“Show me the incentives, I’ll show you the outcome.”
If corrections staff were held personally liable for these failures, or the local jurisdiction faced steep financial penalties, it wouldn’t happen. No liability, no responsibility.
Corrections management is who I would consider the directly responsible party, not corrections ICs (to be clear, no scapegoats). The buck stops somewhere when we’re talking about infringing on someone’s right to freedom. Excuses are unacceptable.
The buck seems to stop at the computer/AI nowadays, in an alarmingly growing number institutions and companies. And you can't punish a computer or hold an AI accountable. This seems to be an end state desired by people who were previously accountable.
It'd be nice if the rules said that if decisions are pushed off to "the computer", then whoever authorised the use of that computer/software is "responsible" for its errors.
In a situation where "computer says 'No!'" but the law says 'Yes', whoever signed off on the purchase/maintannces of that computer should be held as responsible as if they'd made that decision themselves.
There should be a very simple and obvious answer for any of these over-incarcerated inmates to the question "Who, as in which individual person, do I point an ambulance chasing no win no fee lawyer at for a compensation claim?"
Don't let the people in charge skip out on accountability. If their excuse is "the computer", well, they are after all the ones that put the computer system in place and hold responsibility for its outcomes. Take action against them personally (pay cuts, firings) and they or their successors will for sure be motivated to ensure the computer works properly going forward.
If corrections staff were held personally liable for these failures, or the local jurisdiction faced steep financial penalties, it wouldn’t happen. No liability, no responsibility.