Corrections Management. Mermon Correctional Facility - Research Paper Example

? Corrections Management Introduction This is a report on correction management that seeks to identify, analyze and recommend solutions to issues facing the Mermon Correctional Facility. The correctional facility faced a problem in the year 2010 and a number of issues have emerged in relation to the management of the facility. A female correctional officer was murdered and this report seeks to address the issue among other issues related to the incident. The report is has a general structure that addresses three main areas including: i. Identification of issues. ii. An explanation on issues identified and what makes them qualify to be mentioned as issues. iii. Recommendations on how to improve the organization. Personal reflections on the Agency and its Administration Generally, Mermon Correctional Facility is a relatively well managed institution. This is because an incident of a correctional officer getting killed has occurred only once since its establishment. This means that the institution has managed to secure its employees over a long period of time before the occurrence of the unfortunate incident in 2010. This is an eye opener for the management of the correctional facility because it points out that correctional officers are not completely secured. Mermon Correctional Facility also faces a number of challenges that relate to modern correctional facilities. However, it is the responsibility of the institution’s administration to ensure effective management by addressing those challenges using the best approaches. Problems and Issues Mermon Correctional Facility is faced with a number of inherent problems that affect its performance in a number of ways. One major effect of the inherent problems and issues is that the organization is unable to deliver its services in effectively hence falling short of one of its major organizational goals. A correctional facility has a major goal of ensuring that there is effective transformation of offenders from social evils into becoming better persons. Below is a discussion of some of the issues and problems related to Mermon Correctional Facility: 1. Budget concerns This is a serious issue facing the correctional facility because there were concerns from employees of the institution regarding budget reductions. Workers at the correctional facility cite budget reductions as the main cause of the murder incident. This is despite the fact the management of the correctional facility made a response to the claims that budget reductions had nothing to do with the incident. According to Phillips and McConnell (2005), budget concerns are among the major component concerns of a changing environment in the management of correctional facilities. Government and private institutions have reduced their spending on correctional facilities in response to tighter economic conditions. The authors also note that correctional facilities are having difficulties hiring adequate staff to manage such facilities. Budget concern is also an issue because it is evident that there was only one member of staff when the murder incident occurred. Marsha Wills was alone at the chapel at the time of the murder incident. She was attacked after the church service and it is believed that the murderer was hiding in the chapel. Mermon Correctional Facility did not have adequate staff to escort convicts during the church session and one of the prisoners was able to hide and make an attack without the knowledge of other employees (Jones & James, 2005). Low staff levels put both the staff and other prisoners at risk. This is because it is very difficult to monitor prisoners as well as manage them in situations of emergency. The aftermath of the murder incident led to other members of staff raising concerns about the low levels of staff. Mermon Correctional Facility is among correctional institutions that are affected by budget cuts hence it is unable to hire adequate staff to manage its numerous tasks. It is for the same reason that the correctional officer did not have a radio at the time of the murder. This is a very serious problem because officers are required to have a communication equipment whenever they are on duty. The fact that a correctional officer escorting prisoners did not have a radio points out the fact that the correctional facility had made serious cuts on spending. The management of the institution had reduced spending to the extent that there was inadequate radio equipment for officers. Recommended solutions: The general concern is that Mermon Correctional Facility is facing tight economic conditions that require cuts on spending. However, reducing the budget should be done in a judicial way. This means that the management of the facility should consider identifying its various needs and create a preference list. Organizational tasks related to the monitoring of prisoners and general security should come first in the list of preference because they are directly related to the main goals of the correctional facility. One of the major goals of the facility is to ensure that prisoners serve their maximum jail terms without escape. Their jail terms may be affected by additional offences while in the correctional facilities (McCrie, 2003). Some of the major offences include escape from prison and attacks on correctional officers. Mermon Correctional Facility should consider investing more on the security of the institution. There should be adequate employees monitoring prisoners because prisoners are always looking for opportunities that can allow them escape or harm correctional officers. This can be achieved by hiring additional employees to improve the ratio between correctional officers and prisoners to at least one officer to ten prisoners. This will generally improve the security situation in the facility and prevent incidences of attacks in the near future. The management of Mermon Correctional Facility may also consider reducing the level of prisoners so as to match the existing staff with the appropriate size of prisoners. It is obvious that the management of the institution may find it difficult to increase the number of employees because of the huge costs involved in terms of salaries. However, reducing the number of prisoners by transferring them to alternative correctional facilities that have adequate staff will cost less compared to hiring additional staff (Archambeault & Donald, 2006). 