The Management of Secure Institutions - Dissertation Example

Secure institutions like prisons or mental institutions house inmates that must necessarily be kept away from the normal society, like, prisoners serving their sentences, accused that are awaiting their trial, those convicted and awaiting their sentencing, or those suffering from severe mental health problems. Often in states that are going through traumatic post-conflict situations, prisons are used to house inmates who are traumatised and mentally ill and cannot be placed anywhere else, victims of conflict-related crimes, political prisoners, rebels, and illegal immigrants.

Such conditions often lead to a situation where often the prison managers are not clearly aware of the exact nature of the prison population, and the characteristics of all the inmates housed within the institution. Often it has also been seen that the inmates are illegally detained and it is extremely difficult for the institution managers to correctly distinguish between the legally committed, and the ones that are illegally detained (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2010).Secure institutions like prisons have a social obligation where they take on the responsibility to arrange for adequate security measures where the criminals/offenders do not turn into a threat to the others in the society.

However, besides ensuring protection to the society, there is another duty that forms an important part of effective prison management, which is the process of rehabilitating the inmates, so that when they return within the folds of the society, they can lead a crime-free and constructive existence. As the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, Standard 58 states, “The purpose and justification of a sentence of imprisonment or a similar measure deprivation of liberty is ultimately to protect society against crime.

This end can only be achieved if the period of imprisonment is used to ensure, so far as possible, that upon his return to society, the offender is not only willing but able to lead a law-abiding and self-supporting life” (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2010, 2).