This paper discusses the struggles encountered by correctional managers while formulating policies which are aimed at achieving the following objectives: strengthening the management of staff working within a correctional facility, ameliorating professional service provision to maintain the holistic wellbeing of inmates and implementing penal sentences that meet the needs of the offender, the victim and society in general.
The word policy is extremely hard to define since it holds different connotations and meanings to everyone. However, a common understanding of the word is about having a set of ideas which are used within a particular organization, in this case being the prison setting, in order to make particular decisions which can influence one’s behaviour. When creating a policy, for it to be well-structured and maintained, it needs to focus upon delivering its main objectives. The objectives of a prison revolve around the rehabilitation and reintegration of the prisoner. Correctional managers are faced with a number of challenges whilst, they are formulating such policies. These struggles are going to be discussed in the following sections.
Usually, when people talk about prisons, they only mention the physical attributes about them like for example, the locked-up building with bars. However, prisons are much more than that. They also consist of the essential roles of the staff working within them, who have a crucial part in the prisoners’ process of reintegration and rehabilitation. In order for the management to be strengthened, all the staff needs to understand their role within the prison, whom they should report to and be able to meet the needs of the service users, i.e. the inmates, society and victims.
Table of Contents
Introduction
(i) Struggles in strengthening the management of the Staff working within a Correctional Facility, whilst formulating policies
(ii) Struggles in ameliorating professional service provision to maintain the holistic Wellbeing of inmates, whilst formulating policies
(iii) Struggles in implementing penal sentences that meet the needs of the Offender, the Victim and Society, whilst formulating policies
Conclusion
References
Discuss the struggles encountered by correctional managers while formulating policies which are aimed at achieving the following objectives; (i) strengthening the management of staff working within a correctional facility; (ii) ameliorating professional service provision to maintain the holistic wellbeing of inmates; (iii) implementing penal sentences that meet the needs of the offender, the victim and society in general.
Introduction
The word ‘policy’ is extremely hard to define since it holds different connotations and meanings to everyone (Torjman, 2005). However, a common understanding of the word is about having a set of ideas which are used within a particular organization, in this case being the prison setting, in order to make particular decisions which can influence one’s behaviour (Freeman, 1999). When creating a policy, for it to be well structured and maintained, it needs to focus upon delivering its main objectives (Torjman, 2005). The objectives of a prison, revolve around the rehabilitation and reintegration of the prisoner (Gaines & Miller, 2015). Correctional managers are faced with a number of challenges whilst, they are formulating such policies. These struggles are going to be discussed in the following sections.
(i) Struggles in strengthening the management of the Staff working within a Correctional Facility, whilst formulating policies.
Usually, when people talk about prisons, they only mention the physical attributes about them like for example, the locked up building with bars. However, prisons are much more than that (Coyle, 2009). They also consist of the essential roles of the staff working within them, whom have a crucial part in the prisoners’ process of reintegration and rehabilitation. In order for the management to be strengthened, all the staff needs to understand their role within the prison, whom they should report to and be able to meet the needs of the service users, i.e. the inmates, society and victims (Magretta & Stone, 2002).
The staff consists of three groups, which are; the civil servants, professionals and the correctional officers. Having three different groups working within the prison, may cause several struggles. This is because they all come from different cultures, and their mentality may vary. Hence, they all look at the clients from different perspectives. Nonetheless, finding the staff whom are adequate to work within the prison is challenging for the correctional manager. The way the staff treats and works with the prisoners, has a major impact on their rehabilitation and reintegration process. So, it is of outmost importance that the staff understands what the prisoner is going through (Saunders, Rosch, Katzenelson, Li & Curtis, 2017). Prison life is different from life outside and so the prisoner is facing various changes in his life. Staff that work within the prison setting need to empathize with the prisoners but, at the same time pose discipline (Coyle, 2009). Imagine that while a prisoner is serving his sentence, his wife leaves him. The prisoner is not only facing the changes that are happening in his environment but, also those happening in his personal life. Therefore, it is crucial for the staff who are working with this prisoner to understand his situation. Yet, this may be difficult at times since, human beings tend to lack empathy towards each other. This is especially evident when the other person is portrayed as being ‘evil’ and so, the prisoner is seen as deserving what has happened to him (Witchalls, 2011). Thus, rather than employing someone with the mind-set of a military person, one needs to employ someone whose point of view is similar to that of a social worker since they are capable of being empathic but at the same time pose the necessary discipline. Lastly, in order for the staff to be adequate, they should all have clear views on what their role is. Correctional managers need to provide a clear guide for each staff in which the roles are clearly explained (Criminal Justice Handbook Series, 2010).
