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No. 32 (2025)
Artykuły

„Dirty work” in prison: Prison officers strategies for coping with physical, social and moral tainted

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  • Bartosz Kwiatkowski
Bartosz Kwiatkowski
Uniwersytet WSB Merito w Opolu

Published 2026-03-23

Keywords

  • „dirty work”,
  • prison officers,
  • penitentiary,
  • strategies for dealing with tainted

Copyright (c) 2026 Bartosz Kwiatkowski

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

„Dirty work” in prison: Prison officers strategies for coping with physical, social and moral tainted. (2026). Polish Bulletin of Criminology, 32, 105-118. https://doi.org/10.37232/BK.2025F
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Abstract

This article presents the concept of „dirty work”, coined by Everett Hughes. Research conducted in numerous countries has confirmed that correctional officers regularly face numerous difficult situations while also coping with negative assessments of their profession. Therefore, the article introduces the theory of physical, social, and moral contamination, applying it to the profession of security officer. Moral contamination threatens officers’ professional identity the most, while a strong professional culture and coping strategies protect against all dimensions of contamination. Based on a review of international literature, the article presents strategies of neutralization, reformulation, recalibration, reorientation, distancing, and disidentification. The need for further research is emphasized, particularly to deepen knowledge of the coping strategies employed by officers in the Polish penitentiary system.

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