Pattern Case Study (Fact Pattern)

¶ … Pattern

Case Study (Fact Pattern)

Criminal activities have been on the rise in many states of the United States. To control such criminals from going unpunished in the society, the criminal system uses the aid of prison and correctional facilities. The United States of America is one of the top countries who have a very large number of criminals locked up behind bars (LENNARD, 2012). With so many prisoners in the country, it has been important for the government to categorize prisoners with minor offences with those prisoners who have committed major crimes. Therefore, the Department of Justice in the United States transfers this prison categorization task to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (Redding, 2004).

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is responsible to divide the different level of criminal punishment facilities based on the level of crime committed by the individual. These facilities then are differentiated based on the level of security in those facilities. The different levels of security range from supermax, high, medium, low and minimum (BOP). Apart from the nature of crime committed by an individual, the other deciding factor that categorizes a prisoner to a specific level of prison is the behavior and the attitude of that individual over a period of time.

One such level of prison is a federal correctional institution. These correctional institutions are categorized as medium - level security prisons. The security parameters in such facilities are strengthened and mostly include doubled fences and other electronic detection systems such as CCTV cameras and electronic gates. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, these institutions have greater internal controls as compared to low security prisons. Also, the ratio of staff members to the inmates is higher, so as to ensure that the behavior of the inmates continues to improve, but under a controlled environment that provides assurance about the security measures in case the prisoners misbehave.

If such a facility fails to maintain the controls which it has to apply in all cases, which includes following the guidelines set out by the Department of Justice for correctional facilities, the resulting outcome can be very different (COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES -- SECURITY and CONTROL). The failure of maintaining the regulations can have a negative impact, such as inmate attacks on the staff members and increased misbehaving by the inmates. The current paper is based on the provided case study which covers the topic of a correctional facility that is understaffed, has a lower budget, and where a murder has taken place. This paper has many purposes to serve in light of the given case study. Firstly, this paper will discuss the issues that arise from the mismanagement of the correctional facility and not following the set out guidelines to main the level of security. In this section, it would be analyzed that how the management of the correctional facility failed to follow the guidelines. Further, this paper will also discuss the nature of the issues that have arisen from the mismanagement at the correctional facility. Possible solutions for the prevailing problem will also be discussed and a recommendation will be provided based on the analysis conducted of the complete case study. By achieving these targets, the paper will aid in the studying of such problems in the American economy and society that have affected the innocent people, the members of the correctional facility staff and the inmates in such correctional institutions, basing the recommendations on logical, humanitarian and just grounds.

Reflections on the agency and its administration

The prison that is involved in the case is the Mermon Correctional Facility, which is located outside the city of Washington D.C. The case study reflects upon several issues that prevail in the administration culture of the correctional facility. To begin with, it is mentioned in the case study that the Correctional Officer, Marsha Willis, who has been the victim of the crime committed inside the prison walls was posted lonely at a post at the Prison Chapel. Accordingly, the Prison Chapel was commonly accessible to many prisoners, and most prisoners used to come there to attend religious services almost on a daily basis. Therefore, it can be said that the Prison Chapel was an active location for the prisoners to visit. This justifies the reason that the correctional facility was to be guarded by multiple staff members of the correctional facility. However, this has not been the case in the current situation. The administration chose to allocate only one staff member to secure and guard the Prison Chapel, while the place was filled with many inmates. This reflected upon the decision making capabilities of the prison administration.

Even if the murder had not taken place, the administration was loosening the control over the security measures because of its inept decisions that involved posting only one Correctional Officer at a location that witnessed a large influx of the inmates on a daily basis, who themselves had been committed crimes that had been targeted against the women in the society, which involved sex offenders, rapists, murderers, etc. If even the rules and guidelines to maintain security measures are ignored, it is common sense that such a place could be a location where the inmates can attempt to break into a misbehaving act. In this regard, the administration displayed the utmost lack of management skills that are required in the running and maintaining of high security prisoner correctional facility.

The Prison Chapel held a high regard for most inmates as it is common for the inmates to turn themselves towards their religions in times of such difficulties in their lives (Welborn, 2005). Therefore, it was one of the most visited places in the prison by the inmates. Considering this fact, it should be noted that in such a high security prison, such a location must be more guarded and secured using monitoring cameras and secure entry and exit points. In this case study, there is no mention of any such measure present in or around the Prison Chapel. Even if the staff member, Marsha, would have been alone, the monitoring cameras would have been able to keep a watch on the actions of the inmates present inside the Prison Chapel, while also precisely spotting the Correctional Officer's location and status while she was on the duty at the Prison Chapel.

