Market Testing and Prison Riots: How Public‐sector Commercialization Contributed to a Prison Riot

Abstract

Research Summary:Macroeconomic reforms have swept many modern Western corrections jurisdictions into a world of commercial realities, privatization, and competition. The following case study reviews how competition (i.e., a market test) between the public and the private sectors in tendering for the operation of the Woodford Corrections Centre contributed to a riot. A combined model of the threshold and state-centered theories of prison riots provides a template that clarifies the interactions of factors that contributed to the riot. Through document analysis and interviews, it is evident that despite producing a highly innovative bid judged superior to the private sector, the public sector was caught in a policy bind that led to a prison riot 3 weeks after the new center opened. Policy Implications:This research highlights important policy considerations for governments initiating policy-driven prison reform. First, the research highlights the need for custodial policy development and implementation to be strategic and part of an overall reform agenda that considers prison riot theory. Second, if the public sector is to be involved in open competition with the private sector, then policy should be consistent with the conditions of the competition. Prisons, whether public or private, cannot cope successfully with reformist policy that does not consider adequately the interactions of the individuals in the prison.

Staff‐Prisoner Relationships, Staff Professionalism, and the Use of Authority in Public‐ and Private‐Sector Prisons

“…Supporting findings in other jurisdictions (see Rynne, Harding, and Wortley ), the article highlights the importance of staff professionalism in determining prison quality, particularly in shaping the way that staff use their authority and in mediating the attitudes of prison staff and their ability to deliver regimes that are fair, safe, respectful, reliable, and responsive. In this regard, the article argues that there are some characteristic strengths and weaknesses in both sectors.…”

Accountability, Efficiency, and Effectiveness in Corrections: Shining a Light on the Black Box of Prison Systems*

“…The Rynne et al (2008) study provides a useful case study on the causes of prison riots. It also highlights a larger issue-namely, correctional systems operate as black boxes without sufficient measures and monitoring systems in place to document readily the practices and behaviors that constitute "corrections" and, ultimately, the outcomes associated with correctional systems.…”

“…Ideally, researchers would not have to resort to crude general indicators, such as riots, to assess prison performance. Yet, studies like the Rynne et al (2008) one typically must rely on them because of the lack of readily available, reliable, and valid measures of prison operations and outcomes. Useem and Piehl (2006) examined an issue critical to most prison systems-the extent to which order in U.S. prison systems has increased or decreased.…”

“…However, it does highlight a central problem in American corrections today; namely, relevant performance data on system operations and outcomes has not been collected consistently, which thus makes systematic performance monitoring difficult to impossible. The importance of consistently collecting measures of prison performance along a range of dimensions is highlighted by the Rynne et al (2008) study. The authors focused on how one largely unexamined factor-public sector commercialization-may influence prison performance and outcomes, in this case, the occurrence of riots.…”

“…The focus on riots aside, the Rynne et al (2008) study underscores a larger issue-the lack of institutionalized performance and outcome monitoring in many prison systems. Put differently, many systems do not measure relevant dimensions of performance or outcomes.…”