The Strategy To Raise Standards In British Prisons

The Strategy To Raise Standards In British Prisons Political and Academic interest in the privatization of British Prisons has steadily risen since its sudden revival during the 1980s and 1990s. This interest has been precipitated by a rapid rise in the prison population and the directly related escalation of running costs and difficulties of running a consistently efficient service. Privatization was seen by many policy-makers as providing an important step forward towards improving conditions, bringing about change and innovation, and improving the overall quality of the British prison system. The private sector was believed to be capable of delivering a better standard of service with greater efficiency and a higher degree of accountability. Subsequently, the last decade has seen a steady growth of private sector involvement in the British prison system. This essay will examine the argument that privatization offers an important strategy to raise standards within Britains prisons and consider any problems associated with this appr oach. The privatisation of corrections is now understood to mean some form of the ownership or management of prisons by private corporations. The role of the private sector in contemporary corrections is, however, much broader than this narrow definition. Savas (1987) points out that the private sector is involved in corrections in five distinct ways. It may: (1) finance and construct prisons; (2) operate facilities for juveniles; (3) operate facilities for adults; (4) provide work for prisoners, and (5) provide specific contractual services, such as health care and vocational education for inmates and staff. The recent move towards the privatization of British prisons has been largely based on the substantial increase of the prison population. Between 1993 and 1996 the UK prison population increased from 43,000 to 54,000, a rate of about 100 per 100,000 of the entire population. This rapid rise has led to widespread overcrowding and a decrease in standards, making living conditions for many prisoners highly unpleasant. Prisoners overall health has deteriorated and suicide and self-mutilation rates have climbed rapidly. Added to this, staff morale has also fallen and widespread scepticism of the value and objective of prisoner programmes has grown. It has been clear for some time that widespread changes and new strategies are needed in order to tackle the problems within the prison system. The main priorities for improving the system have included; increasing prison capacity, introducing working practices that are more accommodating and flexible for prison and probation staff and the need for greater accountability from those responsible for running prison services. The claim that all this could be achieved at substantially reduced costs simply by encouraging greater private sector involvement in the delivery of penal policy has been increasingly seen by some as a quick fix solution to many of the penal systems most pressing problems (Cavadino Dignan, 2002: 227) It is important to now look at how it is proposed that privatizing Britains prisons will lead to such improvements in standards. Supporters of the privatization of Britains prisons argue that there are a number of potential benefits directly associated with the commercial competition that privatization would produce. For example, through the creation of a market force private organisations would be encouraged to maintain and indeed improve upon high standards of cost effectiveness and efficiency in order to achieve the successful renewal of current government contracts and to compete for new service contracts. Logan Rausch (1985) suggest that due to the way they are financed public sector organisations are inefficient and ineffective. As the private sector is motivated by competition and profit it is dedicated to providing maximum satisfaction to its clients and customers at a minimum cost. Alternatively, in the public sector; bureaucrats are rewarded not according to the performanc e of their organization but according to the size and budget of their agencies, thus they are more interested in empire building than in increasing their efficiency. Beyens Snacken also examine this point, arguing that; Proponents claim that privatization is the best way to decrease costs and construct new, better designed prisons more quickly. By introducing the element of competition and new management techniques, better quality for less money can be achieved. It is stated that private correctional services can operate more efficiently, because of less bureaucratic red tape and a higher motivation to control costs. Privatization, many claim leads to heightened accountability within the prison system. It is argued that the government is in an ideal position to impose strict guidelines and include detailed service standards within contracts, making companies readily accountable and putting them at risk of financial penalties for failure to fulfil them. As the government no longer have to defend its own shortcomings it can be more active in challenging private companies for failing to meet contractual obligations. Most private contractors accept and appreciate the value of full time independent monitors who are present within private prisons acting as an additional guarantee of contract