Exemplary prisoner management
| Author | AJW Taylor,John Rynne |
| Published date | 01 December 2016 |
| Date | 01 December 2016 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0004865815604194 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Australian & New Zealand
Journal of Criminology
2016, Vol. 49(4) 512–527
!The Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0004865815604194
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Article
Exemplary prisoner
management
AJW Taylor
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
John Rynne
Griffiths University, Australia
Abstract
This paper focuses on the initiatives of a few idealistic prison managers in different countries
who at different times braved the punitive tide to apply reformative principles. In support, it
cites a growing number of compelling research studies from prisons and other places of
confinement that bear on fair custodial management. It is presented in the hope of inspiring
more managers to follow suit and to persuade administrators, personnel selectors, staff
trainers, and others within the penal system to countenance systemic reform as their
raison d’e
ˆtre. Following the halting progress of central and local governments in matters of
penal reform, it could be seen as a third way of tackling a most vexatious humanitarian issue.
Keywords
Prisoner management and research, prison reform
Introduction
Although studies in controlled settings have shown the attitude of the general public to
the punishment of criminals to be moderate and far from vindictive (Mayhew & van
Kesteren, 2002), the punitively inspired in some Western countries have succeeded in
persuading their governments to lengthen prison sentences and make conditions more
stark (Pratt & Eriksson, 2013; Warren, Gelb, Horowitz, & Riordan, 2008). The punitive
gives the impression of being vengeful or self-righteous, with some either most anxious
by nature or made so by pressure groups. They are oblivious to the consequences of
overcrowding prisons, such as making them ‘a major public health hazard’ (Editorial,
New York Times, 27 November 2014), as was the case in the Middle Ages. They are also
deaf to the adverse findings of any official inquiries that follow prison disturbances.
Quite apart from the immorality and dubious legality of some managerial prison
practices, extreme and prolonged deprivation involving isolation, interrogation, and
torture is known to induce chronic debilitating states from which recovery is problematic
Corresponding author:
AJW Taylor, School of Psychology, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand.
Email: tony.taylor@vuw.ac.nz
(Burns, 2006). Within living memory the horrendous regimes imposed on prisoners in
gulags, concentration camps, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo Bay should give food for
thought (Applebaum, 2003; Rhodes, 2015; Russell, 1955; Siems, 2015; Zimbardo, 2005).
The dominating punitive faction in society has either a baleful view of mankind or a
desperate need to claim moral high ground and gain separation from designated wrong-
doers. Its mantra is to have offenders put out of sight and out of mind. Towards that
end, it would replace judicial discretion with mandatory sentences that ignore factors
other than the present crime and criminal record of offenders. It remains untouched by
the 16th-century spirit of the Enlightenment in which tolerance and understanding began
to temper the long-held jaundiced view of mankind. It has yet to reflect on Nietzsche’s
warning that one should not trust those in whom the urge to punish is strong. Rather, it
is still fixated firmly in the preceding Dark Ages that Thomas Hobbes described as nasty,
brutish, and short. It cries aloud for the courts to apply retributive and deterrent penal-
ties for every offender (McVicar, 2011), with little regard for the mountain of evidence as
to the futility, inhumanity, and expense (personal, social, and monetary) of doing so. It
tends also to overlook the fact that prisons can be criminogenic (Bales & Piquero, 2012;
Cochran, Mears, Bales, & Stewart, 2014; Mears, Cochran, & Cullen, 2014).
Reformers have a different view. They would encourage the faint-hearted not to
regard antiquated prisons and their latter-day ‘super-max’ electronic fortresses as essen-
tial pre-requisites for the maintenance of society. Rather, they would reserve conven-
tional prisons for the small coterie of dangerous and violent offenders. Like the
Scandinavians, they would urge parliament to follow research evidence, and put prisons
firmly in the chain of community agencies that operate for the resettlement of the vast
majority of non-violent offenders. More than that, they are aware that Norway has even
established a prison based on principles of human ecology, in which well-trained staff
impart positive values to help long-term inmates develop a sense of responsibility for
community living (Alnaes, 2010).
Elsewhere, Canadian criminologist Irving Waller (2006) found local governments of
countries with a punitive Anglo-Saxon tradition more ready than central governments to
consider and apply sensible humanitarian measures to reduce crime and delinquency.
Their positive response induced him to campaign for shifting the emphasis on policies of
crime control from tightening police procedures and increasing punishments, to the
protection of victims and the prevention of crime.
Until such changes are widely adopted and consolidated, the present authors suggest
a third way of effecting reform. It would draw on the initiatives of a few prison gov-
ernors who wrought change successfully during their terms of office, despite the oppos-
ition they faced, and induce others with a similar outlook and talents to follow suit.
Adopting this third line, the pioneering work of five outstanding prisoner managers is
presented below. The pioneers are drawn from four continents and functioned at differ-
ent times. Although for the most part their contributions were well documented, they
were in danger of falling into oblivion. There are others (cf. Newell, 2007).
The presentation is followed by a selection of insightful observations from or about
prisoners, ex-prisoners, civilian detainees, and prisoners of war, all of which bear on the
generic human needs of the incarcerated. Finally, the intuitive humanitarian initiative of
the pioneers is validated by an impressive array of results from recently generated empir-
ical research in actual prison settings.
Taylor and Rynne 513
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