Criminal justice professionals will have the opportunity and responsibility to work with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures throughout their careers. Managing these encounters requires keen objective observations regarding indicators of specific diversity-related characteristics that can advance an investigation or collapse it.
For this discussion, first, review the following scenario.
You are a correctional officer in the county jail. You are assigned to Housing Unit A, which is the female unit. One of your duties is supervising inmates during mealtime. During lunch today, you heard an inmate, named Mary Anderson, complain to your co-worker, Officer Wilson. Mary is in jail on suspicion of killing her 2-year-old daughter. Mary’s tray consisted of a beef hamburger, bun, cooked green beans, and a fruit cup.
Inmate Mary does not eat beef due to her religious beliefs, and she asked Officer Wilson for a different food tray.
You heard Officer Smith say to Inmate Anderson, “You get what’s on the tray. Eat it or starve. You deserve to starve for what you did.”
Inmate Mary walks over to you and repeats her same complaint. She asks you for a different food tray.
For purposes of this discussion, you can assume the jail has the following policy regarding special meal requests/accommodations. All officers have received training regarding the policy.
Inmate Meals
Correctional officers shall provide inmates the option to choose a meal from either the general menu or the alternative menu at all regularly scheduled meals.
Inmate requests for meal substitutions shall be made to a correctional officer at the beginning of the meal service and shall be forwarded to a supervisor for follow-up.
For your first post, discuss the following items:
What are the diversity issues presented in the scenario?
Based on the wording from the policy provided, how will you demonstrate respect and professionalism in your response to Mary’s request, while at the same time demonstrating respect for your co-worker?
What would you do if you were a supervisor at the jail? What action, if any, would you take regarding Officer Wilson’s actions?