Privatization of Jails: A Management Perspective (From Privatizing the United States Justice System: Police, Adjudication, and Corrections Services From the Private Sector, P 275-280, 1992, Gary W Bowman, Simon Hakim, et al., eds. - See NCJ-137785)

• NCJ Number: 137800
• Author(s): R Kiekbusch
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: McFarland & Company, Inc.
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Local jail officials who consider the privatization of jails should focus not only on the often-discussed fiscal, legal, and philosophical considerations but also on the crucial management issues of institutional security, staff and inmate safety, institutional and inmate hygiene, and inmate rehabilitative programs.

Abstract

A corrections management perspective includes a clear set of priorities, communication of priorities to staff, decisionmaking in accordance with priorities, and evaluation of job performance with respect to accomplishment of the organization's priorities. Jails and other correctional organizations need this perspective because they are highly interrelated internally, are related externally to other parts of the criminal justice system, and experience serious and even life-threatening consequences from error and confusion. When considering contracting the operation of the jail, decisionmakers should focus at a minimum on four priorities: institutional security, staff and inmate safety, institutional and inmate hygiene, and inmate rehabilitation programs.