson (ibid.) point out in their 1996 survey on the attitudes of federal correctional officers in all regions towards inmates, these employees apparently showed a more punitive and less empathetic attitude and moderate support for rehabilitation, in comparison with other groups of professionals working in the same field. In the opinion of these authors, agreement between the organization's values and employees' values has no major effect on recruitment, although there is a connection among attitudes towards inmates, stress, and job satisfaction.

That said, the 1994 study of 1,970 correctional officers had a response rate of 48%, and 83% of the respondents were men whose average age was 40 and who had an average of 11 years of experience in the prison environment.

Participants in the present study indicated their views on the first day of CTP using 34 statements to which very few participants did not respond.

1) Inmates are different from most people.

Of the 233 participants, 34 agreed with this statement (14.6%) and 42 (18.0%) were undecided:

2) Only a few inmates are really dangerous.

To this question, one participant did not respond. A total of 73 (31.5%) felt that the concept of dangerousness was much broader than the very limited wording " Only a few inmates ..." would indicate. Another 46 (19.8%) were undecided:

3) Inmates never change.

To this question, 3 participants did not respond. Despite a certain negative attitude towards the typical inmate profile, most participants by far (220 or 95.7%) indicated belief in change:

4) Most inmates are victims of circumstance and deserve to be helped.

To this question, one participant did not respond. Notwithstanding the response to the previous question (belief in change), 31 (13.3%) participants rejected helping relationships, and 69 (29.7%) were undecided:

5) Inmates have feelings like the rest of us.

To this question, one participant did not respond. Unlike the responses to the first question, the responses to this question by nearly all the participants (228 or 98.2%) were in agreement. Here, the concept of feelings is different from the inmate profile referred to above:

6) It is not wise to trust an inmate too far.

To this question, 3 participants did not respond. Concern for security and anticipation of danger resulted in a high number of the participants (148) who agreed with this statement, as compared with 30 who disagreed, and 52 who were undecided:

7) I think I would like a lot of inmates.

In the mid-1920s, Bogardus (1925) endeavoured to measure the distance individuals want between themselves and an ethnic group different from their own. To that end, he developed the Social Distance Scale, including questions such as, "Would you admit a black person to your street as a neighbour?" and, " Would you admit a black person to your club as a chum? " Along the same lines of analysing social distance, Melvin, Gramling & Gardner (ibid.) also study this type of questions, this time with regard to convicted criminals and correctional officers. Their questionnaire measures attitudinal and behavioural gradations, which form the basis for most of the themes used in the present study.

There is no significant difference between the number of participants who agree and the number who disagreed with the above statement. The two responses to this question, which, as will be seen during the three periods studied in an institution, will change and become much more specific. Also crucial in the phase two responses to this apparently equivocal question are the 116 (50.4%) undecided participants, among whom there were 16 more men than women. As well, 15 more women than men agreed with this statement.

To this question, 3 participants did not respond:

8) Bad institutional conditions just make an inmate more bitter.

All the participants responded to this question, most acknowledging or thinking (80.3%) that bad institutional conditions can influence inmates' attitudes and behaviours, and 31 (13.3%) remaining undecided:

9) Give inmates an inch and they will take a mile.

Here again, all the participants responded to this question, and there is no significant difference between the number of participants who disagreed (63) and the number who agreed (68) with this statement. There was, howewer, a large number (102 or 43.8%) who were undecided: