Correctional Administration

OVERVIEW
MANAGEMENT STYLES
GOVERNING PRISONS
UNIT MANAGEMENT
 Prisons as Unique Institutions

They are a bureaucracy (see chart in book)

Rule bound (standards of conduct), hierarchical,
standardized
Assume rules are correct and follow them religiously
However, they are unique
Dont get to select clients

Have little control over release of clients

Clients are there against their will

Clients do most of their work in the institution

Chaotic, sometimes volatile environment

Given the constraintshow best to run a
prison?

The Old Penology (PN/Auburn debates)

The Autocrat/Dictator model (1800s-1950s)
Joseph E. Ragen (Stateville prison in IL)
Substituted his way for the typical politics of the time
James B Jacobs, Stateville (1977)
Complete control over every detailenforced by brutal
physical punishment during Irwins big house era
The Sociology Era (1950s-1980s)
No interest in controlling inmates
Interests = inmate subculture, guard attitudes and
cultures
ASSUME wardens can do little to control inmates without
help from the inmate social system
 John DiIulio Governing Prisons (1987)

DiIulio = a rather conservative political

scientist
officials
responsible for prison policy have
been the slave of some defunct sociologist.
Management viewed as disruptive to inmate social
system
Book summarized a comparative study of 3
states
Texas control model
California consensual model
Michigan responsibility model
 Governing Prisons II

How best to measure effective management,

or a good prison?
Order
Amenity
Service
The Confinement Model now used in
much of the prison literature
 Governing Prisons III

Concludes that TX control model is superior

Homicide rate in TX system is 1/8 of CA system
Violence/disturbances rare in TX system
Programming better (less volatility)
Reasons to be skeptical
Context of his study (CA and MI in late 1970s, early
1980s)
The Exceptional Manager theory

The building tender system

CO Abuse/Violence
 Management/Leadership Styles

Authoritarian
Joseph Ragen
George Beto (idiosyncratic)
Laissez-faire
Democratic/Participatory
 Unit Management

Now the rage for running prisons

Architecture x Direct Supervision model
DECENTRALIZATION
Not one chain of command for the entire 1000 inmates
Manageable units (pods)
UPSIDES
Almost everything self-contained
Custody/treatment division is lessened (team)
New career ladders
Free up warden to do big picture things
 Summary

Pre-1980s = little could be done

Prisons as corrupting, inmate culture will override

1990s and beyond

MANAGEMENT MATTERS
Debates
What sort of management works best?
How do we evaluate prison management?