FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH CORRUPTION
Research has shown certain factors are associated with varying levels of corruption in an agency. In a U.S. Department of Justice study on municipal corruption (1978), two factors were identified as having a major influence on the level and degree of corruption experienced by a particular governmental agency. These factors were: (1) the opportunities for cor
CHAPTER 15 • KEEPING AN EYE ON THE KEEPER: PRISON CORRUPTION AND ITS CONTROL 273
Corrupt Acts by Discretionary Decisions Officials Involved
Misfeasance Provide preferential treatment and special privileges
Selective application of rewards and punishments
Forms of legitimate release Misappropriation of resources
Malfeasance Trafficking (cell phones, drugs, alcohol, weapons, and money)
Extortion/exploitation Protection rackets Embezzlement/theft Criminal conspiracies Facilitation of escapes
Nonfeasance Failure to enforce regulations Coverups
Line Staff
Line Staff Administrators Administrators
Line Staff Line Staff Line Staff Line Staff & Administrators Line Staff Line Staff
Line Staff Administrators & Line Staff
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ruption, and (2) the incentives within the workplace to make use of those opportunities (Gardiner & Lyman, 1978). In the following section, these two factors will be examined within the context of a prison environment.
A third driving force identified by other studies of public corruption was the influence of politics (Gardiner, 1970; Sherman, 1978). Sherman suggests that a leading explanation for police corruption was the capture of the department by the political environment. Prison systems come under the exec utive branch of government, and its leaders are political appointees. As such, corrections is not immune from the power of politics. Correctional programs at the state and local levels are influenced by the political process, particularly in terms of the appointment of administrative staff and the allocation of resources.