Advancing Corrections Journal - Edition #8 - Investing in Staff (ACJ8-A006)

Article 6: Prison Leadership: The Relationship Between A Warden's Leadership Style And Correctional Officer Job Satisfaction (ACJ8-A006)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Tennessee wardens’ leadership practices and correctional officers’ job satisfaction. The study collected scores from the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), for both wardens and correctional officers, and from the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS). The warden’s leadership was found to influence various factors of job satisfaction such as promotion opportunity, satisfaction with the nature of work, contingent rewards, and pay. The authors provided suggestions on providing effective leadership to their staff along with recommendations for a broader future research approach to this area of corrections.

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Authors

Derrick D. Schofield

Executive Vice President, GEO Group Continuum of Care and Reentry Services, United States

Derrick D. Schofield, Ph.D. is the Executive Vice President of the GEO Group Continuum of Care and Reentry Services. Before taking his current position, Dr. Schofield was the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Corrections. Prior to joining The GEO Group in 2016, Dr. Schofield had a distinguished career working in state correctional systems in Tennessee and Georgia for the last 26 years. He recently served as Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC). As Commissioner, Dr. Schofield managed more than 6,000 employees who supervise more than 108,000 offenders both in prison and on community supervision. Dr. Schofield was instrumental in the successful passage of legislation that created a system of seamless supervision of adult felony offenders. As a result of the passage of this seamless supervision model, Commissioner Schofield was responsible for a $926 million operating budget, 14 prisons, a training academy, and 47 probation/parole offices. Dr. Schofield’s work led to his appointment as co-chair of the Governor’s Taskforce on Sentencing and Recidivism. His work helped to shape public policy through the enactment of the Public Safety Act of 2016 for Tennessee. The Act enhanced overall reentry efforts and increased the use of alternative sentencing and sanctions, which resulted in a reduction of prisons beds for technical violations. Prior to being appointed Commissioner, Dr. Schofield held numerous positions in the Georgia Department of Corrections that included: Warden, Assistant Commissioner and Chief of Staff at the Georgia Department of Corrections. Dr. Schofield served as President of the Southern Region of the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA). He has been at the forefront of key correctional issues and sat on the ASCA Racial Disparity Committee, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Committee, Performance Measures Committee, and was a member of the ASCA Executive Committee. Additionally, he serves as a member of the American Correctional Association (ACA) Standards Committee. Dr. Schofield served as a Presidential Advisor to the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice and is a member of the Advisory Boards of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee, Volunteer State Community College, and Tennessee Voices for Victims. After earning his Bachelor’s in Political Science, Dr. Schofield’s commitment to public service took him to enlist in the United States Army, where he rose to the rank of Captain. He earned a Master’s of Public Administration (MPA) from Columbus State University, and he also graduated from Georgia’s Law Enforcement Command College. Dr. Schofield recently completed a doctoral program at Piedmont International University. His dissertation focused on leadership in corrections.

Tony C. Parker

Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Corrections, United States

Tony C. Parker is the current Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Corrections. Mr. Parker has over 35 years of experience in the field of Corrections. Commissioner Parker began his correctional career at the Lake County Regional Correctional Facility in 1983 as a Correctional Officer. He has held every position in the security series, and was eventually appointed Warden at the Northwest Correctional Complex from 2003 until 2006. From 2006 until 2008, Parker served as the Warden of the West Tennessee State Penitentiary in Henning Tennessee. In 2008, Parker again served as Warden of Northwest Correctional Complex until he was promoted to Correctional Administrator of the Tennessee West Region effective April 2011. In September of 2012, Parker was promoted to the position of Assistant Commissioner of Prisons where he supervised TDOC prison operations and was responsible for oversight of the department’s security operations as well as offender management. In June of 2016, Governor Bill Haslam appointed Tony Parker to the position of Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Corrections. Commissioner Parker is the current President-Elect of the American Correctional Association. He earned an Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice from Dyersburg State Community College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Tennessee at Martin and a Master of Arts degree in Security Studies with an emphasis in Homeland Security from the prestigious Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, California.

Advancing Corrections Journal - Edition #8 - Investing in Staff (ACJ8-A006)

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