MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

This research investigates the perceived experiences of Frontline Mental Health Workers (i.e. Corrections Officers and Nurses) within incarcerated settings. These employees face the challenge of working within an institution that is experiencing a mental health crisis, in addition to structural difficulties related to staffing shortages and high turnover. They are also in a unique position, in that they are not necessarily trained in mental illness interventions, but yet are structurally put in positions where they encounter mental illness on a daily basis. Both of these occupations also include role sets that may be contradictory in practice, such as the contradictory responsibilities to be both a “caring professional” for mentally ill inmates, as well as an “enforcer” of the prison rules. Working from a symbolic interactionist perspective, this research implements a qualitative design that includes interviewing 50-60 Frontline Mental Health Workers about their experiences related to the current mental health crisis in the Criminal Justice System. This investigation into the perspectives of Frontline Mental Health Workers’ experiences providing mental health “care” in incarcerated settings, and their personal processes of emotional labor/management and role negotiations has the potential to inform Criminal Justice reform. Specifically, through qualitative analysis focused on contextualizing the experiences of individuals working on the frontline of mental health in the Criminal Justice system, this research has the potential to uncover specific elements of a currently dysfunctional system that could be improved.