How Many Prison Officers Are Ex-Military Personnel? Estimating the Proportion of Armed Forces Leavers Within the Prison Workforce of England and Wales
Abstract: The prior employment history of prison officers has been overlooked within academic literatures and, in contrast with the prior military service of Veterans in Custody, the significance of their military experience has been almost completely disregarded. Since military service is known to be predictive of subsequent professional performance, this oversight, due in part to the lack of data, is potentially very significant in understanding the contribution made by ex-military personnel as prison staff. This article presents novel empirical evidence from an online survey of UK prison officers suggesting that at least a quarter have military experience – a proportion which has fallen over time but still far exceeds the proportion of Veterans in the prisoner population. Based on these novel data, the article suggests future avenues of research to address the many unanswered questions about whether and how military experience influences prison work.
Abstract: IMPORTANCE: Veterans with occupational performance (e.g., activities of daily living [ADL]) limitations who are receiving inpatient psychiatric care may benefit from outpatient occupational therapy upon discharge, but access disparities have not been investigated. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether ADL limitations, an indicator of need, are associated with outpatient occupational therapy utilization after inpatient psychiatric hospitalization in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and whether this relationship differs by facility characteristics. DESIGN: Secondary analysis of VHA medical record data. Modified Poisson regression was used to model outpatient occupational therapy utilization (yes or no) as a function of ADL limitations, facility characteristics, and sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Interactions were used to estimate whether the relationship between ADL limitations and outpatient occupational therapy utilization differs across facility characteristics. SETTING: VHA outpatient setting. PARTICIPANTS: Veterans who received VHA inpatient psychiatric care from 2015 to 2020 and lived