IMPORTANCE OF REGULATING SECURITY AND PUNISHMENT AND PRESERVING GOOD ORDER Prisons are part of the criminal justice system. Behind their high walls and fences one group of human beings, acting on behalf of the judicial authority, deprives another group of human beings of their liberty. Given a choice, the vast majority of people in the second group, the prisoners, would leave prison. The first group of people, the staff, therefore have to impose security restrictions to prevent them from escaping. Some prisoners are violent individuals who pose a danger to themselves or to others. In the final analysis, staff can impose control over prisoners by coercive means. But this should not be the norm. Good order involves much more than control. It presumes the existence of a set of rules and regulations which govern the daily lives of those who are in prison in order to ensure that everyone—staff, prisoners and visitors—can go about their business without fear for their personal safety. Both staff and prisoners have to operate within the context of these rules and regulations. Staff should demonstrate that they carry out their duties decently and humanely within the context of the law. If they do so, the vast majority of prisoners will respond positively. From time to time, some prisoners will break the rules and regulations of the prison. When this happens, there has to be a clearly laid down legal procedure for disciplining and punishing them. Prison staff should give a high priority to helping prisoners to rehabilitate themselves. Insofar as they are imposed on prisoners by the prison authority, security, discipline and punishment can be described as the coercive aspects of imprisonment. It is important that they should be regulated by agreed principles and standards. OBJECTIVE The objective of this section is to demonstrate that there are three main elements in ensuring that prisons are safe places: SECURITY: appropriate security means that the prison authorities safeguard the public by carrying out the judgement of the court to deprive certain people of their liberty. GOOD ORDER AND CONTROL: this means that staff and prisoners are safeguarded by the fact that prisons are places where there is order and control, rather than anarchy and chaos. DISCIPLINE AND PUNISHMENT: from time to time good order will break down and breaches of discipline will have to be punished. 83