The Dangers of Short-Term Confinement: Indicators of Safety Risks Among Individuals in Jail.

Guided by the premise that an individual's safety may be more at risk when their routines, personal attributes, or lack of guardianship influence their opportunity for exposure to violence, we examined the factors that influenced victimization risks and safety perceptions among a representative sample of respondents incarcerated at a large Midwestern jail. Results showed that vulnerable individuals such as those who were victimized prior to their incarceration, and those who antagonized others such as those who perpetrated assault, were threatened more often, were more at risk of assault victimization, and perceived more dangerous conditions. Conversely, females and individuals with greater self-control were less likely to have experienced victimization and generally felt safer in jail.

Critical incident exposure among custody and noncustody correctional workers: Prevalence and impact of violent exposure to work-related trauma.

Background: Correctional workers are at high risk for exposure to trauma, both as direct violence and as threats to their safety and well-being. The distress associated with these critical incidents (CIs) affects mental and physical health. Current tools are limited for detecting CIs in this workforce and are therefore insufficient for addressing correctional worker trauma.

Suffering in Silence: Violence Exposure and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Jail Correctional Officers.

Objective: Correctional officers are exposed to violence more often than many other public service workers, yet little is known about the traumatic nature of these risks. We examine violence exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among a large, multi-facility sample of jail officers.

Method: One thousand three hundred and sixty five officers working in 20 jails were surveyed regarding background characteristics, exposure to violence at work, and post-traumatic stress symptoms measured by the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5).

Working on local time: Testing the job-demand-control-support model of stress with jail officers.

Purpose: The demands and consequences of the correctional workplace are well-documented, but researchers have yet to examine the correlates of work stress among a large multi-facility sample of jail officers. We framed our inquiry within the Job Demand-Control-Support model that has guided researchers in parallel studies of work stress among prison officers.

Method: Data on officers' background characteristics, job demands, work-related control or autonomy, support from coworkers or family members, safety risks, and work-related stress were examined across 1380 officers working in 19 jails.

The Impact of Inmate and Prison Characteristics on Prisoner Victimization.

A considerable amount of research has been directed at understanding the sources of inmate misconduct (offending within prison), whereas few studies have focused on identifying the causes and correlates of prisoner victimization. The sources of inmate victimization should be distinguished from those of offending, however, because the policy implications of each focus differ to some extent. In order to determine the predictors of inmate victimization and stimulate further research on the topic, we systematically reviewed studies of the causes/correlates of prisoner victimization published between 1980 and 2014.