ABSTRACT
While a variety of factors brings guards and inmates closer together, forces also seem to be at work driving the guards apart from their peers. When I began this study I expected evidence of relatively strong group identification among correc tion officers-an identification characterized by uniform opinions focusing upon the virtues of solidarity and secrecy, with standardized sanctions imposed on those violating group norms. At Auburn, at least, it seems that correction officers generally experience a sense of group unity to the extent that they form a “work group.” In the institution they are dependent on each other for support in times of crisis and at times for information and cooperation while they attempt to carry out their normal work duties. As recruits, however, these correction officers did not appear to benefit from close apprenticeship relationships with more experi enced officers of the sort that have been found characteristic of the police. These correction officers most often learned how to do their jobs on their own after experiencing hostility, rather than cooperation, from more experienced officers. With the advent of a correction officers’ training academy and the introduction of a bidding system for assigning institutional jobs, this initial period of isolation now appears to be diminishing.
