UNIT MANAGEMENT: AN APPROACH TO PRISONER MANAGEMENT
BACKGROUND
The Department of Correctional Services is faced with the daunting task of managing one of the largest prisoner to population prison systems in the world containing approximately 320 prisoners to every 100 000 of the normal population.
In 1996 the Department demilitarised completely in order to align itself with more acceptable correctional practises in the leading countries of the world. It is therefore engaged in the massive task of developing a culture of human rights in a correctional system damaged by the legacy left by the apartheid years. Former President Mandela had this to say about the Department:
" The way that society treats its prisoners is one of the sharpest reflections of its character. In the prisons of apartheid the inhumanity of that system was starkly evident. We have inherited a system ill equipped to serve the needs of a democratic society founded on a culture of human rights. We recall these facts, not to dwell on the past, but to underline the fact that as we transform our society, the Department faces a very great challenge."
The Department of Correctional Services is managing 234 prisons in 9 provinces with 35 320 officials. These prisons have designed accommodation for 102 048 prisoners with a population of 168 443 (of which 51 559 are unsentenced) prisoners as on 30 June 2001. This constitutes an average overpopulation rate of 65% with a accommodation capacity need for 66 395 prisoners. The national staff to prisoner ratio (including those on parole/ under correctional supervision) is 1 : 7
Conditions of overcrowding, gangsterism, staff who were not adequately trained to deal effectively with the transformation process and low job satisfaction, necessitated the introduction of a more effective management tool to manage prisoners.
During March 1995 the Department decided to explore the concept of Unit Management as it has proven to ensure better integration of security, prisoner programmes, administration and industries in many countries.
DEVELOPMENT OF UNIT MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONALLY
It is quite clear that especially during the turbulent 1970's many of the prison systems in the world were forced to reflect on their management styles and administrative procedures. Many American prisons relied on custodial guards on the perimeter, who rarely came into direct contact with prisoners and separate treatment staff who engaged in more positive work with prisoners. They found that this approach had considerable drawbacks based on the sharp dichotomy it produces between these two distinct groups of staff. The United States Federal Bureau of Prisons developed the concept of unit management which uses the front line prison officer as the main vehicle for both the custodial and treatment activities of a prison and devolves authority for the sentence management to self- contained Units containing a manageable number of prisoners. Since then other systems have followed suit.
In many ways, unit management is therefore a shift from a depersonalised and centralised approach to a personalised and decentralised approach.
The unit management approach
Under Unit Management, a prison is broken down into defined units, each of which may contain a number of prisoner accommodation sections and static posts.
Multi- disciplinary teams consisting of disciplinary officials, educationists, social workers, psychologists, religious care workers and nurses render services in each defined unit.
Individual team members have responsibility for both security and prisoner development outcomes.
Generic benefits associated with this concept
IMPLEMENTATION OF UNIT MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA
The Department had decided to firstly run a pilot modelled on the Australian concept of Unit Management at two newly build prisons at Malmesbury and Goodwood outside Cape Town and thereafter expand it to other identified prisons, should it be proven to be successful.
Her Majesty's Prison Service (HMPS) also assisted the Department in creating a Development Programme for staff. The Development Programme is designed to improve awareness of how to transform a hitherto militarised prison culture, accustomed to dealing with prisoners in large, remote groups in an impersonal manner into a culture which respects human rights, increases the daily interaction between prisoners and staff, and gives correctional staff more responsibility in devolved units. It therefore represents a clear shift from a punitive to a developmental approach to the managing of prisoners.
The following principles, elements and procedures formed the backbone of this pilot:
- Rendering of services as far as possible within the unit.
- Assessment of sentenced prisoners.
- Focus on prisoner management.
- Multi-disciplinary team approach.
- Structured day with scheduled times for activities.
- Case management.
- Close supervision.
- Strict movement control.
- Co-responsibility and accountability (prisoners and officials)
- Individualised treatment/care
- Good discipline
- Good interaction between prisoners and officials
- Focus on development of prisoners
- Decentralised authority/responsibility/accountability
- Recording of interaction and information
- Utilising resources and facilities optimally
- Officials permanently (at least 9 months) assigned to a specific unit
- Unit size based on the mission and category of prisoners
- Certain ratio of prisoners assigned to a particular official
- Continuous specialised training for all personnel
- Structures not prerequisite but support unit management
The Unit Manager is responsible for the overall management of his/her designated unit. This includes the planning and administration of financial allocation, production of the units personnel roster, oversight of case management and the overall supervision of personnel and prisoners.
