”In describing what happened if an inmate got caught breaking the rules, one CO explained the reason for these attitudes: They will get a misconduct, but they do not get in trouble right away because they have hearings . . . so they are caught with contraband, given a ticket and are sent on their way.” This was very different from anywhere else she [CO] has been before because in those facilities if inmates were found with contraband they were punished immediately. Here, they are allowed to have hearings and may end up never getting in trouble for something. In this example, the CO explained the failure of the facility to punish inmates in a swift manner. This was problematic, as COs argued inmates should have received punishment immediately for their actions and believed that inmates needed to be held accountable for their actions. According to COs, this failure to deliver swift punishment resulted in inmates “thinking that when they get written up, it is a joke,” often never receiving punishment for their actions.
***
Given the majority of our sample argued, they did not write misconducts due to a lack of certainty and swiftness of associated punishment and/or response—Why did COs within this institution write misconducts at all?
