Date of Conferral

5-29-2024

Date of Award

May 2024

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)

School

Human Services

Advisor

Allen Endres

Abstract

Over 80 billion dollars are spent annually incarcerating approximately 2.3 million people, yet correctional systems continue to encounter substantial barriers in maintaining budgetary sustainability. Correctional leaders are concerned with budget strategies’ relevance to ensure that needed resources are allocated and utilized to enable correctional facilities’ continuing effectiveness. Grounded in organizational capacity theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to identify and explore effective budget strategies and practices used by midlevel supervisors in correctional institutions. The participants comprised five midlevel correctional supervisors from four state prisons in the Southeastern United States who successfully developed and implemented effective strategies to achieve operational budgets supporting the prisons’ sustainability. The data were collected using semistructured interviews and archival documents. Through thematic analysis, four themes were identified: managing funding flows from outside entities, control of the operating budget, controlling inventory and resources, and effectively managing allotted budgets. A key recommendation is for state executive leadership to have a budget development process that includes input from correctional supervisors. The implication for positive social change includes the potential to increase the overall safety of the community by the potential reduction of inmate recidivism.

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