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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri

Time: 12:21 pm

Results for correctional institutions

97 results found

Author: Commission on English Prisons Today

Title: Do Better, Do Less: The Report of the Commission on English Prisons Today

Summary: This report advocates a new approach of penal moderation and a number of fundamental reforms, including: a significant reduction in the prison population and the closure of establishments; the replacement of short prison sentences with community-based responses; the dismantling of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), including the break up of the centrally managed prison service; with local authorities as lead partners, the authors suggest local strategic partnerships should be formed that bring together representatives from the criminal justice, health and education sectors, with local prison and probation budgets fully devolved and made available for justice reinvestment initiatives.

Details: London: Howard League for Penal Reform, 2009

Source:

Year: 2009

Country: United Kingdom

URL:

Shelf Number: 115677

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Corrections

Author: Atabay, Tomris

Title: Handbook on Prisoners with Special Needs

Summary: This handbook aims to support countries in implementing the rule of law and the development of criminal justice reform. Specifically, this handbook covers the special needs of eight groups of prisoners, which have a particularly vulnerable status in prisons, including: prisoners with mental health care needs; prisoners with disabilites; ethnic and racial minorities and indigenous peoples; foreign national prisoners; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) prisoners; older prisoners; prisoners with terminal illness; and prisoners under sentence of death.

Details: Vienna: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2009

Source: Criminal Justice Handbook Series

Year: 2009

Country: Austria

URL:

Shelf Number: 115356

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Prison Administration
Prisoners

Author: World Health Organization

Title: Women's Health in Prison: Correcting Gender Inequity in Prison Health

Summary: This document combines shared experience with expert advice to produce guidance for countries wishing to improve health care and circumstances in their prisons and, in particular, to develop their role in preventing the spread of disease. The network aims to maximize an important opportunity for promoting health in a marginalized group and contributing to general public health in their communities.

Details: Vienna, Switzerland: 2009

Source:

Year: 2009

Country: Switzerland

URL:

Shelf Number: 115362

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Female Prisoners
Health Care

Author: United States Commission on Civil Rights

Title: Enforcing Religious Freedom in Prison

Summary: This report focuses on the government's efforts to enforce federal civil rights laws prohibiting religious discrimination in the administration and management of federal and state prisons. The Constitution provides for prisoners retaining some rights of religious exercise. With the intent of furthering religious freedom in prisons while maintaining security, the Commission developed findings and recommendations based on its social science research, case law review, briefing testimony, and interrogatory responses received from the Department of Justice, several state and federal prisons, various prisoner advocacy groups, and other organizations.

Details: Washington, DC: 2008

Source:

Year: 2008

Country: United States

URL:

Shelf Number: 113590

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Law and Legislation
Religion

Author: Bennett, David M.

Title: Jail Capacity Planning Guide: A Systems Approach

Summary: This guide describes key population management strategies that have as their foundation the necessity of holding offenders accountable while making judicious use of detention resources. The guide also makes the case for the importance of identifying offenders who pose higher risks and targeting them for the most intensive correctional resources, making available a full continuum of alternatives to jail, relying on evidence based sanctions and quality treatments, and building in transition and stepdown options from jails.

Details: Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Corrections, 2009. 81p.

Source:

Year: 2009

Country: United States

URL:

Shelf Number: 117698

Keywords:
Alternatives to Incarceration
Correctional Institutions
Jails

Author: Hisborough County Sheriff's Office. Independent Review Commission

Title: Independent Review Commission on Hillsborough County Jails: Final Report

Summary: The report examines inmate booking and incarceration policies, conditions, and procedures in Hillsborough County (Florida) jails and provides the citizens of Hillsborough County a public report regarding: 1) patterns, customs, and practices of conduct and discipline in the jails; 2) policies and procedures that are or should be in place: 3) managment and supervisory oversight; and 4) training and employee development.

Details: Tampa, FL: Independent Review Commission, 2008. 101p.

Source: Internet Resource

Year: 2008

Country: United States

URL:

Shelf Number: 113300

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates (Florida Jails)
Jail Management
Jails (Florida)

Author: Hickman, Laura J.

Title: Tracking Inmates and Locating Staff with Active Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID): Early Lessons Learned in One U.S. Correctional Facility

Summary: The lessons identified in this report pertain to the issues for a correctional facility to take into account when considering whether to deploy an active radio-frequency identification (RFID) system within the institution. Because the experience of U.S. correctional institutions with RFID is still fairly limited, this report represents an early look at the experiences of one of the few facilities that have invested in active RFID for use in tracking inmates and locating staff. It provides important information and insights on issues to consider in the conceptualization, design, and installation of an active RFID system in a correctional setting. The lessons identified in this report pertain to the issues for a correctional facility to take into account when considering whether to deploy an active radio-frequency identification (RFID) system within the institution. Because the experience of U.S. correctional institutions with RFID is still fairly limited, this report represents an early look at the experiences of one of the few facilities that have invested in active RFID for use in tracking inmates and locating staff. It provides important information and insights on issues to consider in the conceptualization, design, and installation of an active RFID system in a correctional setting.

Details: Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2010. 33p.

Source: Internet Resource

Year: 2010

Country: United States

URL:

Shelf Number: 119374

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Corrections Management
Inmate Monitoring

Author: Mehta, Swati

Title: Maharashtra's Abandoned Prisons: A Study of Sub-Jails.

Summary: Sub-jails in India form a majority of prisons (60 per cent) and yet one of their distinguishing features is their limited capacity to hold prisoners (13.5 per cent) compared with other jails. The 115 sub-jails in Maharasthra (of a total of 153 prisons), for example, have an authorised capacity of 1,739 in contrast to the remaining 38 prisons with a capacity to house 19,162 prisoners. There is little information available in the public domain about sub-jails and their functioning. Perhaps because they house fewer prisoners, and that too for a short period compared to the central and district jails, neither the media nor civil society organisations have paid attention to these institutions. CHRI and Voluntary Action for Rehabilitation and Development (VARHAD) studied the sub-jails in Maharashtra to assess their condition and the rights of those who are housed in them. Maharashtra not only has the highest number of jails (153)in the country, but also records the highest number of sub-jails (114). For the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) - the only department that publishes national statistics on prisons - the high number of sub-jails in the state reveals “a well organised prison set-up even at the lower formation.” This report aims to provide a broad overview of the sub-jail system in the state and examine whether the NCRB is correct in inferring that the jail system at the “lower formation” is “well organised”. The sub-jails in the state are not administered by the prison department, but by the revenue department. This study examines the impact of placing the management of prisons in the hands of a department (revenue) that is not trained to administer them. It sheds light on the functioning of sub-jails in Maharashtra by focusing on the: rules and regulations applicable to their functioning; kinds of statistics that are available on these jails; administration of sub-jails in the state; oversight mechanisms like the Prison Visiting System; and general conditions in these jails, including food, clothing, basic amenities, sanitation, hygiene, medical facilities and security arrangements.

Details: New Delhi: Commonwealth Human Rights Inititaive, 2010. 62p.

Source: Internet Resource

Year: 2010

Country: India

URL:

Shelf Number: 119506

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Jails (India)
Prisoners

Author: English, Kim

Title: Sexual Assault in Jail and Juvenile Facilities: Promising Practices for Prevention and Response: Final Report

Summary: Public Law 108-79, the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (also known as PREA), issued a call for correctional agencies nationwide to address prisoner sexual assault. This groundbreaking legislation required correctional administrators to identify, prevent, intervene and prosecute these incidents, and to ensure programs and services to meet the complex needs of victims and perpetrators. Soon after the passage of PREA, the National Institute of Justice sponsored several research activities to examine prisoner sexual assault within the culture of correctional institutions, within state department of corrections, and within jails and juvenile correctional facilities (the current project). This report presents the findings from a descriptive study of promising practices to prevent and respond to inmate-on-inmate sexual assault in jails and resident-on-resident sexual assault in juvenile correctional facilities, including a comprehensive literature review of institutional sexual assault which is included as Appendix A. Descriptive studies set the stage for more elaborate investigation later.

Details: Denver, CO: Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, Office of Research and Statistics, 2010. 356p.

Source: Internet Resource

Year: 2010

Country: United States

URL:

Shelf Number: 119518

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Jails
Prison Rape
Prison Violence
Prisoners
Sexual Assault

Author: Atabay, Tomris

Title: Handbook for Prison Managers and Policymakers on Women and Imprisonment

Summary: The present handbook forms part of a series of tools developed by The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to support countries in implementing the rule of law and the development of criminal justice reform. It is designed to be used by all actors involved in the criminal justice system, including policymakers, legislators, prison managers, prison staff, members of non-governmental organizations and other individuals interested or active in the field of criminal justice and prison reform. It can be used in a variety of contexts, both as a reference document and as a training tool. The main focus of the handbook is female prisoners and guidance on the components of a gender-sensitive approach to prison management, taking into account the typical background of female prisoners and their special needs as women in prison.

Details: New York: United Nations, 2008. 117p.

Source: Internet Resource: Criminal Justice Handbook Series: Accessed September 22, 2010 at: http://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/women-and-imprisonment.pdf

Year: 2008

Country: International

URL: http://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/women-and-imprisonment.pdf

Shelf Number: 113390

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Female Inmates
Female Prisoners
Prison Administration

Author: Aebi, Marcelo F.

Title: Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics: Space 1. Survey 2007

Summary: The SPACE I data presented here were obtained by means of the revised version of the questionnaire (Document PC-CP (2008) 07) introduced in the 2004 survey and supplemented with new items for this year’s survey. The main goal of the revision was to include some questions in order to clarify precisely what is being counted in the statistics of each country. The answers to these questions are presented in Tables 1.5 and 15.2 and suggest that cross-national comparisons of prison population rates must be conducted cautiously as the categories included in the total number of prisoners vary from country to country. The same is true for cross-national comparisons of deaths and suicides in penal institutions as well as of staff working in penal institutions. In former SPACE questionnaires there was a slight difference between the French and the English definition of assault. This problem has now been solved and both questionnaires refer to assault and battery (coups et blessures volontaires). Some clarifications were also introduced for other items (i.e. counting units, reference dates etc.). Finally, four detail questions were added on the structure of the requested data (distinction between juveniles and young adults, between criminally liable and noncriminally liable mentally ill offenders, and between aliens on administrative detention held in prisons and those held in special units for administrative detention). All these new add-ins will allow more accurate comparisons between Council of Europe Member States. Prison population figures (stock) as well as the staff working in penal institutions relate to the situation on 1st September 2007, while flow of entries, total number of days spent in penal institutions, and incidents (escapes, deaths and suicides) relate to the whole 2006 year. The forty-seven Member States of the Council of Europe at the end of 2007 include fifty prison administrations that are under their control and thirty-nine answered the 2007 SPACE I Survey. The following countries did not answer the survey: Albania, Andorra, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina (State level), Croatia, Greece, Malta, Montenegro, Russia, Ukraine, and Northern Ireland. For administrative reasons, data were not available for the following countries or areas: Northern Cyprus, Kosovo, Transdniestria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh. Montenegro became the 47th Member State of the Council of Europe on May, 11, 2007; therefore data for this country were not included in this year’s edition of the Survey.

Details: Strasbourg; Council of Europe, 2009. 99p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 6, 2010 at: http://www.coe.int/t/f/affaires_juridiques/coop%E9ration_juridique/emprisonnement_et_alternatives/statistiques_space_i/PC-CP_2009_%2001Rapport%20SPACE%20I_2007_090505_final_rev.pdf

Year: 2009

Country: Europe

URL: http://www.coe.int/t/f/affaires_juridiques/coop%E9ration_juridique/emprisonnement_et_alternatives/statistiques_space_i/PC-CP_2009_%2001Rapport%20SPACE%20I_2007_090505_final_rev.pdf

Shelf Number: 118330

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Olotu, Michael K.

Title: Evaluation Report: Ontario Region Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) Inflammatory Spray Pilot Project

Summary: On November 16, 2009, CSC’s Ontario Region commenced the Oleoresin Capsicum Inflammatory Spray Project (OC-ISP) pilot in three institutions – Kingston Penitentiary, Collins Bay Institution and Fenbrook Institution. The pilot was intended to examine the effectiveness of OC spray in responding to and resolving security incidents in a timely manner. Given that OC spray was available in strategic command posts in these institutions before the project pilot, the pilot was also intended to examine whether correctional officers wearing the OC spray canister on their duty belts would have an operational impact on population and situation management in the institutions. In May 2004, the warden of Kent maximum security institution in the Pacific Region issued blanket permission for correctional officers working in the living units of the institution to routinely carry OC spray on their duty belts. This decision was necessitated by an elevated threat risk assessment and actions by offenders that could jeopardize the safety and security of the institution. Once the conditions within the institution had returned to a “normal manageable state”, the warden rescinded the authorization and returned the OC spray to the control posts at the end of the ranges to be obtained when necessary. On July 26, 2004, 16 correctional officers refused to return to the workplace without OC spray on their duty belts, citing unsafe work conditions under Part II, Section 128 of the Canada Labour Code. An Occupational Health and Safety Officer assessed the condition and rendered a decision that danger did not exist. The correctional officers appealed the decision to the Occupational Health and Safety Tribunal. On March 29, 2010, the Occupational Health and Safety Tribunal of Canada rendered a decision and rescinded the 2004 decision of the Health and Safety Officer and concluded that “from the evidence that the potential hazard could reasonably be expected to cause injury to a correctional officer before the hazard could be corrected and so a danger exists”. The Appeals Officer also concluded that the “danger facing the appellants (correctional officers) does not constitute a normal condition of employment” and directed CSC to take immediate measures to ensure that the safety and health of the correctional officers on the living units was protected. On September 2, 2009, six correctional officers at Kingston Penitentiary in the Ontario Region were involved in an incident which resulted in the stabbing of one of the correctional officers. As a result of these incidents, the request by correctional officers to wear the OC spray canister on their duty belts as a personal protective tool became a high interest to the Union of Canadian Correctional Officers (UCCO). The evaluation of OC-ISP was requested by Ontario Region’s Deputy Commissioner in December 2009 with the objective to assess OC-ISP pilot results and the effectiveness of OC spray in responding to and resolving security incidents in a timely manner, and whether correctional officers wearing the OC spray canister on their duty belts would pose any problem in population and situation management in the institutions. These key evaluation questions were assessed in accordance with the Treasury Board Secretariat’s Evaluation Directive focussing on relevance, performance (effectiveness, efficiency and economy) and implementation. The evaluation report is intended to foster EXCOM discussion on OC-ISP pilot results and the possibility of expanding the project outside the Ontario Region.

Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service Canada, Evaluation Branch, Policy Sector, 2010. 56p.

Source: Internet Resource: File #394-2-86: Accessed October 9, 2010 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pa/ocspray/ocspray-eng.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: Canada

URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pa/ocspray/ocspray-eng.pdf

Shelf Number: 119909

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Corrections Officers
Oleoresin Capsicum Spray
Workplace Hazards

Author: Martin, Mark D.

Title: Programs and Activities: Tools for Managing Inmate Behavior

Summary: Violence, vandalism, and unsanitary conditions prevail in many jails nationwide, and they frustrate jail practitioners who must ensure the safety and security of inmates, staff, and the public. These conditions often result from insufficient attention to inmate behavior management, though over the past 25 years, important lessons about managing and controlling inmate behavior have emerged. One lesson is that a jail cannot control inmate behavior by focusing primarily on physical containment. Although physical security measures such as locks, steel doors, security glass, and alarm systems remain essential, a jail must actively manage inmate behavior to achieve a safe, clean, and secure environment. Keeping inmates productively occupied through inmate programming provides a powerful incentive for inmates to maintain positive behavior. Programs offer something constructive for inmates to do or learn, meaning there is less time for negative behaviors to become management problems for staff. Programs contribute to making staff work environments safer, with reduced threats of violence and hostility. They offer opportunities for self-improvement, possibly helping inmates function more productively in their communities upon release. Finally, there is likely to be a cost benefit: it can be less costly to implement programs in the long run than to constantly replace broken showerheads, repaint graffiti-ridden walls, or pay overtime for staff responding to inmate disturbances. Effective jail program planning integrates an assessment of jail and inmate needs with evidence-based programs. These programs fall into three distinct categories: activity-focused, reformative, and reintegration. Activity-focused programs further the primary goals of keeping inmates busy while they are in custody. Reformative programs provide inmates with knowledge and skills to address personal needs. Reintegration programs prepare inmates for their return to the community as productive citizens. This manual offers practical information and guidance on planning and implementing inmate programs. It provides a logic model for developing and assessing the programs. It includes activity-focused, reformative, and reintegrative program examples with varying levels of complexity and resources, including those that are free and easy to implement. In the manual, there are steps an administrator can take to provide leadership and support as well as overcome barriers to inmate programming.

Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, 2010. 116p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 10, 2010 at: http://nicic.gov/Downloads/PDF/Library/024368.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: United States

URL: http://nicic.gov/Downloads/PDF/Library/024368.pdf

Shelf Number: 120438

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Correctional Programs
Inmates
Jails

Author: Canada. Parliament. House of Commons. Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security

Title: Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Addiction in the Federal Correctional System

Summary: Correctional institutions in Canada, like those in many countries, including Norway and England, accommodate large numbers of inmates suffering from mental disorders and drug and alcohol addiction. In Canada, some 80% of offenders serving prison sentences of two years or more have problems with drugs and/or alcohol. Approximately one in ten male inmates (12%), and one in five female inmates (21%), suffer from serious mental disorders upon admission to a federal correctional institution. This is not a recent development. Research has clearly shown that the correctional community, here as in elsewhere, is in poorer health overall than the population at large. The House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (hereafter the Committee) is concerned however about the scope of this phenomenon within Canada’s federal correctional system, and the lack of resources to enable Correctional Service Canada (CSC), which is responsible for the custody of offenders sentenced to two years or more, to meet the growing mental health and addiction needs of federal offenders. This report contains the Committee’s observations and recommendations based on its review of the policies, practices and programs adopted by CSC to provide treatment and support for federal offenders affected by mental disorders or addiction. The review highlighted the urgent need for an expansion of CSC’s capacity to meet the growing needs of these offenders. The situation demands decisive federal government action; the Committee believes this should include the immediate allocation of additional financial resources to CSC for this purpose. The CSC should in turn give priority to improving how it deals with mental health disorders and addiction issues. This is a public safety issue because offenders who fail to receive appropriate treatment while in custody are more likely to reoffend after release, thus threatening the security of all Canadians. That said, the Committee agrees with those who have testified before it that as far as possible, people suffering from mental disorders and addictions should not end up in detention because of these problems or the lack of community ressources. Correctional institutions should not be serving as hospitals by default. In general, prison is not suited to caring for people affected by such problems. Indeed, mental health experts agree that the prison environment is harmful to mental health. Moreover, because of the constraints inherent in the prison setting, therapeutic interventions are complicated and expensive. Like its witnesses, the Committee has concluded that CSC alone cannot cope with mental health and addiction problems in prisons. The criminalization and incarceration of those suffering from mental disorders or addictions is part of a broader context in which various players—government and non-government agencies—are active: the healthcare, social services and justice sectors. To avoid imprisoning people inappropriately because of their mental health disorders or addictions, all participants in the system have to work more closely together. Governments will have to establish a comprehensive, integrated and efficient mental health system based on promoting mental health and preventive care, early detection of mental disorders and addictions, access in the community to effective care and treatment and, as appropriate, the reintegration of those affected. The Committee’s study has also shed light on the need for rapid intervention, well before those concerned come into conflict with the law. When a crime is committed, there must be a capacity to assess the mental health of the accused in order to refer him or her to appropriate healthcare and support services and acquaint court officials with the accused’s requirements. The Committee shares the view of most of its witnesses that such an approach is more consistent with the rights of those suffering from mental disorders and addictions and could generate substantial cost savings in the long run. Imprisonment is expensive and generally unsuited to caring for those rendered vulnerable by mental disorders and addiction issues.

Details: Ottawa: The Committee, 2010. 97p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 3, 2011 at: http://www.hsjcc.on.ca/Uploads/commons%20report%20on%20offender%20mh%20dec%202010.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: Canada

URL: http://www.hsjcc.on.ca/Uploads/commons%20report%20on%20offender%20mh%20dec%202010.pdf

Shelf Number: 120683

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates (Canada)
Mental Health Services
Mentally Ill Offenders
Prisons
Rehabilitation
Substance Abuse

Author: Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services

Title: Virginia's Peculiar System of Local and Regional Jails

Summary: Responsibilities for jails – construction, operation, certification, funding, etc. – are spread across multiple state and local agencies. The state provides substantial funding for jails, but other than certifying and inspecting the facilities, it has little direct authority over operations. Because Virginia’s jail system is so fragmented – and often difficult to understand when trying to develop policies and programs concerning jails – this report was developed to provide a better understanding of the purpose, operations, funding, and development of Virginia’s jail system.

Details: Richmond, VA: Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services, 2010. 22p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 8, 2011 at: http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/research/Documents/2010%20JailReport-2.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: United States

URL: http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/research/Documents/2010%20JailReport-2.pdf

Shelf Number: 120889

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Jails (Virginia)

Author: New Mexico Sentencing Commission

Title: Cost of Housing Arrestees Held on Felony Charges: A Profile of Six New Mexico Detention Centers

Summary: This report provides a count of individuals held on felony charges in six detention facilities in New Mexico on June 30, 2003 and estimates the annual cost of housing four categories of felony arrestees throughout the state. The estimated annual cost of housing arrestees using actual facility cost in NM detention facilities is $25.4 million. The following is the cost estimate for each category: • Sentenced to prison and awaiting transport to a state facility is $2.4 million. • Probation and parole violators sentenced to county facility is almost $4.3 million. • Sentenced to detention facility is almost $6.6 million. • Unsentenced probation and parole violators is $12.1 million. The cost per day for New Mexico detention centers ranged from $21 to $147. The average cost per day for all New Mexico detention facilities was $56. The six detention facilities in the study comprised 60% of all arrestees held in New Mexico detention facilities on June 30, 2003. 68.9% of arrestees held in the six selected detention facilities were charged with at least one felony charge. Of the 2,536 arrestees with felony charges held in the six detention facilities on June 30, 2003: • 33.2% fit one of the felony categories for which we calculated costs. • 66.8% were unsentenced with new charges or warrants other than probation or parole violation. In the future it would be beneficial to further refine the felony categories used to calculate cost estimates to separate parole violators from probation violators and report the number of prisoners from the Department of Corrections housed in detention facilities for court dates.

