Changing the Culture of Corrections

During the time of my tenure in corrections, most of the correctional leaders embraced a transactional leadership style since this was the style that I and most others were accustomed to. In short, transactional leadership emphasizes results and staying within the existing structure of the organization. Transactional leaders operate under a system of rewards and punishments. Since the organizational structure of corrections is essentially quasi-military, this particular leadership style was the “go-to” style for up and coming correctional administrators in the 1990s.

However, I found that I identified with, and related to, the transformational approach to leadership because it focused more on motivating and inspiring employees rather than constantly threatening them with disciplinary action. To this day, I still believe that job satisfaction, morale, and performance will improve if you value, empower, and take a genuine interest in your employees. Granted, disciplinary action is necessary from time to time, but I was looking for a change by focusing more on the positive aspects of leading rather than on the negative.

I have since expanded on the topic of transformational leadership by discussing the importance of incorporating emotional intelligence as a “must-have” in the toolbox of correctional leaders. Emotional intelligence is essentially a subcomponent of the larger transformational leadership style, but it is likely one of the most important leadership attributes, in my opinion.

Emotional intelligence is loosely defined as the capacity or ability to be aware of, control, and expression of one’s emotions as well as the ability or capacity to cope with interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. In other words, self-regulation of your own emotions and being able to “read” the body cues and emotions of others. Again, this was a skill that had already been popular within the fields of psychology and the private business sector but was less known in criminal justice circles because we, in criminal justice, have a tendency to do things the way they have always been done. You know, maintaining the status quo (aka- old school) mentality, and as a profession, we are largely resistant to change, even if it makes our jobs better. The adage, work smarter not harder is something I personally embrace.

Student

Source: Michael Pittaro

Emotional intelligence can be seen as a type of social intelligence, separable from general intelligence. To expand on the earlier definition, emotional intelligence is the ability to monitor our own emotions as well as that of others, but to also use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions. Emotional intelligence influences how we cope with disappointment, frustration, anger, and so forth by learning how to control our emotions. In corrections, this is 100 percent critical. Losing our temper could easily lead to an incident in which a correctional officer uses excessive force or worse yet, deadly force. As we know in corrections, an incident in which excessive force is confirmed is most often followed up with a civil suit by the injured prisoner or his/her family and in most cases, the prison will be found liable in the lawsuit.

Sanjay Kumar (2014) noted that one of the most prominent research developments involving emotional intelligence and transformational leadership is the confirmation of its utility for increasing organizational satisfaction, commitment, and effectiveness. Of all the various criminal justice professions, corrections has the unfortunate reputation of being the “stepping-stone” to other criminal justice positions. The high turnover rate, low morale and job satisfaction, only validate the need for adopting a transformational leadership approach that relies heavily on developing emotional intelligence in correctional administrators and officers.

Furthermore, Kumar emphasized the following:

• Emotional intelligence is critical to transformational leaders.
• Emotional intelligence is a strong predictor of job performance.
• Transformational leaders having higher emotional intelligence show better quality of work performance.
• Transformational leadership enhances organizational performance.
• Transformational leaders are frequently motivated to go beyond the call of duty for the benefit of their organization.
• Transformational leaders promote empowering cultural norms, high levels of subordinate motivation, commitment to quality, and enhanced productivity.
• Transformational leaders feel excited, enthusiastic, and engaged, thus energizing their followers.
• Transformational leaders use these strong emotions to arouse similar feelings in their followers through emotional intelligence.

In criminal justice, we predominantly focus on our physical wellbeing, but not nearly as much attention is dedicated to our emotional wellbeing. A healthy mind is equally important as a healthy body, if not more so. Emotional intelligence can help those of us in criminal justice in maintaining a clearer, more optimistic view of the world, especially since we often see the world through a very dark lens filled with negativity. Embracing emotional intelligence can minimize the cynicism and jadedness that often comes with longevity on the job.

As a self-described change agent, I am limited to educating and spreading awareness through my publications; however, it is up to those reading this article to put these tools and resources to good use if we want to improve the way we react and respond to stressful situations. By understanding the emotions of others and responding intelligently and rationally, we are better equipped to deescalate most situations. Will this work every time? Absolutely not, but it will work in the majority of situations that we encounter. We have high rates of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and suicide in our profession. Changing our collective mindset can reduce the prevalence of those debilitating conditions.