Lived experiences of correctional officers in treating drug offenders: a hermeneutic phenomenological approach.

PURPOSE: This study explored the lived experiences of correctional officers working with individuals convicted of drug offenses.

METHODS

Data were collected through individual in-depth interviews and observations with 10 correctional officers who had experience working with individuals convicted of drug offenses. Data were collected from September 15 to November 2, 2025, and analyzed using van Manen's hermeneutic phenomenological approach to identify essential themes.

RESULTS

The themes were interpreted within four existential grounds: body, space, other, and time. The lived body was experienced as a body of blurred judgment and growing powerlessness, a body of heightened alertness and preparedness, and a body that closes itself off for self-preservation. The lived space was experienced as a space in which recovery stagnation and potential coexist, a space in which drug proliferation and interdiction collide, and a space in which correctional responsibility and avoidance conflict. The lived other was experienced as a relationship oscillating between hope and resignation and as a relationship characterized by withheld trust and sustained vigilance. The lived time was experienced as a transition from fulfillment to vigilance, a time of recognizing the power of addiction and issuing warnings, a transition from punishment to recovery, and a time of cycles and growth.

CONCLUSION

This study shows that working with individuals convicted of drug offenses is not merely the execution of regulation and control, but an existential practice of care in which correctional officers continually attune themselves to sensing risk, negotiating relationships, and sustaining the possibility of recovery.