ABSTRACT
Perhaps the change that has had the greatest negative impact on correctional officers’ ability to perform human service functions has been the increase in the ability of the inmates to handle such problems themselves, particularly the more personal type of problems. Increased inmate access to telephones (nine in the yard, ten in the gym and ten outside the employees’ mess providing virtually unlimited collect calls during the hours they are available) has made it possible for inmates to handle directly and in a timely manner many of the personal problems for which officers had previously served as intermediaries between the inmate and the chaplain and counselors who handled inmate contact with the outside world. Greater use of visitations and state-funded visitations for families living at a distance has closed the gap between family and inmate and made direct contact more likely. Hence, the correctional officers are less likely to play the gobetween or personal counselor role that they once did.
