Prison Warden

Robert Walker is a warden in a federal correctional institution (FCI), part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Now in his late 40's, Rob has had a varied educational and career path that has prepared him broadly for the modern challenges of administering FCI's. In essence, an FCI is a small city. According to Rob, "Students should understand that all persons who work within an FCI are trained as correctional officers. But there is a wide array of actual job titles, from unit manager to cook, from guard to administrator in prison industries." The fact is, work in the Bureau of Prisons is not narrowly defined.

Rob graduated in 1970 with a degree in business administration and an emphasis in community analysis. Combining sociology and business Rob studied city management and public administration. Rob then enrolled in a Master's in Public Administration graduate program. According to Rob, "In the master's program I began to sort through my interests, deciding on government and law enforcement. I later narrowed this further to criminal justice."

Upon graduation in 1972 Rob worked for a year as a research associate in criminal justice. His work gave him access to a variety of criminal justice agencies. It was here that Rob's interests began to crystalize. After a short stint in the military Rob returned to graduate school where he earned his Ph.D. in public administration and continued working at the research center there. His focus again was criminal justice, and his work brought him in contact with still more agencies. Specifically Rob became interested in and learned more about corrections. Rob further began to establish a network of contacts which were to become important to him as his career in corrections developed.

In 1975 Rob completed his Ph.D. and immediately went to work for the Bureau of Prisons. But why corrections? According to Rob, "There are actually a variety of reasons. Corrections offers one of the most unique and challenging management opportunities. It is never boring. The issues are so diverse, whether it is safety, utilities, infrastructure, or grounds, to name just some. From my point of view, it was a unique career, one which even had a 'mystique' ."

Rob's first job with the Bureau was actually a transition position from his work in research. For about six months he continued as a researcher studying halfway houses. However, according to Rob, "What I wanted was to work in prisons. I wanted basic line experience." This desire led to his first prison job as a case manager. It was certainly a time and opportunity for learning. According to Rob, "I had studied a lot of the issues, but had no experience with the offenders. I knew that I didn't know and needed to learn a lot. So, I adopted a learning posture. What is critical is that you have to learn how your personality and style of management will fit into that particular environment. There are no fixed styles for success, so you should not just copy someone else. You need to figure out what works for you. Most importantly," according to Rob, "is that I learned the value of interpersonal skills. Too often poor communications skills interfere with your work. Other priority skills include flexibility, adaptability, and not jumping to conclusions." You must in Rob's words, "Start to think."

After about eighteen months Rob moved on to unit manager. Rob was spending more time managing people, and this responsibility broadened considerably. In addition, Rob began to see the prison and the Bureau as more of an organization. The fact is that the prison is a collection of people " . . . moving in various directions and at different speeds." In light of this realization and his experience, Rob suggests students considering a career in corrections need to understand the details of organizational life, particularly one subject to the bureaucracy of the Federal government. In terms of promotion within such a system Rob notes that, " . . . upward mobility benefits from being visible in a positive way. This means that you must reach outside the immediate responsibilities. Take lateral responsibilities in order to experience other things. However, in each job you do, do it to completion. You cannot do so if you are looking ahead to your next promotion."

Rob's next career step was a move to Leavenworth, where for two years he served as the Executive Assistant to the Warden. According to Rob, "This was quite a different kind of institution for me. I went from an experimental to a more traditional environment." At Leavenworth Rob learned the benefits of routine, consistency and stability. But he was also there to implement change. Rob's assignment was to introduce unit management, which was a more departmental system of organization. This was a Bureau mandate, but that does not make change necessarily easy. In fact, change efforts usually produce resistance at first. Success is dependent not on the mandate of authority, but upon interpersonal skills and the ability to successfully sell the changes to those most affected. More and more Rob was experiencing the prison as an organization with multiple interests, responsibilities, trends and movements. This latter point was becoming more critical to Rob as he took on a new position with the Bureau, this time outside of prison-specific work. Rob was now Director of the Staff Training Center for the Bureau of Prisons. The obvious task is the dissemination of information and training of personnel. But more than this, according to Rob, "We tried to pass on the history, traditions, and the mind of the Bureau of Prisons. In other words, the culture of the organization." The intended objective was a new "professionalism."