compliance. Public sector prisons do not have similar fully independent monitors. Also, healthy competition between private sector rivals would also have a regulatory effect as agencies are inclined to monitor each others performance for weaknesses and failings in order to gain a commercial advantage. It is clear that the primary rationale for passing the management of prisons into private hands is that they are expected to operate at lower running costs than those controlled by the Home Office. If success is to be measured on effective cost-cutting and meeting required standards of service, supporters of privatization are convinced that a sustained push in this direction will produce positive results. It has been estimated that the running costs of private prisons are 15-25 per cent below those of state prisons (Tilt, 1995). A prison review in 1997, stated that privately run prisons on average, offered an operational cost saving of 8-15 per cent. A Parliamentary Select Committee in 1996-97 looked at the management of offenders in the public and private sectors. It reported that an expansion of the private sector would lead to an increase in efficiency in the public sector. It concluded that private prisons were operating well in terms of quality of performance, and that their ove rall performance was as good as, and in some cases better than, publicly administered prisons. However, critics argue that recent improvements in the efficiency of public sector prisons have led to a continuous narrowing in the operating cost saving offered by privately operated prisons so that by 1998 the differential had been reduced to 2-11 per cent (Woodbridge, 1999). Those against privatization also argue that any reduced running costs comes at a high price; to the detriment of the number of staff employed, staff wages, conditions of employment and working conditions (Joyce, 2001:221). For example, it has been reported that contracted-out prisons, often favouring high technology security measures, have on average 16 per cent fewer staff per prisoner than public sector prisons. Also pay and conditions for staff at private sector prisons are often poor in comparison with the public sector. Salaries are 14 per cent lower and members of staff deliver on average 10 per cent more working hours per week. These factors may account to some degree for the high levels of staff turno ver at private prisons, reported to be approximately 30 per cent. The usefulness of privatization and indeed its principles have been widely criticised and numerous problems that it potentially produces have been identified. Firstly, many critics focus the emphasis on the traditional notion of privatization a concept already partially discredited in the western world because of its association with inflated profiteering and the abandonment of the public interest (Harding, 1997: 1). It is heavily argued that the running of Britains prisons for profit has very negative consequences. This serious criticism of privatization is that the profit motive is entirely incompatible with successful prison administration. In order to make profit, private organisations are dependent on receiving a continually high supply of inmates into their institutions. There are numerous examples of how this may affect the treatment of offenders and prisoners. Early release times for prisoners may potentially be discouraged or ignored when prison numbers are relatively low. Also, government and other leading political policy-makers may be inclined to put pressure on legislators to create directives and pass acts that are both decisively custody based and increasingly punitive. Another factor that must be taken into account due to the reliance of private contractors on prisoner numbers for profit is the issue of overcrowding. One of the key ideas promoting privatization is the improvement of standards and living conditions for prisoners, private prisons may develop a tendency towards increasing prisoner numbers in order to raise profits leading to overcrowding and its inherent problems This argument clearly reveals how the underlying commercial motivation of private organisations can have serious repercussions for the manner in which private prisons are run, posing serious and seemingly unanswerable questions to those who absolutely support privatization. Another major concern with privatization is that there will be an increased emphasis on security, to the detriment of attempts to reform or rehabilitate prisoners. The contract between the Home Office and a private company does not require the contractor to help inmates lead good and useful lives (Joyce, 2001: 221). Most criminologists agree that the rehabilitation and education of prisoners is a crucial function of the penal system. It is hard to disagree with both Durham (1989) and Shichor (1995) who maintain that the changing penal trend away from rehabilitation and training towards containment, incapacitation and deterrence has hastened the acceptance of privatization as a viable policy option. From a financial perspective, more prisons means more outlay. Prisons are expensive capital items with high running costs. Thus, there is considerable attraction in any policy designed to reduce those costs. In addition, the incapacitation or protection of the public function is an easier administrative task to hand over to private companies and their