The Structure of the Main County Jail
Introduction
Correction facilities face many challenges that inhibit their efficiency in service delivery. The Main County Jail faces various challenges that have resulted in poor quality of life for the inmates and employees. Some of these critical issues that this facility deals with comprise a shortage of personnel, inadequate funds, and prison congestion (Comartin et al., 2020). The central county jail has a large population and books many other inmates per annum. Another issue that the prison faces is inadequate funding; However, the facility is allocated a significant fraction of the county budget, but the funds are insufficient due to its size. Based on the records, this jail only spends a small proportion of the money to support services because it cannot afford to spend more since that would incapacitate other departments.
Analysis of Critical Issues
The different critical issues this jail faces have culminated in incidents that have inhibited the efficient execution of operations. These issues include the mistreatment of prisoners and employee burnout. Prison officers tend to beat prisoners, resulting in inmates’ injuries and death (Ryan & Berry, 2020). For instance, Mr. Sanchez was beaten until he was paralyzed; in addition, Frank Fernandez died at the hands of prison wardens. Mistreatment hinders the safety of convicts and negatively impacts the operations in this facility.
Another critical issue experienced in prison is burnout of employees. The county jail is overcrowded, and the number of employees is not proportional to that of the convicts. As such, employees have to do hard work for long hours, which results in exhaustion. Exhausting prison workers lower the quality of their services, impacting operations. Additionally, overworking employees puts inmates’ safety in jeopardy since it increases the risk of accidents.
Based on the consistency of the liability incidents in this facility, it is evident that the current management is not concerned with the welfare of the inmates. Over the past few months, there have been publications that shed light on the safety issues of the prisoners, but that has not created any concerns for the facility to make any changes to rectify the situation (Murray, 2019). Similarly, civilians have raised concerns about the prisoners’ mistreatment, which has not triggered any management changes.
Mission, Vision, and Values
These liability incidences in this prison demonstrate a considerable disregard for the institution’s central values, mission, and vision. To some extent, it signifies a lack of comprehension among the employees and management. For instance, in the case of Jose Sanchez, he was beaten by the guards, thus causing his paralysis; when questioned, the guards claimed that they were acting in self-defense, so they had to beat him to a pulp. Several guards ganged against a single prisoner in the name of self-protection, signifying their lack of understanding of the Main County Prison’s vision, state, and values.
Addressing Critical Issues
Increased Accountability
Over the past years, prison management has aided in covering for officer who has violated the laws, undermining the core values of this corrections center. Therefore, the administration should uphold individual responsibility among prison employees who break the law. This can be achieved by establishing a tribunal that is mandated to bring these employees to justice whenever they go against the law (Comartin et al., 2020). For instance, the guards that put burnt Donald Ramirez with hot water to death should have been sued and incarcerated for murder. Through this, employees will strive to abide by the rules and regulations of the facility. Consequently, prisoners’ safety will be promoted hence allowing for accreditation.
Public Participation
The administration can implement public participation by developing collaborations and partnerships with various stakeholders. Through these collaborations, prison employees and the prison at large will be more inclined to adhere to the rules and ensure that all prisoners are treated with dignity and integrity (Comartin et al., 2020). In addition, the stakeholder will help finance various prison programs like the medical care resource and thus ensure that inmates are afforded better care, thus preventing instances like the case of Hector Garcia. If the jail can ensure better care and safety of the convict, stakeholders will recommend it for accreditation.
Staffing and Structure
Organizational Restructuring
The present structural organization of the Main County Jail has significantly contributed to its inefficient operation execution. There is no equity among the departments; most departments, if not all, have an equal number of officers, while some units require more guards than others. As such, there is an unequal distribution of responsibilities among the guards because some are overworked while others are given minimal responsibilities. A perfect example is in the Department of institutional services, this unit serves the whale prison, yet it only has a few officers, which results in them being overworked (Schoenfeld, 2019). On the other hand, the community affairs section has more than enough officers since special events rarely occur in jails.
There are different ways to reduce the number of jail employees. The most suitable method is through the merging of smaller departments or the assimilation of smaller units into bigger ones. The operations section should be conducted as one whole department without subunits (Farrell et al., 2021). Instead of having three majors in this section, there should only be one in charge of all operations, be it facility, unique, or community affairs operations. Similarly, this section should only have three captains instead of seven captains. This will help reduce the amounts of recurrent expenditure that the administration incurs inform of salaries for prison employees.
