Pergamon Journal of Criminal Justice, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 313-327, 1994 Copyright © 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the U.S.A. All rights reserved 0047-2352/94 $6.00 + .00 0047-2352(94)E0012-2 STAFF STRESS IN CONTEMPORARY JAILS: ASSESSING PROBLEM SEVERITY AND THE PAYOFF OF PROGRESSIVE PERSONNEL PRACTICES MARY K. STOHR Department of Criminal Justice Administration Boise State University Boise, Idaho 83725 NICHOLAS P. LOVRICH Division of Governmental Studies and Services Washington State University Pullman, Washington 99164-4870 GREGORY L. WILSON Human Relations Center Washington State University Pullman, Washington 99164 ABSTRACT The presence of a high level of workplace stress among carefully recruited and monitored personnel could signify that the long-term return on selection and training resources invested in employees of podular, direct supervision jails could be jeopardized as staff either leave employment or withdraw psychologically from their work environment. Despite the suspected scale of this problem, however, there is little direct empirical evidence available as to the extent of staff stress problems in such jails. Using survey and organizational profile data from five podular direct supervision jails, the extent of stress occurring is estimated and some likely causes are isolated. Evidence indicating that the adoption of progressive personnel practices produces positive outcomes with respect to the incidence of turnover and workplace stress is presented. Jails in the United States for some time have been and continue to operate in a state of cri- sis. Commonly, U.S. jails are bulging with inmates, correctional staff tend to be over- worked, and county and state governments find themselves increasingly funneling public funds away from other local service agencies to the seemingly insatiable criminal justice system. Staff in these too often overpopulated fa- cilities tend to be stretched to the limit, re- sulting in stress levels and staff shortages that have become critical in some jurisdictions. In fact, jail managers in survey responses for the National Assessment Program of the Na- tional Institute of Justice indicated that stress management training was their most critical training need (Guynes, 1988). Relatedly, staff 313