Hester Paanakker

My job is just that I have to guarantee security and order and peace and quiet on the floor and that I provide guidance to the patients or clients in their say day-to-day concerns. Giving information on certain matters. [..] for them to be able to return to society. You should focus on the boys, on their future. (respondent 18) 2. Humanity of detention has top priority It is in the analysis of the values that underpin concrete orientations that convergence can be most clearly observed. Despite the multiple variations, prison officers’ orientations could be clustered in no more than four overarching values - an extremely narrow and uniform scope considering the range of public values generally mentioned in PVP studies. None of the qualities cited by respondents fell outside the scope of the four categories of humanity, security, reintegration and task effectiveness: they captured exhaustively the (common characteristics of the) concrete qualities. Furthermore, these four values were similarly prioritized, with humanity taking the ultimate lead as most important pillar of craftsmanship. Respondents prioritized either security or reintegration next, and almost uniformly put task effectiveness last (if they mentioned it at all). The clear majority of respondents maintained that a combination of some manifestations of the first three values characterized public craftsmanship in the prison sector, pointing to a clear commonality, albeit of a disparate nature due to different sub interpretations. 3. Different emphasis and different combinations However, the level of convergence should not be exaggerated. None of the concrete value orientations was unanimously mentioned by all respondents, and of all value orientations mentioned, only three were mentioned by more than half of respondents. Apart from these three orientations of detainee care, safety and change, orientations were more scattered. They received far less uniform credit and were mentioned by 9 or (more often) far fewer respondents. Despite the variations within the overarching categories sharing a common underlying value base, each does constitute a change of emphasis with potentially very different professional performance as a result. Orientations towards security differed most: envisioning security in terms of sentencing as punishment, putting the safety of employees first, or building security awareness through as much detainee contact as possible all constitute truly different meanings. Orientations towards humanity were more closely related. But even then, a humane treatment style primarily based on respect triggers slightly different behavior from one based primarily 58 Chapter 2