Leadership practices and reform strategies in correctional institutions

CORRECTIONS: LEADERSHIP AND REFORM 1 CORRECTIONS: LEADERSHIP AND REFORM 5

Corrections: Leadership and Reform Name Date

Introduction Correctional leaders face a growing number of challenges at every level, including local, state, and federal institutions. With the intent of becoming learning organizations, prisons and other correctional facilities need to adopt evidence-based leadership practices that reflect the needs of both officers and inmates. Moreover, leadership practices need to reflect the core values, ethical principles, political goals, and economic expediencies that impact each level of corrections. Effective Correctional Leadership Leaders in corrections need to exhibit qualities and capacities that reflect the unique contingencies and situational variables of their respective institutions and the political climate in which they operate. Some of the core traits that correctional leaders need include being “highly motivated, energetic, humanistic, mature, reflective and innovative,” (Jacobs & Olitsky, 2012, p. 1). Correctional leaders need to understand all aspects of operations, from budgeting to human resources and logistics. Leaders also need the willingness to stay abreast of situational variables, and committed to lifelong professional and personal development. As Jacobs & Olitsky (2004) also point out, correctional leaders need to possess mediation and communications skills, as part of their jobs will include interfacing with the media and negotiating with unions. Both internal and external stakeholders will place continual pressure upon correctional leaders to be responsive to their diverse needs. The specific leadership and managerial traits necessary will depend on contextual variables, including whether the organization is located at the local/county, state, or federal level. Effective Managerial Styles Local Level At the local level, correctional leaders need to understand the community in which they operate. The leader needs to be cognizant of demographic variables that impact political decisions that affect their work and the worldviews of corrections officers. Similarly, the correctional leader needs to understand how community-level variables impact decisions related to sentencing, budgeting for corrections, and correctional reform. Managerial styles used at the local prison or jail level will depend on several factors, including whether the corrections officers are members of a union. The correctional leader at the local level has a good degree of discretion regarding organizational culture within their institution. Stelter (2016) recommends transformational leadership, which entails motivating all staff members, empowering each person to make decisions and participate in the decision-making process. Within the correctional institution, the leader can focus on team building and promote participative styles of leadership to encourage compliance and integrity among corrections officers. The local correctional leader also needs to form strategic partnerships with community organizations. Those partnerships may include interactions with other levels of law enforcement, with politicians and elected officials, with the private sector for the development of re-entry programs, and with community services that offer support for inmates such as mental health or educational institutions. Strategic partnerships at the local level have the potential to become highly effective at improving quantitative outcomes such as reduced rates of recidivism, which is why local correctional leadership remains important. State Level The managerial styles that prove most effective at the state level may be slightly different than they are at the local level, given the potential for correctional leaders to have less control over budgetary and policy decisions. However, correctional leaders still have a great deal of influence over correctional officers and the ethical standards set in their institutions. The leadership styles most commonly used at the state level include situational leadership, path-goal leadership, and team leadership (Gonzalez, 2018). However, correctional leaders are increasingly being called upon to be more visionary in scope, more dedicated to transforming organizational cultures and changing the role and function of correctional institutions. As such, social justice and servant leadership styles may become the benchmarks of future correctional reform at the state level (Gonzalez, 2018). As with local correctional leaders, leaders at the state level also need to form strategic partnerships with external organizations to compensate for budget shortfalls and to promote the humanitarian, political, and social goals of the correctional institution. Federal Level Correctional leaders at the federal level may find themselves in more hierarchical organizations than their counterparts at state or local levels. Managerial styles need to balance the impetus for change with the need to comply with federal regulations. Overall, federal level correctional leaders need to set precedents for improving accountability and ethical behavior among officers and promoting a culture of safety within their organizations. Collaborative and participative leadership styles may help federal correctional leaders overcome shortcomings and barriers to implementing their goals. Preparation for Correctional Leadership Key course offerings that would prepare a corrections officer for successful leadership in corrections include the emphasis on evidence-based practice referring to social science research, as well as awareness of economic and political constraints on leaders’ behaviors and decision-making capacities. Furthermore, the course offers suggestions for how to apply different leadership styles to each situation. Local, state, and federal institutions face tremendous pressure to reform, and those reforms should ultimately lead to shifts in organizational culture that promote principles of fairness, equity, and social justice.