Chapter 12

1. Chapter 12 Managingthe Prison

2. Managing the Prison • Security: prison rules and their enforcement • Roles of correctional officers • Stress and job satisfaction • Women and minorities in corrections • Prison management • Bureaucracy and power • Private prisons

3. All urban problems concentrated among inmates Disease Unemployment Illiteracy Violence Drug abuse All basic city services required Water/sewer Food Order maintenance Prisons compete with other government services for resources Prisons as a Micro Society

4. Chief Concern – Security • Rules based on laws, hygiene, mainstream norms • All aspects of life are covered • Goals: • Prevent escapes and violence • Protect safety and health • Control costs (crowding worsens these)

5. Scope of Prison Rules • Inmate behavior • Inmate-staff interactions • Contacts with outsiders • Movement within facility • Contraband – any item not explicitly permitted in written rules

6. Escapes • Rarely occur • 685 true escapes in 1997 • 5,059 AWOL from furloughs, work release • Remote locations • Physical barriers • The countprevents escapes, and controls inmate movement, most common control method • Crowding makes it both difficult and necessary

7. Contraband • Any item possessed by an inmate that the facility’s rules do not specifically permit • Serious contraband • Shiv’s (homemade knives), lighter fluid common weapons – mostly used against other inmates • Escape equipment, weapons, alcohol/drugs • Nuisance items • Cards/dice, pornography, food • Shakedowns: intense searches of all cells

8. Rule Violations • Most are minor • Processing a serious violation can be expensive and time consuming • Due process required if further loss of liberty can result • Guards often choose to ignore minor violations • Encourages cooperation, reduces tension

9. Rule Violators • Young African-American male, many priors, unemployed, low education • Race and gender bias in enforcement may exist, official statistics may not reflect behavior • Violent (non-sexual) offenders – problems handling conflicts • Murderers, sex offenders less likely to get in trouble • Property offenders – habitual rule breakers

10. CO Job Assignments • Wall/perimeter posts: little inmate contact • Cell blocks: daily routines, maximum contact with inmates • Yard: recreation area, least structured, dangerous • Shop, school areas: prevent thefts, keep order, handle errands • Administration: clerical and related duties • Visitors area, front gate also

11. CO-Inmate Relationships • Fearful COs are most punitive, at most risk of assault • Tension reduced and inmate cooperation obtained by allowing minor violations • Bribes, blackmail, extortion used to corrupt COs • Relations vary with security level, CO job assignment, inmate attitudes

12. Gender Issues among CO’s • 27.5% of COs are female • Most work in facilities for men • Covert discrimination remains a problem • Best solved by increasing number of female line supervisors (e.g., sergeants) • Women well-represented as administrators and COs • Women better educated, on average • May be scapegoats for dissatisfied men

13. Race Relations among COs • Self-segregation leads to false beliefs which reinforce stereotypes • Integration of administration pivotal to perceptions of racial favoritism • Relations with inmates and superiors somewhat related to CO race • Hard to recruit minorities due to legacy of racism

14. Job Satisfaction • Generally high in corrections • Declines as education increases • Centralization of power an issue for wardens • Boredom, distrust of administrators for COs • Lack of programs • Philosophical disputes with new policies

15. Burnout • Emotional exhaustion, cynicism, feeling that one’s efforts don’t matter • Common in helping professions • Reduced by felt-support of administrators • Use of vacations, also critical (self-care) • Good boundaries between work and personal life essential

16. Staff Organization • Chain of Command: hierarchical set of roles in which information flows up and commands flow downward • Unity of Command: each persona has one, and only one, direct supervisor • Span of Control: number of persons who directly answer to an administrator(8 is ideal)

17. Traits of a Bureaucracy • Hierarchical • Specialized division of labor • Rules/procedures guide decisions • Employees see job as career • Record-keeping paramount Interaction of these traits pivotal to assets and liabilities of bureaucracy

18. Bureaucracy Advantages: • Allows a few people to handle a many cases in a short period of time • Reduces discretionary decisions • Easy replacement of staff Liabilities: • Cold, impersonal, alienating

19. Types of Power • Remunerative: material rewards • Creates ambivalent relations with agency • Normative: symbolic, honorary rewards • Creates loyalty to agency • Coercive: controls with force, threat of death • Alienates those to whom it is applied • Corrections, and all of C.J., tend to be coercive

20. Management Styles A continuum between two types • Authoritative: Stresses rank and power • Military model traditional in C.J. • Security orientation breeds distrust

21. Management Styles (continued) • Participative: Stresses quality of input, innovation • Associated with professionalism • Encourages investment in agency • Requires trust in employees

22. Professionalism Generally defined in terms of: • Credentials • Special training and mission • Attitude and dedication • Special ethics • Self-regulation via professional association

23. Correctional Careers Many avoid them because of: • Remote locations • Low wages • Slow promotions (seniority system) • Lack of public respect • History of abuses, especially of minorities • Male-dominated field

24. Bases of Faith in Privatization • Regained prominence in 1980s with hopes of cutting operation and construction costs • Lowered government liability sought • Better design via more modern construction • More focus on employee performance than seniority • Cost reductions and superiority of staff not realized

25. Realities of Privatization • Used in 32 states, several nations and Washington D.C. • 6% of U.S. inmates • Cost reductions not seen • Problems with quality, legal loopholes limiting expansion

26. Concerns Related to Privatization • Growth of prison-industrial complex fueled by concentration of industry • Corrections Corporation of America and Wackenhut dominate, with 75% of market • Most private prisons are minimum-security male facilities which are easiest to operate • States left with most difficult, expensive inmates and facilities