Hester Paanakker

question, it is concluded that whereas the penal officials converge around ideals, they differ in value realization in practice. The divergence is not in value identification or in value understanding : the values that respondents (street-level prison officers, managers, and policy advisors alike) deem important in the context of the concrete public service delivered are highly similar – as is the interpretation of the associated necessary skills, knowledge, and practices. They separately define the same set of four core values and very much share a vision of what these values mean, and how they should ideally shape concrete skills, knowledge, and practices at the frontline. Rather, the divergence is on value prioritization and enactment in practice, and it is large and problematic to all levels charged with public service delivery. Managers, both at policy and organizational level, tend to enact different values from the ones that street-level workers seek to realize, but also different values from those that managers themselves say they aspire to. Instead, they prioritize instrumental values of effectiveness and efficiency in a negative fashion over intrinsic values of humanity, security, reintegration and task effectiveness. This is aggravated by the mutual perceptions that further stereotype along these lines those values that superiors (especially at management level(s) above one’s own level) focus and steer on in practice. Even more strongly than the actual value divergence, such perceived value divergence culminates in toxic and hostile stereotypes and relationships, predominantly from street-level prison officers toward policy level, but also toward their other superiors at the management layers in between, and in turn from the management layers in between toward their superiors. Surprisingly, at penal implementation level, this value divergence does not necessarily correspond with street-level workers experiencing moral dilemmas. But the value divergence between instrumental and intrinsic values does create a range of implementation problems that cripple the realization of key values of penal service delivery and have a range of detrimental effects on street-level behaviors and attitudes. As such, public value divergence is argued to be an undesirable reality that undermines good frontline work. 168 Chapter 7