Corrections_Today_Winter_2025-2026_Vol.87_No.4

from the Corrections archives Today

In this special section, we explore the enduring relevance of past Corrections Today feature articles in shaping today’s correctional practices.

Games criminals play Revisited

BY RANDY SHIVELY

C orrectional staff have known for years that many of their inmates play manipulative games. Inmates study staff behavior, schedules and patterns very carefully. At times, inmates enjoy playing games that can include trying to violate rules and bringing their street behavior into facilities. Manipulating staff can even become a form of entertainment for offenders, in which offenders feed off one another in an attempt to gain power and control within the facility. How staff respond to these games is extremely important, but unfortunately, it is often inexperienced staff who inmates target with their games. In one popular model of offender rehabilitation called the Risk-Needs-Responsivity Model, Andrews and Bonta discuss the importance of responsivity, which calls for treatment interventions to consider the offender’s personal strengths and socio-biological personality factors. 2 Treatment can be enhanced if the intervention pays attention to personal factors that can facilitate learning. Unfortunately, games criminals play can block the learning process and jeopardize successful staff/offender interaction. Responding to offender games is learned, and each offender can be very different in the intensity and frequency of the manipulative games they play. If the games are left

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unchecked, however, the offender’s program can be ruined and can actually lead to offending behavior. In many programs, staff responses to the games crimi nals play can make or break the program. Staff need to be trained to respond calmly and confidently to address the games as they arise in a professional and effective manner. If the offender finds a weakness, he or she will exploit the weakness, and the types and frequency of games will multiply and intensify. These games can have high stakes. As Allen and Bosta discuss in their 1993 book, Games Criminals

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