Fatal attraction: An analysis of employee boundary violations in a southern prison system, 1995–1998

Prison employees are trained to maintain their distance from prisoners and to do their job professionally without personal entanglements or abuse of prisoners in any way. Efforts are made to ensure that those who enter the correctional service serve honorably; these efforts, however, do not prevent some prison employees from ending their careers in disgrace. Some employees engage in career-ending infractions whereby they are suspended and/or reprimanded; some are terminated for engaging in inappropriate relationships (or boundary violations) with inmates. This paper examines boundary violations among 508 Texas state prison security staff members disciplined between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 1998.