Details: Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Sentencing Commission, 2005. 4p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 1, 2011 at: http://nmsc.unm.edu/nmsc_reports/prison/

Year: 2005

Country: United States

URL: http://nmsc.unm.edu/nmsc_reports/prison/

Shelf Number: 121214

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Cost-Analysis
Detention (New Mexico)
Felony Offenders
Inmates
Jails

Author: Guerin, Paul

Title: Length of Stay for Arrestees Held on Felony Charges: A Profile of Six New Mexico Detention Facilities

Summary: The goal of this report was to better understand how long felony arrestees stay in detention centers and the corresponding cost. Specifically, the report looks at the length of stay of felony arrestees in six New Mexico detention facilities. Highlights of the study include the following: 68.9% of the arrestees held in local New Mexico detention facilities were charged with at least one felony. More than 50% of arrestees held in detention centers spent almost 7 1/2 months in jail (224 days). Unsentenced probation violators (546 arrestees) spent more than two months in jail from the time they were booked to the time they were sentenced. Median length of stay varied from a low of 38 days in Eddy County to a high of 96 days in Dona Ana County. Reducing the length of stay of probation violators will reduce jail crowding. Unsentenced arrestees on new charges spent a median of 167 days in jail from the time they were booked to the time the case was closed by the District Court. According to an NIJ study, courts can exercise considerable control over how quickly cases move through the court system without sacrificing justice. Slightly more than 18% (459) of all arrestees in the sample were sentenced to prison. Between the date these individuals were sentenced and the date they were transported to prison they spent a median of 19 days in jail. This ranged from 13 days in Dona Ana County to 34 days in Eddy County. These individuals accounted for 8,721 bed days. Reducing the length of stay by 50% would save almost 4,500 bed days. Detention center administrators do not control jail admissions or length of stay and so cannot directly affect jail populations.

Details: Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Sentencing Commission, 2005. 4p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 1, 2011 at: http://nmsc.unm.edu/nmsc_reports/prison/

Year: 2005

Country: United States

URL: http://nmsc.unm.edu/nmsc_reports/prison/

Shelf Number: 121215

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Cost Analysis
Detention (New Mexico)
Felony Offenders
Jails

Author: Dunkel, Frieder

Title: International Study on Women’s Imprisonment: Current Situation, Demand Analysis and "Best Practice"

Summary: Since women in Europe only constitute an average of roughly 4.5% to 5.0% of the total prison population (from 2.9% in Poland to 7.8 % in Spain), women in European prisons experience specific problems and structural disadvantages. Prisons are geared towards male prisoners and therefore excessive security measures are implemented, women‘s educational and work opportunities are (even) more restricted, and the inmate structure reveals that female prisoners show a high incidence of substance abuse, as well as psychological and psychosomatic complaints. In addition to these problems that occur in all the countries surveyed, some countries experience their own unique problems: ranging from the structure of the criminal offence (e.g. drug couriers in Spain) to the historic-political background of the countries that have joined the EU. There is thus an urgent need to evaluate the current situation of female prisoners and their needs. Under the preconditions of a resource-oriented approach, the ‚healthy prison’ concept as well as theories of work- and organisational psychology, the aim is to examine women‘s prisons from a number of different angles in order to promote designs that meet the women’s needs and thus promote tertiary prevention. The analysis of the specific situation and actual conditions of imprisonment of female prisoners allows, firstly, the identification of what constitutes ‚best practice’ and, secondly, – also in terms of gender mainstreaming – the derivation of measures that can be taken to ensure that imprisonment takes place in accordance with the needs of female prisoners. The current lack of knowledge and cross-border transfer of experiences with regard to female prisoners brings a number of difficulties with it. It is thus more difficult to ensure that penal institutions are properly designed and organised and that the prison officers receive adequate specialised vocational training, which in turn negatively affects the prisoners’ rehabilitation. To counter this difficiency, the following project measures will be taken whereby the sanctioning practices of the participating countries will be taken into account: a) Examination of female prisons at the organisational level (structural conditions): regard of human rights, accommodation (number of occupants, proximity to home, mother-child facilities), educational and work situation of the imprisoned women, treatment (opportunities for substance abusers, opportunities and facilities specifically geared towards women, etc.) qualification of staff, etc. b) Differential analysis of the perceived living conditons and conditions of imprisonment in the participating countries as well as - and with special reference to - the specific needs of imprisoned women: assessment of the quality of life and the climate in each institution, needs, and experience of stress. c) Differential analysis of the subjective concepts of the prison staff regarding imprisoned women, the prison system and in particular their vocational role.

Details: Greifswald, Germany: University of Greifswald, Department of Criminology, 2005. 40p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 14, 2011 at: http://www.rsf.uni-greifswald.de/fileadmin/mediapool/lehrstuehle/duenkel/Reader_womeninprison.pdf

Year: 2005

Country: Europe

URL: http://www.rsf.uni-greifswald.de/fileadmin/mediapool/lehrstuehle/duenkel/Reader_womeninprison.pdf

Shelf Number: 121338

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Correctional Programs
Female Inmates (Europe)
Female Offenders
Female Prisons
Women Prisoners

Author: Chapman, Steven F.

Title: Evaluation of the Behavior Modification Unit Pilot Program at High Desert State Prison

Summary: The Behavior Modification Unit (BMU) Pilot Program was implemented at High Desert State Prison (HDSP) on November 21, 2005. This program was developed and implemented to respond to disruptive inmate behavior that was not serious enough to warrant placement in the Administrative Segregation Unit (ASU) or Security Housing Unit (SHU), but was disruptive to the general population. The BMU was designed to provide alternative general population housing and programming for inmates deemed program failures. The goals of the BMU program are to: • modify recalcitrant inmate behavior, • eliminate and reduce the opportunity to repeat the behavior, and • provide non-disruptive inmates the ability to participate in programming without continual interruptions. Inmates are eligible for placement into the BMU if they fall into any of the five following categories: 1. Program failure, 2. SHUable offense per California Code of Regulations, Title 15, Section 3341.5, 3. Organized criminal activity, 4. Refusal to double cell or participate in the department’s racial integration program, or 5. Indecent exposure. The Institutional Classification Committee (ICC) or Unit Classification Committee (UCC) has the responsibility of placing inmates into the BMU program who meet placement criteria. Inmates are initially placed in Work Group C, in which inmates receive zero work credit, and Privilege Group C, in which inmates’ personal privileges are limited, for at least 90 days. Subsequent BMU placements are for a minimum of 180 days. Upon placement in the BMU, inmates forfeit most personal property, including appliances. A total of 164 inmates were placed in the BMU program at HDSP during the period between November 21, 2005, and July 31, 2007. The findings indicate that the BMU program was associated with a reduction in the recalcitrant behavior of the 76 inmates who successfully completed the program and were present at HDSP for at least one month before entering and one month after completing the program. Specifically, the inmates who completed the BMU program had almost six times fewer Rules Violation Reports after completing the BMU program than before entering it. However, the results also suggest that, for the 137 inmates who were placed in the BMU and were present at HDSP for at least one month before and one month after entering the program, it was not effective in reducing recalcitrant behavior. Although these findings are encouraging, it is important to note that, due to the quasi-experimental nature of the research design, it is not possible to attribute the observed positive effects to participation in the BMU program. Because it was not feasible to randomly assign inmates to the program, the observed effects might have been due to events unrelated to it (e.g., changes in institution policy, correctional staff behavior toward inmates, or inmate behavior not directly related to the BMU program).

Details: Sacramento: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Office of Research, Adult Research Branch, 2008. 81p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 15, 2011 at: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Adult_Research_Branch/Research_Documents/Behavior%20Modifcation%20Unit%20Evaluation%20July%202008.pdf

Year: 2008

Country: United States

URL: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Adult_Research_Branch/Research_Documents/Behavior%20Modifcation%20Unit%20Evaluation%20July%202008.pdf

Shelf Number: 121360

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Correctional Programs (California)
Inmate Behavior
Inmate Discipline
Prisoners

Author: Camp, Scott D.

Title: Evaluation of the Taft Demonstration Project: Performance of a Private-Sector Prison and the BOP

Summary: In 1996, the United States Congress directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to operate the federal prison at Taft, California as a demonstration of prison privatization (see Conference Report to Accompany H.R. 3610, Making Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1997, Public Law 104-208). This report describes selected measures of prison performance for the Taft Correctional Institution (TCI), operated by Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, especially in comparison to three BOP prisons built upon the same architectural design at about the same time and holding similar types of inmates.

Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2005. 127p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 22, 2011 at: http://www.bop.gov/news/research_projects/published_reports/pub_vs_priv/orelappin2005.pdf

Year: 2005

Country: United States

URL: http://www.bop.gov/news/research_projects/published_reports/pub_vs_priv/orelappin2005.pdf

Shelf Number: 122438

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Private Prisons (U.S.)
Privatization

Author: Shubik-Richards, Claire

Title: Philadelphia's Less Crowded, Less Costly Jails: Taking Stock of a Year of Change and the Challenges That Remain

Summary: A new study from The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Philadelphia Research Initiative finds that Philadelphia’s jail population decreased dramatically last year due to reductions among both the number of individuals held pretrial and those held for alleged violations of their probation or parole. Join the Philadelphia Research Initiative for a Webinar to learn more about our latest analysis of the city's inmate population, including the factors that have contributed to its decline, the policies and practices that impact its size and what it means for the city's bottom line.

Details: Philadelphia: Pew Charitable Trusts, Philadelphia Research Initiative, 2011. 29p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 31, 2011 at: http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Philadelphia_Research_Initiative/Philadelphia-Jail-Population.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Philadelphia_Research_Initiative/Philadelphia-Jail-Population.pdf

Shelf Number: 122571

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Costs of Criminal Justice
Jail Overcrowding
Jails (Philadelphia)
Pretrial Detention

Author: Great Britain. Ministry of Justice

Title: Monitoring Places of Detention: First Annual Report of the United Kingdom's National Preventive Mechanism 2009-10. Cm. 8010

Summary: In the UK and elsewhere there has been growing recognition of detainee's vulnerability and the need for robust, independent mechanisms to protect them from ill-treatment. This view was given formal recognition by the United Nations when it adopted the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) and its ratification by the UK in 2003. As detailed in 'Monitoring Places of Detention (Cm. 8010)', the basic premise of OPCAT is that protections for those who are detained can be strengthened by a system of regular visits to all places of detention. OPCAT requires the designation of a National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to carry out such visits and to monitor treatment. The UK NPM was established in March 2009 when it was decided that the functions of the mechanism would be fulfilled by the collective action of 18 existing bodies with the HM Inspectorate of Prisons as co-ordinator. This is the first annual report from the NPM in the UK. It details the individual and collective activities of its members in the period 01 April 2009 to 31 March 2010. As well as providing background information on OPCAT and the role of the NPMs, it outlines the role of the individual members and their detention-related activities. The NPM also makes its first collective recommendation that the UK government identifies any places of detention not visited by the NPM and ensures that those gaps are addressed.

Details: London: The Stationery Office, 2011.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 6, 2011 at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/guidance/inspection-monitoring/National_Preventive_Mechanism_Annual_report_2009-2010(web).pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/guidance/inspection-monitoring/National_Preventive_Mechanism_Annual_report_2009-2010(web).pdf

Shelf Number: 122662

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Prisoners
Prisons (U.K.)

Author: California State Auditor. Bureau of State Audits

Title: Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: The Benefits of Its Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions Program Are Uncertain

Summary: The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (Corrections) intends to use the Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) software to help identify factors that cause inmates to commit crimes, so they can participate in such rehabilitative programs as substance abuse treatment or vocational education to reduce their likelihood of reoffending, thereby reducing overcrowding in the State’s prisons. California’s high recidivism rates and difficulties with prison overcrowding are well documented. In its October 2010 outcome evaluation report, Corrections reported that 67.5 percent of all felons released during fiscal year 2005–06 returned to prison within three years. Further, in May 2011 the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling upholding the authority of a lower court to require that California reduce its inmate population to 137.5 percent of the design capacity of its correctional institutions. As of June 30, 2011, Corrections had more than 144,000 inmates in its various institutions, which were designed to accommodate only 80,000. However, the prospects that COMPAS will play a meaningful role in helping Corrections ultimately reduce prison overcrowding and lower its recidivism rates are, at best, uncertain. Corrections uses gender-specific versions of two different COMPAS assessments. The COMPAS core assessment identifies the needs of inmates entering the prison system, while the COMPAS reentry assessment evaluates inmates who are about to reenter society on parole. Our review found Corrections’ use of COMPAS during its parole planning process is not consistently enforced, while its use in reception centers — where inmates are initially evaluated and assigned to a prison — does not appear to affect decisions on prison assignments and, by extension, the rehabilitative programs inmates might access at those facilities. Corrections’ process at its 12 reception centers for assigning inmates to prisons is complex and considers factors such as an inmate’s history of violence, medical needs, gang affiliations, and the available bed space at suitable facilities that can accommodate the inmate’s security requirements. Our observations at one reception center and discussions with Corrections’ staff at seven others revealed that prison assignments are often not based on COMPAS. Instead, the inmate’s security level and the weekly placement restrictions imposed by Corrections’ Population Management Unit — the unit responsible for coordinating inmate movement within the prison system — are the primary determinants of prison assignment.

Details: Sacramento: California State Auditor, 2011. 59p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 10, 2011 at: http://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2010-124.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2010-124.pdf

Shelf Number: 122680

Keywords:
-Prison Administration
Correctional Institutions
Correctional Programs
Parole
Prison Over-crowding
Prisoner Rehabilitation
Prisons (California)
Recidivism

Author: Amnesty International

Title: Good Intentions are Not Enough: The Struggle to Reform Liberia's Prisons

Summary: Liberia’s government, still struggling to rebuild the country after a 14-year internal armed conflict, has stated its determination to improve the prison system. However, conditions in Liberia’s prisons are so poor that they violate basic human rights. Prison inmates are crowded into dark, dirty cells, without adequate food, sanitation or health care. Some suffer permanent damage to their physical or mental health as a result. Most have not been convicted of any crime. The vast majority are people living in poverty, without access to lawyers and with few financial resources.

Details: London: Amnesty International, 2011. 16p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 23, 2011 at: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR34/001/2011/en

Year: 2011

Country: Liberia

URL: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR34/001/2011/en

Shelf Number: 122808

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prisons (Liberia)

Author: Yordanova, Maria

Title: Penitentiary Policy and System in the Republic of Bulgaria

Summary: The analysis of the legal framework of the prison system, of the state and specific problems of that system, as well as the empirical studies conducted, demonstrate the need of further development of the penitentiary reform as part of the reform of penal legislation and of criminal justice. This implies continued alignment of national legislation with European standards, accompanied by comprehensive practical modernization and humanization of the penitentiary system. The recommendations outline some important guidelines in this respect. In principle, such reforms require considerable costs which, however, can be optimized by introducing a balanced complex of measures, including abolition of the penal sanction of imprisonment for less serious offences and expanding the scope of application of non-custodial measures, shortening the term of custodial sentences, a broader reasoned application of the mechanisms of suspended sentencing, release on parole etc. On the other hand, the costs of “investments” in the reform must match the “benefits” they are supposed to generate. The most important indicators of the benefits of the reforms and of the effectiveness of the penitentiary system are reduction of crime at large and of recidivism in particular, successful reintegration of prisoners after service of the sentence, as well as enhancement of public security. Special attention must be paid to intervention for drug-using or drug-dependent prisoners. Drug distribution and drug use are a serious problem not only for criminal justice and the penitentiary system but a serious social problem in its own right. There is a pressing need of an integral and consistent State policy in this area, including, among other things, a complex of measures vis-`а-vis drugdependent prisoners, applicable both while such persons serve their sentence and after their release. Inspections, monitoring and independent civic oversight, as well as the publicity of their results, are and will continue to be an important guarantee of control over the further progress of the penitentiary reform and over the all-round functioning of the penitentiary system.

Details: Sofia, Bulgaria: Center for the Study of Democracy, 2011. 108p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 27, 2012 at: http://www.csd.bg/fileSrc.php?id=20419

Year: 2011

Country: Bulgaria

URL: http://www.csd.bg/fileSrc.php?id=20419

Shelf Number: 124292

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Prison Administration
Prison Reform
Prisons (Bulgaria)

Author: Gaanderse, Miranda

Title: The Security Sector and Gender in West Africa: A Survey of Police, Defence, Justice and Penal Services in ECOWAS States

Summary: This report, published in English and French, aims to systematically document the status of gender integration in the security sectors in 14 Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The report is designed to be a resource for people working in, or with, security sector institutions; for those interested in governance and development in West Africa; and for those involved in gender-related issues. It combines information gathered by in-country researchers, interviews, document analysis and desk research. Much of the data in this report has never before been published or compared across countries in the region. The survey is guided by the following two questions: Are security sector institutions providing adequate response to the different security and justice needs of men, women, boys and girls? What steps have been taken to create internally equitable, representative and non-discriminatory institutions? The report contains three main sections: an introduction, a summary and analysis of findings, and individual country profiles. The introduction provides background on the survey rationale, methodology and research challenges. The summary and analysis of findings offers a cross-country and cross-institution analysis of the survey findings, and includes a list of recommendations. The 14 extensive country profiles present easy-to-read yet detailed information structured by 101 indicators on national governance, police services, armed forces and gendarmerie, the justice system and penal services. The report can be downloaded as a single document in English and French, or in individual sections.

Details: Geneva: DCAF (Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces), 2011. 267p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 23, 2019 at: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/141906/00_Complete_West%20Africa_gender_survey.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: Africa

URL: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/141906/00_Complete_West%20Africa_gender_survey.pdf

Shelf Number: 124352

Keywords:
Administration of Justice
Correctional Institutions
Evaluative Studies
Female Police Officers
Gender
Security Sector (West Africa)

Author: Minton, Todd D.

Title: Jails in Indian Country, 2009

Summary: At midyear 2009, a total of 2,176 inmates were confined in Indian country jails, a 1.9% increase from the 2,135 inmates confined at midyear 2008 (figure 1). This count was based on data from 80 facilities, including jails, confinement facilities, detention centers, and other correctional facilities, that were in operation in Indian country at midyear 2009. For 2008, the number of inmates was based on data for 82 facilities in operation at midyear 2008. The number of inmates held in Indian country jails between 2004 and 2009 increased by 25% from 1,745 to 2,176. On June 30, 2009, the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives confined in jails outside of Indian country (9,400) was more than 4 times the number held in jails in Indian country. (See box on page 2.) The number of jails in Indian country has increased between 2004 and 2009 The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) collected data from 68 correctional facilities in Indian country in 2004, from 79 in 2007, from 82 in 2008, and from 80 in 2009. The survey was not conducted in 2005 and 2006. Over the 5-year period, a number of facilities closed and new facilities became operational. Eleven facilities permanently closed between 2004 and 2009 and a total of 21 facilities were newly constructed. BJS estimated inmate population counts for 7 facilities in 2004 and 4 facilities in 2007 that did not respond to the surveys. All known operating facilities responded to the 2008 and 2009 surveys. See Methodology for additional details on facility counts and participation in the surveys.

Details: Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011. 20p.

Source: BJS Bulletin: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2012 at http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/jic09.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/jic09.pdf

Shelf Number: 125205

Keywords:
American Indians
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Jails
Native Americans

Author: Kazemian, Lila

Title: The French Prison System: Comparative Insights for Policy and Practice in New York and the United States

Summary: In 2006, drawing on previous work by the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Council of Europe offered recommendations on basic standards that should be met in European correctional facilities, otherwise known as the European Prison Rules. These rules offer guidelines for the humane and just treatment of prisoners in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. In 2009, France enacted a correctional law that guaranteed certain rights to incarcerated individuals, including the right to obtain identity papers, to vote, to gain access to social aid, to maintain family ties, to have reasonable access to telephone services, to be offered employment opportunities, to participate in training programs, and to benefit from reduced prison time for sentences of less than five years or for convictions involving individuals who are over 75 years of age. Despite these and other reform initiatives, European correctional administrations often turn to the United States and Canada for guidance on the effective management of prison populations. French correctional administrators express particular interest in correctional practices in the State of New York, as officials there are believed to value inmate rights and prisoner reentry initiatives. New York’s reputation for supporting research and for hosting diverse communitybased organizations focused on prisoner issues stimulates interest in correctional policies and programs in New York City and throughout the state. Officials in New York, however, have just as much to learn from correctional practices in France and other European countries. This report provides an overview of the French correctional system and highlights some of the innovations that characterize French prisons. Correctional trends and practices in France are compared with those of New York and the U.S. more generally.

Details: New York: John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Research and Evaluation Center, 2012. 33p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 12, 2012 at: http://johnjayresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/rec20121.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: France

URL: http://johnjayresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/rec20121.pdf

Shelf Number: 125594

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Corrections
Prisoners
Prisons (France)

Author: Northern Ireland. Committee on the Administration of Justice

Title: Prisons and Prisoners in Northern Ireland -- Putting Human Rights at the Heart of Prison Reform

Summary: A great deal has been written and said over the past number of years in relation to the Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS). Hundreds of recommendations for change have been made, and although many of them have been taken on board, there exists a mass of unimplemented recommendations. The nature of the proposals made by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, the Prisoner Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Criminal Justice Inspection and others, imply that considerable deficiencies remain unaddressed. CAJ believes that the approach to improving the prison system as a whole has been both insufficient and piecemeal, and what is needed is a comprehensive and systemic review. Having considered some 40+ reports and reviews relating to prisons in Northern Ireland written since 2002, what is most startling is the repetition of themes and issues which have significant human rights implications and which remain insufficiently addressed. The report therefore groups together into broad themes the recommendations which have been made over the past number of years by numerous review and inspection reports in order to help identify the overall issues which remain unsatisfactorily addressed, and facilitate a human rights analysis upon which a review could be premised. The same concerns in relation to a number of themes have frequently been raised in 7 or more of the 40 review/inspection reports referred to in this report, thus demonstrating that many recommendations to the prison service are not effectively, efficiently or consistently acted upon. It seems clear that the prison system in Northern Ireland is in a state of crisis – the number of reports and recommendations and the frequency with which recommendations are repeated alone are evidence of this. What has happened repeatedly in the prison system over the years has been that that each ‘crisis’ is treated with a plaster, without ever dealing with the root causes of the problem. The focus and response by the prison service to these issues - which dwells on the numbers of recommendations and the development of paper-exercise policies and action plans, fails to recognise and address the bigger problems underlying the recommendations themselves. The problems identified are not simply operational matters that can be addressed by an action plan; rather what is required is a focus on the issues and problems behind the recommendations. In short, what is needed is widespread cultural and systemic change.

