Prison Management Governing Prisons Corrections Officers

Prisons as unique organizations (vs. UMD or General Motors)  Don’t select clients  Have little or no control over release  Clients held against their will  Clients do most of the daily work in the institution (and are not really paid)  Depends on the relationships between staff & clients

How best to run prison?  The “Old Penology”  PN vs Auburn model, prison farms, etc.  Use of corporal punishment  Sociological Research/Implications  Interest in inmate culture, argot roles, “prisonization,” and so forth  Not interested in helping “the man” control inmates  Implies that running a prison demands the cooperation of inmates (CO-inmate agreement, tolerate some violations, etc.)

John DiIulio Governing Prisons (1986)  Approaches issue from policy/political science background  What is a “good prison?”  Confinement model  Order, amenity, security  Comparison of three prison systems  TX control model  MI responsibility model  CA consensual model  Concludes TX is best, and suggests much of the prison violence in 1960s/70s due to “lax, liberal” management

DiIulio II  Critique  Was prison violence of the 1970s due to lax/permissive management?  The “exceptional leader” theory of prison management  Defects in the TX system  Building Tenders  CO use of physical coercion  Collapse of TX system in 1980s  Importance of Book: MANAGEMENT MATTERS

Manager Styles  Authoritarian  gives orders, manages details, controls all (TOP DOWN)  Joseph Ragen (Stateville until 1960s)  George Beto (TX until 1970s, “Walking George”)  Laissez-faire  Little/no direction (do what you think is best)  Maybe for hospitals (highly trained staff) but probably not prisons  Democratic/participatory  See, “A Model Prison” box in Clear et al. book  Inmates pool funds to buy amenities, “town hall meetings”

Unit Management  Used heavily in the federal BOP and many states (more popular of late)  Divide prison into small “units”  Greatly aided by architecture (pods)  Units more manageable  Team approach (CO and caseworkers)  Better career ladder  Restrict inmate movement

Corrections Officers  How do CO’s maintain control over the inmate population?  Hassine?  Conover?  Bases of Power  Legit (power b/c of position)  Coercive (ability to punish)  Reward (ability to reward)  Expert (special knowledge, skill, professional judgment)  Referent (gain respect)

Influences on Power  What dictates the type of power that is most important to a CO?  Environment/Structure  Coercion less likely in a centralized bureaucracy  Expert more valued and training more likely  Attitudes/Roles  More social distance = less referent/expert power  Custody orientation = more coercive  Type of prison (Rx or Custody)  Rx depends upon more referent/expert power

Marquart (1986)  The extent and nature of the use of coercive force  Qualitative/participatory study—CO in the Texas Department of Corrections  “Ass Whooping” and “Tune up” relatively common.  Part of CO subculture (build cohesion), how officers got better post or were promoted, maintain “control model”  More common among young

Job Satisfaction/Burnout  Why Important?  What predicts burnout/intention to quit?  Importation (Gender, Race, Education, etc.)  Weak effects, but nonwhite, female, more education hold more negative attitudes  Deprivation (Perception of Danger)  Danger is #1 predictor (mean r =.26)  Management (Supervisor Support, Role conflict)  Role conflict (r =.22), Support (r = -.16)

CO Basics  Corrections Officers  More popular now (move up ranks, money is a bit better, more qualfications)  Median federal around $40K (State = $32K, Private = 22K)  Job prospects = good  Corrections Counselors  More requirements (psychology degrees) and earn more money (case manager, counselor)