Extrapolating the realities of stigma

This chapter focuses to delineate, within this context, whether stigmatising views are held by correctional officers toward prisoners and how such views can impact the interactions and perspectives between members of each group. The chapter is structured into five sections: It reviews of stigma theory and the Canadian correctional context; The chapter discusses previous research focused on the stigma tied to persons engaged with the correctional system; It lays out the scope of the research of interest; The chapter presents the findings in terms of prisoners perceptions of correctional officers and correctional officers' perceptions of prisoners; and it concludes with a discussion of the trends in emergent themes and possible practical implications. In Canada, the correctional system is divided into two levels: the federal and the provincial or territorial. Across jurisdictions correctional officers, like their counterparts in many other countries, are to remain professional and treat every prisoner equally.