A qualitative study of the selflegitimacy of prison workers in Slovenian prisons

The article is based on the results of the research project “Legitimacy of policing, criminal justice and execution of penal sanctions”, carried out in 2013–2016 with financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency. In recent years researchers on self-legitimacy in the prison environment have addressed the issue of prison officials’ perception of self-legitimacy and recognized the need for an in-depth study. The aim of the study was to study the self-legitimacy of prison officials in the context of the Slovenian prison environment. The first part of the article introduces the concept of self-legitimacy of prison staff, examines the theoretical aspects of the dual nature of legitimacy, as well as the features of self-legitimacy in the prison environment. However prison staff includes both prison officials and specialized staff. The second part of the article presents the results of a qualitative study of the self-legitimacy of prison workers and gives its detailed characteristics. Analysis of responses from prison officials and specialist staff focused on issues of legitimacy, relationships with colleagues, leaders, prisoners, and the stress and subculture of prison staff. The results of the study showed that the relationship between staff and prisoners plays a vital role in establishing and maintaining order in the prison environment and the selflegitimacy of prison staff is the basis of their successful interaction with prisoners.