evidence: Guards, now frequently called corrections officers, were increasingly taught to treat inmates with respect, and to shy away from the use of force unless absolutely necessary.[15] In his seminal 1958 analysis of prison culture, The Society of Captives, Gresham Sykes notes that guards in a New Jersey penitentiary in this decade were instructed to strike prisoners only with nightsticks as opposed to their bare hands, the rationale being that threat of higher staked violence would encourage inmates and guards alike to seek alternative methods of confrontation.[16] Increasingly nuanced training for corrections officers, emphasis on rehabilitative role, and new respect for inmate rights all contributed to a greater movement to professionalize the corrections career that would soon take hold of Cañon City’s prisons. [...] As Civil Rights agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission started to shape the hiring practices of private and public enterprises across the nation after the 1960s, the demographics of corrections officers shifted. More women and minorities found work as correctional officers in prisons, creating diversity in a profession traditionally dominated by white males. In 1987, women comprised about forty percent of the graduating class at the Criminal Justice Academy at Pueblo Community College.[22] According to corrections staff in Cañon City, the increasing presence of female corrections officers has had profound effects on prison culture, as inmates are less inclined to commit violence against women officers due to preconceived notions of female physical weakness.[23] Females working alongside males have challenged the cultural machismo common among corrections officers, creating complexities in the social dynamics of prisons.