Richard Wortley, Situational Prison Control: Crime Prevention in Correctional Institutions

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, June, 2004 by Margaret Severson

Richard Wortley, Situational Prison Control: Crime Prevention in Correctional Institutions. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002. $65.00 hardcover, $23.00 papercover.

In this book, psychologist Richard Wortley takes a community based strategy for crime prevention and applies it to crime prevention efforts in correctional institutions. While other corrections experts have tried to address the challenge of prison management, some suggesting a strict control method and others a participatory management strategy, Wortley's pragmatic approach makes this a particularly interesting book. His application of the situational crime prevention strategy to concrete, everyday, real prison management dilemmas makes this a different approach in its own right. Wortley deftly moves from theory to application, all within the framework of "opportunity reduction".

This text is divided into two sections. Part One presents the big picture: the theoretical foundations and methods of situational prison control. Social workers will be interested in the attention paid to the environmental catalysts, those found in both the human and physical environments, of prison violence. Wortley pays attention to the interplay between, and accurately portrays the complexity of the conceptual, physical, procedural and personal events which occur within these institutions. Chapters 1-3 provide the substantive backdrop for a thorough exposition of the components of situational prison control. Here, Wortley lays out relevant aspects of prison science, including various approaches to prison design, management and control. The author also addresses human science, succinctly presenting the relevant psychological theories which undergird his application of situational crime control to the institutional setting. The situational prison control model, a two-stage approach, is then set out in Chapter 4. The model itself marries two interdependent and complex interventions: controlling the precipitators of criminal behavior and controlling the regulators of criminal behavior.

Part two of this text, "Specific Behaviours", begins with Chapter 5. For readers confused or bleary-eyed after reading the conceptual framework for situational prison control, Chapters 5 through 11 offer refuge. These are the sexy chapters of this text and they are likely to satisfy the prurient interests of many who recognize prison institutions as the complex, intriguing and mysterious entities that they are. In these six chapters, Wortley applies situational crime prevention strategies to six specific behaviours including prisoner-on-prisoner and prisoner-on-staff violence, sexual assaults, suicide behaviors, drug use, escapes and riots. For each topic, the author expertly crafts a succinct review of the current literature, debunks the common myths which often misguide the decisions of prison managers and social workers and finally, presents a theory-infused approach to managing inmate behaviors. Whether talking about physical violence or drug use, Wortley walks through the application of the various precipitation control and regulation control strategies to the social and physical environmental features germane to each problem area. In the final chapter, Wortley compares his approach with other prison control models and offers suggestions for advancing the science of controlling crime within prison institutions. Throughout the book and again here, Wortley emphasizes the sad state of correctional research. We know too little; we need to know what seems like too much.

It is difficult in this review to do justice to Wortley's elucidation of the situational prison control model. The complexity of the subject stems from the dynamic nature of the model itself combined with the dynamic nature of prison management. Whether one agrees with the model or not, there is much to be gained from reading this text. In short, Wortley gives the reader the treat of being able to learn about the institutional problems which plague prisons and which present control challenges and a pragmatic method of meeting those challenges. In the process, he deftly identifies and dispels the myths of prison management that have lead many astray in their attempts to effect control in the institution.

This text reads tediously at times, particularly in Part One. To some extent, this is unavoidable. In order to understand situational prison control one must understand its conceptual underpinnings. For the social worker, approaching this section of the book as a lesson in the ecology of prisons is illuminating. Wortley moves from a discussion of the problem to a discussion of the model and in between, he presents the multi-disciplinary theoretical knowledge essential to understanding the true person-in-environment nature of prisons and prisoners.

Hard as it might be to believe, since internal prison matters are not at the center of most minds, there is something for everyone in this book. Wortley's interesting synopsis of the history of prisons includes the transformations that have occurred in penal philosophies, institutional and inmate management, architecture and ambient design and theories and methods of control. For those whose research and practice interests include prison and jail institutions, this text delivers even more than information about a situational control, opportunity reduction model. Indeed, through its tightly woven approach using a problem-theory-intervention-evaluation paradigm, Wortley teaches even the most unknowledgeable reader about the complexity of prison science. And, because we live in a country where prisons and jails are situated not far from our own backyards, we should all be assured that the advancement of scientific knowledge in this substantive area of practice is being pursued.