Reference no: EM133362579
Case Study: You are a Correctional Officer 1 at Calgary Remand Centre. You have worked there as a casual for three years. When you started, you had a training officer who told you that a good way to "keep the inmates in line" was to "pay" them with little extras. Coffee, candy, hot sauce, that kind of thing. You have discovered that this technique actually works really well. You just bring in some additional packages of things you have in your lunch anyway and give them to some of your "favourite" inmates. They then take on the duties of ensuring that issues on the unit are minimized and incidents happen on other shifts or in other locations. This has made the last few years much easier, as there are rarely "codes" (fights, assaults, threats, etc) or incident reports.
Two years ago, you began an online degree program. The workload is manageable since you are only working part time, but the expenses are starting to pile up. You don't have time to work more hours if you are going to keep your grades up, but you realize you can't continue to pay for your tuition, books, fees, rent, bills, groceries, and gas on the part-time wage you are currently making. You still have two semesters to go, and you don't want to take time away from school so you can graduate with the group you started with.
One day you are running a few minutes late. When you arrive on your unit, you witness your partner passing a package to the unit cleaner. When you ask him what is going on, he gives you a vague answer about some new cleaning product. However, after the cleaner took the package, he went to his cell and not to the storage room. You think this is a bit strange, but it's time to open the cells so the inmates can have their free time and you don't think any more about it.
A couple weeks later you are on the unit alone while your partner is on lunch break. The inmates are mostly off the unit for visits, but there are a few in the common area. You are taking advantage of the quiet to have a quick snack. As you are eating your cookies, an inmate approaches the pod. He asks you if he can have a cookie in exchange for a favour.
He said he heard that this is something you do and he is really craving chocolate chip cookies. If you just give him a couple cookies, he will "owe you one" and you can "cash it in for anything any time". Although his approach makes you a bit uncomfortable, you don't really see the harm in sharing, so you pass him a bag of cookies and he goes back to watch tv.
The following week, on your first shift back, you are doing a take-over count and when you get to his cell, the inmate you gave cookies to says he needs to talk to you in private as soon as possible. Once you call in the count, you return to his cell. You think maybe he wants to be moved off the unit or is being threatened. Instead, he hands you an envelope and asks if you can
put it in the outgoing mail. You see that the envelope is already sealed and you know the rule is that all outgoing mail is supposed to be read. He tells you that he has a deal with your partner to send out his mail unread for $100 per envelope. He says it is just because he is dealing with some personal issues and he doesn't want "everyone who works here" to know. He also says that since your partner is on vacation this week, he is hoping you can help him. You decide it's a quick $600 and that could really come in handy, so you agree. It's just some letters for his wife after all.
On the final day of your rotation, he again asks you to come to his cell after count because he needs to talk to you. This time, he thanks you for sending off his letters and says he has one more thing he needs. He wants you to bring in a cell phone for him. You know that some inmates have cell phones stashed in their cells, presumably so they can continue to sell drugs, or otherwise engage in criminal behaviour from inside. He sees you thinking about it and assures you that he just wants to be able to call his wife and kids. He tells you to look in his file and you will see that he isn't a drug dealer. He also offers to pay you $5000.
Questions: Using the scenario above, could you please answer the following questions:
1. Is there an ethical issue, problem or dilemma? If yes, could you please briefly state the ethical issue, problem or dilemma.
2. Are there any laws, regulations, policies, and procedures or ethical codes relevant to the situation? (for example, what would be your violation Canadian law, police laws, criminal code etc.) If yes, could please identify and briefly describe the contents of the relevant sections, policies and procedures or ethical codes.
3. Could you please identify the stakeholders who will be affected by the decision. Could you please explain with further details.