Introduction: Prisons and Managerialism in a New Century

Management and leadership are important elements in the success or failure of prisons. During the late twentieth century, a new approach to prison management emerged in response to operational failures in prisons, wider public sector reform and social change. The new approach imported private sector practices including techniques for monitoring and nurturing a more compliant culture. The approach has been described as ‘managerialism’. These changes accelerated following the election of the New Labour government in 1997. This chapter outlines the primary focus of this book: the emergence and development of managerialism in prisons. As well as analysing the macro changes in prison management, the book is also concerned with how occupational culture evolved, and how individual managers were affected. The book is based on a series of insider-ethnographic studies conducted between 2007 and 2022.