NCJ Number
153877
Journal
Howard Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 34 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1995) Pages: 64-79
Date Published
1995
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study highlighted the differences in perceptions that workers in various positions in the hierarchy of an American maximum-security prison had regarding their work-related problems. The prison is portrayed in these accounts as a decoupled organization, which may refer either to the structure of the organization or to the employees' perceptions regarding their work worlds.
Abstract
Some of the issues that emerged from survey responses included transfer of prisoners, punishment of prisoners, rewards and incentives available to prisoners, and informants and their relationship to the prison administration. The responses indicate that correctional administrators view themselves as workers who face an often hostile and indifferent public and are therefore able to justify their behaviors as rational and expected. The aims of the central administration differed from those of the front-line administrators in terms of their priorities for the daily operation of the prison. This analysis suggests that the decoupling process in the prison administration occurs at all levels within the facility. 1 note and 22 references