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Too big to fail and too big to succeed: accounting and privatisation in the Prison Service of England and Wales

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  • Mennicken, Andrea

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the challenges involved in the transformation of the prison into a performance-oriented accounting entity. It examines the implication of private sector accounting and consulting expertise in redefining prison values and prison performance, and it discusses the consequences this had for definitions of risk and responsibility. The paper shows how the reforms promoted a systemic decentring of Prison Service accountability. Prison managers and regulators came to be inserted into hierarchies of expertise and credibility shaped by quests for commensuration and auditability. Further, the paper shows how the reform attempts brought about a situation of institutional lock-in by contributing, as the outgoing HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers has put it in 2010, to the creation of an inflated prison system ‘too big to fail, and too big to succeed'.

Suggested Citation

  • Mennicken, Andrea, 2013. "Too big to fail and too big to succeed: accounting and privatisation in the Prison Service of England and Wales," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 46366, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:46366
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/46366/
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher Hood & Oliver James & B. Guy Peters & Colin Scott (ed.), 2004. "Controlling Modern Government," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3290.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ferry, Laurence & Funnell, Warwick & Oldroyd, David, 2023. "A genealogical and archaeological examination of the development of corporate governance and disciplinary power in English local government c.1970–2010," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    2. Jensen, Mads Langballe & Agyemang, Gloria & Lehman, Cheryl R., 2021. "Accountabilities, invisibilities and silences in a Danish slave trading company on the Gold Coast in the early 18th century," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    3. Rogge, Nicky & Simper, Richard & Verschelde, Marijn & Hall, Maximilian, 2015. "An analysis of managerialism and performance in English and Welsh male prisons," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 241(1), pages 224-235.
    4. Nadia Matringe, 2016. "Ratio Pecuniam Parit Accounting and the making of financial markets in the Early Modern Age," Working Papers hal-01358129, HAL.
    5. Schwarting, Rena & Ulbricht, Lena, 2022. "Why Organization Matters in “Algorithmic Discrimination” [Warum Organisationen einen Unterschied bei „algorithmischer Diskriminierung“ machen]," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 74(S1), pages 307-330.
    6. Kurunmaki, Liisa & Mennicken, Andrea & Miller, Peter, 2016. "Quantifying, economising, and marketising: democratising the social sphere?," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67549, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Bigoni, Michele & Antonelli, Valerio & Cafaro, Emanuela Mattia & D'Alessio, Raffaele & Funnell, Warwick, 2020. "Accounting for the ‘deviant’ in 19th century Italian prisons," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    prisons; performance measurement; New Public Management; privatisation; neoliberalism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General

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