Clear and Cole: Chapter 13 - INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT


HOW ARE PRISONS RUN?

One problem in prisons is correctional officers' difficulty in "playing by 
the rules." We can describe this, in part, as "loose coupling," which is the
gap between what organizational rules specify be done and what actually
gets done.

Prisons, as a TOTAL INSTITUTION, are guided by numerous rules.  The concept 
of "total institution" comes from Erving Goffman's work ASYLUMS, where he 
defined them as those institutions where daily life of all participants 
is highly regulated and regimented, and personal autonomy is dramatically 
reduced.  Prisons are FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS, bureaucracies, etc.

Several characteristics:

     1. Continuous organization of official functions bound by rules

     2. A specified sphere of competence (includes obligations,
     sanctions, division of labor and authority, etc)

     3.  Organization of offices in a hierarchical structure

     4. Rules may be technical rules or NORMS  (but he wasn't
     clear on this)

     5.  Separation of functionaries from "Ownership" (eg, in
     banks, corporations, etc)

     6. "power" and "rights" flow from offic,e not personality

     7. Administrative acts, decisions, rule, etc formulated
     and recorded in writing (ie, FORMALLY STATED, not
     arbitrary---a form of INFORMATION SPECIFICATION"

     8. "universalistic" criteria in operating, selecting
     leaders, establishing rules, etc

In prisons, rules supposedly guide what should be done.  They are based on 
power (guards, staff, politics, inmates, etc) But the day-to-day running is 
a power game between guards & cons.

As FORMAL ORGANIZATIONS, prisons have a bureaucratic structure. This varies, 
but is generally:
  --The director of the department of corrections at the top, who is
    responsible for all prisons in a state
  --The warden of a prison, and various assistant wardens. In Illinois
    there are two assistant warden positions: Ass't warden of security,
    and ass't warden of programs.
  --Management (personnel, finance, training)
  --Custodial Staff
  --Program Staff

Running prisons isn't easy. Two basic views:

1) Inmate Balance Theory: For a prison to run effectively, officials
cut slack and tolearte minor infractions, relax *some* security measures,
and use inmate leaders to keep order

2) Administrative Control Theory: Prisons should follow rules and not
appear weak.

This gets us back to LOOSE COUPLING (see Max Weber)

All social control requires some kind of power to enforce things. 
TYPES OF POWER IN PRISONS:

  a) Compliance (obeying on request)
  b) Remunerative power (exchange)
  c) Normative powr (symbolic rewards, etc)
  d) Coercive power (force)

Stateville's history as an example of changing styles of administration
(See Jim Jacob's book: Stateville):

 --Anarchy (1925-36)
 --Charismatic Dominance (1936-61) (Joe Ragen)
 --Drift (1961-70)
 --Crisis (1970-75)
 --Restoration (1975-82)
 --Custodial Control (1982-1995)
 --"taking back the prisons (1995-present)

STAFF HAVE BECOME MORE DIVERSE IN LAST 25 years

WHAT MAKES A "GOOD GUARD?"
FROM INMATE'S PERSPECTIVE:
  --KNOW WHERE YOU STAND
  --NOT "WISHY-WASHY" ON RULES
  --"HUMAN"
  --OK TO FOLLOW RULES, BUT NOT RIGIDLY
  --ONE WHO CAN "DO TIME" WELL
  --NON-CORRUPT
  --NOT ONE WHO NECESSARILY IS SOFT OR WHO
    DOES FAVORS OR WHO CAN BE PUSHED AROUND
    (SINCE THIS CAN WORK AGAINST INMATES)

ISSUES TO CONSIDER FOR STAFF
 --conflicting goals
 --Burnout/stress
 --Corruption
 --Unions

CAREERS IN CORRECTIONS

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