Culture: Multicultural Issues in Corrections
Question One
Correctional officers must strive to build rapport with inmates from all backgrounds while remaining neutral to all backgrounds. I would create rapport with inmates from diverse cultures by providing innovative and bold leadership through cross-cultural knowledge and advocacy, respect, and empathy for various cultural perspectives. Furthermore, I would incorporate conceptions of cultural diversity to improve the spirit and harmony at the correctional facilities. I would try to learn some of their cultural practices and values so as to know how to deal with them based on their cultural inclinations (“National Commission on Correctional,” n.d).
Yes, cultural competence reaches across working with criminals because it influences the way they react or respond to criminals due to their understanding of various aspects of different cultures. No, health care policies within a correctional setting should be influenced by cultural beliefs, especially when others’ health may be affected, because inmates have diverse cultural perspectives and beliefs. Therefore, creating policies that uphold or respect all or most of their beliefs and cultures is practically impossible. As a result, inmates should be taught to understand the differences and needs amongst the variety of cultures that exist in correctional facilities. Additionally, officers should learn to practice cultural tolerance for them to comprehend some of the strategies of dealing with individuals from diverse backgrounds (Schoenly, n.d.).
Question Two
Correctional facilities can be extremely traumatising for transgender individuals as well as people who are not gender-conforming. They are confronted with numerous risks to their wellbeing and health. Therefore, the situation should be handled by placing the inmate in solitary confinement for all their time in the correctional facility because of their condition (“National Commission on Correctional,” n.d). Furthermore, the most human approach would be to allow the transgender inmate to experience the system in and gender with which they identify. As a transgendered individual, they have the right to be treated with respect as well as the right against discrimination on the ground of psychiatric illness, which is a broad category that encompasses disorders and conditions. Ideally, transgender inmates should be treated with fairness, respect, and dignity (“National Commission on Correctional,” n.d).
References
National Commission on Correctional Health Care (n.d.). Transgender, transsexual, and gender nonconforming health care in correctional settings. Retrieved from <http://www.ncchc.org/transgender-transsexual-and-gender-nonconforming- health-care>
Schoenly, L. (n.d.). Multicultural awareness for correctional nurses (podcast). <http://correctionalnurse.net/multicultural-awareness-for-correctional-nurses- podcast/>