Details: Belfast: Committee on the Administration of Justice, 2010. 60p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 27, 2012 at: http://www.caj.org.uk/files/2011/01/17/prisons_report_web2.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.caj.org.uk/files/2011/01/17/prisons_report_web2.pdf

Shelf Number: 126475

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Human Rights
Prison Reform
Prisons (Northern Ireland)

Author: Freeman, Linda

Title: Length of Stay in Detention Facilities: A Profile of Seven New Mexico Counties

Summary: In 2004, the New Mexico Association of Counties (NMAC) contracted with the New Mexico Sentencing Commission (NMSC) to conduct a study to estimate the cost of housing arrestees charged with felonies in New Mexico detention facilities. Fiscal impact was the primary focus of the study; however, a second report Length of Stay for Arrestees Held on Felony Charges: A Profile of Six New Mexico Detention Facilities was published that analyzed the amount of time arrestees charged with felonies spent in jail. In subsequent years, the cost estimate has been updated annually. The length of stay study had not been updated since 2005. In June 2011, NMAC contracted with NMSC to update the length of stay study. Rather than just look at arrestees with felony charges, the update includes arrestees charged with misdemeanor charges as well as collection of other data elements. Much of the conclusions from the 2005 report are still relevant. Jail population is a consequence of two factors: the number of jail admissions and the length of stay. Robert Cushman observes in a 2002 NIJ publication, Preventing Jail Crowding: A Practical Guide, that often times jail management is reactive rather than proactive. Many communities leave the jail population to seek its own level. Jail managers do not control how people get in or out so little is done to analyze the jail composition. However, an examination of the type and duration of the length of stay and the sources of admission can give jail managers the information to formulate policy and improve public protection. Variations exist in the length of stay by county. Efforts need to continue to be made to: Analyze the detention process in each county to determine efficiencies and positive externalities; Determine how county detention centers, courts, district attorneys, public defenders, and private attorneys can work together to reduce unsentenced length of stay; Work with county detention centers and sheriffs to reduce the delay in transferring arrestees to prison after the judgment and sentence is signed, and; Consider ways to hear probation revocations more quickly to reduce unsentenced length of stay for probation violators.

Details: Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Sentencing Commission, 2012. 6p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 3, 2012 at http://nmsc.unm.edu/index.php/download_file/-/view/460/

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://nmsc.unm.edu/index.php/download_file/-/view/460/

Shelf Number: 126858

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Cost Analysis
Detention (New Mexico)
Felony Offenders
Jails

Author: Southern Center for Human Rights

Title: Roadblocks to Reform: Perils for Georgia's Criminal Justice System

Summary: Georgia has the highest rate of adults under correctional control of any state in the country, and its corrections budget reflects this fact. This report evaluates current practices of Georgia's Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform, including the contracting out of government responsibilities of running correctional facilities to private companies. It details the risks posed by contracting out and proposes common-sense reforms to cabin the perverse incentives of private companies: increasing transparency, enforcing accountability, and evaluating costs and performance, while also ensuring respect for the constitutional rights of those facing criminal charges or serving prison terms.

Details: Atlanta, GA: Southern Center for Human Rights, 2012. 17p.

Source: Internet Resource: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/sites/default/files/SCHR%20Roadblocks%20to%20Reform%20-%20Georgia%20FINAL.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://www.inthepublicinterest.org/sites/default/files/SCHR%20Roadblocks%20to%20Reform%20-%20Georgia%20FINAL.pdf

Shelf Number: 127438

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Criminal Justice Systems
Prison Reform
Prisoners (Georgia, U.S.)

Author: Martin, Brian D.

Title: Findings and Recommendations from a Statewide Outcome Evaluation of Ohio Jails

Summary: Scholars and practitioners have very little systemic knowledge regarding evidence-based practices in jails in Ohio or nationally. Historical information about past inspections and jail characteristics maintained by the Bureau of Adult Detention has been impeded by narrowly focused content, limited time frames, and unreliable data collection techniques. As a consequence, the current research project draws on multiple methodologies and sources of information as part of an extensive evaluation of the sources of jail best practices. Data collection activities conducted throughout the project were large in scale and wide-ranging, including focus groups from 6 different stakeholder groups, a correctional officer task survey of 1,005 respondents about training-related needs and deficiencies, statewide facility-level data collection at 86 full service jails, an inmate survey with 979 respondents, a jail administrator survey with 12 respondents, semi-structured interviews of key jail operational personnel at a sample of 12 full service jails, and intensive observational site visits at a sample of 12 full service jails. The results highlight several key themes and important facility-level characteristics that differentiate between levels of functioning and effectiveness in jails. In particular, we identify a set of recommendations and identified best practices stemming from actual operational procedures and administrative capacity while also assessing the effectiveness of current inspection activities and jail standards in Ohio.

Details: Columbus, OH: Bureau of Research and Evaluation Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, 2012. 107p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 7, 2013 at: http://www.ocjs.ohio.gov/FinalJailReport.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://www.ocjs.ohio.gov/FinalJailReport.pdf

Shelf Number: 127528

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Jails (Ohio)
Mental Health Services

Author: Lofstrom, Magnus

Title: Capacity Challenges in California's Jails

Summary: In an effort widely known as "realignment,” California has given its counties enormous new responsibilities for corrections—including authority over many new types of felony offenders and parolees. Rather than go to state prison, these offenders now go to county jail or receive an alternative sanction. In the first few months of realignment, California’s jail population increased noticeably—but many jails were already facing capacity concerns. We find that some offenders who would have been incarcerated prior to realignment are now either not locked up or are not spending as much time in jail. Going forward, counties will need to consider a wide variety of approaches for handling their capacity concerns and their expanded offender populations.

Details: San Francisco, CA: Public Policy Institute of California, 2012. 9p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 1, 2013 at: http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_912MLR.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_912MLR.pdf

Shelf Number: 126580

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Jails (California)

Author: Van Nostrand, Marie

Title: New Jersey Jail Population Analysis: Identifying Opportunities to Safely and Responsibly Reduce the Jail Population

Summary: The New Jersey County Jail System (NJCJS) is collectively operated by each of the state’s 21 counties. Each county is responsible for the safe, secure detention of individuals committed to their custody who have either been charged with a crime and are pending case disposition or who have been sentenced to a period of incarceration after having been convicted of a crime. On any given day the NJCJS has in its custody approximately 15,000 inmates. The population includes adult males and females with varying custody levels, a wide range of physical and mental health needs, and holds minor non-violent inmates to very serious and dangerous inmates. The current study was commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance for the purpose of examining the New Jersey jail population and developing a population profile. The population profile is intended to describe the population in terms of demographics, custody status, offense characteristics, bail status, and any other relevant information. The goal of the study is to use this profile to identify opportunities to responsibly reduce New Jersey’s jail population while maintaining public safety and the integrity of the judicial process. To conduct the study, data were requested and received from the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts (“AOC”). The AOC maintains the County Corrections Information System (CCIS) for which 19 of the 21 counties contribute inmate data (Bergen and Passaic counties do not provide data to CCIS). In addition, an informal survey was conducted of all county correctional facilities and the New Jersey Department of Corrections’ Office of County Services (NJDOC-OCS) was consulted to obtain more detailed information on the individual jail facilities. A jail population cannot be examined in a vacuum. The population is driven by many criminal justice agencies and is a reflection of the operation of the entire criminal justice system. It is based both on the number of people admitted to the jail and how long they stay. Any responsible population- reduction strategy must take into consideration many outside factors including the practices of key stakeholder agencies such as law enforcement, prosecutor, public defender, courts, alternatives to detention programs, and the jail itself. A detailed examination of these areas was outside the scope of this study, but readily available information related to criminal justice system trends and key stakeholder agencies (e.g., crime rate, incident, and arrest statistics; law enforcement; prosecutor; public defender; and the courts) were included to provide context to the population profile results. The current report includes a description of the NJCJA, an overview of criminal justice system trends and key stakeholder agencies, a detailed population profile, and a summary of findings.

Details: St. Petersburg, FL: Luminosity, 2013. 22p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 4, 2013 at: http://www.drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/New_Jersey_Jail_Population_Analysis_March_2013.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: http://www.drugpolicy.org/sites/default/files/New_Jersey_Jail_Population_Analysis_March_2013.pdf

Shelf Number: 128341

Keywords:
Alternatives to Incarceration
Correctional Institutions
County Jails (New Jersey, U.S.)
Inmates

Author: Ireland. Inspector of Prisons

Title: An Assessment of the Irish Prison System

Summary: In my various reports to date I have identified areas of concern. I have explained how certain practices do not meet International best practice. I have given guidance on how International best practice should be implemented. I have commented on the consequences of failure to implement such practice and I have suggested reforms in certain areas. I have published standards against which prisons should be benchmarked. I have engaged with the Minister for Justice and Equality (hereinafter referred to as the “Minister”), his officials, the Irish Prison Service and local management of prisons in an effort to ensure that our obligations as a Country to our prisoners are understood, that operating procedures are standardised throughout all prisons and that the advice that I have given in my various reports detailing best practice is being acted upon. 1.2 The areas of concern referred to in paragraph 1.1 are overcrowding, slopping out, mental and general health issues, the lack of dedicated committal areas in our prisons, the use of Safety Observation and Close Supervision Cells, investigations of deaths in custody and prisoner complaints. I dedicate a separate chapter to each of these issues. 1.3 In Chapters 2 to 9, I give an assessment on where the Irish Prison System stands at the moment regarding the areas of concern raised by me over the years and referred to in paragraph 1.2. 1.4 I am satisfied that great strides have been made by the Irish Prison Service within the last number of years to address the serious concerns raised by me. These strides would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of the Minister and his officials. 1.5 I have stated in paragraph 1.4 that great strides have been made. However, the physical characteristics of a prison or of a particular part of a prison or the formulation of standard operating procedures will not necessarily guarantee adherence to accepted best practice. The Irish Prison Service and the local management of prisons must be proactive to ensure that there is no slippage in this regard. 1.6 I now have additional resources in my office (See Chapter 6 of my Annual Report 2012). Therefore, if slippages do occur, I will be in a position to monitor same and report as appropriate.

Details: Nenagh, Ireland: Office of the Inspector of Prisons 2013. 82p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 9, 2013 at: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/An%20Assessment%20of%20the%20Irish%20Prison%20System.pdf/Files/An%20Assessment%20of%20the%20Irish%20Prison%20System.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: Ireland

URL: http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/An%20Assessment%20of%20the%20Irish%20Prison%20System.pdf/Files/An%20Assessment%20of%20the%20Irish%20Prison%20System.pdf

Shelf Number: 129284

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Prisons (Ireland)

Author: Justice Policy Institute

Title: Billion Dollar Divide: Virginia's Sentencing, Corrections and Criminal Justice Challenge

Summary: Billion Dollar Divide points to racial disparities, skewed fiscal priorities, and missed opportunities for improvements through proposed legislation, and calls for reforms to the commonwealth's sentencing, corrections and criminal justice system. While other states are successfully reforming their sentencing laws, parole policies and drug laws, Virginia is lagging behind and spending significant funds that could be used more effectively to benefit public safety in the commonwealth.

Details: Washington, DC: Justice Policy Institute, 2014. 40p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 19, 2014 at: http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/billiondollardivide.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/billiondollardivide.pdf

Shelf Number: 132068

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Criminal Justice Reform
Drug Policy
Parole
Racial Disparities
Sentencing
Sentencing Reform

Author: Smith, Brenda V.

Title: Policy Review and Development Guide: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Persons in Custodial Settings

Summary: This guide includes information that will help adult correctional facilities and juvenile justice agencies to assess, develop, or improve policies and practices regarding LGBTI [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex] individuals in their custody. The guide is not meant to be a quick reference for writing policies appropriate for all agencies and/or facilities. It is intentionally vague on "how to" advice and "plug and play" policy guidance. Guides for writing policies exist in many forms. Rather, the purpose of this guide is to (1) define agencies' obligations to LGBTI populations, both legally and in accordance with PREA [Prison Rape Elimination Act] standards, (2) begin a dialogue within agencies regarding the safety and treatment needs of LGBTI populations, and (3) guide agencies in asking good questions about practices and implementation strategies for meeting the needs of LGBTI populations" (p. 1). It is made up of three chapters: introduction and overview-introduction, evolving terminology and definitions, core principles for understanding LGBTI individuals in custody, and emerging data on LGBTI individuals in custodial settings and the challenges they face; LGBTI youth under custodial supervision-the law, PREA standards, other governing principles (state human rights laws and professional codes of ethics), and elements of legally sound and effective policy and practice; and LGBTI adults under custodial supervision-the law, PREA standards, and elements of legally sound and effective policy and practice. Appendixes provide: glossary; case law digest; additional resources; webpages with sample policies; and a training matrix

Details: Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Corrections, 2013. 79p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 3, 2014 at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/027507.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/027507.pdf

Shelf Number: 132227

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmate Sexual Assault
Prison Rape
Sexual Violence

Author: World Health Organization. Region Office for Europe

Title: Women's Health in Prison: Action guidance and checklists to review current policies and practices

Summary: The checklists in this document are an important tool in ensuring greater safety and better quality medical care for women in prison, and are designed to assist a review of current policies and practices relating to women's health in prisons. They follow from the Declaration on women's health in prison: correcting gender inequity in prison health and a background paper on women's health in prison, published in April 2009 by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and are therefore based on the evidence presented. While the checklists are aimed primarily at decision- and policy-makers, senior prison managers and prison health staff, there are important interconnections between them. They can also be useful for civil society organizations working on or monitoring the situation of women and their health in prison settings.

Details: Copenhagen: WHO, 2011. 24p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 4, 2014 at: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-determinants/prisons-and-health/publications/2011/womens-health-in-prison-action-guidance-and-checklists-to-review-current-policies-and-practices

Year: 2011

Country: International

URL: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-determinants/prisons-and-health/publications/2011/womens-health-in-prison-action-guidance-and-checklists-to-review-current-policies-and-practices

Shelf Number: 133172

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Female Inmates
Female Prisoners
Health Care

Author: Prison Reform Trust

Title: Bromley Briefings Prison Factfile: Autumn 2014

Summary: The facts and figures about the deteriorating state of our prisons and the poor state of people in them present a stark and disturbing picture. Strip away the political rhetoric, public relations gloss, and popular media misrepresentation. Discount the vested interest of those who profit from growing a market in incarceration. And you are left with a public prison service cut by $263million in three years, struggling to cope with the loss of more than 12,500 (28%) of its staff since 2010 and an ever-rising prison population. Warning signs reveal a prison system under unprecedented strain. There has been a sharp drop in individual prison performance and a marked increase in staff sickness levels. Detailed reports by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons chart a decline in standards and much reduced opportunities for rehabilitation and resettlement. Serious assaults, prisoner on prisoner and prisoner on officer, have risen in adult male establishments along with concerted indiscipline. Saddest of all, for the first time in over five years, the number of deaths by suicide has risen drastically. Every effort is being made to reverse what could so easily become a trend, rather than a spike, in numbers of tragic self-inflicted deaths. People in prison are particularly vulnerable. Compared to the general population where 6 percent have attempted suicide, 21 percent of men and 46 percent of women in prison have tried to kill themselves at some point in their lives. No one wants to see the painstaking gains made by safer custody staff and prisoners working as Samaritan listeners, improved support, training, first night arrangements, better assessment and management of risk, all swept away by reduced staffing levels, harsher regimes and increased uncertainty and hopelessness. The scale and driving pace of change in the justice system mean that mistakes are inevitably being made at every level. Prison population figures are being hastily recalculated upwards to reflect the rise in custodial remand and the increased numbers of sexual offenders sentenced by the courts as well as the unquantifiable impact of a Justice Secretary determined to promote 'proper punishment' and increased use of imprisonment. A rushed benchmarking process followed hard on the heels of the massive work and pay restructuring exercise curiously entitled 'fair and sustainable'. Outcomes are as yet untested because so many prisons are operating well below new minimal staffing levels due to a combination of unfilled vacancies and long term absence on sick leave. Too many establishments, particularly in London and the South East are reliant on a small army of reservists, former staff recruited from the North who will not know their prisoners in the jails into which they are parachuted, and remaining exhausted, governors and staff working excessive hours. From the outside it looks as if the prison service is taking a pounding in return for its disciplined approach and capacity to cope with adversity. From the inside, people in prison endure worsening conditions, less time out of cell, reduced contact with staff, new mean and petty restrictions and unjustified curbs on release on temporary license. Overcrowding means that people awaiting trial are mixed in with sentenced prisoners regardless of their innocent until proven guilty status and young people are held with adults notwithstanding their developmental stage. One young man told the Prison Reform Trust's advice and information service that "he is hearing voices and they are scaring him. He says he phones his mum sometimes when the voices are scaring him, but can't always get to phone when she's around." Prisons are less safe and less decent than they were even a year ago when we published our Autumn 2013 compendium of facts and figures. An incoming administration of government in May 2015 must not accept this deterioration in prison standards and conditions as the new normal. It should rebuild confidence in a vital public service and acknowledge painstaking gains made by staff and the responsible prisoners who manage to effect reform from within. It must turn its attention to the new demographic and changing needs of a rapidly ageing prison population. It must re-establish the defining principle that people are sent to prison as a punishment rather than for punishment. And from the wreckage it must create a just, fair and effective penal system.

Details: London: Prison Reform Trust, 2014. 84p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 3, 2014 at: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Factfile%20Autumn%202014.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Bromley%20Briefings/Factfile%20Autumn%202014.pdf

Shelf Number: 133949

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prison Conditions
Prison Reform
Prisoners
Prisons (U.K.)

Author: Austin, James

Title: Contra Costa County: A Model for Managing Local Corrections

Summary: Before and since Public Safety Realignment, an increasing number of California counties have faced litigation regarding overcrowding, including court-ordered population caps. In light of these pressures, it is important to note successful models for reducing jail populations, costs and recidivism rates. Contra Costa, California's ninth most populous county, offers such a model, especially since the County has crime and arrest rates similar to the rest of the state. Specifically: 1. In Contra Costa County, individuals are incarcerated and placed on probation and parole at a rate that is one-half the rest of the state of California. 2. Before Public Safety Realignment, the County sent only 13% of people convicted of a felony to prison, versus the statewide average of 20%. 3. Over a three-year period, people on felony probation in the County had a recidivism rate of 20% - far lower than the 60% or higher rates statewide found in other studies. 4. Contra Costa County has the state's highest rate of split sentences (when a judge divides a sentence between a jail term and supervised probation). The County splits nine out of 10 sentences (far higher than the 28% state average), which has effectively neutralized the impact of AB 109 on its jail population. 5. Unlike other jurisdictions, Contra Costa County issues shorter probation terms. For example, neighboring Alameda County typically gives a five-year probation term for individuals convicted of a felony crime. In Contra Costa, most probation terms are within the 24-36 month range, matching a growing body of evidence that longer terms can not only be unnecessary (for public safety gains) but actually can have negative effects.

Details: Denver, CO: JFA Institute, 2014. 18p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 14, 2014 at: http://www.jfa-associates.com/new%20from/JFA%20doc06.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: http://www.jfa-associates.com/new%20from/JFA%20doc06.pdf

Shelf Number: 134089

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Criminal Justice Policy
Jails
Prisons (California)
Public Safety Realignment

Author: American Civil Liberties Union of Montana

Title: Locked in the Past: Montana's Jails in Crisis

Summary: Despite heralding itself as a champion of freedom and human liberty, the United States has the second highest incarceration rate in the world, taking second only to the African nation of Seychelles. Of the incarcerated, statistics suggest that as many as 38% are being held in county detention centers and many of those inmates are held pre-trial. These pre-trial prisoners-an estimated 21.6% of all incarcerated Americans-are detained before guilt is proven in a court of law, weakening the proud American axiom that our citizens are "innocent until proven guilty." Problematically, many county detention centers lack adequate funding and struggle to effectively manage the incarcerated. The impacts these often-deplorable conditions can have on individuals and society as a whole are extremely far reaching. Neglect in county detention centers, coupled with a prevalence of mental illness, leads to a high rate of recidivism, which turns the justice system into a revolving door that is a blight on county, state, and federal budgets. Incarceration rates have started to decrease for the first time in decades, albeit at a glacial pace. The reduction of the incarceration rate is largely fueled by the financial realities and burdens of housing an historic number of prisoners at local, state, and federal levels. County detention centers play a unique role in this process in that they often house people on the front-end of the criminal justice system, such as pretrial detention, and can thus be addressed with different measures than state or federal prisons. County detention centers can improve through coercion, such as litigation, or through collaboration between entities with shared goals. The American Civil Liberties Union of Montana (ACLU) is eager to work with counties to improve detention center conditions, streamline local criminal justice policies, and help make counties more effective at screening, prosecuting, and housing the accused and convicted at local levels. The ACLU of Montana has worked collaboratively with counties throughout the state. For example, the ACLU helped Custer County officials come to grips with their deplorable and antiquated facility by passing a successful bond measure to renovate its facilities. The ACLU is currently working with Lewis & Clark County to assess options for pretrial release and other options for reducing their chronically over crowded facility. The ACLU of Montana is working statewide on substantive criminal justice reform that will allow the courts to respond to the unique needs of the accused on a path to rehabilitation, rather than warehousing them in county detention centers. The purpose of this report is to provide a comprehensive overview that identifies conditions of confinement in county detention centers throughout Montana and provide recommendations regarding how we might improve those conditions. The study utilized a three-prong methodology, including touring jails, interviewing administrators and prisoners, and sending a mixed-method questionnaire to all jail inmates in the state. We identified several overarching trends, including: - Overuse of solitary confinement for individuals with mental illness - Inadequate numbers of detention staff - Lack of access to fresh air - Lack of access to natural light and exercise - Inadequate medical and mental health care - Overcrowding - Lack of basic necessities such as underwear, socks, and bras - Unconstitutional prohibitions on visitation from minors and non-family members - Lack of access to law libraries - Inadequate or unworkable grievance procedures - Sub-par physical plant issues

Details: Helena, MT: ACLU of Montana, 2015. 74p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 4, 2015 at: http://aclumontana.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2015-ACLU-Jail-Report.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://aclumontana.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2015-ACLU-Jail-Report.pdf

Shelf Number: 134754

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Detention Centers
Jail Overcrowding
Jails (Montana)
Pretrial Detention

Author: Amey, Abigail

Title: Perspectives from inside: A report from HMP Grendon and HMP Barlinnie

Summary: How far do UK prisons meet the best human rights standards as set out in the Council of Europe's European Prison Rules? This was the question the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies sought to answer as part of an eight country European Prison Observatory study funded by the European Union. In 2014 the Centre held events at two prisons, HMP Grendon and HMP Barlinnie, to discuss human rights in UK prisons. Prisoners, prison staff, voluntary sector providers and researchers took part in the events, although those noting down comments paid particular attention to the observations and opinions of those who were serving sentences. Each of the one day events at Grendon and Barlinnie were divided into three workshops focused on the themes of health; work and education; and security and resolving conflicts in prison. This report brings together the main issues raised during the workshops. The Centre would like to thank Ian Whitehead and Jamie Bennett, Governors of Barlinnie and Grendon respectively, as well as the staff from both prisons for helping to run the events.

