{"id":152,"date":"2022-12-20T15:13:31","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T15:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/?page_id=152"},"modified":"2023-05-06T20:18:37","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T20:18:37","slug":"ethics-and-professionalism","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/volunteer-and-program-providers\/ethics-and-professionalism\/","title":{"rendered":"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ethics and Professionalism is a trait that CDCR seeks after in our Volunteers and Program Providers. Ethics and professionalism at CDCR begins with getting the facts straight, then carefully considering the relevant, ethical values, and weighing the consequences of the alternative actions. Misconduct is identified as but is not limited to the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Engaging in a personal relationship outside of your professional duty\/service<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Inappropriate correspondences between the inmate and yourself<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Engaging in sexual conduct or romantic involvement<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Trading\/bartering\/lending in personal transactions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Providing\/receiving personal favors<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Giving\/receiving gifts<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Inconsistently enforcing facility rules to favor inmates<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Discussing facility operations or confidential information that may jeopardize the safety and security of the facility to inmates <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get the FACTs Method<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Facts \u2013 What are the facts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alternatives \u2013 What options are there to resolve the issue?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Consequences \u2013 What will be the result of the misconduct?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tell \u2013 Involve a supervisor or manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rationalization occurs when a person chooses one value over another or when situations are ignored altogether.\u00a0 People tend to rationalize to make themselves feel better when they have deviated from what is right. Here are some of the common rationalizations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>It doesn\u2019t hurt anyone.<\/strong> This is used to excuse misconduct based on the false assumption that one can violate ethical principles so long as there is no clear and immediate harm to others, it treats ethical principles simply as factors to be considered in decision making rather than as a base line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>I\u2019ve got it coming.<\/strong> People who feel they are overworked or underpaid rationalize that minor \u201cperks\u201d (acceptance of favors, discounts, or gratuities) are nothing more than fair compensation for services rendered.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Everyone\u2019s doing it.<\/strong> Safety in numbers is a false rationale fed by the tendency to adopt cultural, organizational or occupational behavior systems (ethical or not) just because they are the norm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>I\u2019m just fighting fire with fire.<\/strong>\u00a0 This is based on the false assumption that promise breaking, lying, and deceit are justified if those a person routinely deals with engages in deceit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ethics and Professionalism Keys to Success<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mean What You Say<\/strong> \u2013 Express yourself genuinely.\u00a0 Do not make a promise unless you have thought it through first and can carry it out.\u00a0 Inmates will test you, call your bluff, and see if you follow through on your promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Appropriate Relationships<\/strong> \u2013 Be honest, objective, and disapproving when warranted.\u00a0 Be friendly, but not overly familiar.\u00a0 Never give out your home address, telephone number, or loan any money to an inmate.\u00a0 Do not discuss personal matters with inmates, or in the presence of inmates.\u00a0 Be consistent and fair.\u00a0 Enforcing rules for some and relaxing them for other inmates is inconsistent and unfair.\u00a0 It is also a form of overfamiliarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Respect<\/strong> \u2013 You must respect the inmate\u2019s individuality and basic rights.\u00a0 Avoid prejudices and feelings of superiority.\u00a0 Categorizing an inmate is unfair and dehumanizing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Don\u2019t Pry<\/strong> \u2013 In given time and comfort level, inmates will converse with you about their commitment offense, family, or any other guilt-associated matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Build Rapport<\/strong> \u2013 Make it known that you will not be manipulated.\u00a0 If a situation arises that you consider \u201cborderline,\u201d consult your supervisor, CRM, or uniformed staff before acting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Handling Hostility<\/strong> \u2013 An inmate may confront you with hostility. At such times, do not force conversations upon them and do not respond in a hostile, sarcastic, or anxious manner. Keep your composure and ignore the hostility or withdraw for a while. Chances are that the inmate will regain their composure. Report any incidents to your supervisor or CRM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Don\u2019t Over-Identify<\/strong> \u2013 An inmate\u2019s current situation is not your problem. Over-identifying with inmates has the potential to bring on a we\/they syndrome.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Don\u2019t Expect Thanks<\/strong> \u2013 You may not receive thanks or any show of gratitude from inmates.\u00a0 They may feel it, but they may not know how to express it.\u00a0 They may not appreciate your work until they leave the program.\u00a0 Do not take it personally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Inappropriate Conduct<\/strong> \u2013 If an inmate makes an improper advance, handle it appropriately.\u00a0 Report the matter to your sponsor or nearest uniformed staff member immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ethics and Professionalism is a trait that CDCR seeks after in our Volunteers and Program Providers. Ethics and professionalism at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":0,"parent":131,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"hide_featured_image_on_mobile":false,"hide_featured_image_on_post_details":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-152","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CDCR Ethics and Professionalism - Community Partners<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism is highly sought after in our Volunteers and Program Providers while in the institutions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/volunteer-and-program-providers\/ethics-and-professionalism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism - Community Partners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism is highly sought after in our Volunteers and Program Providers while in the institutions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/volunteer-and-program-providers\/ethics-and-professionalism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Community Partners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-06T20:18:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\\\/community-partners\\\/volunteer-and-program-providers\\\/ethics-and-professionalism\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\\\/community-partners\\\/volunteer-and-program-providers\\\/ethics-and-professionalism\\\/\",\"name\":\"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism - Community Partners\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\\\/community-partners\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-20T15:13:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-06T20:18:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism is highly sought after in our Volunteers and Program Providers while in the institutions.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\\\/community-partners\\\/volunteer-and-program-providers\\\/ethics-and-professionalism\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\\\/community-partners\\\/volunteer-and-program-providers\\\/ethics-and-professionalism\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\\\/community-partners\\\/volunteer-and-program-providers\\\/ethics-and-professionalism\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\\\/community-partners\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Volunteer and Program Providers\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\\\/community-partners\\\/volunteer-and-program-providers\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\\\/community-partners\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\\\/community-partners\\\/\",\"name\":\"Community Partners\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\\\/community-partners\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism - Community Partners","description":"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism is highly sought after in our Volunteers and Program Providers while in the institutions.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/volunteer-and-program-providers\/ethics-and-professionalism\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism - Community Partners","og_description":"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism is highly sought after in our Volunteers and Program Providers while in the institutions.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/volunteer-and-program-providers\/ethics-and-professionalism\/","og_site_name":"Community Partners","article_modified_time":"2023-05-06T20:18:37+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/volunteer-and-program-providers\/ethics-and-professionalism\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/volunteer-and-program-providers\/ethics-and-professionalism\/","name":"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism - Community Partners","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-12-20T15:13:31+00:00","dateModified":"2023-05-06T20:18:37+00:00","description":"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism is highly sought after in our Volunteers and Program Providers while in the institutions.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/volunteer-and-program-providers\/ethics-and-professionalism\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/volunteer-and-program-providers\/ethics-and-professionalism\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/volunteer-and-program-providers\/ethics-and-professionalism\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Volunteer and Program Providers","item":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/volunteer-and-program-providers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"CDCR Ethics and Professionalism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/","name":"Community Partners","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Community Partners","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":453,"href":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/152\/revisions\/453"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cdcr.ca.gov\/community-partners\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}