Policy Gatekeepers of the Big House: Organizational Change and Selling Segregation Reform for Severely Mentally Ill Inmates Starting from the Top

• In Event: My Hole Life: Living and Working in Solitary Confinement In the Mass Incarceration Era

Abstract

Recently, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections implemented a series of reforms within their segregation units, particularly for severely mentally ill (SMI) inmates. This includes the Diversionary Treatment Units – a segregation unit for SMI inmates – emphasizing a more nuanced approach to managing SMI inmates and with the goal to improve delivery of therapy and mental health services. However, implementation of the DTU requires front line correctional staff worker to subscribe to a new, therapeutic approach to segregation – a stark contrast from segregation’s control and authoritarian orientation. The process of implementing the DTU and translating its value to encourage buy-in is the responsibility of each prison’s policy gatekeepers – the executive team. Using retro-active semi-structured interviews, this paper explores the implementation narratives of executive teams from four adult male prisons. Findings suggest varied executive team dynamics and micro-processes provide invaluable insight into the shape of reform and how the reform is communicated to those living and working in the institution. These findings hold purchase for how institutions can effectively redirect their own inertia and facilitate and maintain change within prison settings. Unpacking the organizational environment by considering the early stages of implementation opens a critical “black box” in correctional knowledge that considers how unmeasured contextual factors interfere with policy/practice use and outcomes.

Authors

• Shannon Magnuson, George Mason University

• Danielle Rudes, George Mason University