Prisons and their moral performance : a study of values, quality, and prison life
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Bibliographic Information
Prisons and their moral performance : a study of values, quality, and prison life
（Clarendon studies in criminology）
Oxford University Press, 2004
- : hbk
- : pbk
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Note
"Published new as paperback, 2005" -- T.p. verso of pbk ed.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [495]-534) and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: hbk ISBN 9780199271221
Description
This book constitutes a critical case study of the modern search for public sector reform. It includes a detailed account of a study aimed at developing a meaningful way of evaluating difficult-to-measure moral dimensions of the quality of prisons.
Penal practices, values, and sensibilities have undergone important transformations over the period 1990-2003. Part of this transformation included a serious flirtation with a liberal penal project that went wrong. A significant factor in this unfortunate turn of events was a lack of clarity, by those working in and managing prisons, about important terms such as 'justice', 'liberal', and 'care', and how they might apply to daily penal life. Official measures of the prison seem to lack relevance to many who live and work in prison and to their critics. The author proposes that a truer test of the quality of prison life is what staff and prisoners have to say about those aspects of prison life that 'matter most': relationships, fairness, order, and the quality of their treatment. The book attempts a detailed analysis and measurement of these dimensions in five prisons. It finds significant differences between establishments in these areas of prison life, and some departures from the official vision of the prison supported by the performance framework.
The information revolution has generated unprecedented levels of knowledge about individual prisons, as well as providing a management reach into establishments from a distance, and a capacity for 'chronic revision', that was unimaginable fifty years ago. Another major transformation - the modernisation project - brought with it a new, but flawed, 'craft' of performance monitoring and measurement aimed at solving some of the problems of prison management. This book explores the arrival and the impact of this concept of performance and the links apparently forged between managerialism and moral values.
Table of Contents
- PART 1: INTRODUCTION: PENAL VALUES AND PRISON EVALUATION
- 1. 1. The Late Modern Prison and The Question of Values
- 2. 2. The Measurement and Evaluation of Prison Regimes
- 3. Identifying 'What Matters' in Prison
- 4. Particular Prisons and Their Qualities
- PART 2: THE MEANING AND MEASUREMENT OF KEY DIMENSIONS OF PRISON LIFE
- 5. Relationship Dimensions: Respect, Humanity, Trust, Relationships, and Support
- 6. Regime Dimensions: Fairness, Order, Safety, Well-Being, Personal Development, Family Contact, and Decency
- 7. Social Structure and Other Dimensions: Power, Prisoner Social Life, Meaning, and Quality of Life
- PART 3: PENAL VALUES AND PRISON MANAGEMENT
- 8. Managing Modern Prisons and their Performance
- 9. Security, Harmony, and 'What Matters' in Prison Life
- 10. Legitimacy, Decency, and the Moral Performance of Prisons
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780199291489
Description
This book constitutes a critical case study of the modern search for public sector reform. It includes a detailed account of a study aimed at developing a meaningful way of evaluating difficult-to-measure moral dimensions of the quality of prisons.
Penal practices, values, and sensibilities have undergone important transformations over the period 1990-2003. Part of this transformation included a serious flirtation with a liberal penal project that went wrong. A significant contributory factor in this unfortunate turn of events was a lack of clarity, by those working in and managing prisons, about important terms such as 'justice', 'liberal', and 'care', and how they might apply to daily penal life. Official measures of the prison service seem to lack relevance to many who live and work in prison and to their critics. The author proposes that a truer test of the quality of prison life is what staff and prisoners have to say about those aspects of prison life that 'matter most': relationships, fairness, order, and the quality of their treatment by those above them. The book attempts a detailed analysis and measurement of these dimensions in five prisons. It finds significant differences between establishments in these areas of prison life, and some departures from the official vision of the prison supported by the performance framework.
The information revolution has generated unprecedented levels of knowledge about individual prisons, as well as providing a management reach into establishments from a distance, and a capacity for 'chronic revision', that was unimaginable fifty years ago. Another major transformation - the modernisation project - brought with it a new, but flawed, 'craft' of performance monitoring and measurement aimed at solving some of the problems of prison management. This book explores the arrival and the impact of this concept of performance and the links apparently forged between managerialism and moral values.
Table of Contents
- PART 1: INTRODUCTION: PENAL VALUES AND PRISON EVALUATION
- 1. The Late Modern Prison and The Question of Values
- 2. The Measurement and Evaluation of Prison Regimes
- 3. Identifying 'What Matters' in Prison
- 4. Particular Prisons and Their Qualities
- PART 2: THE MEANING AND MEASUREMENT OF KEY DIMENSIONS OF PRISON LIFE
- 5. Relationship Dimensions: Respect, Humanity, Trust, Relationships, and Support
- 6. Regime Dimensions: Fairness, Order, Safety, Well-Being, Personal Development, Family Contact, and Decency
- 7. Social Structure and Other Dimensions: Power, Prisoner Social Life, Meaning, and Quality of Life
- PART 3: PENAL VALUES AND PRISON MANAGEMENT
- 8. Managing Modern Prisons and their Performance
- 9. Security, Harmony, and 'What Matters' in Prison Life
- 10. Legitimacy, Decency, and the Moral Performance of Prisons
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