QUESTION

You are a rookie corrections officer responding to a call for officer assistance in the kitchen of the corrections facility. Upon arrival, you see a circle of your fellow correction officers surrounding an inmate who is down on his knees. You do not know what happened before you arrived. You see a sergeant use a taser on the inmate. Then, two or three corrections officers′ take turns hitting the inmate on the head and shoulders with their batons. This goes on for several minutes as you stand in the back of the circle. No one says anything that would indicate that the behavior was not appropriate. What would you do? What would you say later when questioned during a compliance review hearing that you observed the inmate make “threatening” gestures towards the officers involved?

ANSWER

Excessive Force in Correctional Facilities

This scenario presents an ethical dilemma because a rookie does not have the same
‘voice’ and cannot reprimand the senior correctional officers. Under normal conditions,
senior officers are deemed competent and deserve respect from rookies. Therefore,
experienced officers are the ones who are supposed to take control of the situation – a rookie
is only supposed to follow their lead. In this situation, I would first act as if I have observed
the incident before. I know it’s wrong for correctional officers to beat inmates because of
power imbalance. However, I will privately sermon my training officer and ask them why
they allowed the other officers to use excessive force to beat the inmate in such a bad manner.
When questioned about the situation later, I would not hesitate to mention that the officers’
behaviour was inappropriate. Even if the inmate had made threatening gestures to the
officers, he/she should have been taken to solitary confinement as a punishment. Otherwise, I
would not want to get on the wrong side with senior officers by putting the blame on them.
The officers conducted themselves in an unethical manner in beating the inmate. Although,
use of excessive force was unnecessary and unethical, the inmate was not right either – he
must have done something to provoke the correctional officers. Under the law, correctional
officers are allowed, in some specific occasions, to use force to control violent inmates. In an
exceptional situation, correctional officers can also use other tools or weapons to physically
restrain violent inmates from injuring officers or other inmates as well. However, correctional
officers must restrain from using excessive force when dealing inmates who are unarmed and
portray remorse. All in all, it was wrong to beat an inmate who is already on their knees.