employees than the treatment and training of offenders (Genders, 2002). By failing to provide any rehabilitation and training to offenders, private prisons become institutions with the sole function of punishing prisoners through incapacitation for profit. Another potentially serious pitfall of widespread privatization is that the government may become reliant on the services of a handful of powerful companies; this could result in the government to some extent being held to ransom and thus be forced to pay higher prices in order to continually increase the profits of the private sector organisations. This potential problem is magnified where private prison operators are contracted to take over the entire running of an institution, including initially building it, owning it and managing it, as is now to be the case for all future tendered contracts in England and Wales. A key question that remains unanswered is whether, in remaining paymaster but delegating service delivery, the state truly does retain control over standards whether in fact there still is present that degree of public accountability and control that must always be requisite when the state exercises its ultimate power of restraint and punishment over the citizen ( Hard ing, 1997: 2)? A final criticism of privatization is based on the limited indicators of how private prisons have performed up to now. Despite the previously discussed increased emphasis on a security focused approach within private prisons, it seems that there are serious control issues within them. Virtually all privately-managed prisons have experienced serious control problems, at least during the initial period after opening. In most cases the problems appear to have been more severe, and more intractable, than would normally be expected in the case of a comparably newly-commissioned public sector prison (Cavadino Dignan, 2002: 247) In conclusion, the involvement of the private sector in Britains prison system has so far been limited to the delivery of particular services; the government has retained responsibility for producing and implementing changes in policy and for monitoring the performance and standards of private prisons. Proponents of privatization claim that it has and can continue to improve standards of service and efficiency, whilst also cutting running costs. As Tabarrok (2003: 10) argues We now know that private prisons can be built more quickly, operated at lower cost, and maintained at a quality level at least as high as government-run prisons. However, many writers dispute such claims and believe that a continued government policy towards privatization as a method of improving the British prison service is deeply flawed and may become a barrier to developing a programme of fundamental change aimed at improving the standards of the whole of the prison system. Privatization as an ideology and as a practice is not only unlikely to provide a remedy for the malaise affecting the prison system; it could easily become a major part of the problem (Cavadino Dignan, 2002: 255). Despite serious criticisms; the future of private prisons is not clear. We do not know whether it will become a viable alternative to government run prisons or remain a small segment of the correctional system as it is today, or if it will be only a temporary phenomenon (Schihor, 1995: 18). Overall, whether private sector involvement in running Britains prisons increases or decreases in the long-term remains to be seen. It is clear, however, that the debate surrounding the subject will continue to flourish at least until clear indicators of the performance of private prisons are revealed. Evidence, so far, provides few answers. As Liebling Sparks, (2002: 283) conclude; Some former doubters and critics have been converted. Some predicted disasters have not transpired; and many privately managed institution s appear on available indicators to have operated at least as well (or put another way no worse than) their directly managed counterparts. References Beyens, K. Snacken, S. (1996) Prison Privatization: An International Perspective in Matthews, R. Francis, P. (eds.) (1996) Prisons 2000: An International Perspective on the Current State and Future of Imprisonment, Basingstoke: MacMillan Press Ltd. Cavadino, M. Dignan, J. (2002) The Penal System: An Introduction (3rd edition), London: Sage Publications Ltd. Genders, E. (2002) Legitimacy, Accountability and Private Prisons in Punishment and Society: The International Journal of Penology (2002) Vol. 4 (3): 285-303. Harding, R. W. (1997) Private Prisons and Public Accountability, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. James, A. L. et al. (1997) Privatizing Prisons: Rhetoric and Reality, London: Sage Publications Ltd. Joyce, P. (2001) Crime and the Criminal Justice System, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. Liebling, A. and Sparks, R. (2002) Editors Preface, in Punishment and Society: The International Journal of Penology (2002) Vol. 4 (3): 283-284. Lilly, R. J. Knepper, P. (1992) An International Perspective on the Privatisation of Corrections, in The Howard Journal (1992) Vol. 31 (3): 174-191. Schihor, D. (1995) Punishment for Profit: Private Prisons/Public Concerns, London: Sage Publications. Tabarrok, T. (ed) (2003) Changing the Guard: Private Prisons and the Control of Crime, California: The Independent Institute.

