Measuring Prison Performance: Government Privatization and Accountability [Paperback]

Measuring Prison Performance breaks new ground in corrections. Long overdue, this book lays out the theory and methods to develop a practical way to evaluate prison performance. It integrates topics from the disciplines of public administration, economics, criminology, and criminal justice to provide unique insights. More than that, this book can be used as a paradigm to evaluate the performance of any public agency, and can be used as a model to make decisions about the privatization of public services.Gerald Gaes and co-authors Camp, Nelson, and Saylor have written what will undoubtedly be a preeminent resource in the analysis of performance from a multitude of perspectives in not only correctional environments but across the public sector as a whole. As governmental entities are called upon with increasing frequency to justify the allocation and utilization of scarce resources, they will turn to this work to help define and improve the substance and structure of their response. Other stakeholders will also benefit significantly from application of the principles outlined.As America has constructed a far-flung network of penal institutions, the obvious question remains unanswered: how should we measure the performance of prisons? This practical and provocative book presents a long overdue framework for evaluating the utility of these unique institutions. We can only hope that policymakers and practitioners will follow the illuminated path.Measuring Prison Performance is a must read for any practitioner, researcher, or public policy analyst who cares about the functioning of our nation's penal institutions. The book shows administrators how data can be used to supplement knowledge gained from audits, inmate data bases, and 'management by walking around.' The authors show us how to translate some of our nation's best practices into tangible and meaningful data, and by doing so, increase our ability to manage our prisons. The added bonus is that these same proceduresló.