Details: London: Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, 2015. 26p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 19, 2015 at: http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org.uk/files/Perspectives%20from%20inside%20A%20report%20from%20HMP%20Grendon%20and%20HMP%20Barlinnie_0.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/sites/crimeandjustice.org.uk/files/Perspectives%20from%20inside%20A%20report%20from%20HMP%20Grendon%20and%20HMP%20Barlinnie_0.pdf

Shelf Number: 134983

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Prison Administration
Prison Conditions
Prisons (U.K.)

Author: Northern Ireland. Criminal Justice Inspection

Title: Report on an unannounced inspection of Magilligan Prison 27 May-5 June 2014

Summary: Magilligan Prison is a medium security prison with a semi-open annex, 'Foyleview'. It holds 571 adult men from across Northern Ireland serving sentences ranging between less than one year to life, most of whom have been transferred from Maghaberry Prison and are being prepared for release. This unannounced inspection was led by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons in England and Wales on behalf of, and with the support of Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland, and with the support of the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority and the Education and Training Inspectorate. Our last inspection in March/April 2010 found the prison was performing reasonably well against all our healthy prison tests and was the strongest performing of all the Northern Ireland prisons. Magilligan still has significant strengths that compare favourably with other prisons in Northern Ireland - but this inspection found that the prison had slipped back in some important areas and action was now required to prevent a further decline. For most prisoners Magilligan was reasonably safe. Relationships between staff and prisoners were much better than we normally see in Northern Ireland, and these underpinned good dynamic security. Reception and first night procedures were good, the number of violent and self-harm incidents were low and there had been no self-inflicted deaths in the prison for many years. There was 'free-flow' movement around the prison without causing difficulty. Support for those with a substance abuse problem was good. However, there was a degree of complacency about safety which was not underpinned by solid processes that focused on outcomes for prisoners. In addition, the prison culture was risk averse and this sometimes manifested itself in an unwillingness to challenge poor behaviour. Vulnerable prisoners felt much less safe than the population as a whole, and a lack of CCTV coverage on the house blocks created insecurity. Levels of drug use were high and there were no disciplinary consequences for a positive test result. The prison had tried to tackle trading in prescribed medicines by introducing 'supervised swallow', but we were told prisoners frequently went to the washrooms to regurgitate the drug for onward sale when they returned to the units and this was not challenged by staff. We did not find evidence that this led to large scale violence and bullying - it may be that supply was so easy that it was not a source of conflict - although some prisoners told us they or their families had been subject to intimidation in relation to drugs. The prison's strategy for reducing violence was poor and insufficiently informed by analysis of data. Links with drug reduction and security strategies were weak. The regime was too often curtailed by 'suspensions in movement around the prison to manage incidents which were isolated on wings and did not require a wider response. Use of segregation was high although stays were short; governance of this was poor and we saw little evidence of any efforts to address the behaviour of the prisoners concerned. In practice this meant prisoners spending a few days lying on their bunks, in dirty cells, with nothing to do - and with no discernible effect. Use of force was low but we were also concerned that governance of this was weak and there was insufficient assurance that its use was always necessary and proportionate. Measures to prevent self-harm were not proportionate to risk and focused on the procedure rather than the prisoner. Humiliating anti-ligature clothing that consisted of baggy green tear-proof shorts and a top was used frequently. The older 'H-Block' accommodation which had no in-cell sanitation was very poor and needed to be replaced but the newer accommodation was much better. For most prisoners, good standards of cleanliness, a decent although rather bleak external environment, good time out of cell, combined with good relationships between staff and prisoners mitigated many of the weaknesses in the prison. Catholic prisoners reported more negatively than Protestant prisoners and there was some evidence to reflect worse outcomes. The prison needed to do more to understand and address this. Support for other prisoners whose needs were different from the majority also needed to be improved. Health services were good. Although prisoners had plenty of time out of the cells, there was insufficient constructive activity and little incentive for them to take advantage of the opportunities that were available. Quantity and quality of activities were very poor. Forty per cent of prisoners were unemployed, much of the work that did exist was mundane and the range of training and education was limited, unrelated to the labour market, and offered only low level qualifications. Prisoners who were working hard in some of the better workshops complained, with justification, that because the wage structure was heavily linked to the behaviour management scheme, a well behaved prisoner received practically the same 'wage' whether they worked or not. Prisoners at Magilligan were poorly prepared for work after they left the prison. In sharp contrast, real progress had been made in resettlement with some excellent and joined-up offender management driven by both the prison and probation staff. Good use was made of home leave to support re-integration and family contacts, and some decent practical resettlement support was offered. Children and families, work and the range of interventions available were particularly strong. More focus was needed to realise the potential of the semi-open Foyleview unit which, in conjunction with a linked unit in Belfast, had the potential to be a very important and innovative resettlement resource. However, that potential was not yet realised. Progress in this area should provide managers with a template of what could be achieved in improving purposeful activity, given sufficient attention and resources. Overall, this is a much more mixed picture than the last inspection. It is important that the strengths of the prison - very good relationships, reasonable levels of safety and good resettlement work - are not undermined by a risk averse culture, insufficient purposeful activity and an unwillingness to challenge poor behaviour. The prison's work on resettlement shows what can be done and provides a standard to which the prison as a whole should aspire.

Details: Belfast: Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland, 2015. 109p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 15, 2015 at: http://www.dojni.gov.uk/index/ni-prison-service/nips-publications/nips-cjini-inspection-reports/cjini-report-on-an-unannounced-inspection-of-magilligan-prison-27-may-to-5-june-2014.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.dojni.gov.uk/index/ni-prison-service/nips-publications/nips-cjini-inspection-reports/cjini-report-on-an-unannounced-inspection-of-magilligan-prison-27-may-to-5-june-2014.pdf

Shelf Number: 135234

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Prison Administration
Prison Conditions
Prisoners
Prisons (Northern Ireland)

Author: Allen, Rob

Title: Global Prison Trends: 2015

Summary: This report is designed to describe key global trends in the use and practice of imprisonment and to identify some of the pressing challenges facing states that wish to organise their penitentiary system in accordance with international norms and standards. Topics include: - Prison populations and rates of imprisonment - Prison management - Prison regimes - New technologies - Criminal justice, social policy and sustainable development The report also includes a Special Focus pull-out section on the impact of the 'war on drugs' and its implications for prison management. Significant international developments, recent research projects and precedent-setting court decisions are highlighted throughout. Global Prison Trends is intended to be an annual publication. Tracking trends and challenges in criminal justice systems will be vital to designing and assessing measures intended to strengthen the rule of law as a means to advancing sustainable development.

Details: London: Penal Reform International, 2015. 52p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 22, 2015 at: http://www.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/PRI-Prisons-global-trends-report-LR.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: International

URL: http://www.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/PRI-Prisons-global-trends-report-LR.pdf

Shelf Number: 135332

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Prisoners
Prisons
Rates of Imprisonment

Author: Human Rights Watch

Title: Callous and Cruel: Use of Force against Inmates with Mental Disabilities in US Jails and Prisons

Summary: Staff in US correctional facilities are authorized to use force when necessary to control dangerous or highly disruptive prisoners. But officials have used violence needlessly against prisoners diagnosed with mental illness. Callous and Cruel - based on Human Rights Watch's review of several hundred individual and class action court cases and interviews with 125 current and former prison and jail officials, mental health professionals, lawyers, advocates and academics - documents a pattern of unnecessary, excessive, and even malicious force against such prisoners in US prisons and jails. It details incidents in which correctional staff have deluged prisoners with mental disabilities with painful chemical sprays, shocked them with powerful electric stun weapons, and strapped them for days in restraining chairs or beds. Such abuses have taken place in response to minor misconduct such as urinating on the floor, masturbating, complaining about not receiving a meal, refusing to come out of a cell, using profane language, or banging repeatedly on a door. Force is used against prisoners even when their misconduct is symptomatic of their mental health problems and even when those problems prevent them from being able to understand or comply with staff orders. The report concludes with recommendations on ending the abuses, including through improved mental health services in prisons and jails and use of force policies that address the unique needs and vulnerabilities of prisoners with mental disabilities, enforced through proper training, supervision, and accountability mechanisms.

Details: New York: HRW, 2015. 133p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 13, 2015 at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/usprisoner0515_ForUpload.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/usprisoner0515_ForUpload.pdf

Shelf Number: 135557

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Disability
Mental Health Services
Mentally Ill Inmates
Prisoner Maltreatment

Author: Mangan, Fiona B.

Title: Prisons in Yemen

Summary: Summary - Since the 2011 crisis sparked by the Arab Spring, Yemen has been in a critical political transition. Improving government institutions and rule of law are key goals. Reforming the prison system must be at the core of any strategy for improving rule of law institutions. - Security is universally weak across central prisons. Facilities lack both the physical infrastructure and technical expertise to counter the serious security and terrorist threats they face. Prison breaks are frequent, resulting in serious consequences for broader rule of law and citizen security. - Most facilities have no proper classification and segregation systems in place, and thus detainees held for lesser crimes often mix with serious offenders, and pre-trial detainees with sentenced prisoners. is practice not only violates detainee rights but also enables criminalization, radicalization, and recruitment throughout the detention system. - Overcrowding and substandard prisoner care both result in physical and psychological damage and contribute to frequent rioting and security incidents. - Most guards have no training before taking on their positions is lack has a negative eject on treatment of detainees, security, and prison guards themselves. Prison guards showed signs of psychological strain, fear, and stress, in part due to managing roles they have not been adequately prepared for. - Within the scope of challenges facing Yemen is a risk that reform of detention and prison facilities might not be prioritized. However, given the centrality of a safe and strong detention system for law enforcement and antiterrorism, a failure to do so would be a mistake. - A number of simple, often not costly, reforms-such as establishing basic training for prison leaders, reinforcing a prison order and routine, establishing secure key control and prisoner classification, and baseline security protections-would address many of the most serious rights violations and security concerns.

Details: Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2015. 103p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 13, 2015 at: http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PW106-Prisons-in-Yemen.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: Yemen

URL: http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PW106-Prisons-in-Yemen.pdf

Shelf Number: 135624

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Prison Conditions
Prison Reform
Prisons
Prisons (Yemen)

Author: Jules-Macquet, Regan

Title: The State of South African Prisons

Summary: NICRO has begun a series of publications entitled NICRO Public Education Series. These papers will be made available on the NICRO website at no cost. The purpose of the NICRO Public Education Series is to: Provide accessible material on the South African criminal justice system to the general public Improve the public's understanding of the criminal justice system Many of the publications focusing on the criminal justice sector are academic publications. Many members of the public do not know where to access these publications and find them difficult to read. The purpose of the first paper in the series is to provide an objective and accessible analysis of the prison statistics and trends in South Africa from 2008 till 2012. This paper intends to assist members of the public in improving their understanding of the state of South African prisons and be better informed of prevailing trends. There are 241 active correctional centres across South Africa. Eight are for women only, 13 are for youths and 129 are for men only. 91 accommodate women in a section of the prison. The total capacity of prisons is 118 154 people, with 25 000 places being reserved for people awaiting trial detainees (ATD). The total prison population is 162 162, of which 49 695 (31%) are ATD and 112 467 (69%) are sentenced offenders. Nationally, there is an overcrowding level of 137%. This paper focuses on sentenced offenders.

Details: Cape Town: National Institute for Crime Prevention and the Reintegration of Offenders (NICRO), 2014. 22p.

Source: Internet Resource: NICRO Public Education Series: Accessed May 20, 2015 at: http://www.nicro.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Public-Education-Paper-The-State-of-South-African-Prisons-2014.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: South Africa

URL: http://www.nicro.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Public-Education-Paper-The-State-of-South-African-Prisons-2014.pdf

Shelf Number: 135725

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: New Mexico Corrections Department

Title: Reducing Recidivism, Cutting Costs and Improving Public Safety in the Incarceration and Supervision of Adult Offenders

Summary: New Mexico is facing a growing prison population projected to exceed current capacity within the next decade. In FY11, New Mexico spent almost $300 million to house an average of 6,700 offenders and supervise another 18 thousand offenders each day. The New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD) released 3,440 offenders from prison into the community that same year and if current trends continue, over half of these inmates will return to prison within five years. Although NMCD takes up a lesser amount of general fund compared with public education, the average cost per inmate in New Mexico was $34 thousand in FY10, whereas the average cost per public school student the same year was $7,300. Costs of offenders who recidivate are substantial and result in general expenses to taxpayers and specific expenses to victims. The average offender will have three trips to a NMCD facility. Therefore the citizens of New Mexico pay costs of arresting, prosecuting, housing, rehabilitating and supervising offenders many times over. Investments in programs for reducing recidivism and promoting rehabilitation and treatment, in addition to security, are vital in improving public safety and reducing costs. The state continues to make significant investments in such programs. The NMCD provides more than 40 programs within facilities and more than 30 providers conduct programs outside of NMCD facilities designed to facilitate reentry and reduce recidivism. According to the Pew Center on the States' Public Safety Performance Project, states that strategically improve release preparation and community supervision will see falling recidivism rates. Instead of falling, New Mexico's recidivism is on the rise. The NMCD has potential to reduce costs and improve public safety. However, the NMCD currently suffers from gaps in program oversight, ineffective use of resources, and patterns of inefficient spending. Programming is inadequately targeted or tracked, resulting in expansion of unproven programs and reductions in evidence-based programming. Programs available in the community for offenders on supervision lack adequate accountability, have limited resources for high-risk offenders, and are not measured for performance by the NMCD, the Behavioral Health Collaborative (BHC), or OptumHealth. As a result, contract funds are left unspent at OptumHealth for years at a time. Reduced programming, in turn, is partially responsible for the fact that 278 inmates are serving parole inside prison. Significant opportunities exist to improve the incarceration and supervision of offenders in New Mexico. The NMCD has recognized many of these and have started working on improving reentry and use of evidence based programs before this report was issued. As a part of this evaluation, the LFC has partnered with Results First, a project of the Pew Center on the States and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, to implement a cost-benefit model that has the potential to be a key tool in strategic budget development. This report includes initial results from that model along with recommendations to improve assessment, management, and allocation of NMCD resources with a focus on development and expansion of evidence-based programs. If implemented, these recommendations will provide the tools needed to properly assess programs, result in cost-savings for the NMCD, and result in improved public safety outcomes.

Details: Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Corrections Department, 2012. 57p.

Source: Internet Resource: Report #12-07: Accessed May 27, 2015 at: http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/handouts/BHS%20101812%20NM%20Corrections%20Department%20LFC%20Program%20Evaluation.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/handouts/BHS%20101812%20NM%20Corrections%20Department%20LFC%20Program%20Evaluation.pdf

Shelf Number: 128720

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Correctional Programs
Costs of Corrections
Costs of Criminal Justice
Inmates
Prisoners
Prisons
Recidivism

Author: New York City Department of Investigation

Title: New York City Department of Investigation Report on the Recruiting and Hiring Process for New York City Correction Officers

Summary: Department of Investigation (DOI) Commissioner Mark G. Peters today issued a comprehensive review of the Department of Correction's (DOC) hiring process for correction officers at Rikers Island, uncovering a deeply flawed system in which more than a third of officers were hired despite numerous corruption and safety hazards, including multiple prior arrests and convictions, prior associations with gang members, or relationships with inmates. Equally troubling, the Applicant Investigation Unit (AIU), responsible for screening potential recruits, relied on antiquated and haphazardly filed paper personnel documents and had little to no access to software necessary to perform basic background and credit checks. As a result, DOC has already replaced both its Director and Deputy Commissioner responsible for oversight of the AIU and responsible for the hiring of the applicants DOI reviewed, assigned additional staff to the screening process and committed to an aggressive set of reforms in this area. DOI Commissioner Mark G. Peters said, "DOI's latest investigation on Rikers Island exposes a shockingly inadequate screening system, which has led to the hiring of many officers that are underqualified and unfit for duty. Applicants with a history of violence or gang affiliations should not be patrolling our jails. Positions as law enforcement officers demand better. We are pleased DOC has listened to our recommendations and is taking the necessary steps, after a decade of neglect, to strengthen its recruitment to attract candidates with only the highest talent and character." DOC Commissioner Joseph Ponte said, "Improving staff recruitment, training and retention is a key part of my agenda of meaningful reform. My earliest actions as commissioner included providing new leadership for our staff recruiting and training operations. We have subsequently made significant changes to the Applicant Investigation Unit, including many based on recommendations from the DOI. Because at the end of the day, our performance is only as strong as the men and women who fill the posts that keep our facilities operating 24/7." This report is another piece of DOI's ongoing investigation into criminal activity and civil disorder at Rikers Island. As part of the probe, which began in early 2014, investigators spent over 200 hours interviewing staff, conducting site visits, and reviewing over 75,000 documents related to the hiring process.

Details: New York: New York City Department of Investigation, 2015. 24p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 30, 2015 at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1502818/new-york-city-department-of-investigation-report.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1502818/new-york-city-department-of-investigation-report.pdf

Shelf Number: 135830

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Corrections Officers
Jails
Prisoner Maltreatment
Rikers Island

Author: Council of State Governments, Justice Center

Title: Juvenile Reinvestment in Alabama: Analysis and Policy Framework

Summary: This report summarizes comprehensive analyses of sentencing, corrections, probation, and parole data presented to Alabama's Prison Reform Task Force. It outlines strategies and policy options to reduce the prison population and recidivism in the state by strengthening community-based supervision and treatment, prioritizing prison space for violent and dangerous offenders, and providing supervision to every person released from prison. The report also offers strategies for supporting victims of crime through improved victim notification. If implemented, the report's suggested policies would reinvest $26 million in recidivism reduction strategies in FY2016 and avert $407 million in prison construction and operations costs by FY2021

Details: New York: Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2015. 32p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 30, 2015 at: http://csgjusticecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/JRinAlabamaPoliciesandFramework.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://csgjusticecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/JRinAlabamaPoliciesandFramework.pdf

Shelf Number: 135832

Keywords:
Alternatives to Incarceration
Community Based Corrections
Community Supervision
Correctional Institutions
Justice Reinvestment
Parole
Prisons
Probation

Author: Liebling, Alison

Title: Birmingham prison: the transition from public to private sector and its impact on staff and prisoner quality of life - a three-year study

Summary: A three-year quality of life study was conducted at HMP Birmingham following its transfer from the public sector to G4S in 2011. The Prisons Research Centre team conducted detailed surveys of staff and prisoners; perceptions of their quality of life, interviews and observations, in 2011, 2012 and 2013, in order to evaluate the impact of this transition. The study found that, after an initial decline in quality of life, particularly for staff, the prison showed signs of positive progression by 2013. Seven prisoner quality of life dimensions showed statistically significant improvements from 2011 to 2013. Key findings - Seven of the 21 prisoner quality of life dimensions improved significantly from 2011 to 2013: respect/courtesy; humanity; decency; care for the vulnerable; staff-prisoner relationships; fairness; and personal autonomy. - Prisoners' overall "quality of life" score improved each year of the study, but it remained low compared to other local prisons. - In 2012 there were ten significant differences between dimension mean scores for White and Black/Minority Ethnic (BME) prisoners, where BME prisoners reported lower scores, primarily concentrated in the "harmony" and "professionalism" categories, suggesting perceived discrimination. In 2013, the only significant difference was in the overall quality of life score. Both of these groups rated their quality of life higher in 2013 than in 2012 and 2011. - For all staff, 17 of the 18 dimension mean scores moved in a positive direction from 2012 to 2013, 13 of them at a statistically significant level. In particular; attitudes towards the senior management team; recognition and personal efficacy; safety, control and security; and relationships with line management; all improved from 2011 and 2012 levels in 2013. - Overall staff quality of life improved particularly significantly from 2012 to 2013, reflecting a settling down, a stabilising of the workforce, and growing confidence in their leadership. - These improvements were accomplished against a low baseline, and major challenges in the delivery of a constructive regime remained.

Details: London: National Offender Management Service, 2015. 8p.

Source: Internet Resource: Analytical Summary: Accessed July 30, 2015 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449351/birmingham-prison-3-study.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United Kingdom

URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/449351/birmingham-prison-3-study.pdf

Shelf Number: 136261

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Prison Conditions
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Correctional Association of New York

Title: Clinton Correctional Facility: 2012-2014

Summary: Clinton Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison that has a Main compound and an Annex, and is located in Dannemora, NY, in the northernmost part of the state. Established in 1845 and sometimes referred to as "Little Siberia" because of the harsh weather conditions and intimidating environment, Clinton is the third oldest Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) prison in New York State. Clinton has a massive foreboding stone and cement wall on its perimeter, immediately adjacent to the Main Street of Dannemora. Like many other maximum security prisons in the state, the Main is lined with long corridors of stacked tiers of cells, while the Annex has dorm-style housing. Throughout its long history, parts of Clinton had at various stages operated as a "mining prison" where incarcerated persons were forced to work in the mining and manufacturing of iron, a site for the death penalty by electrocution, a tuberculosis ward, a state mental hospital for people declared insane after conviction, a mental health treatment center, one of the largest employers in the area, and always a prison for incarcerating people convicted of the most serious crimes. Clinton has also had an infamous history of violence, brutality, and abuse by correction officers, as well as unrest, violence, organizing, and lawsuits by people incarcerated at the facility. Incidents within this history have ranged from what has been classified as one of the largest prison rebellions in New York State history in 1929, to a series of successful brutality lawsuits in the 1990s, to more recent alleged staff assaults, incarcerated person fights, and facility-wide lockdowns. In the mid- 1990s, for example, the New York Times went so far as to report that Federal judges "have repeatedly found that excessive force by guards has violated [incarcerated persons'] civil rights," that corrections experts found the settling of 10 brutality lawsuits at Clinton to be "extraordinary, since [incarcerated persons'] rarely win such cases and officials rarely settle them," that Clinton had an "internal culture that tolerates a higher level of violence than others, and where guards are more likely to test the boundaries of what is considered acceptable force," and that vast racial and cultural disparities between incarcerated persons and staff exacerbated conflicts. Today, Clinton is the largest DOCCS prison in the state, with a total capacity of 2,956 people in the Main and Annex combined. As discussed in detail below, the facility continues to be plagued by violence and staff brutality at a level that is among the worst of DOCCS prisons. In addition to its general confinement in the Main and Annex, at the time of our visit Clinton operated two unique residential programs separated from the rest of the facility, Merle Cooper and the Assessment and Program Preparation Unit (APPU), as well as a residential Intermediate Care Program (ICP) for people with serious mental health needs, and a Special Housing Unit (SHU) and additional SHU and long-term keeplock isolated confinement cell blocks.

