ABSTRACT

In 1976, correctional officers exercised a great deal of discretion in determining the shape of the tasks required on specific job assignments and in their helping and rule enforcement dealings with inmates. Officers learned the ins and outs of specific tasks through experience and this experience was or was not passed on informally in ways determined by individual officers. In their human services role informal mechanisms and networks dominated, as individual officers served as gate-keepers between the inmates and a variety of institutional services and as informal therapists helping troubled inmates cope with their institutional prob­ lems. Though formal procedures existed to link inmates to services it was often the discretion of individual officers that determined whether these procedures worked smoothly or not. The discretion officers exercised and its human services content provided officers with a sense of control and purpose in their work.