In everything you are writing there seems to be a implicit assumption that there are incentives in place already that the monetary reward system would mess with

In everything you are writing there seems to be a implicit assumption that there are incentives in place already that the monetary reward system would mess with. You made a lot of points I'd wavy to reply to but all of it is secondary to understanding that part better. I'm of the believe that if you don't set a incentive explicitly one will emerge that you didn't set. Ultimately people work in any institution to make a living, so they are also likely to try to get a promotion. What will get them that promotion if we don't set explicit goals and inventives around them? I'd argue that we are seeing that that's often times being personally liked by your coworkers and boss. That's a huge issue we are seeing in law enforcement right now where the main goal seems to be sticking together over actually serving the community. Now I know less about prison guard culture, but I'd bet similar dynamics exist.