2. Privatization Privatization is a growing trend among correctional facilities and the US is among the leading countries that record very high levels of such trends. Privatization is an issue in the case of Mermon Correctional Facility because its employees are not unionized. According to Phillips and McConnell (2005), most of the private correctional facilities do not provide for their employees to become members of trade unions. Mermon Correctional Facility does not have provisions for organized labor in its staff plans. Employees at the correctional facility do not have a union that can engage them in collective bargains with their employers. Mermon Correctional Facility’s employees face a number of challenges such as inadequate staff members and budget cuts but cannot bargain for a better position on such matters because they do not have a common voice. They also have difficulties settling for a common position and engaging the management of the organization in discussions. There were concerns that the murder incident was related to low staff levels and budget cuts but the management of the correctional facility ignored their concerns. The administration ignored their pleas because they did not have a formidable platform to raise their concerns. The employees continue to have poor working conditions characterized by inadequate working equipment such as radio. Lack of unionized workers reduces pressure on the administration to improve terms of employment and working conditions hence maintaining the status quo. Employees continue to languish in a poor working environment and this problem may persist until the workers become unionized (Jones & James, 2005). Recommended Solutions: I would highly recommend that Mermon Correctional Facility allows for the penetration of organized labor. This will create provisions for the creation of unions for the employees. Mermon Correctional Facility’s employees will be able to raise genuine concerns through their workers union hence making it easy for the organization to negotiate with unions on behalf of their numerous employees because they have a common voice to raise their concerns (Phillips & McConnell, 2005). Mermon Correctional Facility should also consider creating adequate channels of communications that will allow employees to raise their concerns in an appropriate and effective manner. The organization will be able to receive employee grievances and respond promptly before the problem escalates. It is possible that good communication would have at least prevented the murder incident. This is because the employees have been having the problem of inadequate security gadgets but the administration has not been able to respond in time. This eventually led to the murder of a correctional officer. 3. Cost-effectiveness Mermon Correctional Facility has not been succeful in recording maximum benefits from its operations. This is because the costs of the operations of the facility have not been able to yield expected positive outcomes. The organization has been recording poor results characterized by disgruntled employees and a tragic incident that led to a loss of one life. It is very costly to put up a correctional facility such as the Mermon because it involves a lot of investments in beefing up security and creating conducive working environments for employees. There is also the cost of maintaining the daily operations of the company (Archambeault & Donald, 2006). Despite the heavy spending, Mermon Correctional Facility has not managed to record good outcomes as expected. The correctional facility did not prevent the occurrence of the murder incident given the fact that it could be prevented by existing security measures. The institution deployed a number of officers to escort prisoners to the church service but a prisoner managed to hide and harm an officer. The deployed security personnel were not effective enough to prevent the attack on their colleague. Recommended Solutions: The issue of cost effectiveness can be addressed by improving the level of resources used in company operations. This is because most of the outcomes of the facility operations are determined by the level of resources invested (Washington State Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, 2006). Take for instance the problem of inadequate security in the facility, the administration can improve the situation by increasing the number of officers and even apply the use of technology in monitoring prisoners. The other effective approach to addressing the problem of cost effectiveness is reducing spending on operations that do not yield maximum results for the institution. However, the management of the facility should be very careful with the regards to the selection of operations that need to be abandoned. Operations on security should never be abandoned even if they record low outcomes because they are critical to the functioning of the institution. 