Professor Alison Liebling Institute of Criminology Cambridge Prison Officer Summer Symposium Oxford August 1415 2017 The story begins Oiling the wheels of a research project Tea Jailcraft ID: 633038
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Slide1
Prison Officers at their Best
Professor Alison LieblingInstitute of Criminology, CambridgePrison Officer Summer Symposium, Oxford August 14-15 2017Slide2
The story begins...
Oiling the wheels (of a research project)Tea‘Jailcraft’The good use of authorityIts ‘moral meaning’Politics, Criminology, Cambridge (and Oxford!): prison officers as ‘political philosophers in action’?Slide3
Prison officers matter far more than they realise
They contribute most (80%) to quality of life in prisonThey are not ‘turnkeys’ but ‘gatekeepers’ and ‘peacekeepers’: figures with moral
and
instrumental
power. Slide4
Books about prison officers at their best...Slide5
Their most important skills:‘Talk’ ‘Presence’ (of a certain kind...) Prison officers do things
differently:
fferently
Role model officers ... have clear boundaries, moral strength
Neither lax nor over rule-bound.
Slide6
Outstanding common sense?Slide7
Peace-building
Prison staff are accomplishers rather than keepers of the peace – or order – in prison.See Liebling, A; Elliot, C.; and Price, D. (1999) ‘Appreciative Inquiry and Relationships in Prison’, Punishment and Society: The International Journal of Penology
1(1) pp 71-98.
Liebling, A. (2000) ‘Prison Officers, Policing and the Use of Discretion’,
Theoretical Criminology,
4(3): 333-357.Slide8
Good methods for studying prison officers
Appreciative Inquiry: ‘tell me about your best day ever as a prison officer’ ...Shadowing: reveals ‘the gap’ between ‘the rules’ and ‘action’.Rules as resources
; based on
ideas
about order.Slide9
Control Review Committee (1984)
“At the end of the day, nothing else that we can say will be as important as the general proposition that relations between staff and prisoners are at the heart of the whole prison system and that control and security flow from getting that relationship right.”
(Home Office, 1984: para. 16).
Reformulated:
“At the end of the day, nothing else that we can say will be as important as the general proposition that ‘
staff professionalism’ is at the heart of the whole prison system
and that control and security flow from getting these right.
(Liebling 2011: 496)Slide10
‘Moral dualism’
Security values(Conservative)Self-protection Rule of lawAuthorityCompetitiveness
Tough law enforcement
Harmony values
(Liberal/social democratic)
Peaceful coexistence
Mutual respect, human dignity
Sharing of resources
The development of individual potential
Wealth redistributionSlide11
11
Personal Development: An in-prison model
1
1
Controlling for function, + public/private ownership/
management
HUMANITY
‘AN ENVIRONMENT CHARACTERISED BY KIND REGARD AND CONCERN FOR THE PERSON’
(3.27)
BUREAUCRATIC LEGITIMACY
‘THE TRANSPARENCY AND RESPONSIVITY OF THE PRISON/PRISON SYSTEM AND ITS MORAL RECOGNITION OF THE INDIVIDUAL’
(3.97)
STAFF PROFESSIONALISM
‘STAFF CONFIDENCE AND COMPETENCE IN THE USE OF AUTHORITY’
(3.53)
HELP AND ASSISTANCE
‘SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PROBLEMS, INCLUDING DRUGS, HEALTHCARE + PROGRESSION’
(3.37)
ORGANISATION + CONSISTENCY
‘THE CLARITY, PREDICTABILITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE PRISON’
(3.08)
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
(‘HELP WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF POTENTIAL’)
(3.28)
R
2
= 69.2
.144 ***
.166 ***
.145 ***
.413 ***
.101 ***Slide12
Models of order, safety, confidence/pride, prisoners ..
Laxity/chaos
Good order (dynamic)
Repression
Disregard for safety
‘corrupted authority’
Avoidance, indifference
Non-observation
Relational safety
‘dynamic’, interactive
Proactive, intervenes
Informal resolution conflicts
Guarded, intelligent trust
Fragile safety
‘reassurance/defensive’
vigilant
suspicious, risk-oriented
distant
No professional confidence
Uncertainty, fear
Professional confidence
Comfort, assurance, courage
Bad/over confidence
Intimidation, bluntness
Prisoners as ‘??’ (irrelevant)
Prisoners as ‘experiencing subjects’
Prisoners as ‘experienced objects’Slide13
A Typology of officer working personalities
Enforcer (Cynical) Practices rigid, ‘by the book’ aggressive enforcement, actively seeks out violations, rarely makes exceptions, has little empathy for others, takes unreasonable risks to personal safety, sees most things as either good or bad, and is quick to use threats, verbal coercion and physical force.
