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Prison Officers and the Use of Discretion (From Exercising Discretion: Decisionmaking in the Criminal Justice System and Beyond, P 74-96, Loraine Gelsthorpe and Nicola Padfield, eds. -- See NCJ-202489)

NCJ Number
202492
Author(s)
Alison Liebling; David Price
Date Published
2003
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This chapter examines the role of discretion in the work of prison officers in England and the links between prison life and staff-prisoner relationships.
Abstract
The flexible interpretation and application of rules is a key feature of the best prison work, as well as a key feature in its corruption. A policy of Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP), introduced in prisons in England during 1995, requires governors to introduce a system of encouraging and rewarding good behavior by prisoners, and deterring bad behavior. It is based on the use of three levels of privileges: basic, standard and enhanced. Staff practices are linked to the use of formal and informal rules and to relationships. In other words, staff-prisoner relationships are seen as at the heart of a prison. In this chapter, the role of discretion in the work of prison officers is explored by drawing on recent research conducted in a single maximum security prison in England, on subsequent reflections, and on the role of the prison officer at earlier stages. The chapter examines prison officers and the defects of total power, the right reasons for bending the rules, prison officers and staff-prisoner relationships, the use of discretion in other agencies -- policing, prison work, and the regulation industry, and the exercise of mercy. References