Every correction department should pay special attention to proper business analysis for the purpose of defining the opportunities for cutting costs and taking appropriate measures. It is important to explore the existing options and decide which of the components are the most significant and do not allow economizing on them.
The managers of the correction departments should devote time to analyzing the current economical structure of their organization and distribution of funds. It is important to consider every point of the current budget and evaluate the importance of every particular cost and the possible consequences of cutting it critically.
Deciding between more and less important elements of the budget may become a real challenge for jail economists. Disregarding the current economical crisis, the cuts of costs need to be reasonable and the basic rights of the imprisoned need to be observed. Thus, making a decision to cut the costs for food and medicine, managers should know where to stop because they need to provide the criminals with all the basic essentials.
At the same time, the correction departments can look for opportunities of using their internal resources more effectively. Analyzing various components of the prison budget, managers should consider the age and sex characteristics of the imprisoned because these criteria have an impact on the costs of incarceration. “Many examples of wide applicability are available across categories of gender, age, poverty, and ethnicity as well as across categories of mental disorder and setting” (Andrews and Dowden, 2007, p. 447).
The exploratory component is important for revealing any vulnerability within the organization. The business impact analysis helps to define the fields of potential cost cuts and choose the most effective strategies for decreasing the budget without sacrificing the effectiveness of the work of the corrections department.
Planning component to developing strategies for minimizing risk-JAMES
Both exploring and planning components are of crucial importance for choosing appropriate strategies for minimizing costs considering the potential risks and enhancing the effectiveness of the work of the corrections department.
Taking the responsibility for deciding between the more and less important costs, risk managers should look for cheaper alternatives for minimizing the costs of incarceration and ensuring the basic rights of the imprisoned at the same time. Despite all the debates as to economizing on the health care services, California Department for Corrections and Rehabilitation decided on telemedicine and telepsychiatry. “The use of telemedicine reduces the costs to transport and guard inmates who otherwise may need to be taken out to visit medical specialty care providers” (Howle, 2010, p. 69).
Prisoners could consult a health care practitioner without leaving jail. Communication using the web cameras was cheaper, allowing the department to economize on guarding and transportation. The same goes for the training programs which are of crucial importance for the corrections and rehabilitation centers. It is possible to organize group training using web cameras or CDs, taking advantage of the innovative technologies. At the same time, the departments could use their internal resources more effectively, organizing a garden and covering some of their costs on the provision.
Choosing strategies for decreasing the costs of incarceration, the correction departments should take advantage of innovative technologies (telemedicine or trainings, for example) and look for opportunities to use prisoners’ labor for covering some of the department’s costs.
Reference List
Andrews, D. A., & Dowden, C. (2007). The risk–need–responsivity model of assessment and human service in prevention and corrections: Crime-prevention jurisprudence. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 49(4), 439.
Howle, E. (2010). California department of corrections and rehabilitation. Sacramento, CA: California State Auditor.