NCJ Number
82542
Journal
Journal of Offender Counseling Services and Rehabilitation Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: (Spring/Summer 1981) Pages: 105-133
Date Published
1982
Length
29 pages
Annotation
The Boulder County, Colo., jail management staff successfully applied an organizational behavior approach to managing inmates. This article reviews the philosophy and literature behind this approach and explains its application in the Boulder County jail.
Abstract
The approach assumes that organizations are open systems with interacting subsystems, so that activity in one affects activity in another. Organizational effectiveness is enhanced through a 'fit' between leadership style, be it authoritarian, democratic, or laissez-faire, and the needs of the group being managed. In the case of the Boulder County jail, for instance, leadership style varies from authoritarian--for inmate groups with major discipline problems--to democratic--for inmates who have learned to work cooperatively. Jail managers developed a behavior-based inmate classification system to reward nonviolent behavior, housing inmates with similar behavior in the same location. As their behavior, cooperation, ability to work in groups, and progress toward individual goals improves, they are moved to increasingly less austere and secure locations with expanded program options. An inmate/officer advisory council meets regularly with jail management to resolve problems through collaboration. Inmates at the classification system's highest level are candidates for the council and reside in self-governing units. The Boulder system appears to be successful; the classification system works, jail violence has decreased, and treatment capabilities have increased. The article diagrams management structures and reviews the literature on the organizational behavior approach to management. Tables, notes, and 35 references are included.