THE STUDY, LOCATED AT WISCONSIN STATE PRISON, A MAXIMUM-SECURITY, ADULT INSTITUTION, ASKED WHETHER IT WAS POSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS IN THEIR RELATIONS WITH INMATES. OVER SEVERAL MONTHS, 41 CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WERE GIVEN A LOCUS-OF-CONTROL TEST (LEVENSON, 1974) THAT MEASURES THE EXTENT TO WHICH PEOPOLE FEEL THEIR LIVES ARE CONTROLLED BY THEMSELVES, 'POWERFUL OTHERS,' AND BY 'CHANCE.' IN ADDITION, SUBJECTS WERE ASKED TO DESCRIBED HOW THEY WOULD DEAL WITH EIGHT TYPICAL PRISON SITUATIONS. TEN PRISONERS WERE SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE STUDY--FIVE WHITES, FOUR BLACKS, AND ONE CHICANO. EACH INMATE WAS GIVEN THE NAMES OF THE 41 OFFICERS, ASKED TO RATE THEM ON A FIVE-POINT SCALE, AND THEN DESCRIBE THE COMMON QUALITIES OF THOSE RATED HIGH AND THOSE RATED LOW. THE OFFICERS DID SHOW CONSISTENT INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THEIR RESPONSES TO VARIOUS PRISON SITUATIONS, SO THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN OFFICERS BASED ON THEIR STYLE OF INTERACTION WITH INMATES. THE INMATE RATERS GAVE THE OFFICERS AN OVERAL RATING OF ABOVE AVERAGE. INMATES DESCRIBED THE IDEAL OFFICER AS ONE WHO COULD ACHIEVE A BALANCE BETWEEN BEING SENSITIVE TO INMATES NEEDS WITHOUT BECOMING SUBJECTIVE OR ABDICATING RESPONSIBILITY. OFFICER TEST RESULTS DID NOT CORRELATE WITH INMATE RATINGS, AND A NEED FOR CLEARER GUIDANCE WAS EXPRESSED BY OFFICERS ON STANDARDS FOR INTERACTION WITH INMATES. DATA AND REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED. (RCB)