Explaining the role of effective communication Essay

There are wide ranges of ways that communication can take place for example one to one conversations, group conversations. This can either be informal or formal depending on the individual’s outcome. An example of effective communication that can take place in a health and social care setting is a hospital, for example a nurse and her colleague are talking about how much they enjoy their jobs, and this is a form of effective communication. One- To –One communication – A one to one happens when a person speaks to a individual, or writes to the individual to form effective communication. In a one to one communication, it is always effective as both of the people in the one to one work together effectively and interacts well, as both individuals are relaxed and are listening to each other, in a result the communication works effectively and both parties leave with a resolved matter and everything is positive. One to one communication can be formal or informal. An formal one to one communication can take place in a GP, where the patient is discussing their personal problem with the Doctor and the doctor is helping the individual out with their problem, this is part of effective communication as the one to one interacting is working effectively. An informal one to one communication, can take place in a health and social care setting, where two colleagues are on their lunch break and are discussing about how their day has gone so far and etc. ,this is a part of effective communication as both parties are interacting effectively. Group communication – In a group communication, there is often more going on as it is a wide range of people within the group. During the group communication, each individual will try and get their points and ideas across to the people within the group and the rest will listen and be considerate towards the person speaking. That is a way of effective group communication, as the interacting between the group is working well and effectively. A group communication can be a great benefit, as it’s easier to make decisions and problem solving a ituation as you have various people giving different views and feedback to a matter, and that’s a great way of effective communication. A group communication can include multi- professional working, multi-agency, which happens with professionals and people using services. A multi-professional working involves numerous professionals working together in order to meet the needs of an individual. This will include doctor, police, an d social worker to meet the needs of a young adult in a bad situation. Multi-agency is when different organisations work together effectively to the best possible service to families, children and young people. Formal communication Formal communication is a form of communication used by professional to communicate with clients and individuals. This form of communication is important because it shows the professional is showing professionalism within the work their doing to deliver the best possible care for the individual as well as the communication working effectively. An example of formal communication can be, ‘ good morning Sir/Mrs, this shows respect towards the individual. It is important not to use jargon or slang whilst communication formally, because you will come across as you’re not serious about your work, and also the client my not be pleased, also jargon can be a barrier because it can affect the communication between the client and professional due to not understand the technical words. Informal communication Informal communication is a casual exchange or letter that doesn’t follow to all of the rules of formal communication. It’s like saying â€Å"hey† instead of hello and also writing to your friend and talking about personal things. These are things you’d never do in a business environment because it can be considered as formal communication. Informal communication is good way of communication as it can make a individual more relaxed and effective as it’s more easier and complex for the person to interact, as they don’t have to worry about being proper and correct. Interpersonal interaction Interpersonal interaction is how people relate towards each other in a verbal nteraction or non-verbal interaction. Verbal interactions include speech, tone of somebody’s voice, listening and language. Non-verbal interactions include a person’s body language and the way they express it for example their posture, facial expression and their proximity. Interpersonal communication can take place in a health and social care setting, for example: at a care home, there is a new career and she does not speak English properly, so therefore it is hard for her to interact with the residents, which makes this is a language barrier. P2 – Argyle’s Theory of the Communication Cycle Michael Argyle is a social psychologist who developed theories about interpersonal interaction and human communication. He carried out experimental theories of non-verbal and verbal communication to develop and test he’s theoretical ideas. He has a communication cycle which explains and predicts how communication can occur in a one to one situation. 1. An idea occurs. A resident wants to go to the library and is trying to convince her carer. 2. Message coded. She talks to her carer about the books she used to read and how much she misses reading them. 3. Message sent. The carer says to the resident, ‘what was your favourite book’ this shows the message is sent and the carer understands what the resident is talking about. 4. Message received. Now the carer know what the resident’s favourite book is the resident is happy and is smiling. 5. Message decoded. Then the carer says to her resident would you like me to take you to the library so we can have a look if they have your favourite book and other books your interested in? 6. Message understood. Here the resident is happy and so is the carer because now they both understand each and the communication between the two has worked effectively. Bruce Tuckman defined a model of group development based around numerous stages, sequences or group activity. Tuckman suggested that these stages should happen in order for effective communication to occur in the groups interaction as well as the four stages being completely different. Forming –it is the start of the year and new infants have started the nursery, they tend to be shy and well reserved as they are not used to each other. Storming – as they start to settle in for about a month, they because more comfortable and relaxed with each other, in some cases this might not happen, someone would want to be dominant out of the bunch and this may cause conflict between the infants. Norming – in this stage everyone had built a strong