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36 American J. Crim. Just. 1 (2011)

handle is hein.journals/acnjrlocm36 and id is 1 raw text is: Am J Crim Just (2011) 36:1-16 DOI 10.1007/s12103-010-9103-1 The Effects of Tenure on Staff Apathy and Treatment Orientation: A Comparison of Respondent Characteristics and Environmental Factors Michael E. Antonio • Jacqueline L. Young Received: 16 September 2009 /Accepted: 19 February 2010 / Published online: 8 January 2011 © Southern Criminal Justice Association 2011 Abstract Because inmate rehabilitation efforts are influenced by prison staff, Pennsylvania's Department of Corrections recently began collecting survey data from corrections staff about their attitudes and beliefs for treatment programming. The present analysis focused on staff tenure, or length of time employed in a corrections field, and its effects on support for inmate rehabilitation. Overall, findings from bivariate analyses clearly showed that staff with 16 years or more of service expressed less apathy and demonstrated a treatment orientation perspective toward inmate rehabilitation. Findings from multivariate analyses showed that respondent characteristics including tenure and job category were stronger predictors of staff apathy and a treatment orientation perspective than were environmental factors associated with the prisons. Policy implications will be discussed. Keywords Corrections . Tenure . Attitudes . Apathy. Treatment Introduction Since July 2006, Pennsylvania's Department of Corrections (PADOC) has been conducting a multiphase study about staff attitudes and support for inmate treatment and rehabilitation programming. The first phase of the research included assessing attitudes among staff who were recently hired by the Department. Findings from these evaluations indicated that new correctional staff generally supported inmate rehabilitation; however, after participating in mandatory training during their employee orientation, their level of support increased significantly (Antonio et al. 2009a, b). The second phase of this research consisted of a follow-up assessment M. E. Antonio - J. L. Young (E) Bureau of Planning, Research, & Statistics, Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, 2520 Lisburn Road, 2nd Floor, Camp Hill 17011 PA, USA e-mail: jacyoung@state.pa.us M. E. Antonio e-mail: mantonio@state.pa.us 4L Springer