Details: New York: Correctional Association of New York, 2015. 86p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 20, 2015 at: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Clinton-Correctional-Facility-Final-Draft-2.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Clinton-Correctional-Facility-Final-Draft-2.pdf

Shelf Number: 136508

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Maximum Security Prisons
Prison Conditions
Prison Violence
Prisons

Author: Correctional Association of New York

Title: Greene Correctional Facility: 2012-2014

Summary: Greene C.F. has one of the highest concentrations of young people in any New York State prison, and also some of the highest reported allegations of staff violence, harassment, and intimidation against incarcerated persons. The Correctional Association of New York (CA) Prison Visiting Project (PVP) visited Greene C.F. on November 8 and 9, 2012, and received updated information about Greene from incarcerated persons and staff in 2014. The median age of people incarcerated at Greene is 22, there were over 40 children aged 16 or 17 at the prison as of October 2014, and 82% of the people incarcerated at Greene were Black or Latino. Although a medium security prison, Greene ranked as one of the worst CA-visited prisons on almost all indicators of safety and alleged physical abuse of incarcerated persons by security staff. Worse still, staff physical abuse, intimidation, racial and verbal harassment, retaliation, and use of solitary confinement were reportedly most directed at young people at Greene, including teenagers and youth into their early twenties. The CA did find some positive aspects at Greene, including a large number of programs. Yet, the levels of reported abuse of young people are unacceptable and far overshadowed any positive aspects. DOCCS and state policy-makers must stop all abuses taking place, remove all 16- and 17-year-olds from Greene and all adult prisons and jails, and create a more supportive, developmentally-appropriate environment for young people into their mid-twenties, and indeed for all people incarcerated.

Details: New York: Correctional Association of New York, 2014. 57p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 20, 2015 at: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Greene-C.F.-Report-Final.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Greene-C.F.-Report-Final.pdf

Shelf Number: 136510

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Corrections Officers
Prison Conditions
Prison Guards
Prisons
Young Adult Offenders

Author: Carson, E. Ann

Title: Prisoners in 2014

Summary: This report presents final counts of prisoners under the jurisdiction of state and federal correctional authorities on December 31, 2014, collected by the National Prisoner Statistics program. This report includes the number of prison admissions, releases, noncitizen inmates, and inmates age 17 or younger in the custody of state or federal prisons. It presents prison capacity for each state and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), examines the use of private prisons by state and the BOP from 1999 to 2014, and describes the offense and demographic characteristics of yearend federal and state prison populations. The report also includes yearend counts for territorial and military correctional populations. Highlights: The number of prisoners held by state and federal correctional authorities on December 31, 2014 (1,561,500) decreased by 15,400 (down 1%) from year-end 2013. The federal prison population decreased by 5,300 inmates (down 2.5%) from 2013 to 2014, the second consecutive year of decline. On December 31, 2014, state and federal correctional authorities held 1,508,600 individuals sentenced to more than 1 year in prison, 11,800 fewer inmates than at yearend 2013. The number of women in prison who were sentenced to more than 1 year increased by 1,900 offenders (up 2%) in 2014 from 104,300 in 2013 to 106,200 in 2014. The decline in the BOP population in 2014 was explained by 5% fewer admissions (down 2,800) than in 2013.

Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2015. 33p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 18, 2015 at: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p14.pdf

Shelf Number: 136813

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prisoners

Author: Holt, Daniel W.E.

Title: Heat in US Prisons and Jails: Corrections and the Challenge of Climate Change

Summary: This paper addresses two important but largely neglected questions: How will increased temperatures and heat waves caused by climate change affect prisons, jails, and their staff and inmate populations? And what can correctional departments do to prepare for greater heat and minimize the dangers it poses? Some 2.2 million inmates are currently incarcerated in around 1,800 prisons and jails across the United States. Nearly half a million correctional employees work in these facilities. Indoor environmental conditions in prisons and jails therefore have a direct impact on the health of well over 2.5 million people. Extreme heat is the most common cause of weather-related death in the US. Over the next several decades, heat will become an even graver threat, as climate change brings rising temperatures and increasingly harsh extreme-heat events. These changes will jeopardize the health of inmates and correctional officers alike, and will stress the physical plant of the correctional sector. Many correctional departments are already unable to maintain healthy indoor temperatures during the summer months. Summertime heat already harms both inmates and correctional officers. Heat-related illness has claimed the lives of numerous inmates in recent years. Correctional departments will soon have to confront the urgent challenge of adapting their systems and facilities to greater heat and other impacts of climate change. The success or failure of their adaptation efforts will be measured in human lives as well as public dollars. Until now, the implications of climate change for corrections have been largely disregarded by both correctional administrators and public officials working on climate adaptation policy. Heat in US Prisons and Jails begins the process of connecting the discussions of climate policy and correctional policy. It provides the first systematic analysis of the correctional sector's structural and legal vulnerabilities to high temperatures caused by climate change. It also offers recommendations for adaptation to address unique challenges that climate change poses for corrections. Adapting corrections to heat and other impacts of climate change is not a task for correctional departments alone. Just as correctional administrators should begin educating themselves about climate change and how it will affect their departments, so should policymakers, academics, and others who are already working on adaptation widen their compass to include corrections.

Details: New York: Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School, 2015. 144p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 24, 2015 at: https://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/climate-change/holt_-_heat_in_us_prisons_and_jails.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: https://web.law.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/microsites/climate-change/holt_-_heat_in_us_prisons_and_jails.pdf

Shelf Number: 136861

Keywords:
Climate Change
Correctional Institutions
Prison Conditions

Author: Greenberg, Joel

Title: Behind the Eleventh Door: Solitary Confinement of Individuals with Mental Illness in Oregon's State Penitentiary Behavioral Health Unit

Summary: The corrections system has become the nation's largest provider of mental health services. The Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) has determined that more than half of Oregon's prison population has been diagnosed with a mental illness. Many of the prisoners who are most profoundly impacted by their mental illnesses are held in solitary confinement in the Behavioral Health Unit (BHU) at the Oregon State Penitentiary. These men spend months and sometimes years in an approximately 6 x 10 foot cell, with no natural light, no access to the outdoors or fresh air, and very limited opportunities to speak with other people. While ODOC policy requires these prisoners to be offered regular opportunities to shower and "go to rec," our investigation revealed that few BHU prisoners are actually able to access these opportunities more than once or twice a week. Stated more simply, BHU prisoners are subjected to long periods of solitary confinement. The stress, angst, and boredom of solitary confinement are extremely harmful to an individual's mental health. As one court concluded: "the record shows, what anyway seems pretty obvious, that isolating a human being from other human beings year after year or even month after month can cause substantial psychological damage, even if the isolation is not total." For individuals with serious mental illness, solitary confinement is widely acknowledged to be detrimental and clinically contra-indicated. The American Bar Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the United Nations oppose solitary confinement for people with mental illness. Beginning with the U.S. Supreme Court in 1890 and continuing in recent years, courts across the country have decried the practice. By 1995, a federal judge compared placing an individual with a serious mental illness in solitary confinement to putting an asthmatic in a place with little air to breathe. In recent years, this problem is being addressed across the country. Some of our recommendations are modeled after a 2014 settlement with the state of Arizona. The desperation and exacerbation of symptoms resulting from isolation can significantly decrease a person's ability to conform his actions to rules and behavioral norms, thus creating a cycle of lashing out and increased penalties that further reduce mental health. That sort of cycle is not only a disaster for the prisoners who cannot escape it; it is an endless source of danger for the correctional officers who have to maintain order in an already difficult environment. Originally, the BHU was designed to break this cycle by better addressing the unmet mental health needs of prisoners with serious mental illness. In recent years, however, clinical staff and mental health treatment have been marginalized in favor of an ever-increasing deference to the safety and convenience of correctional staff. This shift has created an environment in which individuals are deprived of basic human rights. BHU prisoners and the past and present BHU mental health employees who spoke with us were consistent in their belief that many BHU prisoners have been subjected to the practical equivalent of torture during their often very long stays in the unit. The conditions that they describe undermine the health and well-being of the prisoners. In addition, they expose ODOC to legal liability and jeopardize utility of the unit within the ODOC system. We have learned that there are many serious problems at the BHU, but have focused on identifying a limited set of primary concerns that must be corrected if the BHU is to fulfill its mission and meet constitutional standards of care.

Details: Portland, OR: Disability Rights Oregon, 2015. 65p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 22, 2015 at: https://droregon.org/wp-content/uploads/Behind-the-Eleventh-Door-Electronic-Version.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: https://droregon.org/wp-content/uploads/Behind-the-Eleventh-Door-Electronic-Version.pdf

Shelf Number: 137051

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Mental Health Services
Mentally Ill Offenders
Solitary Confinement

Author: Northern Ireland Criminal Justice Inspection

Title: Report on an unannounced inspection of Maghaberry Prison, 11-22 May 2015

Summary: In a highly critical report, CJI finds Maghaberry Prison to be unsafe and unstable. The independent inspection by a multi-disciplinary team from CJI, HMIP, RQIA and ETI has revealed significant failures in local leadership combined with an ineffective relationship with senior management within the Prison Service contributed to the high security facility becoming unsafe and unstable for prisoners and staff.

Details: Belfast: The Inspectorate, 2015. 197p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 6, 2015 at: http://www.cjini.org/CJNI/files/a9/a98fca95-ae81-4443-88cc-1870be44250f.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.cjini.org/CJNI/files/a9/a98fca95-ae81-4443-88cc-1870be44250f.pdf

Shelf Number: 137202

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Prisons

Author: Scottish Prison Service

Title: Unlocking Potential, Transforming Lives

Summary: This report is a robust and intelligent appraisal of where we are now and where we need to get to in future. It is long overdue. The authors persuasively make the case for SPS becoming an ambitious organisation that has at its core skilled and professionalised people who are highly trained and continually developed. Through our people I am convinced that we will achieve and honour the ambitions to which the report convincingly encourages us to aspire: Unlocking Potential, Transforming Lives. Our exciting future is set out in the pages of this report and, as I anticipated in the 2012 annual SACRO lecture, it heralds what I believe will be a golden age for the Scottish Prison Service. The Scottish Prison Service has a strong record of service delivery, achievement and sound operational management. We need to build on these past successes and on our heritage, whilst having the courage to reflect and then decide what needs to change to meet future expectations. We need to demonstrate our effective contribution towards National Outcomes and the Strategy for Justice in Scotland. To be truly effective in this we cannot work alone. It is only by working together with other providers that we will make Scotland safer and stronger. We must focus on what we know works in reducing reoffending and provide sound evidence of our progress. We need to transform our approach to offender management and our efforts to improve wellbeing. In particular, we need to reduce reoffending amongst those 9,000 - 10,000 short-term offenders leaving our care each year. Our future Vision will focus on each individual in our care throughout their time in custody and beyond. By taking an individualised asset-based approach we will continue to address risks and needs but also build on an individual's strengths and potential. By doing this, we will empower those in our care to unlock their potential and transform their lives. This is a demanding agenda that should engage, challenge and motivate staff and offenders alike. It means we must develop our staff to be even better at what they do now and to take on the new things that they will need to do tomorrow as we operate in new and different ways, changing how we work both within and beyond the prison walls. Some of you may still be questioning why we need to change. Now, not only as an organisation but as a nation, we have high and legitimate aspirations for our generation and for those who follow. If we are going to achieve these, we have to address the seemingly intractable issue of recidivism, a burden that is a millstone around our economy's neck. To be clear, this is not a soft-touch liberal agenda; it makes hard-nosed economic sense to do so. Audit Scotland reported that the cost of crime in our country is about $3 billion every year. How many schools, hospitals, roads or houses does that represent? Moreover, for the victims of crime there can be no more powerful justification for tackling reoffending and supporting reintegration than doing so in their name to try, as best we can, to ensure that there are far fewer victims of crime in future. The recommendations set out in the report change our aspirations as a national service. Much can be done immediately, as many of the recommendations are both practical and feasible. Some are so fundamental that we need to take time to consider them, seeking agreement on how we move forward. We will also need to consider affordability and cost in prioritising the order in which we take things forward. The Organisational Review Report provides the basis of our future Road Map for change, change which will be both incremental and transformational. This change will enable our organisation to help to create a justice system in Scotland that is a model of excellence. I have accepted in principle the broad direction of the recommendations in the Report. This is a unique opportunity to deliver a singular Vision that we can all work together to achieve.

Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Prison Service, 2013. 254p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 28, 2015 at: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Corporate9.aspx

Year: 2013

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Corporate9.aspx

Shelf Number: 137349

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Prison Administration
Prison Reform
Prisons

Author: Austin, James

Title: Eliminating Mass Incarceration: How San Francisco Did It

Summary: San Francisco has rapidly reduced its jail and prison populations with a series of "best practices" innovations that have built on California's well-publicized legislative reforms enacted since 2009. Since 2009, California has reduced the size of number of people in prison, jail, felony probation and parole by nearly 150,000. At the same time, the state's crime rate has dramatically declined and is now lower than what was in 1960. If the rest of the country could match San Francisco's rates, the number of individuals under correctional supervision would plummet from 7 million to 2 million.

Details: Washington, DC: JFA Institute, 2015. 30p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 13, 2016 at: http://www.jfa-associates.com/publications/reduce/Reforming%20San%20Franciscos%20Criminal%20Justice%20System-JA4.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://www.jfa-associates.com/publications/reduce/Reforming%20San%20Franciscos%20Criminal%20Justice%20System-JA4.pdf

Shelf Number: 137564

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Correctional Policies
Correctional Reform
Criminal Justice Reform
Mass Incarceration
Prison Reform

Author: Western Australia, Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services

Title: Western Australia's rapidly increasing remand population

Summary: The reviews undertaken as part of the Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services' Snapshot Series are designed to provide a brief summary of an issue or trend in the Western Australian custodial population. This is first of these reviews and it examines trends relating to people who are being held on remand in Western Australian prisons and in the state's sole youth detention centre, Banksia Hill. The review also gauges overall trends in remandee numbers in Western Australia against other Australian jurisdictions.

Details: Perth: Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services, 2015. 38p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 27, 2016 at: http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/WebCMS/WebCMS.nsf/resources/file-tp---remandees-review/$file/Remandees-Review.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: Australia

URL: http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/WebCMS/WebCMS.nsf/resources/file-tp---remandees-review/$file/Remandees-Review.pdf

Shelf Number: 137688

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prisoners

Author: Charles Colson Taskforce on Federal Corrections

Title: Transforming Prisons, Restoring Lives: Final Recommendations of the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections

Summary: After decades of unbridled growth in its prison population, the United States faces a defining moment. There is broad, bipartisan agreement that the costs of incarceration have far outweighed the benefits, and that our country has largely failed to meet the goals of a well-functioning justice system: to enhance public safety, to prevent future victimization, and to rehabilitate those who have engaged in criminal acts. Indeed, a growing body of evidence suggests that our over-reliance on incarceration may in fact undermine efforts to keep the public safe. Momentum is strong for a new direction, for a criminal justice system guided by proven, cost-effective strategies that reduce crime and restore lives. But translating this impulse for reform into lasting change is no small challenge. This report provides both an urgent call to action and a roadmap for reforming the federal prison system, which, with 197,000 people behind bars, was the largest in the nation as 2015 drew to a close. By adopting the recommendations detailed here, and committing sufficient resources to ensure their effectiveness, we can reduce the federal prison population by 60,000 people over the coming years and achieve savings of over $5 billion, allowing for reinvestment in programs proven to reduce crime. Most important, these proposed reforms and savings can be achieved through evidence-based policies that protect public safety. Such savings will not only bring fiscal responsibility to a policy area long plagued by the opposite tendency, but will also free critical funds the US Department of Justice (DOJ) needs for other priorities, such as national security, state and local law enforcement, and victim assistance. And just as critically, these reforms will make our communities safer by ensuring we send the right people to prison and that they return to society with the skills, supervision, and support they need to stay crime free. While enacting these initiatives may seem daunting, doing nothing is not a sustainable option. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, confining more than 2.2 million people in its jails and prisons on any given day. Sentencing reform and other policy changes will reduce our reliance on prison and cut costs as we reconsider which people truly need to be behind bars and for how long. But the country still faces the enormous challenge of reintegrating millions of formerly imprisoned people back into society, where the enduring stigma of a criminal record complicates their efforts to find housing and jobs. Fortunately, signs of meaningful progress shine brightly in the states. Lawmakers from Texas, Utah, Georgia, South Carolina, and a host of other states have re-examined government's expensive preference for incarceration and have embraced a more diversified, evidence-based approach that delivers better public safety at less cost. Reform has come much more slowly at the federal level. Despite recent reductions, the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has experienced a seven-fold increase in its population since 1980. Costs have spiked right along with that growth. Now almost $7.5 billion, federal prison spending has grown at more than twice the rate of the rest of the DOJ budget and accounts for about one-quarter of the total.

Details: Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 2016. 132p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 27, 2016 at: http://colsontaskforce.org/final-recommendations/Colson-Task-Force-Final-Recommendations-January-2016.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: http://colsontaskforce.org/final-recommendations/Colson-Task-Force-Final-Recommendations-January-2016.pdf

Shelf Number: 137694

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Costs of Prisons
Criminal Justice Reform
Federal Bureau of Prisons
Prison Reform
Prisons

Author: Reitano, Julie

Title: Adult Correctional Statistics in Canada, 2014/2015

Summary: In Canada, the administration of adult correctional services is a shared responsibility between the federal and provincial/territorial governments. The federal system has jurisdiction over adult offenders (18 years and older) serving custodial sentences of two years or more and is responsible for supervising offenders on conditional release in the community (i.e. parole or statutory release). The provincial/territorial system is responsible for adults serving custodial sentences that are less than two years, those who are being held while awaiting trial or sentencing (remand), as well as offenders serving community sentences, such as probation. This Juristat article provides an overview of adult correctional services in Canada for 2014/2015. It presents three indicators that describe the use of correctional services: average daily counts, admissions and initial entry. Average counts provide a snapshot of the adult corrections population on any given day; initial entry provides an indication of the number of adults entering the corrections system during the year; and admissions measure the flow of adults through the system by counting adults each time they begin or move to a new type of custody or community supervision. Data for this article come from three correctional services surveys. The Adult Correctional Services Survey and the Integrated Correctional Services Survey are the source of admissions data. With the exception of Alberta, all provinces and territories as well as Correctional Service Canada (federal corrections) provided data in 2014/2015. The Adult Corrections Key Indicator Report provides information on average daily counts. Average count data for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Alberta are limited to custody counts.

Details: Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2016. 16p.

Source: Internet Resource: Juristat: Accessed March 23, 2016 at: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2016001/article/14318-eng.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: Canada

URL: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2016001/article/14318-eng.pdf

Shelf Number: 138385

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prisoners

Author: Carnie, James

Title: Prisoner Survey 2015

Summary: This Report describes the key findings of the Scottish Prison Service's (SPS) biennial Prisoner Survey. The Survey, which is undertaken in each of the 15 Scottish prisons, involves all Scottish prisoners.1 The average age of prisoners was 33 yrs. Of the 92% of males and 8% of female prisoners, 80% were convicted and 20% were untried. The Survey has a number of objectives: - to make use of prisoners' perceptions of service-delivery and service-quality in business planning; - to provide prisoners with an opportunity to comment on a range of issues that impact on their experience in prison; - to allow staff to get a better understanding of how the halls or areas they manage compare to equivalent areas and halls and in so doing to provide a tangible way to help share items of "best practice"; and finally, - to allow the SPS through repetition of the same questions, to track progress (or the lack of it) across the various dimensions that are included in the Survey. The Use Made of the Survey The Survey is not simply about asking prisoners for their views. The Survey is about helping inform and shape change in the SPS and is directed at improving the quality of service delivery in every prison. This approach is predicated on the well-established belief that for change to be effective it is imperative that the views of prisoners are factored into the planning equation. The remainder of this Report sets out how prisoners view their experience of imprisonment and the way the SPS goes about delivering its services. Content and Coverage The Survey is focused intentionally upon the core elements of prison life: living conditions, family contact, healthcare, relationships and atmosphere. The Survey also seeks views on such issues as perceived safety, bullying, drug use and mental health. As it is completed in a relatively short timeslot it purposely avoids detailed questions on complex issues. The Survey is distributed to all prisoners and all establishments within Scotland. In this sense, the exercise is a census. This year's Survey, the fifteenth to run since 1990, achieved an overall prisoner response rate of 55%. Of these, 92% were male and 8% were female.

Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Prison Service, 2015. 60p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2016 at: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3895.aspx

Year: 2015

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3895.aspx

Shelf Number: 138389

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Gavin, Mhairi

Title: Women in Custody 2015

Summary: This Bulletin, which deals specifically with women in custody held by the Scottish Prison Service, is one of a number of thematic commentaries presenting the key findings from the 2015 Prisoner Survey. The Prisoner Survey was introduced to the Scottish Prison Service in 1990 as a mechanism to inform and support the Service's business planning process. The focus of the Survey has expanded over the years. The Survey continues to focus upon the core elements of prison life: living conditions, family contact, healthcare, relationships, atmosphere and perceived safety. This year's questionnaire also includes topics on engagement with programmes, being in care as a child, military service and accessing Prison Rules. The Survey informs and shapes change by contributing to establishment and corporate business plans. The Survey was carried out between July and August 2015 on an establishment-by-establishment basis. Prisoners' views were collected by means of a self-completion questionnaire, which was distributed and collected personally by the members of local staff. The Survey involves all prisoners and all establishments. The Fifthteenth Survey achieved an overall prisoner response rate of 55%. The reponse rate among women in custody was 66% (a total of 257 women). Of those, 19% were on remand and 81% convicted. Respondents' remand and custodial sentence history is outlined in Table 1. This shows that women in custody were most likely to report having been on remand between 1 and 5 times (41%), followed by having 'never' previously been on remand (40%). One in ten women in custody (11%) had been on remand over ten times and a small minority (8%) reported being on remand 6-10 ten times. Half of those reporting (51%) had 'never' previously served a prison sentence. One third (32%) had served between 1 and 5 sentences and one in ten (10%) female respondents had served over 10 sentences.

Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Prison Service, 2016. 37p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2016 at: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3905.aspx

Year: 2016

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3905.aspx

Shelf Number: 138391

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Female Inmates
Female Prisoners

Author: Reid Howie Associates

Title: Community Facing Prisons Report

Summary: 1.1 This report presents the findings of research into community facing prisons which was carried out by Reid Howie Associates for the SPS between March and August 2015. 1.2 The purpose of the study, as set out in the brief from the SPS, was to focus on three prisons identified as "community facing": Addiewell; Low Moss; and Grampian1. The aim was, from the experience in these prisons: "To understand in what practical and demonstrable ways the prisons are embracing and implementing the new community facing operating paradigm in terms of throughcare and support." 1.3 The brief specified that the research should seek to understand better: - In what practical and demonstrable ways a community facing prison is providing a new model for penal practice? - While service provision purports to be community orientated, what is being delivered in practice? - In what ways can we measure the community facing element? - How can we measure that what is being done differently is having an actual (positive) impact on those involved? - What is demonstrably new about the community facing method? 1.4 The research process involved extensive discussions with senior management, staff, other organisations and people in custody in the three prisons. Discussions were also held with staff in Perth and Greenock prisons for comparison. The information gathered was entirely qualitative, to reflect the purposes of the research, and a very large amount of detailed material was gathered. It is clearly impossible, in this report, to describe all aspects of each of the prisons. Instead, common themes relevant to the research questions are identified, illustrated with examples from each establishment. 1.5 This report summarises the findings in five sections. This section provides an introduction to the research, and outlines the background to the concept of "community facing prisons." Section 2 identifies participants' views of the key features of a community facing prison. Section 3 examines how the model has been implemented, and how it is being delivered in practice. Section 4 summarises the perceived benefits and limitations of the current approach (on the basis of participants' experiences), and some of the key challenges faced. The final section sets out a number of conclusions and points to note arising from the research.

Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Prison Service, 2015. 50p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2016 at: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3919.aspx

Year: 2015

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3919.aspx

Shelf Number: 138392

Keywords:
Community-Based Corrections
Correctional Institutions
Prisons

Author: Goff, Diana

Title: A Crisis of Confidence, Competence and Capacity: Programming Advice for Strengthening Mali's Penal Chain

Summary: This report analyses the organisation and performance of the penal process in Mali. Its aim is to provide advice on how this process could be strengthened in ways that would enable it to act as a unifying element in Mali's development by holding state and citizens accountable to the same standards of conduct. Despite the shortcomings of a number of top-down reform efforts in the past, there seems to have been little variation or innovation in how the many challenges that plague the penal chain in Mali have been addressed programmatically. It is for this reason that the report examines a number of recent innovations in development programming such as 'Thinking and Working Politically', the 'Theory of Change' concept and 'Systems Complexity', in addition to an in-depth analysis of the state of justice in Mali. It uses the resulting insights to develop elements of an innovative program to strengthen Mali's penal chain. This offers a basis for further discussions between Malian and international stakeholders. Key elements are to work on the basis of bottom-up, pilot-type programmes that enable learning and scaling, to focus on local improvements in the accessibility and quality of criminal justice, to also work collaboratively with 'customary justice' actors and civil society representatives - beyond the usual local state representatives of the penal process � and to monitor programme implementation jointly on the basis of behavioural change on the part of Malian stakeholders.

Details: New York: International Development Law Organization (IDLO); The Hague: Netherlands Institute of International Relations (Clingendael), 2015. 60p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 26, 2016 at: http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/IDLO%20CRU%20report%20A%20crisis%20of%20confidence%2C%20competence%20and%20capacity_0.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: Mali

URL: http://www.clingendael.nl/sites/default/files/IDLO%20CRU%20report%20A%20crisis%20of%20confidence%2C%20competence%20and%20capacity_0.pdf

Shelf Number: 138431

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Criminal Justice Reform
Criminal Justice Systems
Prisons

Author: Minnesota. Office of the Legislative Auditor

Title: Health Services in State Correctional Facilities

Summary: - The Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) provides health services to inmates through a combination of its own employees and contracted services. - Inmates have considerable access to health care, although several important access issues merit attention. - DOC has not established a sufficiently coordinated, comprehensive approach for managing the care of individuals with chronic conditions. - The prison system's residential unit for persons with serious mental illness has increasingly provided crisis and stabilization services rather than therapeutic treatment. - DOC's compliance with professional standards is mixed, with room for improvement. - DOC has not developed a comprehensive staffing plan for health services. - Mechanisms for oversight, accountability, and quality improvement for DOC health services have been limited. - DOC has not regularly obtained information that would help it ensure that the administrative costs and profits of its health services contractor are reasonable. - DOC policy requires co-payments in a more limited set of circumstances than indicated by Minnesota statutes.

Details: St. Paul: Office of the Legislative Auditor, 2014. 135p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 30, 2016 at: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/pedrep/prisonhealth.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/pedrep/prisonhealth.pdf

Shelf Number: 138495

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Health Care
Mental Health Services
Prisons

Author: New South Wales. Audit Office

Title: Performance frameworks in custodial centre operations

Summary: The effectiveness of Corrective Services NSW's performance framework is limited because organisational key performance indicators (KPIs) do not cascade to public correctional centres, according to a report released today by the Acting New South Wales Auditor-General, Tony Whitfield. "As a result, individual public correctional centres could not be assessed on how well they are contributing to overall Corrective Service objectives, and it is difficult to vary performance expectations in response to changing operating environments," said Mr Whitfield. "Its commissioning and contestability project is designed to address these issues," he added. Some key organisational targets were met and publicly reported In 2014-15, Corrective Services met five of 12 organisational targets. Targets that were not met include nil prisoner-on-prisoner assaults and eight hours' time out of cells for inmates in secure facilities. It advised that these targets reflect government policy and can be difficult to consistently achieve in a high risk corrective services environment. "Corrective Services does not publicly report on public correctional centre performance and provides only limited information for private centres, which limits transparency and accountability," said Mr Whitfield. Corrective Services' low time out of cells low cost system increases risk More inmates are being housed in existing facilities, reducing the time out of cells for inmates and the cost per inmate. "While the increasing number of inmates is reducing the inmate per day cost, it also is adversely affecting inmate welfare and increasing the risk of inmate self-harm," said Mr Whitfield. "In 2014-15 the inmate cost per day was $190.29," he added. The effectiveness of remedial action in response to poor KPI performance was limited Corrective Services set remedial actions in response to poor performance against KPIs, but correctional centre general managers found it difficult to deal with underperformance as not all employees have performance agreements. Correctional centres met most operating standards Corrective Services has developed a comprehensive suite of operating standards and specifications to assess correctional centres against international best practice. High security public centres met most operating standards while private centres met all but one operating specification for the 2014-15 contract year. Lower security public correctional centres have not been assessed against these standards. Private correctional centres met all but one performance linked fee Junee Correctional Centre met all of its performance linked fees and Parklea Correctional Centre met all but one for the 2014-15 contract year. The link between performance linked fees and outcomes could be strengthened by applying greater weight to outcomes-focused performance measures, such as prisoner-on-staff assaults.

Details: Sydney: Audit Office, 2016. 44p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 1, 2016 at: http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/publications/latest-reports/performance-frameworks-custodial-centre-ops

Year: 2016

Country: Australia

URL: http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/publications/latest-reports/performance-frameworks-custodial-centre-ops

Shelf Number: 138520

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Corrrections Management
Prison Administration
Prisons
Private Prisons

Author: Great Britain. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons

Title: Report on an unannounced inspection of HMP Lewes

Summary: HMP/YOI Lewes is a medium sized local prison with an uncrowded capacity of 617. At the time of the inspection it held just over 640 prisoners, including a substantial number awaiting trial or sentence. A third of the population were convicted of sexual offences, many with long or indeterminate sentences, and about 15% were in the last three months of their sentence and located at Lewes for pre-release resettlement support. As with other establishments, the number of older prisoners was rising and there was also a significant population of young adults. This complex mix presented considerable challenges and risks, exemplified by the first night centre. Sex offenders were held there because there was nowhere else to put them, and this meant that other new arrivals were placed wherever a space could be found in the prison. Some were even placed in the segregation unit, which is a particularly inappropriate location for someone new to prison. Most staff on other units were unaware of who the new arrivals were and could not therefore provide first night support and monitoring. Moreover, during our night visit, we found that some staff did not have anti-ligature knives and could not assure us that they would act appropriately in the event of a serious self-harm incident. This was in the context of over a quarter of prisoners in our survey reporting feeling depressed or suicidal on arrival, and a third saying they had mental health problems. Levels of violence and use of force were high and oversight of both was poor. Although we have seen rising violence in most prisons inspected over the last year, at Lewes the number of assaults was even higher than at other establishments recently inspected. However, the general picture on violence was complex and needed careful analysis; prisoners reported feeling relatively safe and selfharm was also lower than we see in other prisons. The safer custody structures that could have helped to understand and address such findings were lacking; violence reduction procedures were not being implemented and safer custody staff had no time to undertake the role. Most of the prison was clean and in good condition - a considerable achievement given that it was over 160 years old. Good relationships between staff and prisoners, many of whom were from the local area, were a strength that underpinned much of the positive work in the prison. The reassurance provided by the experienced staff group may help to explain why prisoners felt safe despite the high levels of violence. Health care was reasonably good but far too many external hospital appointments were missed as a result of a lack of escort staff. The increased number of hospital visits reflected the rise in older prisoners, approximately 10% of whom were over 60, more than double the figure at the last inspection. The oldest prisoner was over 90. However, despite creditable work by paid carers, provision for older and disabled prisoners was inadequate. Overall arrangements for equality and diversity were also poor. There was little systematic support for prisoners with protected characteristics and those from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and foreign national prisoners were much more negative than others about their treatment. Purposeful activity outcomes had dipped since the last inspection, although they were improving. More short education courses were provided, which better met the needs of many prisoners, and completion and success rates on short courses and in vocational training were high. The library was well run and access to PE was good. However, far too many prisoners were still without purposeful activity. Despite a very recently introduced new regime, on some units people were routinely locked up for 23 hours and we found half of the population in their cells during our spot checks over the course of the working day. There were not enough activity places and some of the available places were unused.

Details: London: HM Chief Inspectorate of Prisons, 2016. 119p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 28, 2016 at: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/04/Lewes-web-2015.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United Kingdom

URL: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/04/Lewes-web-2015.pdf

Shelf Number: 138835

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Correctional Programs
Prison Administration
Prison Conditions
Prison Violence
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Kristoffersen, Ragnar

Title: Correctional Statistics of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden 20089-2012

Summary: The correctional services of the Nordic countries have been publishing comparative statistics of their services since the eighties. An English version has long been wanted, reaching a broader public than the Nordic countries. Apart from a Swedish publication in the early nineties, this is the fourth English edition of this series of correctional statistics edited by the Correctional Service of Norway Staff Academy.

Details: Oslo: Correctional Service of Norway Staff Academy, 2013. 60p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 4, 2016 at: https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui//bitstream/handle/11250/160610/9/Kristoffersen_2013.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: Europe

URL: https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui//bitstream/handle/11250/160610/9/Kristoffersen_2013.pdf

Shelf Number: 138909

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Kristoffersen, Ragnar

Title: Correctional Statistics of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden 2009-2013

Summary: Exact statistical comparability is difficult to attain given that law, practice and methods of data compilation vary between the Nordic countries. Even though present and former members of the Nordic group of statisticians have tried to establish a high level of comparability by carefully working out common definitions over the years, any differences between the countries shown in this report still need to be interpreted with caution. The reader is therefore requested to note carefully the definitions and the footnotes to the tables.

Details: Oslo: Correctional Service of Norway Staff Academy, 2014. 60p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 4, 2016 at: https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/226835/NordicStatistics2009_2013.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

Year: 2014

Country: Europe

URL: https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11250/226835/NordicStatistics2009_2013.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

Shelf Number: 138912

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Western Australia, Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services

Title: Thermal conditions of prison cells

Summary: It is critical that acceptable temperatures are maintained in a custodial environment. Prisoners are an 'at-risk' group for temperature related illnesses due in part to their poorer health outcomes: - One-third of prisoners report having a chronic health condition; - 59 per cent of adult prisoners and 65 per cent of juvenile detainees are affected by mental illness; and - A substantial proportion of the prison population are on prescribed medications that increase susceptibility to temperature extremes. Compounding these health vulnerabilities is a prisoner's impaired capacity to make behavioural adaptations to mitigate the temperature conditions they face. Outside prison, someone experiencing hot temperatures may seek a cooler environment (e.g. air-conditioned shopping centre), wet their body and clothes with water, and move away from structures that radiate heat. These actions may not be possible for those restricted to a prison cell. For example, at Roebourne Regional Prison temperatures can reach 50�C. The majority of prisoners are locked overnight in cells that are not air-conditioned and that do not have showers. It is not possible for prisoners to seek a cooler environment. Prisoners get through the night by drinking from water bottles chilled prior to lockup, sleeping on the floor, and splashing themselves with water from sinks. Through the day, towels are draped over windows to reduce sunlight entering the room, though this has the disadvantage of inhibiting any beneficial breezes that may be present. These behavioural adaptations reduce risk to a far lesser extent than what is possible in the wider community. Creative behavioural adaptations have also been observed in winter as heaters are not a uniform feature of prisoner accommodation and additional clothing and bedding may be subject to limitations in availability. In the 2001 unannounced inspection of Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison it was noted that prisoners attempted to prevent draughts of cold air by covering cracks in the wall with paper mache bonded with their own saliva. At other prisons the use of paper to cover up ventilation vents has been commonly observed, restricting the flow of fresh air into the cell. At Bandyup Women's Prison, prisoners in the self-care accommodation reported leaving ovens on at maximum temperatures during the day in an effort to warm their house. This Office is aware of two oven doors exploding in the winter of 2014 due to this practice. Prisoner efforts to achieve comfortable temperatures within the limitations of the prison environment can therefore be creative but are unlikely to be fully effective, and can increase other risks such as restricted air flow. For prisoners who are too old, unwell, or mentally ill to undertake these behavioural adaptations, the prison environment poses an acute risk of temperature related ill-health.

Details: Perth: Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services, 2015. 72p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 5, 2016 at: http://www.oics.wa.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Thermal-conditions-review-final.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: Australia

URL: http://www.oics.wa.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Thermal-conditions-review-final.pdf

Shelf Number: 138939

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Health Care
Prison Conditions

Author: JustSpeak

Title: Unlocking Prisons: How We Can Improve New Zealand's Prison System

Summary: Unlocking Prisons is a comprehensive report on how we can improve New Zealand's prison system. This report looks at why we imprison people; the impact imprisonment has on prisoners, their families and the wider community; and the alternatives and improvements to prisons that will better keep our communities safe and ensure crime is dealt with appropriately. Part 1 Part One of the report looks at why we send offenders to prison and whether sending offenders to prison achieves these legislative purposes. Prison is generally intended to be used as a measure of last resort for dealing with an offender, after all community-based sentences have been exhausted. However, this report suggests that too often people are sent to prison when it will not achieve the purposes of sentencing. JustSpeak recommends that judges more thoroughly assess whether sending the particular offender to prison will actually accomplish the stated sentencing purposes. JustSpeak also recommends an increasing in the use of other sentencing options such as home detention. Compared to imprisonment, other sentencing options have been shown to reduce certain types of re-offending, are significantly cheaper, and, overall, make communities safer. To expand their use, JustSpeak recommends that the threshold for a "short term of imprisonment" be extended to three years and that the Sentencing Council, originally recommended by the Law Commission, be established. Part 2 Part Two sets out the evolution of prisons from the late 1700s to present, with a focus on Anglo-American experiences. In recent decades private prisons have become commonplace, raising important ethical questions about balancing the state's monopoly on the use of force over citizens against the potential fiscal gains to be made in privatising prisons. International research suggests that inmates and staff in private prisons are more likely to experience degrading prison conditions, increased misuse of force, decreased security, and inadequate health, education and work programmes. Part Two goes on to analyse the make-up of our prison population and offers insights into the life of a prisoner, from the procedure of processing a new inmate to visitor rights and the accessibility of hobbies for prisoners. Healthcare in New Zealand prisons is particularly concerning. A 2012 Ombudsman's investigation revealed several issues, such as a failure to record prisoner requests for medical appointments, lengthy waiting times for prisoners seeking medical advice and, more generally, unsatisfactory standards of dental and mental health services. The prison health budget is not ring-fenced, meaning it may be diverted to other costs at any time. Part 3 Part Three looks at the future direction of prisons in New Zealand, while also considering some successful initiatives that are currently in operation within our prison system. Part Three recommends better publicity, support and further rollout of these positive initiatives, which are often restricted to the regions where they began or were piloted. To achieve the goal of reducing re-offending, we need better data on which programmes are working and more universal implementation of those programmes.

Details: Wellington, NZ: JustSpeak, 2014. 170p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 26, 2016 at: https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/2714/2550/8324/JustSpeak_2014_-_Unlocking_Prisons.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: New Zealand

URL: https://www.hrc.co.nz/files/2714/2550/8324/JustSpeak_2014_-_Unlocking_Prisons.pdf

Shelf Number: 139226

Keywords:
Alternatives to Incarceration
Correctional Institutions
Prison Reform
Prisons

Author: Joldersma, Cisac, ed.

Title: Final Report: Prisons of the Future

Summary: It is the year 2050. We travel around Europe. In every country, we look around for prisons. In our mind, we have the image of a traditional prison: a high secure building with fences, windows with bars, and cameras all around. We wonder why we cannot find these kinds of prisons. We ask people in the street where to find a prison. They look at us if they have never heard of such a building where offenders are staying together, excluded from society. We further discuss with them the crime rate in their country. They explain that in the last years the crime rate decreased a little, but still offences are taking place. They have no idea where we can find offenders living together; offenders are part of society. We interview experts of the criminal justice system, on what happened to their prisons. They tell us, that all around Europe, governments decided that new traditional prisons are not needed anymore. European criminal law has been changed and some offences are decriminalized, such as drug use and drunken driving. Drug users and drunk drivers are seduced to addiction treatment and urged to compensate victims. Research has also proved conclusively that detention is not effective and efficient to reduce recidivism. The longer offenders stay in traditional prisons, the higher the risk of recidivism, and the lower the chance of a successful reentry in society. Politicians have been convinced by researchers that traditional prisons primarily have a symbolic value to satisfy the public need. Traditional prisons appear to have deterrence effects on the public, but to some offenders they are - in a peculiar way - attractive. Consequently, other sanctions than regular imprisonment have become more common. More offenders stay at home, supervised by electronic monitoring. The use of community services has also increased, and offenders are supervised by layman probation officers. More offenders have been convicted by means of restraining and protecting orders. We like to know what happens when offenders breach the conditions, because traditional prisons are not available anymore as a last resort. New time-out facilities have been created. Offenders reside in an open, low secure setting. The time-out facilities are also accessible for ex-offenders who want to stay voluntarily because they feel they are at risk for relapse. We still wonder what happens to offenders who have been convicted for serious crimes and who used to stay in high secure prisons. They admit that there are still a few old prisons available for offenders of serious crimes. However, moral quality of life inside the old prisons changed a lot in comparison to the past. Offenders with (life)long prison sentences are quite busy during working days. They work four days a week within the prison or outside the prison area. Additionally, within certain limits, they are enabled to autonomously take decisions regarding their personal life. With regard to sex offenders, circles of support and accountability have been established. After a short stay in prison, they are offered the possibility of a prerelease option to live in community with support and supervision of volunteers. Volunteers are coached by professionals. The circles help to manage sex offenders' risk and support them in becoming part of the local community. Walking around, we follow the sign of a forensic care hospital. The lady at the reception tells us that in this hospital, partners, family, worried neighbors or care takers can register patients for psychiatric treatment. The forensic care hospital also treats patients who have not already committed a serious crime, but who need psychiatric treatment due to their high risk profile and mental illness. The forensic care hospital provides voluntary treatment as well as enforced treatment. We are curious what services can be provided to people who are in need of care, but avoid care at the same time. We think about homeless people with low secure risks, but socially unacceptable or deviant behavior. For these homeless people, tiny houses are available. The person who is not welcome anymore in a neighborhood, can register for renting such a 'tiny house'. The houses can easily be moved to another area in case of nuisance. We enter a community centre and ask if they know the offenders in the neighborhood. The neighborhood team confirms that there are some offenders living in their area. They try to support them on basic reintegration issues, such as housing, debts, relational issues, and basic social skills. They offer these services to inhabitants of the neighborhood, regardless of them being an offender or not. All clients are encountered respectfully; the client is 'in the lead' organizing as much as possible his of her own personalized trajectory. The scenario above elaborates on basic principles as normalization and reintegration. It makes clear that prisons of the future are related to all kind of sentences, sanctions, psychiatric treatments, and social services. Furthermore, the focus in the project prisons of the future is on what happens in practice. Therefore, in this report we preferably use the term 'prison and probation practice' instead of prison or prison policy. With regard to the scenario above, it is hard to believe that in the near future there are only a few prisons. On the contrary, other probable scenario's are possible. A scenario could be that, in the near future, differences between offenders and other citizens will be more and more emphasized and offenders are more and more excluded from society. Offenders can be gathered in warehouses that are located in large prison industry complexes, far away from local communities. Another probable scenario is more focus on risk assessments. A high risk offender will be controlled at more areas of life than a low risk offender. The high risk offender has to stay in a high secure setting as long as it is expected that the offender will be of a high risk to society. Another possible scenario is that of personalized sentencing. Personalized sentencing is, as personalized medicine for the individual patient, customized to the individual offender. Deprivations of liberty can be matched precisely with the expected experience and impact they have on the offender. In conclusion, there are different roads and routes to shape future prisons. It is hard to predict where we exactly are going to.

Details: The Hague: European Commission, 2016. 250p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 11, 2016 at: http://www.europris.org/resources_package/prisons-of-the-future-final-conference-presentations-and-summary-report-3-4-march-2016-2-2/

Year: 2016

Country: Europe

URL: http://www.europris.org/resources_package/prisons-of-the-future-final-conference-presentations-and-summary-report-3-4-march-2016-2-2/

Shelf Number: 139610

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Correctional Reform
Prison Reform
Prisons

Author: Mangan, Fiona B.

Title: Prisons and Detention in Libya

Summary: This report examines the prison system in Libya. With the permission of the Libyan Ministry of Justice and Judicial Police, United States Institute of Peace (USIP) research teams conducted two assessments of the Libyan prison system, visiting detention facilities throughout the country in 2012 and again in 2015-16 to evaluate organizational function, security, infrastructure, and prisoner well-being. This report combines and compares the findings of the two assessments, discussing the broader context of detention issues in Libya, with analysis centering on prisons under the authority of the Ministry of Justice and operated by the Judicial Police. The 2012 assessment team consisted of Fiona Mangan, a USIP senior program officer, and Dr. Mark Shaw, an expert consultant. The 2015-16 assessment team consisted of Rebecca Murray, a researcher and journalist; Rami Musa, a journalist; and Fiona Mangan. Mohamed Abouharous provided invaluable translation and logistical support during both visits. The assessments, part of a multiyear portfolio of rule of law programming and analysis conducted after the 2011 revolution, were supported by the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau of the U.S. Department of State.

