ABSTRACT
Correctional officers are the primary agents of social control who are entrusted with maintaining the security of prison and jail facilities and ensuring that the incarcerated persons within these institutions are safe. One of the most important responsibilities of correctional officers is to protect offenders from threats of violence, and sexual violence, in particular. As mandated by the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) collects data on sexual assaults involving inmates as one way to assess whether or not correctional officers are keeping inmates safe. Correctional officers must often work in noisy, tense, and stressful environments that are all too often characterized by long hours with very little pay. The infamous Stanford Prison Experiment reminds that correctional officers wield "a great deal of power over a population that is essentially powerless". Correctional officers often work in regimented, quasi-military environments that have the potential to crush individuality and independent thinking.