From staff training, Rob next moved to the position of Warden at a prison camp. The camp is actually a support structure for the operation of an FCI. Such camps are usually smaller, house minimum security prisoners, and typically have no walls. According to Rob, "I really wasn't ready for the CEO job. I had moved rather quickly through the ranks, and not all my time had been spent in actual prisons. So much of prison work is people management that only experience can really teach you what you need to know." A particular issue here is change. The role and function of prisons in America have frequently shifted over the decades. Prisons have variously been charged to rehabilitate, punish, or simply protect society. With each of these have come different programs, different emphases, and variations in resources, including budgets. In many cases the same personnel have experienced all such initiatives. According to Rob, "What is critical is that whatever change is necessary the staff must ultimately have ownership. Otherwise, the change will not take effect."

The variety of positions held by Rob were preparing him ultimately for that CEO position he claimed not to be ready for earlier in his career. However, before that he had other major assignments. He developed and was the first director of the National Academy of Corrections. This institution serves as a kind of graduate school for federal, state, and local correctional personnel. Those who attend the Academy are in effect on sabbatical from work. There they can take the time necessary to evaluate programs, jails, and prisons, and see how these fit into local communities. Here the issues included working relationships with persons such as elected officials and city planners. The critical idea is that prisons do not operate in isolation, they operate in some context. Knowing this prepares future wardens for their jobs.

That job, in Rob's case, was warden of a new FCI. According to Rob, "This was a unique challenge. Among other things, as a new institution we had no history or traditions. A sense of who you are is important to what you do, but here we did not have that. The entire staff was put together from local hires and transfers. As such, this was a real, yet gratifying challenge." Because of such challenges, "Wardens today need new skills in order to be successful. Specifically, the job of the Warden is so much more externally oriented than in the past. There are more externally generated influences and pressures than in the past and these include tax payers and elected officials. We find that such constituents are less tolerant of mistakes or errors. For these and other reasons Wardens who have been good at managing the internal environment now must learn to assess external pressures. However, more than just answering the questions and concerns of local constituents, Wardens must now proactively engage the local community." It is in this capacity that Rob continues to this day, developing the history and traditions of a new FCI.

Perhaps you are thinking about a career in Federal Corrections, but you are wondering what you, as a student, should be doing? First of all you should know that there are over 200 job categories and over 80 work locations around the U.S. There are some specific requirements such as being under 37 years of age at the time of your first job. An excellent resource for all such information is the Federal Bureau of Prisons' employment internet site. Its address is www.bop.gov. Here you will see specific job announcements, including qualifications and salary ranges, which exceed $100,000 per year. But still, what should you do, right now as a student?

According to Rob, what you do depends at least somewhat on what you envision for yourself within the field of corrections. The field had become much more competitive in recent years. Because of this you should take any opportunity to gain experience while in school. Networking is still critical to career development and experience, such as internships are invaluable. This means that people today choosing correctional careers are, increasingly, those who are preparing for it. Vanishing from the landscape are those people simply experimenting with corrections as one among several career options. This does not mean that an absolutely specific academic preparation is required. According to Rob there is room and need for persons with both degrees in criminal justice as well as degrees in a wide variety of other disciplines. However, one common thread is either a degree or substantial coursework in the social sciences.

This latter point is critical in that the most important skill mentioned by Rob is interpersonal skill. "You must be able to engage others in a meaningful and productive way. If you cannot, or do not understand how to do this, then work in corrections is virtually impossible. You must understand that persons in a prison setting, prisoners and staff alike, come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Therefore an interpersonal skill which works in one situation may be inappropriate in another. While in school you should take advantage of any opportunity to deal with a wide variety of people, to engage in cross-cultural opportunities. You will quickly learn that you must keep an open mind, be willing to adapt, and perhaps most importantly, listen."