Details: Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2016. 52p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 30, 2016 at: https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PW119-Prisons-and-Detention-in-Libya.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: Libya

URL: https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/PW119-Prisons-and-Detention-in-Libya.pdf

Shelf Number: 140530

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Detention Facilities
Prisons

Author: Lofstrom, Magnus

Title: California's Historic Corrections Reforms

Summary: California leads the nation in correctional reforms and reduced reliance on incarceration. In 2011, the state enacted public safety realignment, which shifted the management of lower-level felons from the state prison and parole systems to county jail and probation systems. Three years later, voters approved Proposition 47, which further re-prioritized correctional resources and lowered incarceration. In this report, we describe the impact of these historic changes. Over the past decade, California has reversed a long-term trajectory of increasing incarceration. - Since reaching a peak in 2006 of almost 256,000 inmates, the total population incarcerated in California's state prisons and county jails has dropped by roughly 55,000. The incarceration rate has fallen from 702 to 515 per 100,000 residents-a level not seen since the early 1990s. - Realignment substantially reduced the prison population, but led to an increase in the county jail population of about 10,000 inmates, pushing the statewide jail population above its rated capacity and leading to more early releases due to overcapacity. Proposition 47 brought the statewide jail population down to pre-realignment levels. Dramatically reduced incarceration from realignment did not lead to a broad increase in crime rates. - Crime rates in California are on a long-term decline, though there are year-to-year fluctuations. Realignment resulted in an additional 18,000 offenders on the street, but through 2014, we found no evidence of an impact on violent crime. Auto thefts did increase, by about 60 per 100,000 residents in 2014. - From 2014 to 2015, the violent crime rate increased by 8.4 percent and the property crime rate by 6.6 percent. The role of Proposition 47 on crime remains unknown, but preliminary data show that compared to other states, California's increase in property crime appears to stand out more than its increase in violent crime. Reforms have not yet succeeded in reducing the state's high rates of recidivism. - Rearrest and reconviction rates for offenders released from state prison are similar to pre-realignment levels. The two-year rearrest rate is 69 percent. The two-year reconviction rate (42%) is about 5 percentage points higher than before realignment, but this higher rate may simply reflect prosecution of offenses that in the past would have been processed administratively. - Realignment helped stanch the flow of returning offenders to state prison for parole violation. Two-year return-to-prison rates dropped from 55 percent pre-realignment to 16.5 percent. - Offenders released from state prison who are supervised by county probation have higher recidivism rates than those supervised by state parole. This difference is primarily due to a significantly higher share of so-called high-risk offenders among the former population.

Details: Public Policy Institute of California, 2016. 36p., app.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 7, 2016 at: http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_916MLR.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/report/R_916MLR.pdf

Shelf Number: 140601

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Correctional Reform
Prison Reform
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Flaherty, Aaron

Title: Responsible Prison Project: Reshaping the Texas Prison system for Greater Public Safety

Summary: The "Responsible Prison Project" is comprised of five residents of the Darrington Unit corrections facility in eastern Texas, each of whom is a graduate of an in-prison seminary program. Last month, the men composed a report entitled, "Reshaping the Texas Prison System for Greater Public Safety." The proposed solutions, the authors say, are to help the Texas Department of Criminal Justice fulfill its stated mission to "provide public safety, promote positive change in offender behavior, reintegrate offenders into society, and assist victims of crime." "It has often been said that those who are closest to a problem are closest to its solution," the document begins. "That is no less true of prisoners." The document highlights a number of specific issues in the prison, from prisoner intake, to conditions and practices in the facility, to reentry programming. Each section paints a picture of current state of affairs, followed by a proposal for change.

Details: s.l.: 2016. 104p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 26, 2016 at: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3149075-Responsible-Prison-Project.html#document/p2

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3149075-Responsible-Prison-Project.html#document/p2

Shelf Number: 146021

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Criminal Justice Reform
Prison
Prison Reform
Religion

Author: Great Britain. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons

Title: Unintended Consequences: Finding a way forward forward for prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection

Summary: This short thematic review outlines the significant ongoing challenges of managing and progressing the large number of prisoners serving sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) who remain in the prison system in England and Wales. It is widely accepted that implementation of the sentence was flawed and that this has contributed to the large numbers who remain in prison with this sentence, often many years post-tariff. It has to be recognised that some people with IPP sentences remain dangerous, and need to be held in prison to protect the public. However others present much lower levels of risk but system failures have impeded their progress. These failures have been evident since the sentence was introduced, a fact acknowledged by the Home Secretary responsible for implementing the sentence, David Blunkett MP, who has said: 'We certainly got the implementation wrong. The consequences of bringing that Act in had led, in some cases, to an injustice and I regret that.'1 In the introduction of the joint thematic report about IPP sentences (2008), the then chief inspectors of prisons and probation said: ‘This report should be required reading for all those in the criminal justice system, but particularly those who propose and put in place new sentences or are responsible for implementing them. It is a worked example of how not to do so.’ They went on to say: ‘The crisis (with the IPP sentence) has a long tail: there are thousands of prisoners already in the system who, together with the prison and probation services, will feel its consequences for a long time to come.’ These were prophetic words, given that eight years later the system is still struggling to find solutions to the legacy of the IPP sentence. Although the sentence has been abolished, a significant number of men and women are still in prison well beyond the point originally intended by the courts and politicians who legislated for the sentence. While decisions about progression and release by the Parole Board are based on the principle of risk, it is clear that significant failings in the prison, probation and parole systems are contributing to the numbers of IPP prisoners still in prison years after the end of their tariff. In addition, the number of those recalled to prison is high, which begs the question of whether preparation for release is fully effective in preparing prisoners for this step, and whether support in the community is appropriate. There are three main reasons why decisive action must be taken to improve this situation. Firstly, for many of the IPP prisoners, it is not clear that holding them well beyond their end-of-tariff date is necessarily in the interests of public protection, and therefore there are issues of fairness and justice. Secondly, the cost to the public purse of continuing to hold the high numbers of IPP prisoners is significant. Thirdly, the pressures IPPs exert on the system in terms of risk management activity, demand for offending behaviour programmes and parole processes is significant. Resources are being stretched increasingly thinly and there are risks that prisoners will struggle to access the support they need and that delays will increase still further. The problems with the legacy of the IPP sentence are well understood and there is an openness in government to find new and innovative solutions to the problem, but action does need to be taken, and taken quickly, to ensure the consequences of mistakes made in the past do not continue to resonate for many years to come. We make a small number of recommendations which we hope will assist with a decrease in the number of people with IPP sentences held beyond their tariff expiry date.

Details: London: HM Inspectorate of Prisons, 2016. 107p.

Source: London: Thematic Review: Accessed November 18, 2016 at: http://www.prisons.org.uk/ippTR2016.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.prisons.org.uk/ippTR2016.pdf

Shelf Number: 147948

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Austin, James

Title: How Many Americans are Unnecessarily Incarcerated?

Summary: Nearly 40 percent of the U.S. prison population - 576,000 people - are behind bars with no compelling public safety reason, according to a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. The first-of-its-kind analysis provides a blueprint for how the country can drastically cut its prison population while still keeping crime rates near historic lows. In 1963, the March on Washington marked a turning point in the long fight for civil rights for African Americans. A century after President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, hundreds of thousands converged at his memorial to celebrate a century of liberation and to protest what Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. In the intervening fifty years, we have come a remarkable distance, but the shackles of systemic racism continue to bind communities of color. We stand on the frontlines in the fight to build a society free from racial discrimination. In 2015, we honored the sacrifices of our forbearers and galvanized international attention to systemic discrimination with a "Journey for Justice from Selma, Ala. to Washington, D.C. While national support for this effort provides hope the tide may be turning, it also belies a sad truth: Many of the grave inequalities we fought decades ago still persist, more than fifty years after the Civil Rights Act. The single greatest injustice that threatens our safety and hinders our progress? Mass incarceration. People of color bear the brunt of our criminal justice system in disproportionate and devastating numbers. This is in part because racial disparities exist at all stages of the system, which relies on corrosive practices that harm people of color. Our communities have already suffered from historic and systemic economic injustice and racially targeted criminal justice policies. These wounds have not healed and have been aggravated by the staggering number of people trapped in prisons over the past forty years. Today, an estimated 2.2 million people are locked inside jails and prisons. African Americans make up roughly 13 percent of the U.S. population but 37 percent of the nation's prisoners. People with dreams and aspirations suffer in airtight cells of prison and poverty. But the injustice does not end there. More than half of formerly incarcerated Americans are unemployed a year after release. Communities of color are over policed, over-prosecuted, over-incarcerated and yet underemployed. If we do not take steps now, Americans of color will forever be relegated to a penal and permanent underclass, and mass incarceration will continue to cage the economic growth of our communities. We have reached a crisis point, and we need solutions. This groundbreaking report from the Brennan Center for Justice offers a pathway to reduce our prison population and its tragic racial disparities. It documents the number of people behind bars without rationale, and reveals the unnecessary trauma this causes. It recommends real solutions that can help end over-incarceration. I urge lawmakers to give deep consideration and deeper commitment to this report's findings and recommendations. This nation must continue to march forward, toward a day when all people are treated based not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character, uncolored and un-stigmatized by a criminal record. It is time that we end the plague of mass incarceration

Details: New York: Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, 2016. 80p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 9, 2016 at: https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/Unnecessarily_Incarcerated.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/publications/Unnecessarily_Incarcerated.pdf

Shelf Number: 145623

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Correctional Policies
Correctional Reform
Mass Incarceration
Prison Reform
Prisoners

Author: Aebi, Marcelo

Title: Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics. SPACE 1 -- Prison Populations. Survey 2015

Summary: 1. The participation rate in the 2015 SPACE I Survey was 87%: 45 out of the 52 Prison Administrations of the 47 Member States of the Council of Europe answered the questionnaire. 2. The median European Prison Population Rate [PPR] was 115.7 inmates per 100 000 inhabitants. There was noted a decrease of almost 7% compared to 2014 (124.0 inmates per 100 000 inhabitants). As median calculated values are less sensitive to the extreme figures (i.e. very low prison population rates in small countries with less than 1mln inhabitants), it is preferable to use these values as a more reliable alternative to the average figures. Therefore, all the figures presented in the Key points section refers to median values (unless indicated) 3. On 1st September 2015, there were 1 404 398 inmates held in penal institutions across Europe (this total does not include figures for Bosnia & Herzegovina Fed. And State, Iceland, Malta, Monaco, Iceland and Ukraine, as they were not available). On the same date in 2014, there were 1 507 278 inmates (for the exactly same prison adinistrations and, in 2013 there were 1 529 447 inmates. The total number of inmates has been decreasing. 4. On 1st September 2015, European prisons were at the top of their capacity, holding almost 94 inmates per 100 places (average: 91). In particular, 33.3% of the Prison Administrations were experiencing overcrowding. Since 2009, the European prison density remains close to full. 5. The median age of the European prison population was 35 years, which is higher than in 2014, 2013 and 2012, when it was 34. 6. The median proportion of female inmates was 5.2% of the total prison population. Compared to the same indicator in 2014 (5.0%), there is no significant difference. 24% of female inmates were pre-trial detainees, compared to 22% in 2014. 7. The median proportion of foreign inmates was 10.8% of the total prison population. The average value being of 22.6%. Yet, there are very big differences between countries, from 0.9% in Romania to 100% in San Marino. In 2014, the same indicator was 13.3%. 8. Length of custodial sentences: a. The median proportion of sentenced prisoners who were serving sentences shorter than one year was 13.5%, which is lower compared to 2014 (15.2%). b. The most common category of lengths of sentences was the one lasting from one to less than three years (the median percentage of such inmates was 24.2%). c. Around 11% of inmates were serving very long sentences of 10 years and over. This proportion remained close to the one of 2014 (12%) and 2013 (11%). 9. Inmates were sentenced mainly for the following types of criminal offences: drug offences (18.7%), theft (16.2%), homicide (13.2%) and robbery (12.6%). 10. The average length of imprisonment in 2014 was in median 7 months, which is the same value as in 2013. The median duration of the pre-trail detention remained the same as in 2013 and 2012 (about 4 months). 11. The median mortality rate in 2014 was 27 deaths per 10 000 inmates,less than in 2013 and 2012 (28 deaths per 10 000 inmates). 12. The median amount spent per day and per inmate in 2014 was 52 Euros. It is 7 more Euros than in 2013 ( 45 Euros). On the other hand, the average amount is 101 Euros, 2 more Euros than in 2013 (99 Euros). The amounts vary widely across Europe: from almost 6 to more than 480 Euros per day and per inmate. The 44 Prison Administrations that provided data on this item had spent more than 26 billion Euros in 2014 for the penitentiary needs 13. There were about 3 inmates per one custodian in 2015. This ratio remained the same as in 2014 and 2013.

Details: Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2017. 143p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 28, 2017 at: http://wp.unil.ch/space/files/2017/03/SPACE_I_2015_Report_170314.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: Europe

URL: http://wp.unil.ch/space/files/2017/03/SPACE_I_2015_Report_170314.pdf

Shelf Number: 144597

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Urban Affairs

Title: D.C. Prisoners: Conditions of Confinement in the District of Columbia

Summary: On average, the daily population of D.C. Department of Corrections (DCDOC) facilities exceeds 2,000 prisoners. About three-quarters of these individuals are detained at the Central Detention Facility, a nearly forty-year-old facility commonly referred to as the "D.C. Jail." Just under one quarter are detained at the privately-run Correctional Treatment Facility (CTF). The rest are located at one of the District's three halfway houses. This report examines the conditions of confinement at the D.C. Jail and the CTF and discusses several recurring and serious problems that require the prompt attention of the DCDOC and District policymakers.

Details: Washington, DC: The Committee, 2015. 73p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 10, 2017 at; http://www.washlaw.org/pdf/conditions_of_confinement_report.PDF

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://www.washlaw.org/pdf/conditions_of_confinement_report.PDF

Shelf Number: 135232

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Jails
Prison Conditions
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Association of State Correctional Administrators

Title: Independent Assessment of The High Desert State Prison

Summary: This report provides a summary of an independent assessment conducted by the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) at High Desert State Prison (HDSP) in Susanville, California. The assessment was conducted during a site visit by an eight-person team trained in the use of the Institutional Culture Assessment Protocol (ICAP), a standardized process and instrumentation designed specifically for use in assessing a prison's culture. The report details the assessment team's activities while on site from July 15, 2016 through July 28, 2016. The primary goal of the assessment was to gain a thorough understanding of the unique culture of HDSP and how that culture impacts prison operations and the environment for both staff and inmates. The assessment followed two integrated inquiry tracks: (1) an assessment of both the formal and informal cultures at HDSP through a process of interviews, focus groups, direct observation and assessment of facility operations, management, policy and procedure using the ICAP protocol; and (2) an operational assessment of practices and procedures through observation, document review, and discussions with staff. The findings from both inquiry tracks are presented in this report. In March of 2016, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Secretary Scott Kernan requested that ASCA conduct an independent assessment of HDSP. The request was based in part on conflicting reports Secretary Kernan had received from his agency and stakeholder groups. Reports from several Wardens' Peer Audit Team reviews were consistently positive with only minor issues being noted. Likewise, COMPSTAT data collected from HDSP did not reflect any areas of concern and was consistent with other CDCR Level 4 prisons. In contrast with the information contained in those CDCR generated documents were reports produced by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and the Prison Law Office (PLO) alleging numerous instances of egregious behavior by staff towards the inmate population.

Details: Sacramento: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 2016. 115p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 24, 2017 at: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports/docs/External-Reports/Independent-HDSP-Report-9-23-16.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Reports/docs/External-Reports/Independent-HDSP-Report-9-23-16.pdf

Shelf Number: 146359

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Prison Administration
Prisons

Author: Western Australia, Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services

Title: Escapes and attempted escapes from corrections in Western Australia

Summary: Few events excite public curiosity as much as a prison escape. Natural curiosity is further fuelled by iconic movies in which Hollywood heroes triumph against impossible odds, intolerable conditions, cruel staff, and vicious fellow-prisoners. Movies such as The Great Escape (Steve McQueen), Escape from Alcatraz (Clint Eastwood), Papillon (Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman), and The Shawshank Redemption (Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman) involve cunning plans, elaborate preparation and daredevil risk taking. Reality is far more mundane. There is certainly no room for complacency, but escapes are rare and escapes from maximum and medium security prisons are very rare. When escapes do occur, they are generally nothing like the movies: they tend to be opportunistic, individualistic and short-lived. Good luck plays a greater role than good planning. Most commonly, escapes involve low risk offenders who have been placed for rehabilitative reasons in work camps and minimum security settings. Escapes are also more likely when people grasp spur of the moment opportunities during escorted movements outside a secure facility. There is always room to reduce opportunity and risk by improving physical, procedural and relational security. A process of reflection and learning is also required. However, the most significant finding of this report is that most prisoners do the right thing: they never escape or try to escape, even when they have opportunities to do so. For example, on any given day, over 1,000 prisoners are located in minimum security prisons or work camps, and a significant number of these prisoners are undertaking work in the community. It is important not to allow a handful of escapes to lead to the system becoming so risk averse that it compromises its own ability to achieve the critical outcome of reducing recidivism by preparing people for release. The media is unlikely to be interested in the story that so few prisoners abuse the trust that is placed in them, but it is a story that should be told. It is a sign that, overall, the Department and its contractors are identifying and managing escape risks. They have also responded promptly and proactively to the escapes that have occurred.

Details: Perth: : Office of the Inspector of Custodial Service, 2015. 56p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 9, 2017 at: http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/publications/tabledpapers.nsf/displaypaper/3912781a35a468c9c38dca7048257e230010359f/$file/2781.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: Australia

URL: http://www.parliament.wa.gov.au/publications/tabledpapers.nsf/displaypaper/3912781a35a468c9c38dca7048257e230010359f/$file/2781.pdf

Shelf Number: 147178

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Escapes
Prison Escapes
Prisoners

Author: Great Britain. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons

Title: Life in prison: Living conditions

Summary: Some people may feel a sense of deja vu or world-weariness when they hear repeated accounts of poor conditions in our prisons. Many reports from HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMI Prisons) have pointed out that, all too often, prisoners are held in conditions that fall short of what most members of the public would consider as reasonable or decent. I would urge readers not to assume this paper is simply another account of some dilapidated prisons, but to look at the details of what we describe, and then ask themselves whether it is acceptable for prisoners to be held in these conditions in the United Kingdom in 2017. It is, of course, right to point out that not every prison holds its prisoners in poor conditions. On the whole, high security prisons, women's prisons and open prisons provide decent conditions and some good facilities. However, in many of the local prisons and training prisons, the picture is bleak. The details of what we have found are set out in this paper, but some of the headlines make for grim reading. Prisoners cannot benefit from education or training if they are confined in their cells for long periods, and they inevitably become frustrated, angry or turn to drugs to ease the tedium. We have found that in local prisons 31% of prisoners report being locked in their cells for at least 22 hours a day, rising to 37% at young adult prisons (holding prisoners aged 18-21). We found large numbers of prisoners at some jails who were locked up for more than 22 hours a day, or throughout the working day. The cells in which prisoners are confined for these excessive periods of time vary greatly in their condition, but poor conditions are exacerbated by overcrowding. Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) themselves report that in 2016/17 nearly 21,000 prisoners out of some 85,000 in total were held, by their own definition, in overcrowded conditions. This proportion rises in local prisons to over 15,000 of the 31,800 held in such establishments - or 48%. Overcrowding often occurs when two or more prisoners are held in a cell designed to hold one. These often have an unscreened or inadequately screened lavatory, frequently without a lid, or sometimes with a makeshift lid made of cardboard, pillowcases or food trays. In these same cells, prisoners are frequently required to eat all their meals - in what are obviously insanitary, unhygienic and degrading conditions. The risks to health inherent in flushing open lavatories in confined spaces which have to serve as a bedroom and dining room (and sometimes as a kitchen) are described in this report and deserve close attention. The accounts from prisoners of what it feels like to eat and sleep in what is, in effect, a shared lavatory make for compelling reading. To compound all of this, our surveys suggest that in only around half of our prisons are prisoners able to get cleaning materials for their cells every week, and ventilation of too many cells is poor. In terms of personal hygiene, most prisoners say they are able to have a shower every day, but this falls to 51% in those prisons holding young adults. There is a mixed picture for other issues that have an impact of the everyday lives of prisoners, with about two-thirds of prisoners saying they can get clean sheets each week, and access to telephones is obviously dependent upon prisoners having enough time out of their cells to be able to queue and make a call. The concerns and recommendations set out in this paper need to be taken seriously. The aspirations of the prison reform programme will not be met if prisoners are confined in conditions that embitter and demoralise, leaving them unable to access rehabilitative activities and, all too often, turning to illicit drugs to break the boredom born of long periods locked in their cells.

Details: London: The Inspectorate, 2017. 29p.

Source: Internet Resource: A findings paper: Accessed October 19, 2017 at: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/10/Findings-paper-Living-conditions-FINAL-.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: United Kingdom

URL: https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmiprisons/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2017/10/Findings-paper-Living-conditions-FINAL-.pdf

Shelf Number: 147731

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Prison Administration
Prison Overcrowding
Prisons

Author: Morton-Bourgon, Kelly

Title: Evaluation Report: Institutional Security

Summary: Institutional security is relevant and responsive to the daily operations of correctional institutions and to the safety and security of all Canadians. Institutional security activities, as legislated by the Corrections and Conditional Release Act (1992), align with the federal government's new legislations such as the Safe Streets and Communities Act (2012). Institutional security activities also support the federal government and Correctional Service Canada's strategic priorities. The evaluation was conducted in accordance with the Treasury Board's Policy on Evaluation (TBS, 2009) and the Evaluation Division's Five-Year Plan. The scope of the evaluation was determined through a number of activities aimed at identifying evaluation priorities. As such, the evaluation focused on three key components: 1) Human Resource Management and Staff Safety; 2) Preventive Security and Intelligence; and 3) Institutional Security Operations. The evaluation incorporated both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods. Component 1 - Human Resource Management and Staff Safety Human resource management and staff safety is essential to operating a safe and secure correctional institution. The evaluation examined issues identified by institutional staff as they perform their security related duties. The topics that emerged from the analyses included: recruiting appropriate candidates; staff experience and development; staffing and deployment levels; and staff safety concerns. Recommendations focussed on tracking and monitoring new recruits; on-the-job coaching for new Correctional Officers (CO) and Primary Workers (PW); and enhancing communication and information sharing as part of the Employee Protection Protocol (EPP). Management Action Plans (MAP) addressing the issues were presented and approved. The MAPs will ensure tracking and monitoring of new recruits; the development of a standardized framework for on-the-job coaching for new COs and PWs; and the appropriate and timely provision of information and services throughout the EPP process to persons threatened. Component 2 - Preventive Security and Intelligence Intelligence information contributes to institutional safety and security by preventing security incidents, eliminating illegal activities and supporting the offender case management process. The evidence centered on the gathering, development and communication of intelligence information. It was recommended that tools be provided to Security Intelligence Officers to engage and debrief staff, and that there be monitoring and reporting on the production and sharing of intelligence. A MAP addressing the issues was presented and approved. The MAP focused on streamlining and restructuring the Intelligence Program. Component 3 - Institutional Security Operations The evaluation investigated daily operational security activities and how they contribute to a safe and secure institutional environment. The finding developed from the examination of evidence was that dynamic security is apparent and it is making a contribution to the safety and security of the institutions. Financial data were examined along with incident, staff and offender data. The rate of institutional security-related spending remained relatively stable from 2008/2009 to 2013/2014 despite an increase in the number of CX staff and offenders in CSC institutions. The analyses also showed a decrease in serious security incidents and escapes, an increase in drug-related seizures and an increase in negative urinalysis results.

Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service Canada, 2015. 89p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 27, 2017 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/publications/092/005007-2015-eng.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: Canada

URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/publications/092/005007-2015-eng.pdf

Shelf Number: 147830

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Corrections Officers
Prisons

Author: Correctional Service Canada

Title: 2016 International Survey of Correctional Services: Corrections in Transformation

Summary: In 2015, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) conducted an international survey with the objective of gaining a better understanding of the challenges other nations encounter in their correctional organizations and the best practices being applied to address them. Responses from 24 organizations revealed themes related to infrastructure, resources, technology, and offender health and mental health as significant challenges. These identified challenges provided indications of where international correctional organizations are facing difficulties; however, further details would have provided greater insight into these difficulties and the responses organizations have made to address them. Thus, the 2016 survey was designed to increase our knowledge of the issues and transformation plans being used to address these challenges as well as the best practices learned through actions undertaken to deal with them. Purpose CSC conducted an international consultation with several correctional organizations around the world to gain a better understanding of not only the challenges various nations encounter in their correctional organizations, but also the strategies implemented to address these challenges. The international consultation was completed in collaboration with CSC's Intergovernmental Relations Division (IGR) and representatives from the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA). Overview The following is a summary of the responses received for the International Survey of Correctional Services. The survey was developed by staff at CSC's Research Branch and Strategic Policy and Planning. It was available in English and French and could be completed online or on paper. The structure of the survey included both multiple choice and open-ended questions. Core problematic areas in correctional practices were identified and questions specific to each area were developed. The survey was organized into four key parts: Part I: Physical Infrastructure; Part II: Technology; Part III: Offender Health; Part IV: Offender Rehabilitation The target sample was approximately 170 correctional organizations affiliated with ICPA and IGR. Respondents were able to respond to the survey between July 28th and September 14th, 2016. Although 19 correctional organizations responded, results are based on 18 correctional organizations representing agencies in 12 as one submission was removed from the analyses due to data quality issues (see Appendix A for a list of participating countries). Regarding the characteristics of participating organizations, the majority of organizations were at the Federal/National level of government (53%), followed closely by organizations at the State/Regional (41%) and Local/Municipal (6%) levels. The offender population supervised by organizations was evenly split between only those with custodial sentences (47%) and those with both custodial and non-custodial sentences (53%). Notably, no organizations indicated that they only supervise those with non-custodial sentences. The results of this report are organized according to each key area assessed. The qualitative results examine the challenges and associated transformation plans for each sub-area are examined. Subsequently, the qualitative themes associated with the issues leading to transformation, the ongoing transformation projects that have occurred in the past year, as well as any best practices garnered throughout the transformation process are discussed. A summary of findings is provided at the end of the document.

Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service Canada, 2016. 15p.

Source: Internet Resource: 2016 No. SR-16-04 Accessed November 13, 2017 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/092/005008-3009-en.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: International

URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/092/005008-3009-en.pdf

Shelf Number: 148140

Keywords:
Correctional Administration
Correctional Institutions
Correctional Reform
Prison Reform
Prisons

Author: Yates, Caitlyn

Title: Penitentiary System Reform

Summary: Properly functioning prisons serve as an indicator of a country's ability to confront insecurity, and Mexico's prison conditions fail to demonstrate adequate institutional capacity. The Mexican Congress passed a prison reform law in 2016 aimed at drastically reforming the justice system and prison practices. Yet, there remain serious concerns such as inadequate prison conditions, violations of prisoners' rights, and an increase in violence and organized criminal operations within the penitentiary system. This paper analyzes current Mexican prison conditions, recent policy interventions in the prison system, and policy recommendations. These include: ensuring equal rights for all incarcerated individuals, reducing prison official complicity, emphasizing restorative justice, eradicating sentencing for minor crimes, better allocating resources for prison officials and institutions, and eventually reducing extradition.

Details: Austin, TX: Robert Strauss Center for Interntional Security and Law, 2017. 10p.

Source: Internet Resource: Mexico Security Initiative, Policy Research Project Paper: Accessed December 5, 2017 at: https://www.strausscenter.org/images/Courses_Scholars/PRP_2017/CaitlynYates_PRP_copy.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: Mexico

URL: https://www.strausscenter.org/images/Courses_Scholars/PRP_2017/CaitlynYates_PRP_copy.pdf

Shelf Number: 148718

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Prison Reform
Prisons

Author: Carson, E. Ann

Title: Prisoners in 2016

Summary: Presents final counts of prisoners under the jurisdiction of state and federal correctional authorities at year-end 2016, including admissions, releases, noncitizen inmates, and inmates age 17 or younger. The report describes prisoner populations by jurisdiction, most serious offense, and demographic characteristics. Selected findings on prison capacity and prisoners held in private prisons, local jails, the U.S. military, and U.S. territories are also included. Findings are based on data from BJS's National Prisoner Statistics program, which collects data from state departments of correction and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Highlights: The number of prisoners under state and federal jurisdiction at year-end 2016 (1,505,400) decreased by 21,200 (down more than 1%) from year-end 2015. The federal prison population decreased by 7,300 prisoners from 2015 to 2016 (down almost 4%), accounting for 34% of the total change in the U.S. prison population. State and federal prisons had jurisdiction over 1,458,200 persons sentenced to more than 1 year at year-end 2016. The number of females sentenced to more than 1 year in state or federal prison increased by 500 from 2015 to 2016. The imprisonment rate in the United States decreased 2%, from 459 prisoners per 100,000 U.S. residents of all ages in 2015 to 450 per 100,000 in 2016.

Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2018. 36p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 6, 2018 at: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p16.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p16.pdf

Shelf Number: 149004

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Ali, Farihah

Title: Synthetic Cannabinoid Use in Correctional Populations - An Emerging Challenge for Offender Health and Safety? A Brief Review

Summary: Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) have become increasingly popular among various user populations, and have arisen as common alternatives to organic cannabis products. SCs are an emerging category of drugs under the umbrella of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS). They belong to a continually evolving series of synthetic psychoactive product groups, based on successive structural modifications, commonly marketed as herbal mixtures which mimic cannabis' psychoactive effects, and are classified as 'legal highs'. SCs, however, have been associated with a variety of distinct adverse health outcomes (especially acute), some of which are considered more severe than those which result from the use of natural cannabis products. Compared to natural cannabis products, SCs pose threats to users' health, including: elevated levels of cardio-vascular problems, kidney problems, seizures, acute hallucinations, psychosis and anxiety, among others. Various jurisdictions have reported high numbers of presentations to emergency departments, as well as cases of mortality, directly related to the use of SCs. While all forms of SCs are banned in correctional institutions, existing evidence suggests that they have become increasingly popular among offenders, and as such, pose distinct novel challenges for correctional administrations charged with the responsibility for offender health and safety. SC use results in potentially powerful stimulant effects which may make them attractive for use by offenders, but may also result in adverse outcomes which come with potentially undesirable or hazardous consequences for offender behaviour and safety. Moreover, SCs evade major routine drug interdiction and drug testing systems in operation in correctional systems, and hence are attractive for illicit use, trade, and import in correctional settings. To better understand SC use, and the possible health and safety consequences for offenders, this report reviewed pertinent national and international literature on SC use, availability, and related health outcomes among general and correctional populations. Research data on SCs in the context of Canadian correctional systems are currently limited, and are thus urgently required. Educating offenders and correctional staff on the risks of SC use is imperative, and correctional systems should prepare for the potential health and safety consequences of increased SC use while awaiting the results and guidance offered by future research.

Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada, 2017. 24p.

Source: Internet Resource: 2017 No.R-397: Accessed March 13, 2018 at: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/scc-csc/PS83-3-397-eng.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: Canada

URL: http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2017/scc-csc/PS83-3-397-eng.pdf

Shelf Number: 149456

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Drug Abuse and Addiction
Drug Offenders
Health Care
Prisoners
Psychoactive Substances

Author: Huh, Kil

Title: Jails: Inadvertent Health Care Providers. How county correctional facilities are playing a role in the safety net

Summary: Every year, millions of people are booked into U.S. jails. During 2015, the latest year for which data are available, there were 10.9 million admissions to these correctional facilities, which hold individuals who are awaiting trial or serving short sentences. The government running the jail-usually a county-has a constitutional mandate to provide people booked into these facilities with necessary health care. Counties designing a jail health care program targeted to meet the needs of their incarcerated population have the opportunity to improve the health of people in jail and the broader community, spend public dollars more effectively, and, in some cases, reduce recidivism. Yet little is known about how jails administer their health care programs and whether these programs further county public health and safety goals. Research is limited on how counties organize their jail health care services, what care they make available and when, and how they ensure they receive value for their investment in health care. Despite growing awareness of the connection between community services for recently released individuals-especially those with mental illness or substance use disorders, collectively known as behavioral health disorders-and a reduction in recidivism, information about how to achieve this result is scarce. In an effort to give counties tools to improve delivery of services to an underserved population with high needs, The Pew Charitable Trusts, with the assistance of Community Oriented Correctional Health Services, reviewed 81 requests for proposals (RFPs) for contracted jail health care services and conducted in-depth case studies of three jurisdictions. (See the methodology for more detail.) This research revealed wide variation in the ways that counties arrange to provide health care in their jails and the information they supply to help vendors craft bids. Additionally, despite growing recognition of the health needs of those currently and formerly in jail, our analysis found varying approaches to whether and how jails prepare individuals to manage their health once released. The research found that: - Many jails contract with vendors to provide health care. In New York state, for example, 84 percent use vendors to provide at least some health care services. The arrangements that counties make with providers vary; for example, one vendor may be responsible for all services, or a county can use multiple vendors across types of health care services such as mental health and dentistry. Payment models can also vary: While some counties share financial risk for costly medical care with the contractor, others have their vendors assume all risk through a negotiated per-inmate, per-day rate. - The portion of a jail's budget spent on health care can vary widely by county. For instance, in Virginia, jails spend anywhere from 2.5 to 33 percent of their budgets on health care. - Although most jails conduct bookings 24 hours a day, many do not have medical or nursing staff on site to screen incoming individuals at all times. This can lead to delays in identifying and treating acute, possibly lifethreatening health problems, and missed opportunities to divert people with behavioral health disorders into treatment settings rather than jail. Jails with an average daily population (ADP) under 500 are less likely to offer round-the-clock clinical services than are larger ones, a situation probably driven by resource constraints. - Most of the RFPs that were examined look to national accrediting bodies such as the American Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care to guide how the jail offers health care services. Yet few RFPs laid out performance requirements and financial penalties or incentives that would hold contractors accountable for meeting service requirements.

Details: New York: Pew Charitable Trusts, 2018. 41p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2018 at: http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2018/01/sfh_jails_inadvertent_health_care_providers.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2018/01/sfh_jails_inadvertent_health_care_providers.pdf

Shelf Number: 149724

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Health Care
Jail Inmates
Mentally Ill Inmates

Author: Aebi, Marcelo

Title: Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics. SPACE 1 - Prison Populations Survey 2016

Summary: European prisons are on average close to full capacity, with inmates occupying over 9 out of ten available places, according to the Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics (SPACE) for 2016, published today. The survey shows that the incarceration rate grew from 115.7 to 117.1 inmates per 100,000 inhabitants from 2015 to 2016. This rate had previously fallen every year since 2012, when it reached 125.6 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants. The incarceration rate is mainly influenced by the length of the sanctions and measures imposed. In that perspective, the average length of detention, which can be seen as an indicator of the way criminal law is applied, increasing slightly to 8.5 months. The countries where the incarceration rate grew the most were Bulgaria (+10.8%), Turkey (+9.5%), the Czech Republic (+7.6%), Serbia (+6.6%) and Denmark (+5.5%). The prison administrations where it fell the most were Iceland (-15.9%), Northern Ireland (-11.8), Lithuania (-11.1%), Belgium (-10.1%) and Georgia (-6.7%). On the other hand, overcrowding remained a serious problem in many countries. Thirteen out of 47 prison administrations reported having more inmates than places to host them. The highest levels of overcrowding were observed in "The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" (132 prisoners per 100 places available), Hungary (132), Cyprus (127), Belgium (120), France (117), Portugal (109), Italy (109), Serbia (109), Albania (108), the Czech Republic (108), Romania (106) and Turkey (103). The SPACE survey is conducted for the Council of Europe by the University of Lausanne. The SPACE I 2016 survey contains information from 47 out of 52 prison administrations in the 47 Council of Europe member states (see the executive summary). The SPACE II contains information from 47 out of 52 probation agencies.

Details: Strasbourg: Council of Europe, 2018. 148p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 10, 2018 at: http://wp.unil.ch/space/files/2018/03/SPACE-I-2016-Final-Report-180315.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: Europe

URL: http://wp.unil.ch/space/files/2018/03/SPACE-I-2016-Final-Report-180315.pdf

Shelf Number: 149751

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Inmates
Prison Overcrowding
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Kaeble, Danielle

Title: Correctional Populations In The United States, 2016

Summary: Presents statistics on persons supervised by U.S. adult correctional systems at year-end 2016, including persons supervised in the community on probation or parole and those incarcerated in state or federal prison or local jail. The report describes the size and change in the total correctional population during 2016. Appendix tables provide statistics on other correctional populations and jurisdiction-level estimates of the total correctional population by correctional status for selected years. Highlights: In 2016, the number of persons supervised by U.S. adult correctional systems dropped for the ninth consecutive year. From 2007 to 2016, the portion of the adult population under supervision of U.S. correctional systems decreased by 18%, from 3,210 to 2,640 per 100,000 adult residents. The percentage of adults supervised by the U.S. correctional system was lower in 2016 than at any time since 1993. The incarceration rate has declined since 2009 and is currently at its lowest rate since 1996. On December 31, 2016, an estimated 6,613,500 persons were supervised by U.S. adult correctional systems, about 62,700 fewer persons than on January 1, 2016

Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2018. 14p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 27, 2018 at: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpus16.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpus16.pdf

Shelf Number: 119923

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Jail Inmates
Jails
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Pettid, Sharon Rues

Title: Nebraska Department of Correctional Services Culture Study

Summary: BACKGROUND: To improve the culture of NDCS among staff and to increase transparency overall, NDCS took the proactive initiative to commission a department-wide, in-depth culture study. The results of this study are available to interested parties and to the public and will be used to diagnose and correct identified challenges at NDCS. The goal is to shift the culture at NDCS to provide better services in alignment with the mission of the organization. COMMUNICATION AND LEADERSHIP Employees perceive a fear of retaliation, lack of respect, and inconsistent application of principles. Principle: The leadership of NDCS must demonstrate they value all agency staff. Progress:  Staff input solicited by Director Frakes on NDCS culture resulted in 80+ responses  Commissioned independent, department-wide, in-depth Culture Study  Instituted Employee Positive Impact Councils at each facility to facilitate open communication  Laid out employee expectations including: o Everyone must be treated with respect at all times o Retaliation will not be tolerated o Behave ethically in all decisions and actions o Treat inmates with respect, even when they do not show respect

Details: Lincoln: Nebraska Department of Corrections, 2016. 60p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 7, 2018 at: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/pdf/reports/committee/select_special/lr34_2015/lr34_appendixC-04a.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: https://nebraskalegislature.gov/pdf/reports/committee/select_special/lr34_2015/lr34_appendixC-04a.pdf

Shelf Number: 150506

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Corrections Officers
Employee Satisfaction
Prison Guards

Author: Kang-Brown, Jacob

Title: The New Dynamics of Mass Incarceration

Summary: The rise of mass incarceration, spanning the 1970s to the early 2000s, was characterized by continuous, unified growth in both prison and jail populations across states and counties. In contrast, the past decade has given rise to what is widely recognized as an era of reform, with prison admission rates declining by 24 percent since 2006 and jail admissions rates down 25 percent since 2008. The national declines, however, mask the new dynamics of mass incarceration. The growth that characterized mass incarceration's rise has fractured into four dynamics that vary from state to state and county to county. Contemporary decarceration exists alongside continuous growth, stagnation, and jurisdictional shifts between prisons and jails, akin to a shell game. This report provides a first-in-kind look at the state of incarceration by moving beyond the convention of using state prison populations, illuminating both where meaningful change has happened and where true reform has remained elusive.

Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2018. 44p.

Source: Internet Resource: accessed June 15, 2018 at: https://storage.googleapis.com/vera-web-assets/downloads/Publications/the-new-dynamics-of-mass-incarceration/legacy_downloads/the-new-dynamics-of-mass-incarceration-report.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: https://storage.googleapis.com/vera-web-assets/downloads/Publications/the-new-dynamics-of-mass-incarceration/legacy_downloads/the-new-dynamics-of-mass-incarceration-report.pdf

Shelf Number: 150555

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Mass Incarceration
Prison Population
Prisons

Author: CONAPREV

Title: Diagnostico del Sistema Pentienciario en Honduras

Summary: Security, respect for human rights and the delivery of justice are issues of particular concern currently in Honduras in the area penitentiary. Social exclusion, inequality and inequality are historical factors that explain the collapse of the system and the serious human rights violations that they are committed against those who are deprived of their liberty. The present diagnosis is made within the framework of the need that the Committee has National Prevention of Torture CONAPREV, the executing organ of the Mechanism National Institute for the Prevention of Torture (NPM, by Decree No. 136-2008), to update the knowledge of the penitentiary reality. For this, he hires the services professionals of an interdisciplinary team that deals with carrying out a process that Allow to achieve this purpose. The diagnosis was developed during the second semester of year 2011, realizing visits to 13 prisons, 2 psychiatric hospitals, 2 detention centers for minors, 1 care center for children at social risk and 2 detention centers with the purpose of interviewing the key actors and actors and knowing In addition, the space in which those deprived of liberty live. The consultant team appreciates the valuable collaboration of the different institutions participants in the whole process of this consultancy, as well as its implication and commitment in the creation of this diagnosis which has as its sole purpose to give know the findings and above all create recommendations with the purpose of advancing in a coordinated manner with other institutions in the search for human alternatives that contribute to diminish the condition of vulnerability in which the great majority of persons deprived of liberty.

Details: Comite Nacional de Prevencion Contra la Tortura, Tratos Crueles, Inhumanos o Degradantes, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 11, 2018 at: http://relapt.usta.edu.co/images/CONAPREV-Diagnostico-del-Sistema-Penitenciario-2011.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: Honduras

URL: http://relapt.usta.edu.co/images/CONAPREV-Diagnostico-del-Sistema-Penitenciario-2011.pdf

Shelf Number: 150829

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Human Rights Abuses
Prison Conditions
Prisons
Torture

Author: Rose, Felicity

Title: An Examination of Florida's Prison Population Trends

Summary: In 2016, the Florida Legislature appropriated funding for "a comprehensive review of Florida's criminal justice system, including but not limited to criminal law and procedure, law enforcement, prosecution and defense of criminal offenses, the judicial and courts system, sentencing, and corrections." This report aims to provide a comprehensive overview of trends in Florida�s criminal justice system over the last decade, and illuminate those trends with data from across the system. After 30 years of growth, the last decade has seen Florida's prison population plateau and its community supervision population decline. Two competing trends have led to the stabilized prison population: a decline in prison admissions, driven by major reductions in crime rates, arrests, and criminal prosecutions, balanced out by longer sentences for those who are sent to prison. This report explores how Florida sentencing and release policies have shaped these competing trends, and looks beneath the statewide numbers at cases that defy these trends. Key findings include: - Florida's imprisonment rate is 23 percent higher than the national average, and 10th overall in the nation. - In the last decade, Florida's violent and property crime rates and drug arrests have all dropped approximately 30 percent, although the total crime rate remains 15 percent higher than the national average. - Prison admissions declined 28 percent in the last decade, driven by the declines in crime as well as declining revocations from supervision after Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) policy shifts in how violations are addressed. - In the same period, average sentence length increased 22 percent, balancing out the admissions decline and leading to a mostly stable prison population. - Trends in admissions and prison population vary widely across the state. In general, southern and eastern Florida counties send people to prison at a lower rate than northern, central, and western counties. - Due to mandatory minimum sentences, sentence enhancements, and statutory time served requirements, prisoners in Florida serve significantly longer periods in prison than in other states, including for nonviolent crimes. - Long sentences and few release options are the main driving force of the growth of the elderly population in Florida's prisons. - Most offenders leave prison with little or no post-prison release supervision. Due to the time constraints of this project, as well as unavailability of data, there is still a great deal about the Florida criminal justice system that is unknown. Development of or access to further information on court processes and sentences, violations and revocations, problemsolving courts, and community supervision are needed to better understand the system.

Details: Boston: Crime and Justice Institute, 2017. 71p.

Source: Internet Resource: accessed August 13, 2018 at: http://www.oppaga.state.fl.us/MonitorDocs/Reports/pdf/17-CRJ.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: United States

URL: http://www.oppaga.state.fl.us/MonitorDocs/Reports/pdf/17-CRJ.pdf

Shelf Number: 151119

Keywords:
Correctional Institutions
Prison Population
Prisoners
Prisons

Author: Kajstura, Aleks

Title: Women's Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2018

Summary: With growing public attention to the problem of mass incarceration, people want to know about women's experience with incarceration. How many women are held in prisons, jails, and other correctional facilities in the United States? And why are they there? How is their experience different from men's? While these are important questions, finding those answers requires not only disentangling the country�s decentralized and overlapping criminal justice systems, but also unearthing the frustratingly hard to find and often altogether missing data on gender. This report provides a detailed view of the 219,000 women incarcerated in the United States, and how they fit into the even broader picture of correctional control. This 2018 update to our inaugural Women's Whole Pie report pulls together data from a number of government agencies and calculates the breakdown of women held by each correctional system by specific offense. The report, produced in collaboration with the ACLU's Campaign for Smart Justice, answers the questions of why and where women are locked up.

Details: Northampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative, 2018. 6p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 12, 2019 at: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2018women.html

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2018/11/13/mass-incarceration-women-2018/

Shelf Number: 154084

Keywords:
Campaign for Smart Justice
Correctional Institutions
Female Inmates
Female Offenders
Jails
Mass Incarceration
Prison Policy Initiative
Prisons
Women Prisons

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