A COMPREHENSIVE TYPOLOGY OF MANPOWER ASSIGNMENTS IS DEVELOPED WHICH PERMITS CONSISTENT STAFF COMPARISON AMONG THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS INSTITUTIONS. THROUGH THE TYPOLOGY, SAMPLES OF RECENT ACTUAL MANPOWER ALLOCATIONS AND WARDENS' REQUESTS ARE ANALYZED. FOUR ALLOCATIONAL DECISION RULES ARE DERIVED AND UTILIZED TO PRODUCE ESTIMATES OF APPROPRIATE OFFICER MANNING IN THE TWENTY-EIGHT POST ASSIGNMENTS AT EACH OF THE SEVEN DETENTION FACILITIES. A MATHEMATICAL TREATMENT OF THE FOUR DECISION SCHEMES IS GIVEN WHICH REVEALS SEVERAL OF THEIR IMPORTANT GENERAL PROPERTIES AND IDENTIFIES CERTAIN SPURIOUS RESULTS IN THEIR APPLICATIONS TO REAL MANPOWER DATA. SUGGESTIONS ARE PRESENTED WHICH BEAR ON THE POSSIBLE IMPLEMENTATION, INTERPRETATION, REFINEMENT, AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE METHODOLOGY. STATISTICAL SUMMARIES OF THE DATA SAMPLES, DEFINITIONS AND EXPOSITIONS OF THE STATISTICAL TERMS EMPLOYED, AND COMPUTER PROGRAMS OF THE DECISION ALGORITHMS ARE ALSO PROVIDED. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)