The Role of Prison Climate and Work Climate in Understanding Subjective Safety Among Correctional Staff

Abstract

To perform their work effectively, correctional officers should feel safe. Yet, research explaining officers’ subjective safety is scarce and overlooked the context in which these feelings arise. This study explores the impact of shared perceptions of prison climate and work climate. Survey and administrative data of incarcerated individuals and staff from the Dutch Life in Custody Study were used. Multilevel analyses on 1,427 correctional officers (135 prison units) showed that (a) almost 20% of the variance in officers’ subjective safety was clustered at the prison unit level; (b) both prison climate (satisfaction with activities and visits, relations with peers, and meaningful activities) and work climate factors (organizational satisfaction and workload) contributed to officers’ safety; (c) the relative importance of work climate was high in comparison to prison climate. These findings indicate that officers’ subjective safety is to a substantial extent a matter of climate rather than an individual trait.