Political Power In Prison Essay

416 Words2 Pages

When it comes to prison facilities, political power has the ability to control what happens inside. Whether anyone like it or not, they’ll always exist in the criminal justice system. Life staff supervisors and administrators can’t make all the decisions. That being said, not only does the political power have the ability to control the interest of all the individuals with regards to the well being of correctional officers and inmates, but also assure the management skills stay in good shape by assuring there’s no one in the facility is abusing their power as well (Stojkovic, Kalinich, and Klofas, 2008). Just because the politicians may have more authority than anyone who works in the prison, doesn’t mean that, as criminal justice professionals, …show more content…

Many politicians, unfortunately, like to criticize a facility and automatically change the organization without knowing what’s going on. That being said, the second way life staff, supervisors and administrators could work together with politicians is by allowing them to enter the facility so they could evaluate the organization since they no way in knowing the functions by just looking at data or paperwork (Stojkovic, Kalinich and Klofas, 2008). They’ll ask for a tour throughout the prison and attempt to provide the ones in charge with advice. It’s crucial to not ignore every request, but at the same time, allow them to manipulate anyone with high authority in the facility. That last and final way politicians could play out towards the life staff, supervisors and administrators is with their expectations. As politicians, they expect a high level of credibility and professionalism in the staff’s supervisors and administrators’ part. Since prisoners have the ability to participate in the political structure, they should be included in the final presentation as a way to demonstrate that the organization means serious business, but at the same time, their interest and recommendations matter as well (Stojkovic, Kalinich