4. Technology According to Phillips and McConnell (2005), modern correctional facilities have adopted the use of technology in enhancing their operations. New technologies make the work of correctional officers easier because they can perform such functions as monitoring within the shortest time possible. Poor technology is an issue because Mermon Correctional Facility does not apply the use of technology in its operations. Operations at the facility are done manually making it difficult for the institution to perform its operations effectively. For instance, Officer Willis did not even have a common radio gadget at the time of her death. This is a serious problem because it compromises the security of both correctional officers and the prisoners. It is difficult for correctional officers to monitor prisoners because they have to be physically present in multiple locations within the correctional facility. It is also difficult for officers to make alarm calls in situations of emergency because there are no alarm systems within the premises of the correctional facility. Recommended Solutions: The management of Mermon Correctional Facility should consider acquiring the latest technology equipment. This is in line with the current trend adopted by a large number of modern correctional facilities. New and latest technologies such as surveillance cameras will make it easy for officers to monitor prisoners. It also reduces the cost of monitoring because surveillance cameras require a few employees to operate. Other gadgets that Mermon Correctional Facility needs to acquire include the latest radio communication equipment so as to improve communication among members of staff (Jones & James, 2005). An alternative solution is for the correctional facility to train its employees on the use of new technologies. This will enhance the adoption of new technologies because the employees will have adequate knowledge on how to operate new technologies. 5. Overcrowding Overcrowding refers to a situation whereby there is an excess capacity with limited resources. Mermon Correctional Facility is overcrowded because the number of prisoners far outweighs the available resources such as prison officers. The correctional facility did not have adequate staff to manage its large numbers of prisoners. Employees were raising concerns about the possibility of a single officer handling large numbers of prisoners during church functions. The issue of overcrowding is also evident from the large number of prisoners who were attending church functions. Recommended Solutions: The administration at Mermon Correctional Facility should consider expanding its space and human resource capacity so as to accommodate and serve the large number of prisoners. Although the idea may be very expensive, it is worth the investment because it will enhance the management of operations at the correctional facility. This will involve building additional rooms for inmates and other activities such as church services. The advantage is that the facility will have adequate capacity to manage a growing number of inmates. Alternatively, there should be a reduction in the population of prisoners at the correctional facility. This is to reduce pressure on existing limited resources at the facility. A relatively smaller population of prisoners is easy to manage and monitor. The correctional facility may also consider reducing length of jail terms for inmates so as to reduce their stay at the facility. 6. Program Issues Mermon Correctional Facility doers not have adequate programs that can address repetitive behavior among inmates. John James was initially convicted for first degree rape and kidnapping but there has not been relevant programs that could assist in correcting his unwanted behavior. He had the opportunity of accessing a number of privileges based on his improvement in behavior. There are no qualified personnel in the facility that can assist inmates in overcoming their inappropriate actions. This only led to John James repeating related offences. The correctional facility incurs high costs of incarcerating law offenders because most of them are likely to repeat similar mistakes given that there lacks a program that can assist them desist from their bad behavior. Increasing costs of incarceration as a result of lack of programs is a problem because the correctional facility is faced with a tight budget. The institution is aiming at minimizing costs in all of its operations. Recommended Solutions: I would highly recommend that the correctional facility creates a program that will address an issue like substance abuse so as to reduce repetitive criminal behave among inmates. The use of existing personnel is efficient and effective because it involves low costs and has good results. Existing employees may not require additional pay and they are effective because they understand problems facing inmates (Archambeault & Donald, 2006). Definitely, this will work for the correctional facility given the fact that there are tight budget constraints. Generally, the above mentioned recommendations are based on the fact that the correctional facility has a stringent budget and aims at minimizing costs in the best way possible. However, the benefits of the recommendations are more relevant when making a decision compared to the costs involved (Jones & James, 2005). References Archambeault, W. & Donald, D. (2006). Cost Effectiveness Comparisons of Private Versus Public Prisons in Louisiana: A Comprehensive Analysis of Allen, Avoyelles, and Winn Correctional Centers. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University School of Social Work. Jones, M. & James, A. (2005). The NCCD National Prison Population Forecast: The Cost of Truth-in-Sentencing Laws. San Francisco, CA: National Council on Crime and Delinquency. McCrie, R. (2003). Private Correction: The Delicate Balance. Privatizing Correctional Institutions. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. Phillips, R. & McConnell, C. (2005). The Effective Corrections Manager: Correctional Supervision for The Future. New York: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Washington State Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee. (2006). Legislative Budget Committee, State of Washington Department of Corrections Privatization Feasibility Study, Report 96–2. Olympia, WA: Legislative Budget Committee. Read More