Joyce Mitchell: NY Prison Escape

JOYCE MITCHELL: NY PRISON ESCAPE Name: Institutional Affiliation: Joyce Mitchell: NY Prison Escape Introduction The element of ethics and criminal justice remain in close relation as detailed in the social contract theory that grants particular liberties to criminal justice professionals as agents of the government. As specified in the ACA’s Code of Ethics, correctional personnel are required to hold higher moral character’s in a bid to enable the common citizens to have confidence in the government and agents in according to them protection within a state (Greenberg, 2015). This aspect consequently requires criminal justice personnel such as police officers, correctional officers,judges, probation officers and parole officers to exercise their discretion during the course of their career. This paper consequently seeks to analyze, compare and contrast the actions of correctional personnel named Gene Palmer and Joyce Miller in light of the ACA Code of Ethics and their actions in allowing prisoners escape from a correctional facility. Joyce Mitchell: NY Prison Escape Joyce Mitchell, a correctional officer, was charged with the supply of tools that were hidden in frozen meat to killers Richard Matt and David Sweat, an aspect that helped them escape from an upstate correctional facility. Another officer, Gene Palmer was also arrested in the bizarre escape epic for taking the frozen meat that was stuffed with the tools that were used by the prisoners to escape the facility and showing them how they would access catwalk areas behind the prison cells (Greenberg, 2015). Given these individuals’ actions, it is important to point out that the practitioners were faced with a specified ethical dilemma in a situation that required them to take a stand in such a matter that involved a broad ethical issue. As correctional officers, the two culprits detailed in this scenario were required by the ACA Code of Ethics to refrain from entering into either formal or informal activities, including agreements that would result in a conflict of interest or other words inconsistent with the performance of their duties (Greenberg, 2015). However, the disgraced correctional practitioner Joyce Mitchell is reported to have entered into a personal relationship with the inmates resulting in sexual encounters that lead to favors. In this case, it is assumed that sexual relations have the capacity to jeopardize the security of a correctional facility or compromise a correctional employee’s integrity, a case that is evident in this scenario. It is essential to consider that besides engaging in sexual relations with the convicts, the correctional officers engaged in the promotion of contraband, an aspect that is viewed as unethical. According to the ACA Code of Ethics, the correctional officers were required to refrain from acts that allow the acceptance of gifts, favors, and services that appear to be inappropriate or imply that such actions are inconsistent with the objective and free exercise of their professional duties (Greenberg, 2015). The two prison officers therefore conspired with the inmates in a bid to provide some of the tools that were utilized in breaking out of the facility. The social contract theory clea...