Additionally, the role of each prison staff should be supported by others. However, this proves to be challenging as well since there is poor management. There is a lot of division and distrust amongst each of the staff (Authority, 2009). According to varies research, certain staff like the correctional officers, are not appreciated by others (Authority, 2009; Howard League, 2017). They are not seen as being professionals. This can be highly demotivating for them since, they feel undervalued and are seen as having a role which is not as important . Generally speaking, all prison staff suffer from a ‘status’. They are not valued as much as other people working within the criminal justice field, like for example the police (Coyle, 2009). This is all evident from the low salaries that they have and also from the lack of training opportunities that they are offered. All these factors, reduce the willingness for adequate staff to want to work within the prison setting. For this reason, it is very hard for the correctional manager to find qualified people whom are willing to work within the prison (Coyle, 2009).
Training is also a challenging task for the correctional manager. Not just providing it financially but also, due to staff shortage. The latter, is a challenge within itself, but it is even more of a challenge when the small number of staff working in a prison were to be taken away for training- whom would there be left to take care of the prisoners whilst the staff are being trained? (Howard League, 2017). This is a major concern, as when staff lacks other problems arise one of which being, prison safety (Savage, 2018). So, the issue is upon who should be trained and when should it be provided. Consequently, if the staff stops receiving training, other challenges would arise such as, burnout (Youmans, 2013). Considering that the opportunity to progress in one’s role is not given, due to lack of training, the staff would stop giving their utmost in the job and would start to feel dis-incentivized as, they would not be able to progress which will make them lose all the enthusiasm in the job (Mulligan, 2015; Savage, 2018). One way to avoid this from happening is by rewarding the staff with incentives and ranks. This will not only keep them motivated to work hard but also reduce burnout. In fact, Howard League for Penal Reform (2017), stated that prison officers “need different grades of officers” (p. 6), which means that someone with years of experience should not be regarded the same as someone who has just started, or else it will reduce the willingness for the more experienced staff to keep working in that job (Savage, 2018). Nevertheless, rewarding the staff can also be a challenging task. How would correctional managers provide such incentives for its staff? If, for example, correctional managers were to provide flexible hours for its staff as part of an incentive, there can be occasions in which the prison is less secure than others due to having lack of staff during those hours.
Moreover, a challenge that is faced by every staff working within the prison is lack of resources and space. Most of the prisons that are still being used today were built over a century ago. In the past, prisons were focused on punishing the inmates rather than rehabilitating and reintegrating them. Thus, they were not structured in a way to provide the necessary space and resources for staff to carry out their services. For example, psychologists find it hard to deliver sessions with the inmates due to the lack of space; while other staff, like for instance doctors, may lack resources that they need to be able to work properly (Blackburn, Fowler, & Pollock, 2014; Van Ginneken, 2016).
(ii) Struggles in ameliorating professional service provision to maintain the holistic Wellbeing of inmates, whilst formulating policies
It can be very hard to identify who the professionals are, and even harder to explain who truly is considered as being one (Dall ‘Alba, 2009). One way to identify professionals, is through warrants and level of education that they have. However, this is not a simple task for correctional managers. It is not just about finding people with warrants and PHDs. It is also about choosing what type of professionals should be employed. In order for the holistic wellbeing of an inmate to be maintained, the biopsychosocial approach has to be used. This approach looks at the prisoner from the biological, psychological and social perspective (Frankel, Quill & McDaniel, 2003). This means that correctional managers would need to employ professionals that fall under all three of the perspectives. This can be challenging for a number of reasons.