bond between each other, and is working together well. Performing – in this final result the infants become mature and tend to realise that working together effectively can be a positive thing. M1 – Assess the role of effective communication and interpersonal interaction in health and social care with reference to theories of communication. The roles of effective communication in a health and social care setting, is to ensure that if communication with a resident, you must make sure to talk clearly and slowly, face to face make sure the person understands you and you’ve got your message across in the right way, in order for the communication to work effectively. The types of reference to communication are sign language, makaton and braille. These are part of effective communication as they are used by people with a hearing or blind impairment and leaning difficulties in order for them to communicate with others around them. Effective communication is a two-way process in which a person tries to understand the viewpoint of the other person. Communication is a cycle because when two people communicate they will need to make sure that they got their ideas across towards each other and they are understood. There are also barriers that can occur in a communication due the individual’s circumstance, for example: a person using slang, jargon o complex technical terminology can be heard, but their message may not be understood. Scenario I’m going to give a scenario between doctor and a patient, showing communication working effectively. Nurse : did you rest well last night Mrs Jones? Patient: yes I did nurse, I’m feeling slight better. Nurse: that’s a great improvement then, I’m glad you are. Patient: thank you very much nurse. Nurse: I am always here to help my dear. This is a very good way of effective communication, as the nurse and patient are interacting well and both parties are happy as they have understood each other. References (http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/informal-communication. html) (http://wiki. answers. com/Q/What_is_formal_communication_in_business_organization)

Critical Analysis of The Indifferent by John Donne Essay

Critical Analysis of The Indifferent by John Donne The Indifferent by John Donne is a relatively simple love poem in comparison to his other, more complicated works. In this poem, he presents a lover who regards constancy as a vice and promiscuity as the path of virtue and good sense (Hunt 3). Because of Donnes Christian background, this poem was obviously meant to be a comical look at values that were opposite the ones held by Christians. According to Clay Hunt, [The Indifferent] is probably quite an early poem because of the simplicity and obviousness of its literary methods, its untroubled gaiety, and its pose of libertinism, which all suggest that Donne wrote [the poem] when he was a young man about town in†¦show more content†¦This is first introduced in the last line of the first stanza, and continues throughout the entire poem. The speaker desires a solely sexual relationship with his women, and he believes that such a relationship cannot exist if they are truthful to one another. According to Eleanor McNees, Donne re alizes that erotic license is irreconcilable with norms of truth and troth (207). Over the first stanza, the speed of the rhythm also increases with the importance. There is a rhythmic progression from the even, steady movement and moderate stresses of the opening lines to the slower pace, the stronger stresses, and sharply defined metrical pattern of her, and her, and you and you, and finally the very heavy accents on any and true in line 9 (Hunt 5). In the second stanza, the speaker continues upon the theme of faithfulness being a vice, and sexual promiscuity being a virtue. The sexual tone which was suggested in the first stanza in the anti-romantic details of spongy eyes and dry cork is intensified by the connotations of the words know and rob me; and the sexual pun on the word travail in the following line (Hunt 5). The speaker is trying to convince the women that he is talking to that promiscuity is a good thing and that neither he, nor the women should be faithful to their mate. This is evident in the lines: Will no other vice content you? . . . Or doth a fear that men are true, torment you? OhShow MoreRelatedAmerican Literature11652 Words   |  47 Pagesperiod of American Literature - 1880-1900 Naturalism is a sub-genre ofrealism Content: ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · dominant themes: survival fate violence taboo nature is an indifferent force acting on humans brute within each individual is comprised of strong and warring emotions such as greed, power, and fight for survival in an amoral, indifferent world. Genre/Style: ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · ï‚ · short story, novel characters usually lower class or lower middle class fictional world is commonplace and unheroic; everyday

The Tragic Heroes Of Sophocles Oedipus Rex And Antigone...

The concept of whether destiny controlled our fate or if we have a say in what happens to us was often questioned in Ancient Greece where fate and self-will were the main themes of the plays. Many plays displayed the tragic hero as a victim of their own fate while others blamed the heroes for their suffering. The plays Oedipus Rex and Antigone, written by Sophocles, display the themes defined by Aristotle. Are we the authors of our fate or is our fate written and destined to happen? In both plays, Oedipus and Antigone face their downfall because of self-will. They bring on their own doom because of their actions. The author explores many themes such as the high-standing and heroic traits of the tragic heroes as well as to the flaws and pride of Antigone and Oedipus. Finally, the author explores the theme of recognition and catastrophe. These topics are directly linked to the poetics of Aristotle. The two plays display many literary devices, the most significant ones being characteriz ation and conflict. Oedipus and Antigone were of high-standing and had many heroic traits which influenced their actions. Aristotle, in his poetics, describes a tragic hero as someone that is of high standing and who demonstrates some heroic traits. The tragic hero needs to be someone that holds great power so that their downfall will be way more dramatic and sad to the audience. Oedipus was the King of Thebes, because he solved the riddle of the Sphynx. He also married Kreon’s sister thusShow MoreRelatedAncient Greek Tragedies: Passion vs. Prudence 959 Words   |  4 PagesBoth Oedipus and Antigone experience this as a result of their rash behavior. Even Creon ends up miserable in Antigone due to the change in his behavior. 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