Cali. Dept. of Corrections

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Attached to the warden’s office are (possibly by some other title) an institutional services inspector and the institutional investigator who deal with inmate complaints against staff. As mentioned in the earlier section on central office, prisons also need personnel who deal with labor contracts and the media, and who collect and provide this information to the central office. A computer services manager maintains the management information systems.

Also reporting to the warden are deputy or associate wardens, each of whom supervises a department within the prison. The deputy warden for operations will normally oversee correctional security, unit management, the inmate disciplinary committee, and recreation. This is typically the largest unit in terms of number of employees, as approximately 66 percent of all correctional employees are in the role of correctional officer, line staff, or supervisors in direct contact with inmates. 33  The deputy warden for special services will typically be responsible for functions that are more treatment oriented, including the library, mental health services, drug and alcohol recovery services, education, prison job assignments, religious services, and prison industries. Note that a large percentage of federal and state correctional facilities provide inmate work programs (88%), educational programs (85%), and counseling programs (92%). 34  Finally, the deputy warden for administration will manage the business office, prison maintenance, laundry, food service, medical services, prison farms, and the issuance of clothing. 35

It is important to note that custody and treatment are not either-or in correctional organizations; rather, they are complementary. Although custody overshadows treatment in terms of operational priorities—treatment programs are unable to flourish if security is weak and staff and inmates work and live in chronic fear and danger—prisons without programming options for offenders are nothing more than warehouses, being amenable to violence, disruption, and the continuation of criminally deviant behavior. Correctional staff, regardless of their job function, does not support such volatile conditions. Most often, the overriding concern in a prison or jail is and should be security. Security must be maintained so that programs can be implemented. Programs are generally supported by staff, especially those that address inmate deficiencies such as lack of education and job skills as well as substance abuse. Keep in mind that according to a recent report, only a low percentage of offenders actually receive treatment: just 11 percent of all jail and prison inmates receive the proper level of treatment prescribed by the judiciary. 36  Prison administrators must decide which programs they will allow to be introduced into their facility; this is not often an easy task, especially when much of the public perceives that programs only “coddle” inmates. 37

Next, we discuss several related aspects—correctional security, unit management, education, and penal industries—in more detail.

· The correctional security department supervises all of the security activities within a prison, including any special housing units, inmate transportation, and the inmate disciplinary process. Security staff wear military-style uniforms, a captain normally runs each 8-hour shift, lieutenants often are responsible for an area of the prison, and sergeants oversee the rank-and-file correctional staff. Missteps by this department, in particular, can have dire consequences for officer and prisoner safety and institutional integrity, such as recently when a group of inmates at a Delaware maximum-security prison took several officers hostage and engaged in a standoff with police that lasted several hours. 38

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Podular/Direct Supervision Jails

Rationale and Expanding Use

As noted previously, in the past, the federal courts have at times become more willing to hear inmate allegations of constitutional violations ranging from inadequate heating, lighting, and ventilation to the censorship of mail. One of every five cases filed in federal courts was on behalf of prisoners, 109  and 20 percent of all jails were a party in a pending lawsuit. 110

Court-ordered pressures to improve jail conditions afforded an opportunity for administrators to explore new ideas and designs; therefore, over the past several decades and in response to the deluge of lawsuits concerning jail conditions, many local jurisdictions constructed what is now known as the podular  direct supervision (PDS) jail , where inmates’ cells are arranged around a common area—in podular fashion, with no physical barriers between the officer and the inmates, having an open dayroom area—and inmate management style is direct in nature, with officers moving about the pod and interacting with the inmates to manage their behavior. PDS jails also typically offer more amenities in the living areas, including visiting areas, books, and telephones. 111  The PDS jail (formerly known as “new-generation” jail) represents a comparatively new approach for addressing many of the earlier problems found in local jails. 112

According to the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), the number of PDS jails increased in the United States from approximately 199 in 1995 to about 350 at present. Today, approximately one-fifth of medium- to large-sized jails use the podular architecture. 113  This growing number, the NIC stated, “suggests that direct supervision continues to be adopted as a design style and management philosophy in large and small jurisdictions across the United States.” 114

Departing from Tradition

PDS jails differ from traditional jails in several ways. First, the physical environment is different (See  Figure 10-5 ). In traditional jails, cells are arranged linearly along a corridor, with officers being separated from inmates by bars, glass, or other physical barriers. Officers must patrol halls where their line of sight into each cell is severely restricted, and officers can observe what is happening inside a cell only when they are almost directly in front of it. In the PDS jail, inmates are separated into relatively small groups (usually 50 or fewer), housed in self-contained living units including several one- to two-person cells, a day room, and recreation space. These units, or “pods,” usually are triangular or wedge shaped so that jail officers have a direct line of sight into all areas of the pod at all times. The furnishings in the living units also differ and generally include carpeting, porcelain lavatories, moveable furniture that may be padded or plastic, and other “soft” fixtures. The direct supervision philosophy has officers stationed within the living area with no physical barriers to separate them from inmates. In these units, officers maintain a constant physical presence, but they also interact extensively with inmates. 115

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Probation Systems

Types of Systems

Figure 10-6  depicts an organizational structure for a regional probation and parole organization.  Probation —where a court places a person on supervision in the community, generally in lieu of incarceration—is the most frequently used sanction; it costs offenders their privacy and self-determination and usually includes some element of the other sanctions: jail time, fines, restitution, or community service. 141  Probation in the United States is administered by more than 2,000 different agencies. Its organization is a patchwork that defies simple explanation. In about three-fourths of the states, adult probation is part of the executive branch of state government. 142  By contrast, more than half of the agencies providing juvenile probation services are administered in juvenile courts on the local level. 143

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