Hester Paanakker

I call it a paper vision. As long as you did your cell inspections on paper and on paper your urine checks, that is what is checked. As long as it is in the computer, they are satisfied. (Middle manager 2, facility 1) 6.4.3 Policy Implementation Problems The reported value divergence creates a number of implementation problems in this case study. The instrumental values of efficiency and effectiveness are strongly emphasized in prison practice, resulting in high pressure on the four intrinsic values of prisons – humanity, safety, reintegration, and task effectiveness. The focus on severe efficiency measures on the one hand, and on effectiveness through performance measurement on the other, create their own negative dynamics in the prison frontline. Number Obsession Shifts the Focus from Content to Box Ticking Because of the overemphasis on effectiveness in terms of measurability (the so-called number obsession) there is less time for prison workers to realize intrinsic values. If prison officers spend a lot of time on reporting, it comes at the expense of fully realizing both humanity and security. Because of this, prison officers spend less time on the floor with inmates and have less opportunity to have each other’s back when one of the two (they work in pairs) is behind the computer. More attention to humanity and building good relationships with the inmates, means less tension for and between detainees, and between prison officers and detainees, and is thus an important tool to warrant safety. A managing director explains how delicate this balance is in the closed world of the prison: If security is not there, there is nothing. It means you cannot motivate inmates, cannot offer a proper humane treatment. If they are not safe, they will arm themselves, so to speak. They will withdraw to their cells. […] All kinds of tricky dynamics occur. If you don’t have that basis, if you don’t have security, you have nothing. (Managing director 1, facility 2) The number obsession experienced does not only divert prison officers’ time and attention from addressing the needs and safety of the detainee, but also creates an institutional environment, a 146 Chapter 6