Correctional officers and the use of force as an organizational behavior

During the past 30 years, bureaucratic managerialism has reshaped how prison staff maintain order. Policies and graduated disciplinary models have replaced coercive methods, reducing disciplinary use of force by prison staff against incarcerated people. Managerialism, however, disguises deep problems in the interpretation and enforcement of use-of-force policies. Drawing on 131 semistructured interviews with Canadian correctional officers (COs), I show how managers and prison staff interpret and negotiate policies to justify using force to maintain order. Although COs frame policies and management supervision as significant checks on their actions, they also suggest that inconsistencies in policy interpretation and implementation facilitate certain kinds of use-of-force decisions, which I define as construction and outsourcing. I conclude by discussing the broader organizational implications of these findings.

Automated summary

Over the past 30 years, the way prison staff maintain order has been reshaped by bureaucratic managerialism. Coercive methods have been replaced by policies and disciplinary models, resulting in a reduction in the use of force by prison staff. However, there are underlying issues with how these policies are interpreted and enforced.