Sustained Prison Lockdowns: Explaining Carceral Control Decisions Using the Garbage Can Model of Organization Choice

• In Event: Roundtable: (Re)Theorizing "The Prison" as an Institution

Abstract

Prisons are organizations, yet criminologists rarely use organizational theories to understand or explain phenomena that occur within carceral spaces. Using Cohen and colleagues’ (1972) seminal work, “A Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice,” prisons can be viewed as “organized anarchies” where staff make choices divorced from reality, causality, and intentionality. Organized anarchies have three main elements: (1) problematic goals—the organization’s nature and function is ambiguous, (2) unclear technology—staff do not understand the organization’s procedures/processes and instead operate by trial-and-error, and (3) fluid participation—staff vary in their levels of time and effort placed into the organization (Cohen et al., 1972). Prisons exemplify organized anarchies with their conflicting and ambiguous goals (rehabilitation versus incapacitation versus retribution), inconsistent and unclear policies that staff follow with little oversight from upper management or the public, and high levels of turnover and understaffing. With these elements in place, staff are placed in positions where they must make choices in chaotic environments. To further demonstrate prisons are organized anarchies where staff make choices using the garbage can model, we use the implementation of sustained prison lockdowns during and after the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. Using qualitative interview data from a large-scale project, this paper provides analysis and findings from 335 incarcerated individuals and 105 staff in eight prisons in the U.S. Implications for this work abound. Theoretically and empirically, using organizational theories to specifically explain carceral or other criminal legal organizational settings holds great promise for deeper explanations and understandings of social control. On a practical/policy level, organizational theory presents immense opportunity to improve our understanding of carceral decision making before trying to (shortsightedly and/or fruitlessly) craft and implement ways to improve it.

Authors

• Danielle Rudes, Sam Houston State University

• Sydney Ingel, George Mason University

• Bryce Kushmerick-McCune, Sam Houston State University

• Wyatt Brown, Texas State University