Using Inmate Survey Data in Assessing Prison Performance a Case Study Comparing Private and Public Prisons

Abstract

The public sector needs to monitor the performance of the private prisons, and it is necessary to conduct the monitoring as objectively as possible. This article demonstrates that an often overlooked source of data, surveys of inmates, can be used to differentiate prisons on such Was a gag activity, and security, sanitation, and food service delivery. Hierarchical line models were used to generate the prison performance measures. We also show that inmates and staff largely agreed in in their assessments of conditions at the prison. Finally, we demonstrate that although there is considerable consistency for different measures within the topical areas that we examined, there is no necessary correspondence in performance across the different topical areas of gang management, safety and security, sanitation, and food service delivery. Although survey will never and should never replace operational reviews and audits, we demonstrate that they can be effectively used to obtain information about operational differences between prisons.

The Influence of Prison Staff on Inmate Conditions: A Multilevel Approach to Staff and Inmate Surveys

“…As far as we know, only Camp et al (2002) found that perceptions of prison staff and inmates on the sanitation in the dining hall and the housing unit are highly congruent. In order to examine whether connecting of the two surveys can also yield meaningful knowledge here, we test the analogy between a couple of staff and inmate scales dealing with the same subject (perceptions of contacts between staff and inmates and perceived hygiene).…”

Assessing the Social Climate of Prisons

“…With the exceptions of Camp et al (2002a), Camp et al (2002b), and Logan (1996), very few studies have compared the social climate of different prisons. Using a series of management-related performance measures derived from surveys of staff and institutional records, Logan (1996) compared the private operations of a prison with its previous state agency operations.…”

“…With regard to the perceived safety of the environment, only one public prison (FCI Yazoo City) was rated as less safe than the private prison. In subsequent analyses, Camp et al (2002a) examined inmate responses to the prison environment in the same four prisons (three public and one private), concluding that prisoners and staff largely agreed in their assessments of the prisons.…”

“…Unlike Moos" CIES, which is administered to both residents and staff (Langdon et al 2004;Langdon et al 2006) Prisons since its initial administration in 1988 by its developers, Camp et al 2002a;Camp et al 1997;Wright & Saylor 1991, 1992. The complete PSCS questionnaire is divided into sections based on different topic areas.…”

A Method to Deal with Dissimilar Circumstances of Public Organizations in Performance Comparisons: Evidence from Dutch Prisons

“…This means that respondents would report a state of affairs while knowing reality is different. However, other research suggests that survey results in prisons (both inmate and staff) vary in a systematic way across facilities (Camp, 1999;Camp et al, 2002;Molleman, 2008;Molleman & Leeuw, 2012). Survey data have been shown to be consistent with official prison records (Dagget & Camp, 2009;Molleman, 2011).…”