However, the existing administration of the Mermon Correctional Institution did not aim to secure the location using the aid of such security measures. If such security measures had been in place, the Correctional Officer, Marsha Willis, could have been spotted when any inmate attempted to carry out an attack on her. In this manner, the life taking incident that took place on the 29th of January, 2010. The lack of intent shown by the administration in even arranging for such security measures showed that it did not include managers who were either willing to do their jobs efficiently and religiously or that they possessed too much carefree attitude towards their jobs, even though such a job requires highly alert and involved managers who were up for the task of ensuring proper security measures based on the guidelines set out by the Federal Bureau of Prison and targeting to control and improve the behavioral attitudes of the prison inmates who had been provided their sentences for committing punishable crimes.

Another important aspect that the case study highlights is the prison budget problems. The budgets allocated to the prisons are based upon various factors (Henrichson & Delaney, 2012). These factors are assessed by the Department of Justice in a thorough manner and only then the taxpayers' money is allocated to these correctional facilities for ensuring security measures are maintained while the inmates are treated properly during their sentences, as a correctional facility targets encouraging improved behavior by the inmates during the course of their sentences. In the case study, the victim of the crime committed inside the Mermon Correctional Facility, Correctional Officer Marsha Willis, before her death, showed concerns about the staffing level problems and was worried when she was posted at the Prison Chapel. Now considering the concerns laid down by the staff members, the administration should have acted in a more prudent manner and must have allocated additional staff members at the post in the Prison Chapel, while managing the funds provided by the government in a more controlled and efficient manner. Even after the death of Correctional Officer Marsha Willis, the administration does not acknowledge the importance of utilizing the prison budget to improve staff levels at such dangerous posts. Instead, the prison administration shows lack of situation grasping understanding, and continued to blame the inmates for their actions with respect to the case. The prison managers tried to shift all the blames and the finger pointing directed towards them on the inmates, highlighting their criminal behaviors that got them inside the prison in the first place. This effort made by the prison managers to run out of the line of fire by using the inmates as a scapegoat reflects quite negatively on the administration and the agency of the correctional facility.

The issues, problems and recommendations

The subject matter of the case study itself highlights a number of issues, factors and problems that existed at the Mermon Correctional Institution, which is located outside the Washington D.C. One of the most significant problems that the Mermon Correctional Facility faces in the case study is of the existing staff levels employed by the prison administration. According to many prison staff members, which also included the victim Correctional Officer Marsha Willis, the number of staff enrolled by the prison administration was less than the numbers that should have been present in an average correctional facility in the country. According to the classification of prisons made by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a correctional institution requires to have a high staff member to inmate ratio. Such a policy was in place to ensure that the prison security measures were up to the mark required for the type of offenders sentenced in a correctional institution such as the Mermon facility.

Understaffing has been the major factor that could be blamed for the incident that resulted in the death of the Correctional Officer in the Prison Chapel. In the view of this problem, despite of it being a major public issue, where there have been calls for the overhaul of the prison management, the prison managers have remained adamant that the murder was not the result of understaffing, but of the senseless violence that the inmate involved carried out towards Correctional Officer Marsha Willis. In light of this problem, the recommendation that can be made for the prison management would be very clear. According to statistics, average prison budgets allocated to the prisons by the government include a detailed planned distribution under many heads (BOP, Federal Prison System, 2012). A few of these heads include the salaries of the prison staff, the recreational facilities, the food budget, developmental budgets and many more. The total approved budget for a single correctional facility would include a very high amount. A Although the government allocates the funds according to account heads, the prison management can redistribute the funds in such a manner that the staff salaries are allocated a higher amount and a lesser important account head must be reduced to a smaller figure. With efficient and economical allocation of the budget in the prison system, the problems of understaffing can be tackled with ease. The only requirement would be that the prison management performs the task it is handed regarding the handling of the prison budget with honesty, religiously and ethically.

Another problem that this case highlights is the reaction of the public in light of the event that has occurred at the Mermon Correctional Facility. The members of the general public have been vocal about the case of Marsha Willis' murder. One of the demands is that to remove from office the senior members of the Department of Correction Officials. The said department is responsible for the correctional officers that have to be staffed at various different prisons across the states. The primary purpose of this department is not about ensuring the prison managers perform their jobs efficiently and properly, but to ensure the fulfillment of the staffing requirements of a specific state prison (Officer Requirements: Correctional Officer Ethical Standards of Conduct). Public fury in the case demands removal of the senior officials of the department, which is completely incorrect as those officials are not responsible for an act that has occurred in one of the prisons. The responsibility of managing the prison lies with the prison administration, which assesses the need of any additional staff required and only then involves the Department of Correction Officials to fill up the vacancies. In this case, the recommendation would be not to terminate the senior officials of the department as this would not affect the existing understaffing problem in any positive manner.