<p>The privatization of public prisons has caused much controversy in South Africa as well as internationally. However, it should be noted that the level of resistance to privatisation within the South African context has been minimal by international standards. It is not clear what might have contributed to this quiet approach given the fact that there are many anti-privatisation campaigns driven by the labour movement and civil society groups in South Africa. This research investigation focused on the privatisation of prisons and prison services in South Africa and has explored the various advantages and disadvantages that exist in this respect.</p>

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Privatization, and particularly privatization of services, is a worldwide trend that has grown tremendously over the past 25 years. This growth has been particularly pronounced in developing countries in recent years. Prison services is one of many sectors that has contracted with the private sector, however, until South Africa outsourced the design, construction, finance, and operation of two maximum security prisons to the private sector for a period of 25 years, private prison companies were only involved in some developed countries. Many argue that the sector's involvement in South Africa signals its intention to expand throughout the developing world, and undoubtedly, South Africa's experience will be influential in the future growth of this sector in such countries. This paper aims to explore the experience of South Africa's public-private partnership (PPP) prisons thus far, within a context of international and domestic service privatization, in order to identify key trends and issues which may be relevant to future private sector involvement in prisons and other service sectors. Research was conducted qualitatively, with a total of 12 interviews carried out telephonically and in person. Respondents included members of the government, PPP prison administrations, and members of civil society in order to gain as wide a perspective as possible. An extensive review of the literature, as well as relevant government sources, was also undertaken. While these prisons have certainly brought benefits to South Africa's correctional service, a number of key concerns about private sector involvement in service provision were identified through this research. Firstly, the whole experience, starting with the initial decision, has lacked transparency and debate. Although contracting with the private sector was supposed to lead to increased efficiency and reduced cost, the prisons have, in fact, led to unexpected high costs and risks for the DCS. Furthermore, private sector involvement has led to a tiering of prison services, with PPP prison services generally much better than the public sector. Finally, the research indicates that there are serious questions to be raised about the effectiveness of the regulation of this sector and whether PPP prison companies are truly being held accountable by government. / Thesis (M.Dev.Studies)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

<p>The privatization of public prisons has caused much controversy in South Africa as well as internationally. However, it should be noted that the level of resistance to privatisation within the South African context has been minimal by international standards. It is not clear what might have contributed to this quiet approach given the fact that there are many anti-privatisation campaigns driven by the labour movement and civil society groups in South Africa. This research investigation focused on the privatisation of prisons and prison services in South Africa and has explored the various advantages and disadvantages that exist in this respect.</p>

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / The privatization of public prisons has caused much controversy in South Africa as well as internationally. However, it should be noted that the level of resistance to privatisation within the South African context has been minimal by international standards. It is not clear what might have contributed to this quiet approach given the fact that there are many anti-privatisation campaigns driven by the labour movement and civil society groups in South Africa. This research investigation focused on the privatisation of prisons and prison services in South Africa and has explored the various advantages and disadvantages that exist in this respect. / South Africa

The problem of this study is an investigation of the recreational program provided for inmates of the Texas Prison System. The purposes of the study were to determine the type and extent of recreational activities which are made available to the men and women who live Behind the Walls and to make recommendations based on the findings of the investigation.

The purpose of this study is to explore the use of interstate inmate transfers (IITs) by prison wardens and the administrative intent that guide their use. This study assesses the explanatory power of the new penology in three cases and asks three broad questions of two prison wardens and the DOC: What correctional goals do you hope to accomplish with interstate inmate transfers? Why? And what contextual factors (if any) are felt to inhibit or facilitate these goals? IITs are controversial. Supporters of IITs argue that in addition to serving the needs of correctional managers, they may also serve to help inmates reenter society, remain physically safe while incarcerated, remain close to family and friends, and have access to appropriate correctional programming and treatment. On the other hand, critics of IITs argue that they are much more than a correctional management tool. Rather, IITs are evidence of an informally emerging "new penology" in American corrections that—due to the increasingly problematic conditions of confinement encountered by correctional managers (e.g., overcrowding)—emphasize a shift in focus away from what is good for the individual inmate to what is good for managing the correctional system as a whole. The case data collected in this research contradict, to a large degree, new penological assumptions. The findings point to high levels of ideological and behavioral autonomy among prison wardens as well as high levels of individualized and moralistic thinking with regard to inmate management, and a general feeling that correctional management at the institutional level is only situationally (rather than perpetually) stressful. Thus, the new penological assumption that criminal justice actors lack human agency or that inmates are thought of only in actuarial terms, may be an incorrect or incomplete assumption in relation to prison wardens and the intent of IITs in these cases. This study concludes that in order to better understand and possibly predict the administrative intent of IITs, an alternative theoretical framework should be utilized—one that better captures the dynamism and variability of influence that unique situational and dispositional factors (and their interaction) may have on administrative intent.

Employees desire performance feedback which helps them understand what they are doing well, what they are doing wrong, and how to develop so that they can advance in their careers. Yet, many comment that they do not receive enough performance feedback to help them understand if they are being successful in their work or where they can improve. In this qualitative study, I pursued the question of what might prevent supervisors from providing performance feedback to their direct reports by interviewing a group of front-line supervisors and their wardens in two Midwest Prisons. My goal was to identify what the supervisor participants believed performance feedback was, how they understood and explained their personal feedback delivery practices, and how they learned to deliver feedback. My research methodology involved three stages of data collection, including collecting a range of documents from the prison system, one-on-one interviews with the two wardens who led the two prisons involved in the study, and one-on-one interviews with 16 Sergeants. I leveraged Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle (ELC) as the theoretical lens of this study. As Kolb (2014) explains, every time an individual has an experience, they have the opportunity to learn from that experience. I was curious to understand if a group of supervisors in a correctional work environment learned how to deliver and improve upon their performance feedback practices through the on-going delivery of feedback. Through the data analysis process, I found that both Warden participants deeply valued performance feedback as a teaching method and see it as an important method supervisors can utilize to enhance Correction Officer (CO) growth and development. Additionally, I found that the majority of supervisor participants (15/16) believed and understood delivery of performance feedback to COs to be a function of their rank, while a slightly smaller majority (10/16) explained it as a responsibility of their rank. Further, I found that the supervisor participants naturally employed a comprehensive range of performance feedback best practices including being positive and supportive (14/16), providing praise for work done well (13/16), correcting poor performance or incorrect understanding of policy or procedure (12/16), and conducting the feedback exchange as a conversation (10/16). Finally, I found that the supervisors’ beliefs and understandings of how they learned to provide performance feedback align with Kolb’s ELC. A majority (13/16) of the supervisor participants explained that they learned to deliver performance feedback through experience (having an experience, ELC first mode) in the supervisory role, while half of the supervisor participants (8/16) described how they learned to deliver performance feedback to Correction Officers (COs) through reflecting on prior experience (reflecting on experience, ELC second mode). Several of the supervisor participants (5/16) explained how they thought through and planned (Abstract Conceptualization, ELC third mode) their feedback conversations with COs, while a small minority (2/16) of the participants spoke to their practice of experimenting with new approaches when delivering performance feedback (Active Experimentation, ELC fourth mode) to COs. I close my study by offering recommendations based on the findings to front-line supervisors, wardens, and to trainers and educators working within correctional organizations.

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences