The current Main County Jail organizational structure is inefficient because it is not well suited to providing safe, humane, secure detention of individuals in its custody. The jail’s accreditation unit, responsible for the American Correctional Association (ACA) standards, reports to the director, who oversees the mental health and medical services and the legal unit. This structure does not allow for a clear and direct line of communication between the accreditation unit and the other units, which could lead to problems with compliance with ACA standards. The Accreditation, Medical, Mental Health, and Legal units all report to the director. In contrast, the Internal Affairs and Public Information units report to the director (CJ 323 Final Project Case study, 2022). This structure creates a silo effect, as information does not flow freely between these units.
The internal affairs officer and the public information officer report to the jail director, who is also responsible for the overall safety and security of the jail. This may have created a conflict of interest for the director, who was more concerned with protecting the jail’s reputation than investigating reports of abuse or misconduct. Moreover, the training unit is part of the support services division, which is responsible for the administrative requirements of the jail, including budget and finance, personnel management, and training (CJ 323 Final Project Case study. 2022). This may have meant that the training unit was not given adequate resources or attention and that employees did not receive proper training on handling emergency medical situations or using force.
One way to reduce the number of staff employed by the Main County Jail is to offer employees buyouts or early retirement packages. This will allow the jail to reduce its workforce while saving on salaries and benefits costs. Another way to reduce the number of staff is to implement a hiring freeze for all non-essential positions (Thilaka, Sivasankaran, & Udayabaskaran, 2020). This will help to lower the number of employees while also allowing the jail to save on costs associated with salaries and benefits.
The Main County Jail should consider reorganizing its divisions and sections to improve efficiency. One way to accomplish this would be to create a division solely responsible for inmate care and custody. This division would be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the jail, including the supervision of inmates, the distribution of meals and medication, and the cleaning of cells. Another recommendation is to eliminate the position of Assistant Director of Support Services. This position is responsible for the non-custodial operations of the jail, including visitation, recreation, commissary, medical care, and religious services, which can get absorbed by other staff members. Moreover, the jail can create a new position of Assistant Director of Internal Affairs to be responsible for investigating allegations of employee misconduct.
Creating a division solely responsible for inmate care and custody will help ensure that inmates are properly supervised and that their basic needs are met. Eliminating the Assistant Director of Support Services position will help reduce costs and free up staff members to be reassigned to other positions. Creating a new Assistant Director of Internal Affairs position will help investigate allegations of employee misconduct and improve communication between the different divisions of the jail.
Factors such as the number of inmates, desired security level, number of adequate staff members, duties and roles available, the physical layout of the facility, and workers’ work schedules must be considered when determining staffing levels. The American Correctional Association (ACA), The National Institute of Corrections (NIC), and the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) Jail Standards that lay down safety, security, order, care, justice, and administration standards must get considered (Medina, 2020). They give guidelines that every county jail should adhere to when making choices related to staffing levels.
References
Medina, J. (2020). Capital Vices, institutional failures, and epistemic neglect in a county jail. Vice Epistemology, 108-125.
Southern New Hampshire University. (2022). CJ 323 Final Project Case study. Southern New Hampshire University.
Thilaka, B., Sivasankaran, J., & Udayabaskaran, S. (2020). Optimal Time for withdrawal of voluntary retirement scheme with a probability of acceptance of retirement request. December 2020, 02(04), 201-206.