Corrections_Today_Spring_2025_Vol.87_No.1

COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLICATIONS

may have been his downfall due, perhaps, to some career jealousy or threats. Unfortunately, several of the reforms, such as the boxing program, ended with his departure. However, his national stature as reform-minded Warden triggered a successful post-New Jersey Corrections career, including an appointment to Commissioner of Corrections in Alaska and a national Corrections consultant. Analysis and Conclusion Warden Hatrak’s reforms in the 1970s at New Jersey must be deemed remarkable because they occurred during the emergence of the “Nothing Works” era (Martinson, 1974), when there was a decline in the rehabilitative ideal and the ushering in of the “lock-up and throw away the key” mentality. The book would have benefited from a more elaborate discussion of this emerging ideological trend and how his reforms counteracted this trajectory. However, as a specific case study , “Not on my Watch” gives great insight into prison management and the discipline of Penology. Historically, there have always been tensions between the goals of security and programming (the proverbial custody vs. treatment). Hatrak appeared to have achieved that balance between the two, such as the positive engagement of inmates in the boxing program, the pride of the lifers involved in the “Scared Straight!” program, etc., and the reduction of disciplinary infractions and the absence of riots and major disturbances during his

tenure. Hatrak understood that prison is a microcosm of society and managed it accordingly. He writes: “I viewed Raway Prison as small urban city with all of a small urban city’s inherent problems and needs.” (p. 176). In his violence reduction plan, he understood the sub-culture of inmates, such as retaliatory violence by inmate groups and the need to maintain power balance. The boxing program was largely “peace through boxing” by giving two warring Muslim groups (the Nation of Islam and the New World of Islam) equal footing in the program. Incidentally, the book’s title “Not on my Watch” is in reference to violence and riots (which were rampant in the 1970s’ penitentiaries) not re-occurring during his administration. He understood the community and staff sensitivity of offering a college education to inmates at Trenton and was able to assuage their apprehensions by making the same classes available to them. Addressing New Jersey Department of Corrections directive to reduce OT, he employed a good labor-management technique by collaborating with the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA), the prison union that represented COs, in providing resolution to this matter. This is an acknowledgment that OT is a “sacred cow” for COs and any attempt to reduce it will require their collaboration. His management style, which contrasted with his predecessor, was one of “management by walkin’ and talkin’” (p. 142) increased communication with both staff and inmates. This is an excellent

hopefully bring about awareness that would ring alarm bells and suggest an alternate life choice” (p. 219). The program became very popular and was adopted by multiple criminal justice agencies. It became a national and international phenomenon when a documentary, titled “Scared Straight!,” was done in 1978. It won an academy award for feature documentary the following year. Hatrak reflected: “Even if I owned a crystal ball, I could have not have foreseen film history would occur at Rahway Prison in 1978, presented by a group of surly inmates serving life sentence.” (p. 232). Hatrak devotes three chapters to the third Self-Rehab Group, the “Boxing Association.” He conceptualized the boxing program more as a job skills trade school, providing training not only for boxers, but cut men, corner men, referees, and judges for jobs in the boxing industry when they are released. Collaborating with a volunteer boxing promoter and the New Jersey Boxing Commission, Hatrak arranged for paid professional boxing matches in the prison, covered by the emerging HBO subscription service and other national TV channels. Inmates were able to look at the fights through close circuit screens, while paying customers entered the prison to watch the fight. This is another unprecedent accomplishment by Hatrak. “Not on my Watch” concludes, sadly, with Hatrak being demoted to a Central Office position, in 1979, with no explanation given. Hatrak speculates that the publicity he received for the above programs

Corrections Today | Spring 2025

80