"Everything has changed": detention officer roles and recreation time changes due to COVID-19 policies at a Southwest County Jail

Travis Pinn; Heather Williamson; Bethany Robinson; Sara Shuman; Maria Evans; George Pro; Ricky Camplain

doi:10.1186/s40352-022-00181-x

"Everything has changed": detention officer roles and recreation time changes due to COVID-19 policies at a Southwest County Jail

Health Justice. 2022 Jun 4;10(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s40352-022-00181-x.

Authors

Travis Pinn^{1

2}, Heather Williamson^{3

4}, Bethany Robinson⁵, Sara Shuman⁶, Maria Evans⁷, George Pro⁸, Ricky Camplain^{3

6}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Health Equity Research, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA. tap227@nau.edu.
² Department of Health Sciences, Northern Arizona University, 1395 S. Knoles Drive, ARD Building, Suite 140, PO Box 4065, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011-4065, USA. tap227@nau.edu.
³ Center for Health Equity Research, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
⁴ Department of Occupational Therapy, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
⁵ Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
⁶ Department of Health Sciences, Northern Arizona University, 1395 S. Knoles Drive, ARD Building, Suite 140, PO Box 4065, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011-4065, USA.
⁷ Department of Psychological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
⁸ Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic responses in jails have forced detention officers to adjust how they approach the confinement and care of individuals while they are incarcerated. One aspect of incarceration affected was detention officers' roles. The aims of this research project were to determine how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the general duties of detention officers at a Southwest County Jail. Detention officers were recruited via email to participate in an online questionnaire from October to December 2020. Participants answered Likert scale and open-ended questions regarding how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their job duties. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to identify themes and patterns in the responses.

Results: Among 24 detention officers, 87% indicated agreement that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the duties of detention officers at CCDF. The most discussed change was the introduction of a 14-day quarantine process for newly incarcerated individuals. The 14-day quarantine increased the workload of detention officers.

Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic responses in jail may have unintended negative consequences for the job duties of detention officers. Current and future pandemic response strategies in jails would benefit from taking staff perspectives into consideration as they are directly impacted by the COVID-19 response strategies put into place. Policy implications are discussed.

Keywords: COVID-19; Correctional officer; Detention officer; Job duties; Recreation time.

Abstract

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