NCJ Number
94721
Date Published
1981
Length
225 pages
Annotation
This two-volume report identifies methods of analysis and evaluations of prison and jail staffing levels, outlines a specific technique called the Multiple Methods Approach, and describes current staffing patterns in 20 representative correctional facilities.
Abstract
Volume one first reviews methods for determining the appropriate numbers of employees to devote to a task, covering task analysis, motion-and-time study, productivity auditing, outcome analysis, process analysis, and comparative analysis. Methods of organizing workers both in terms of hierarchical structure or chain of command and shifts are examined. The next chapter surveys staffing information from the 20 institutions studied, which represented old and new, large and small facilities, according to functional categories such as administration, unit supervision, or control points. Special attention is given to unit supervision staff, because housing areas use between one-fifth to one-third of all positions in prisons. The final chapter provides a step-by-step example of a staffing analysis, focusing on task and comparative analyses with some application of productivity auditing. It includes forms and procedures to enable a manager to complete such an analysis. The report recommends that staffing analysis be an ongoing process rather than a one-time event and offers suggestions for implementing such a program at a jail or prison. Volume two contains detailed descriptions of the staffing patterns of the 20 institutions discussed in Volume one based on data collected in summer 1980.