
Prisons and their Moral Performance
A Study of Values, Quality, and Prison Life
Oxford University Press
Published on 27. May 2004
Book
Hardback
584 pages
978-0-19-927122-1 (ISBN)
Description
This book constitutes a critical case study of the modern search for public sector reform. It includes a detailed account of a study aimed at developing a meaningful way of evaluating difficult-to-measure moral dimensions of the quality of prisons.
Penal practices, values, and sensibilities have undergone important transformations over the period 1990-2003. Part of this transformation included a serious flirtation with a liberal penal project that went wrong. A significant factor in this unfortunate turn of events was a lack of clarity, by those working in and managing prisons, about important terms such as 'justice', 'liberal', and 'care', and how they might apply to daily penal life. Official measures of the prison seem to lack relevance to many who live and work in prison and to their critics. The author proposes that a truer test of the quality of prison life is what staff and prisoners have to say about those aspects of prison life that 'matter most': relationships, fairness, order, and the quality of their treatment. The book attempts a detailed analysis and measurement of these dimensions in five prisons. It finds significant differences between establishments in these areas of prison life, and some departures from the official vision of the prison supported by the performance framework.
The information revolution has generated unprecedented levels of knowledge about individual prisons, as well as providing a management reach into establishments from a distance, and a capacity for 'chronic revision', that was unimaginable fifty years ago. Another major transformation - the modernisation project - brought with it a new, but flawed, 'craft' of performance monitoring and measurement aimed at solving some of the problems of prison management. This book explores the arrival and the impact of this concept of performance and the links apparently forged between managerialism and moral values.
Penal practices, values, and sensibilities have undergone important transformations over the period 1990-2003. Part of this transformation included a serious flirtation with a liberal penal project that went wrong. A significant factor in this unfortunate turn of events was a lack of clarity, by those working in and managing prisons, about important terms such as 'justice', 'liberal', and 'care', and how they might apply to daily penal life. Official measures of the prison seem to lack relevance to many who live and work in prison and to their critics. The author proposes that a truer test of the quality of prison life is what staff and prisoners have to say about those aspects of prison life that 'matter most': relationships, fairness, order, and the quality of their treatment. The book attempts a detailed analysis and measurement of these dimensions in five prisons. It finds significant differences between establishments in these areas of prison life, and some departures from the official vision of the prison supported by the performance framework.
The information revolution has generated unprecedented levels of knowledge about individual prisons, as well as providing a management reach into establishments from a distance, and a capacity for 'chronic revision', that was unimaginable fifty years ago. Another major transformation - the modernisation project - brought with it a new, but flawed, 'craft' of performance monitoring and measurement aimed at solving some of the problems of prison management. This book explores the arrival and the impact of this concept of performance and the links apparently forged between managerialism and moral values.
Reviews / Votes
...this book has produced a tool that is already making a real difference ... there is no doubt that this is a major achievement. ... Ultimately it is the real-life impact of this book ... which is likely to confirm Liebling's place in the prison and academic communities. * Jamie Bennett, Prison Service Journal *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
numerous tables
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
940 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-927122-1 (9780199271221)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Alison Liebling | Helen Arnold
Prisons and their Moral Performance
A Study of Values, Quality, and Prison Life
Book
07/2005
Oxford University Press
€68.60
Shipment within 15-20 days
Persons
Alison Liebling is University Reader in Criminology and Criminal Justice and Director of the Prisons Research Centre at the Cambridge University Institute of Criminology. She is also a Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
Helen Arnold is at the Cambridge University Institute of Criminology.
Helen Arnold is at the Cambridge University Institute of Criminology.
Author
Director, Prisons Research Centre, University Lecturer in Criminal Justice, and Fellow of Trinity Hall Cambridge
Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge
Content
PART 1: INTRODUCTION: PENAL VALUES AND PRISON EVALUATION ; 1. 1. The Late Modern Prison and The Question of Values ; 2. 2. The Measurement and Evaluation of Prison Regimes ; 3. Identifying 'What Matters' in Prison ; 4. Particular Prisons and Their Qualities ; PART 2: THE MEANING AND MEASUREMENT OF KEY DIMENSIONS OF PRISON LIFE ; 5. Relationship Dimensions: Respect, Humanity, Trust, Relationships, and Support ; 6. Regime Dimensions: Fairness, Order, Safety, Well-Being, Personal Development, Family Contact, and Decency ; 7. Social Structure and Other Dimensions: Power, Prisoner Social Life, Meaning, and Quality of Life ; PART 3: PENAL VALUES AND PRISON MANAGEMENT ; 8. Managing Modern Prisons and their Performance ; 9. Security, Harmony, and 'What Matters' in Prison Life ; 10. Legitimacy, Decency, and the Moral Performance of Prisons