Avoider (Cynical)
Minimises offender contact, often does not ‘see’ an offence, avoids confrontation and coercion, views interpersonal aspects of the job as not part of the job, often backs down from confrontation and blames others.
Reciprocator (Tragic)
Wants to help people, assists them in resolving their problems, prefers clinical or social work strategies, may be inconsistent when making exceptions, prefers to ‘go along to get along’ and tends not to use coercive authority or physical force even when it is justified. Allows prisoners to keep the wing quiet.
Professional (Tragic)
Is open and non-defensive, makes exceptions when warranted, prefers to gain cooperation and compliance through communication, but is willing to use coercive power or force as a last resort.Slide14
14
Good authority and outcomes
1
Controlling for function, + public/
private ownership/management
HUMANITY
‘AN ENVIRONMENT CHARACTERISED BY KIND REGARD AND CONCERN FOR THE PERSON’
(3.27)
BUREAUCRATIC LEGITIMACY
‘THE TRANSPARENCY AND RESPONSIVITY OF THE PRISON/PRISON SYSTEM AND ITS MORAL RECOGNITION OF THE INDIVIDUAL’
(3.97)
STAFF PROFESSIONALISM
‘STAFF CONFIDENCE AND COMPETENCE IN THE USE OF AUTHORITY’
(3.53)
HELP AND ASSISTANCE
‘SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PROBLEMS, INCLUDING DRUGS, HEALTHCARE + PROGRESSION’
(3.37)
ORGANISATION + CONSISTENCY
‘THE CLARITY, PREDICTABILITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE PRISON’
(3.08)
PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
(‘HELP WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF POTENTIAL’)
(3.28)
R
2
= 69.2
.144 ***
.166 ***
.145 ***
.413 ***
.101 ***Slide15
Fairness
‘An example of fairness is when there was a football match on and it went to extra time; it was time to bang us up but they let us stay out and watch it’ (Prisoner).I can normally get them to do what I want without having to resort to putting them on report. You can’t be doing the job well if you’re having to place them on report all the time ... I explain to them — just because you got out of bed the wrong side this morning ... get yourself up, washed, dressed, go to work, then you’ll be able to get your canteen on Friday. it’s your choice. I’ll leave you to get on with it. I’ll close the door, within a few seconds the bell will go off. And they just go to work. (Officer)
‘This jail is a complex place, there are always exceptions to things, and people should be treated as individuals’ (Senior manager
).Slide16
Ross Harrison (1992) ‘
The Equality of Mercy’: There is an important distinction between ‘the mechanical operation of rules’ and ‘the question of justice’ in a particular case. Rules are ‘blunt instruments’ which do not take into account the complexity or individuality of a particular case - human beings want their interests treated mercifully, not impartially.Slide17
Reading the situation right
For Murdoch, the most crucial moral virtue was a kind of attentiveness to detail ... which could see what was really going on in a situation and respond accordingly. .... What so often keeps us from acting morally is not that we fail to follow the moral rules; rather, it is that we
misunderstand the situation before us
. When we describe the situation to ourselves, we simply get it wrong. To get the description
right
— to accurately grasp the nature of the motivations at play, to see the relevant individuals in their wholeness and particularity, and to see what, morally speaking, is at stake — is to grasp the ‘shape’ of the situation.
17Slide18
Conclusion and recap
‘What is distinctive about prison officer work is that it is based on, or requires, a sophisticated, dynamic and often subtle use of power, through enduring and challenging relationships which has effects on the recipients. This is highly skilled work. Competence in this area – in the use of authority – contributes most to prisoner perceptions of the quality of life in, or moral performance of, a prison’. Liebling, A ‘Distinctions and distinctiveness in the work of prison officers: legitimacy and authority revisited’ European Journal of Criminology
8(6) 2011: 488.Slide19
Thank you ...