Firstly, is the biological perspective. This perspective focuses on the prisoner living a healthy lifestyle, rather than simply the absence of illnesses. Most times, a person leading a criminal lifestyle does not prioritize his health, especially drug addicts. It is important to have professionals that do not simply look at the crime that the prisoner has committed but, who also look at the circumstances which led to the crime (Frankel et al., 2003; Clarkson, 2005; Scott & Codd, 2010). So, who are the professionals that should be employed from this perspective? Primarily, they should be those that provide primary health care services, such as nurses and doctors. This is a challenge though, as prisoners are classified according to their needs. This means that each classification of prisoners would need their own nurses, for instance. If, one prisoner has taken drugs due to being influenced by a friend, he is going to need different treatment than someone who is taking drugs to cope with a personal problem. They are both considered as drug abusers however, there reasons vary. Nurses, need to understand this difference between the prisoners, in order to be able to maintain properly their overall wellbeing and help them understand how to live a healthier life.
Secondly, is the psychological perspective. This focuses upon understanding what the prisoner is feeling and thinking, which results in his behaviour (Frankel et al., 2003). Its focus lays upon the repressed issues from one’s past. For instance, if the prisoner that was taking drugs due to a personal problem never spoke about his issues, then they become suppressed. In this case, the most relevant professionals to work with the prisoner would be psychologists. According to Haag (2006), a psychologist working within the prison setting has a fundamental role in the reintegration and rehabilitation of a prisoner. One challenge in this area would be finding psychologists whom are willing to work within the prison setting. The prison has its own environment, psychologists that are going to work with prisoners need to be able to work within that environment, follow prison policies and its culture. This can be challenging since the professional might not feel at place (Broomfield, 2018). Thus, it is hard to find psychologists whom are willing to work in the prison setting. Also, another challenge is that sometimes, those psychologists that decide to work in a prison setting do not fully do it because they are truly concerned with rehabilitating and reintegrating the prisoner, but look at it as being a career opportunity (Martin, 2008). Therefore, the correctional manager should be cautious about whom to employ.
Thirdly, is the social perspective which looks at the social factors, such as interactions with others, that can have an influence on the person’s overall wellbeing (Gove, 1994). Amongst other professionals that should be employed under this perspective, are social workers. As DeVeaux (2014), alludes the aim of a social worker is to “enhance human wellbeing and help meet the basic needs of people” (p. 106). Yet, finding such professionals whom are willing to work with prisoners is challenging for different reasons. One reason being that of the clashes between the values that a social worker has and that the criminal justice system has (Toi, 2015), which as a result makes it hard for the social workers to do their job. A prison values control and order whilst, social workers value human relationships, amongst other things. Thus, they are faced with several ethical dilemmas and role conflicts, which makes it hard for them to work within such a setting (Toi, 2015). For this reason, it is extremely challenging to find social workers willing to work within prisons. Social workers do not only work with the prisoner’s themselves, but also their families. This is because their families also need to learn how to cope with the changes that occurred in their lives due to the imprisonment (Ronald, 2011).
Every professional needs to be capable of working hand-in-hand with other professionals and also other staff that are working within the prison.
(iii) Struggles in implementing penal sentences that meet the needs of the Offender, the Victim and Society, whilst formulating policies
Imprisonment of a prisoner will not only impact him but also the other two systems, i.e. the victim and society. This is why the needs of all three systems need to be considered when implementing penal sentences. In order to do so the theory of restorative justice needs to be implemented as it focuses on repairing the damage done by a crime on all systems (Johnstone & Van Ness, 2011).
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- Quote paper
- Kimberley Bartolo (Author), 2019, Sentencing, Penal Policy and Management in a Correctional Facility, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/958694
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