Human Rights and Prisons - Rethinking Crime and Punishment

It is evident that occupational culture evolves over time. In New Zealand, for
instance, it is only relatively recently that women were deemed to have the
appropriate skills to work as prison officers (Newbold, 2005). It is clear, too,
that this culture is dependent on a whole range of factors, such as the „type
and function of the prison, the prison‟s history (for example the number of
disturbances and the quality of industrial relations), the ratio of young to old
and experienced to new staff, the nature of the regime, the ratio of staff to
prisoners, the rate of staff turnover and the architecture of the prison itself‟
(Crawley and Crawley, 2008:141-2). In addition, it would seem that changes
to organisational structures as well as the introduction of new technologies
would also impact on organisational culture.
Beyond this, culture is also dictated by the values that are imposed over
officer performance. For instance, as Newbold (2008:396) suggests, „officer
performance is gauged by objective administrative criteria such as numbers of
escapes, assaults, disturbances, failed drug tests and suicides‟. While these
are undoubtedly important factors within a prison environment, they are based
on the prevention of negative outcomes. Taking a human rights approach
would mean reworking this criteria to include constructive outcomes that
officers might engage in – such as treating individuals with dignity or fairness;
the generation of positive behaviours; providing appropriate health care
services; or, compliance with legal and policy frameworks. „In practical terms,
human rights must be recognized as a distinct major line of [correctional]
business, in the same way that public safety/security and safe reintegration
are recognized as such‟ (Zinger, 2006:132).
Traditionally, human rights have not been an integral part of prison officer
work or thinking. In her extensive research in England and Wales, Elaine
Crawley (2004) demonstrated how some officers (although not all) were
resistant to the idea of prisoners‟ rights. She details how some officers
frequently denigrated prisoners, using terms such as „vultures‟, „animals‟,
„scum‟ or „inadequates‟ when talking about them. Reflecting public attitudes,
some prison officers also saw that prisoners already had too many rights, and
that management cared more about them than uniformed staff (this is also
evidenced in McDermott and King, 2008). From their view, rights should be
privileges. Of course, there were exceptions to these ideas and practices.
However, in this cultural context, officers who worked to attain prisoners‟
rights were viewed as weak or not a „proper officer‟.
10.3 Employment
The growing prison population has placed pressure on facilities, general
operations as well as staff. In a 2007 Corrections briefing to the new Minister,
it was highlighted that over half of all frontline prison staff have less than five
years experience. In 2009, almost 60% of staff had less than five years
experience (Department of Corrections, 2009c). The percentage of staff with
less than two years experience had declined (29%), while the percentage of
staff with between two and five years experience had increased (32%). In
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