Correctional Challenges - Essay Example

Handling a funding crisis as a correctional facility manager al affiliation Handling a funding crisis as a correctional facility manager Every federal correctional facility must have an administrative arm which consists of several staff members. Among the most important staff members is a financial manager who is in charge of analyzing past expenditures and forecasting future budgets. As such, during financial crises that call for reduced funding for correctional facilities, the correctional manager is forced to deal with a lot of challenges that stem from these cuts in funding.

One of the challenges facing the manager has to do with the reduction of the number of employees within the facility (Gladwin & McConnell, 2014). A reduced workforce means that the remaining employees will have longer shifts with more work, which may lead to complaints and disagreements. Another challenge is that the correctional manager is forced to downsize the number of inmate programs at the facility. It becomes hard to decide which programs are to be downsized or eliminated, considering that most of these programs are very essential for the wellbeing of the inmates and the correctional facility.

Vera Institute of Justice (2010) gives the example of the Colorado correctional facility which did away with a military-style boot camp with a 100 bed capacity, in which young offenders who were convicted of non-violent crimes. In some extreme cases, correctional managers are forced to close down some facilities, especially if the number of inmates reduces significantly (Vera Institute of Justice, 2009). The provision of healthcare to inmates is also affected since the government is unable to continually provide pharmaceuticals in correctional facilities.

According to Vera Institute of Justice (2009), during the 2007 recession, some states reduced healthcare services towards correctional facilities meaning that the managers of these facilities needed to become innovative and find ways of purchasing drugs at a lower cost. As Gladwin& McConnell (2014) write, during periods of intense fiscal pressure, correctional managers are required to address challenges such as supervising inmates who are poorly organized and overcrowded, and maintaining order.

According to Gladwin & McConnell (2014), federal facilities are forced to come up with ways of increasing productivity as a cost-reduction measure. Most of these cost-cutting measures require the involvement of the human resources department. Ideally, one of the ways in which the human resource department can be involved in cost-cutting and increased productivity is by reducing the workforce and digitalizing most processes. For example, the cost of paying for perimeter security personnel would go down if the correctional facility decides to use detection systems for its perimeter together with roving vehicular patrols.

In this case, the department of human resources is tasked with reducing the workforce in areas that will not affect the security of the facility and the society at large. As such, in case the financial crisis is solved and the government is able to fund the correctional facility again, then the human resource personnel will know which areas need to be filled within the workforce. It is clear that once there is a financial crisis and the government reduces funding to correctional facilities, then the manager faces enormous challenges.

Reduction in the workforce, withdrawal of programs, fewer healthcare services, and closure of facilities are among these challenges. Seeing as the correctional manager cannot be able to handle these challenges on their own, the help of the human resource department is needed especially in terms of workforce reduction. ReferencesGladwin, B.P. & McConnell, C. R. (2014).The Effective Corrections Manager: Correctional Supervision for the Future (3rd Ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones &Bartlett LearningVera Institute of Justice. (2009). The Fiscal Crisis in Corrections: Rethinking Policies and Practices.

Retrieved from www.vera.org.Vera Institute of Justice. (2010). The Continuing Fiscal Crisis In Corrections: Setting a New Course. Retrieved from www.ct.gov.