Hester Paanakker

A further example shows security under threat from a system that now assigns fewer, and a fixed number of, prison officers to a fixed number of detainees: …sometimes theory and practice bite each other on paper. […] He [the prison officer] is working incredibly hard but still does not manage to get his tasks done, that is what happens. And he feels unsafe. That feeling of being unsafe is so profound for people, it restrains them and in the long run also harms them. Not even the fact that the situation is so unsafe, but the feeling of being unsafe. If you experience that for a long time, it is very harmful. (Middle manager 2, facility 2) A jungle of prison courses, evaluation surveys and other rehabilitation tools that undermines, rather than contributes, to the value of reintegration is also cited: Everything is just one big theatre play and the boys [inmates] know it. Every day is a play with them in the lead. When they don’t do things, they are sanctioned. You always have to ask yourself, if someone participates in the course ‘Choosing for Change,’ or a rehabilitation survey, or the ‘responsible parenthood’ program, whether they really support it. I am fairly confident in saying that with many courses, the boys do not support them, but they have to take part because otherwise they lose out on other things. So then The Hague will brag again: we have taken so many rehabilitation surveys, things are going in the right direction. Bullshit story. Ain’t true. You are fooling yourself. (Prison officer 1, facility 2) Organizational Reforms and Cutbacks Destabilize Work Values and Commitment Managers and frontline workers in the case put much emphasis on the role of ongoing penal organizational reforms and cutbacks as the two major manifestations of efficiency measures. They describe extensively the negative effects they experience from the closing down (case 1) and merging (case 2) of the facilities they are part of. The concurrent pressure to not only slim down the number of facilities but also the number of personnel working in those facilities, destabilizes the workforce. This comes at the expense of work quality – the four intrinsic values – and work pleasure. Both facilities increasingly report prison officers calling in sick, being overworked, or experiencing job stress and frustration with the job and organization. On top of 148 Chapter 6