Action Plan
Many adjustments can be implemented in the structural organization of this prison to improve its efficiency. These adjustments include increasing the number of captains to four and lieutenants to five in the institutional services division and reducing support services captains to two and lieutenants to three. More so, the operations department can be merged and its officers integrated to ensure uniform work distribution, which will, in turn, promote efficiency.
These organizational changes will significantly promote the penitentiary’s values, vision, and mission. By increasing the number of captains in the services division, junior officers will be under adequate supervision, thus minimizing the risk of convict battery. This will consequently promote leadership and integrity among wardens, thus promoting the values of this facility. More so, these captains will be able to deal with the prisoners more personally and thus know their grievances (Farrell et al., 2021). Therefore, the safety and welfare of prisoners will be ensured, and their problems will be solved.
Accountability
Regarding accreditation, this facility must first ensure that it makes reforms that ensure all employees are made accountable for their actions. In most cases, prison management protects its members; as such, officers who break the law are rarely brought to justice. More so, high-ranking officers operate with impunity, which is not condoned by the accreditation commission (Farrell et al., 2021). Therefore, the Main County Jail must ensure all its employees are held accountable for their misdeeds to be accredited.
Better Working Conditions
All employees have the right to work in a favorable environment, irrespective of rank. In most instances, conducive work environments are limited to high-ranking staff, while junior employees are subjected to poor conditions. Nonetheless, for this correction facility to be accredited, it has to adopt changes that ensure all employees enjoy comfortable conditions. These conditions will promote efficiency and, consequently, better service delivery.
Incident Prevention and Training
Excessive Use of Force
The safety of prisoners is an essential aspect that correction facilities have to uphold to be accredited. Therefore, Main County Jail has to implement changes to prevent officers from using excessive force, including establishing a disciplinary committee and abolishing corporal punishment (Murray, 2019). The disciplinary committee will be responsible for punishing prisoners who break the law. This will guarantee the safety of prisoners since the committee will be adhering to the rules of punishment. The committee will determine appropriate repercussions for officers who mistreat convicts (Ryan & Berry, 2020). In addition, corporal punishment will be abolished in the institution; this will help minimize instances of inmate mistreatment. Officers will be prohibited from beating inmates hence promoting their safety. Promoting safety conditions will allow the facility to meet the conditions for accreditation.
Values, Mission, and Vision
Current operations within the institution do not uphold its values, mission, and vision. Therefore, it is essential to implement some changes that will facilitate the execution of activities that reflect these standards. These changes include better healthcare provision, employing adequate physicians, and improved training for officers (Murray, 2019). Employing enough medical personnel will allow the facility to provide the needed medical attention for its inmates. Better medical care services will improve the quality of health for both employees and convicts, ensuring better services by the facility. Training officers will enable them to know how to treat convicts with respect and integrity and how to conduct punishments legally. This will consequently promote the values and mission of Main County Jail.
Conclusion
The Main County Jail has had many officer brutality cases, drawing the public’s attention. These issues of convict mistreatment have been attributed to the poor structural organization of the facility. Despite being allocated money by the County, the institution still struggles with shortages since a large portion is used to pay salaries. As such, this institution has to adopt some changes that will help ensure the safety of prisoners while reducing its overall expenditure. These changes will be essential in facilitating its efficiency and increasing the chances of accreditation.
References
Comartin, E. B., Wells, K., Zacharias, A., & Kubiak, S. (2020). Using the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Model for Corrections Officers: Reducing Incidents within a County Jail. The Prison Journal, 100(5), 581–602.
Farrell, M., Humphries, L., & Meissner, M. (2021). Safety Issues Identified During Intersocietal Accreditation Commission Vein Center Site Visits. Journal of Vascular Surgery: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders, 9(2), 556
Lester, H. D., & Miller, M. J. (2019). Discrete event simulation of jail operations in pursuit of organizational culture change. In Computer Security (pp. 307-322). Springer, Cham.
Murray H. (2019). Preventing cruel and unusual punishment: the eighth amendment. Enslow Publishing.
Ryan M. J. & Berry W. W. (2020). The eighth amendment and its future in a new age of punishment. Cambridge University Press.
Schoenfeld H. (2019). Building the prison state race and the politics of mass incarceration. University of Chicago Press.