Toward a conceptual schema of prison management styles

The problems facing contemporary prison administrators have taken their form from numerous external influences bearing on the prison. We begin our paper with an analysis of the changing ideology of management in public affairs which has forced changes on the management of the prison. To understand the impact of this change it is necessary to review the revolution in correctional management which occurred in nearly every state after World War II, though in different forms and at different times. The revolution was directed in the main at t absolutist management and control which was not only inconsistent with American values but also antithetic to emerging norms of public administration. Conceptually, four types of prison management models can be identified in American corrections. These are: the Authoritarian Model, the Bureaucratic Lawful Model, the Shared-Powers Model, and the Inmate Control Model. These models of prison management can be distinguished from each other in terms of the basis of the normative order, and in the resultant procedures and locus of authority; the Authoritarian model on the one extreme and the Inmate Control Model on the other. It is important to emphasize at this point that these models are set forth in the form of Weberian &dquo;ideal types.&dquo; Most prison management systems cannot be classed as entirely one or another of these types. What t distinguishes one style from another is the predominance of certain central characteristics of a particular model. Second, these models do not necessarily represent an evolution over time. However, nearly all prisons originated with an authoritarian style, at least those which go back to the nineteenth century. Once the era of the absolute prison rule ended, prisons made various adaptations. Some adopted immediately the bureaucratic-lawful style. Others leaped into the shared-powers model