Behind The Walls II: An Administrator Goes Native

A retired correctional officer, Morgan Bayham Micheals, is suddenly drawn back into the penitentiary world she left in her past. She is approached by the organization attempting to understand its inability to maintain and retain employees within its correctional facilities. With Morgan's help, the organization seeks to understand the origin of discontent among its staff. Morgan is hired to go undercover as a recruited "native," using her extensive experience as an adolescent group home administrator and a former correctional officer to uncover the underlying issues of a failing system.

Morgan conforms to the daily realities of prison life as an administrator and learns the complex entanglement of problems that lead to attrition rates. She encounters breaches in communication between management, staff, and offenders, revealing a culture of mistrust and misunderstanding. Many officers feel unvalued and overworked, leading to burnout and dissatisfaction.

During her journey, Morgan forms alliances with many employees and learns about their struggles, hopes, frustrations, and bad decision-making. She also gains the offender's trust and undercovers bad management as she navigates her native role and the notion that unempathetic employees can be the downfall of it all. Morgan deals with the dilemma of working behind the walls while coping with her personal affairs and finding how to balance both worlds.

The book climaxes with Morgan's findings and advocating ways to reform the system before it collapses and the environment is broken beyond repair. "Behind the Walls: An Administrative Goes Native" is a fascinating exploration of the complexities of correctional work and the importance of substituting a supportive work environment before all hell breaks loose behind the walls. Readers can journey with Morgan as she exposes the administrative side of what goes on behind the walls and why there is a critical need for change within the system.