Case Management Supervisors organise the case management on a unit level. This will involve the day to day administration of case management within the unit, (s)he allocates case loads and ensures that prisoners are involved in programmes as planned.
The CO is directly responsible to the Case Management Supervisor. Every CO will be allocated through the CMS a number of prisoners in a specific cells (s)he will be required to monitor. This is their case load.
Prison Development Staff are allocated to specific unit (s). They provide specialist technical expertise, deliver programmes to prisoners and participate in Case Management Committee meetings. They are also actively involved in the development of case plans through their participation on the Case Management Committee.
PDS will also be required to assist in developing skills of officials with a view to presenting programmes to prisoners.
The Case Management Supervisor will allocate every Case Officer with a case load, i.e. a number of prisoners he or she is required to monitor.
For every sentenced prisoner, a comprehensive case plan that addresses the identified needs during assessment, will be developed. The case plan will include strategies designed to assist prisoner progress to participation in the most appropriate and beneficial programmes available for him/her.
Therefore, realistic objectives in terms of labour, training, education, other programmes, leisure time activities and a healthy lifestyle must be contained in this plan. It will also list tasks/actions and time frames necessary to achieve required outcomes.
In the unit case notes on interaction with prisoners can be filed in a case file and once a month all documentation can be transferred to the ordinary prisoner file.
Case notes are the means by which contact between the Case Officer and the prisoner is recorded and filed on the case file. This contact may occur through formal interviews or day to day interaction. Information relating to the management of the prisoner, including problems, crisis intervention and any other matters considered relevant by the Case Officer must be recorded on the case notes.
As case notes are used to record both positive and negative behaviour, it provides an accurate picture of a prisoner’s day to day behaviour in the prison, and it form an essential part of the documentation required for the purpose of programme reviews, crisis intervention and dealing with instances of prison misconduct. Any official may (and should) record instances of interaction, both negative and positive, between him/herself and a prisoner.
Every prison must have a structured daily schedule which make provision for all programmes (hygiene, security, medical, labour, education, recreation, etc) to be executed on every day of the week within specific time frames.
On a monthly basis the Case Officer and the Case Management Supervisor formally interview each prisoner allocated to the case officer’s caseload to review progress in relation to the relevant case plan.
The case management committee within the unit, is primarily responsible for:
The Case Management Supervisor (s) take responsibility for the planning of these meetings under the chairpersonship of the Unit Manager.
Prisoners must appear before the Case Management Committee at least once every three (3) months.
All officials are permanently attached to a unit team under the supervision and control of the Unit Manager. Rosterring refers to the scheduling of the times and duties of staff.
: Initial allocation to a specific housing unit
- Ongoing case management : implement case plan
- Case review team : review progress on implementation of case plan (CO and CMS) (monthly)
(UM, CMS, CO and PDS)
Following the positive results of the pilot in terms of a decline in gang related activities, lower aggression levels, a more disciplined environment, improved focus on the development of individual prisoners and a higher staff morale, it was decided that:
Various workshops were conducted during 1999 with functionaries both in Head Office and Provincial offices, with the aim of marketing the concept and to create a climate that would be conducive for the transformation process.
During 2000/2001 the Department trained ±550 staff members at 41 existing prisons, accommodating more than 46 000 prisoners, on the concept of unit management.
The first phase of implementation comprised primarily of the restructuring of prisons into units and includes:
We are currently in the second phase in which all operational aspects are being formalised in terms of aligning policy, the staff establishment and infrastructure.
CHALLENGES
The following are but a few of the challenges that the Department is facing during the second phase in order to realise the concept to its fullest potential:
In order to address these challenges, various strategies are being implemented with the purpose of, amongst others, obtaining the following outputs within the medium term expenditure framework (up to 2005):
All these strategies must coincide with the Unit Management Master Plan.
CONCLUSION
Corrections in South Africa had always been operated along the lines of the management of the organisation with little attention being paid to the prisoner as a human being. In many ways, unit management can be utilised as a vehicle to facilitate a personalised and decentralised approach.
The Department is confident that the Unit Management approach will adequately integrate rehabilitation programmes and security and that it is a vehicle to deliver a service that can be expected from a modern Correctional Services.
It is trusted that we will establish closer working relationships with other countries in Africa as it is imperative to share information and experiences with each other in order to maximally develop the potential of those entrusted to the care of Correctional Services in our region.
In this regard the South African Department of Correctional Services was already invited to deliver a paper on "Unit Management: An approach to prisoner management" during the Conference for Eastern, Southern and Central African Heads of Correctional Services (CESCA) during September 2001.