A look inside at the turnaround efforts at Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel—or, as some employees were calling the struggling carrier, Shawshank, after Stephen King’s fictional prison. According to a NYT feature, Dan Hesse, who stepped into the role of CEO last December, hopes to find redemption for the company through better customer service and improving corporate culture.

The ills of the country’s third lagest carrier are no secret: the disastrous tie-up with Nextel; fleeing customers; executive brain drain; a downcast staff anxious about their jobs. In Q1, 1.1 million of its customers left for other carriers, giving it a churn rate of 2.45 percent, the highest in the industry.

The article has some depressing nuggets about the state of Sprint when Hesse first stepped in, and what a challenge a company has once its staff get infected by low morale. No direct manager existed for customer service, and when Hesse asked at a finance meeting how the execs came up with earnings projections, he got “blank looks.” In fact, no one seemed to be accountable for anything, other than ex-CEO Gary Forsee. Hesse has changed that by making all department heads responsible for customer service, and the firm now has a chief service officer, Bob Johnson. The carrier has also hired more call center staff, who can answer 80 percent of the calls in half a minute.

There is some good news, though still no guarantee that Sprint will stop the churn, which is still rising. Its $99-a-month unlimited voice and data plan is seen as an improvement—especially as simpler tariffs mean less customer calls. It’s completed the Clearwire/WiMax deal, and has a hit on its hands with the Samsung iPhone copycat the Instinct, which has sold out in some Sprint stores.