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Camille M. Botticelli-Pohl, Psy.D., is a 2025 graduate of the Psy.D. Program in Clinical Psychology at Antioch University, New England

Dissertation Committee:

Martha Straus, PhD, Chairperson

Barbara Belcher-Timme, PsyD

Bryan Clarke, PsyD

Keywords

role conflict, correctional officer, mental health training, correctional officer culture, burnout, state prisons, interpretive phenomenological analysis

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

A variety of policies at the national level over the last 70 years have resulted in the mass incarceration of various marginalized populations, inclusive of individuals with mental health problems or severe mental illness. Although Constitutional mandates require that psychology staff be available at all state and federal facilities, these providers spend a fraction of the time with incarcerated people than correctional officers do. Correctional officers seem to play an important, if often overlooked, supporting role in the management of the day-to-day lives of people in custody, including elements of their mental health care. They are also, theoretically, tasked with helping individuals rehabilitate while incarcerated, which is almost by definition, a therapeutic process. Although the security aspects of correctional officers’ jobs are certainly prioritized, both in training and in practice, these treatment adjacent aspects to the work also play an important role, and in theory require a very different skill set. So how do correctional officers navigate these two opposing aspects of their work? What training are they provided to prepare them for their duties, and how effective do they find that process to be? What is the emotional impact of toggling between the role of a caretaker and that of a captor, likely multiple times a day, every day? Finally, how does broader correctional officer culture support, or fail to support, officer attempts to become more involved in the mental health care, and rehabilitation of incarcerated people under their supervision? This qualitative study aimed to answer some of these questions and to help better understand this inherent conflict in the different roles that officers embody. Three officers were asked about their motivation to enter the field of corrections, the training that they received on mental health related topics, and how well prepared for their duties they felt following this training. Officers were also asked how they felt the work that they do impacts their own health, both physically and mentally. The results of these interviews produced rich narratives that spoke to several prominent themes including: intrinsic versus extrinsic motivating factors for entering a job in corrections, reflections on officer training programs, the influence of correctional officer culture, and the impact of the job on officer mental health. Ideas for future research and other recommendations are provided at the end, as is a brief discussion of the study’s limitations. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLink ETD Center, (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

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ORCID: 0009-0005-1623-7090

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