Changing the Narrative: Racial and Ethnic Variation in Positive Interactions Between Prison Staff and Incarcerated Women

The influence prison staff have on experiences of incarcerated individuals is important for maintaining professional and respectful interactions. These interactions maintain the legitimacy of the institution and in turn influence responses to staff by incarcerated persons. However, correctional scholars often suggest that interactions with staff are typically not positive and ultimately contribute to the negative experiences reported by those incarcerated. Additionally, it is important to recognize that experiences may be racialized as different racial identities come with varying experiences, stigmas, and expectations. These realities leave the challenge of identifying ways to improve these interactions and subsequently the overall experience of incarceration. Acknowledging the positive interactions with staff that may go unnoticed within prisons can inform on better practices for fostering positive, professional staff-incarcerated relations. To address these positive aspects, this study thematically analyzes the responses of 200 incarcerated women to the question “tell me about your best experience with a member of staff in this prison.” Major themes were then condensed into ‘instrumental’ or ‘relational’ groups based on their connotations in order to conduct a multinomial logistic regression to predict likelihood of reporting a certain type of support based on racial identity. Results of this study contribute to an area of research that centers the humanity and complexity of interactions between staff and incarcerated women. Findings of this study have important implications for the practices that prison staff could be leveraging as means of improving the experience of incarceration.