New Opportunities or Closing Doors? How Correctional Facility Tours Impact Students' Thoughts about Correctional Careers

Children may say they want to grow up to be a police officer, but we typically do not hear children saying they want to work in a prison or jail when they grow up. Given negative media attention of correctional facilities, it may not be surprising that many students enter criminal justice programs uninterested in correctional careers. Correctional facility tours can be useful for exposing criminal justice students to careers they may not have previously considered or ones about which they held negative stereotypes. Drawing on the premises of Experiential Learning Theory and using student essays, we address the following research questions: (1) Does attending a jail or prison tour influence how students think of correctional officers and correctional careers? (2) What perceptions do students have of correctional officers prior to attending a jail or prison tour and what do students think of correctional officers after the tour?