Some prison managers assume that recruitment of correctional officers with postsecondary educational credentials promotes job satisfaction and offender rehabilitation. This assumption was tested using a sample of 218 officers. Results supported earlier findings that postsecondary education correlates with endorsement of rehabilitation and job dissatisfaction. However, university graduates were not more willing than less-educated officers to engage in offender treatment and there were no apparent effects of education on job performance, job involvement, and career development needs. The findings imply that education alone cannot enhance correctional outcomes and lead to the professionalization of correctional officers.

The results of a recent longitudinal study of coping in prison are reviewed with respect to their implications for rehabilitation. The failure of the conditions of ordinary imprisonment to change behavior generally, and the demonstration of substantial coping deficits among prisoners in particular, are both justification for increased adoption of treatment programs aimed at behavioral change. More specifically, the data indicate that programs should begin at the start of a prison term rather than later, and they also delineate some of the particular targets for change. These all justify the conclusion that the empirical study of the process of imprisonment and the behavioral precursors of criminal actions can help to maximize the effectiveness of treatment programs.

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Career orientation and work values were examined as factors that may relate to support for rehabilitation among correctional staff. The study surveyed a representative sample of 332 correctional and case management staff from the five geographical regions of the Federal Correctional Service of Canada. Not surprisingly, correctional officers were found to be less supportive of rehabilitation than case management staff. Among correctional officers, possessing favorable attitudes toward the field of corrections, showing an interest in career development, preferring work that involves people, and desiring work that provides outlets for personal growth were all positive predictors of support for rehabilitation. A desire to work with people was the only significant predictor the authors identified in the smaller sample of case management officers. The results indicated that demographic variables were not helpful in understanding why some correctional workers are more supportive of programming than others. The findings are discussed in terms of the challenges inherent in creating an engaged correctional workforce that supports programming.

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