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Because correctional facilities are closed environments, perceptions of prison and jails are largely informed by the media; unfortunately, those perceptions are often inaccurate. Faculty in criminal justice programs often strive to combat inaccurate media images, including offering criminal justice students the opportunity to tour a prison or jail. In this study, undergraduate criminal justice students were surveyed about the sources of their corrections information prior to attending a tour of a prison or jail. After the tour, students wrote a reflective essay comparing their perceptions before the tour to their actual experiences on the tour. In the survey and in their essays, students pointed to the media as a major source of their information about corrections. While a few students noted similarities, most students commented about the differences in what they observed on the tour versus what they expected to see. These findings indicate the important role the media plays in shaping student perceptions and how short-term experiential learning opportunities like field trips can counteract stereotypes. We discuss implications for instructors planning field trips in relation to the study results.

This study employed organizational justice theory to examine the influence of employee perceptions of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice on whether employees trust their supervisors and management. Analysis of survey results from 322 employees of a state prison located in the Southern United States indicate that procedural and interactional justice—but not distributive justice—predict employee trust in both supervisors and management. These findings present important policy implications that suggest that the employing organization would benefit from having mechanisms in place to ensure that decisions follow consistent rules and strategies. Considering the relevance of employee trust to the organization, transparency in the use of pre-determined standards to allocate resources and rewards fairly needs to become a priority in institutions of corrections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jail and prison tours have become an important educational tool in many criminal justice programs. This study uses an inductive approach to explore student perceptions of the physical and social environment of jails and prisons following tours of correctional facilities. The study draws from Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) which supports the focus on student reflections following experiential learning activities. Eighty essays were analyzed. Three broad themes emerged: the physical environment and social atmosphere of the correctional facilities, incarcerated people and their activities, and student realizations about correctional facilities. The study's findings suggest that correctional tours provide opportunities for students to realize that many of the beliefs held about jails, prisons, and incarcerated individuals prior to exposure to the correctional environment were false. Considering the need in society for defying the stigma attached to offenders, correctional tours stand out as relevant – and essential – academic tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students’ negative perceptions of inmates are a challenging aspect of teaching criminal justice. Scholars suggest exposing students to the criminal justice system may provide a realistic approach to understanding offenders. Prison tours have become a viable solution for instructors who want to create such exposure, but contrasting perspectives on the impact of prison tours on students’ learning are present in research. Drawing upon theories of experiential learning, we designed a pre-/post-survey to address the following exploratory questions: (1) What perceptions do criminal justice students hold regarding corrections, inmates, and correctional officers? (2) Do these perceptions change after going on a tour of a correctional facility? Data were collected from a convenience sample of 123 students attending courses at two Midwestern universities. Findings add to the body of literature on prison tours as a component of criminal justice education and further our understanding of the complexity of student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Returning military troops have garnered attention, but there is little focus on veterans in the correctional setting. Approximately 11% of U.S. inmates are veterans, and there are striking similarities between military and prison life. Because veterans have experience with institutional settings, one hypothesis is that incarcerated veterans will better adapt to prison compared with non-veterans and will be less likely to engage in misconduct. This article measures prison misconduct, focusing on serious interpersonal violations, specifically verbal and physical assaults. Findings illustrate that there are no differences between veteran and non-veteran inmates in the likelihood of this kind of misconduct. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]