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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 12:05 pm
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Results for inmates
142 results foundAuthor: Venkatesh, Sudhir Alladi Title: A Research Note: The Socio-Spatial Consequences of Inmate Release in New York City Summary: This Research Note addresses an identified research void on inmate release by examining the role of space in the resettlement of individuals who are exiting correctional facilities and are returning to urban neighborhoods. This paper focuses on those individuals who are resettling, with the aim of illuminating the potential consequences of spatial movements for individual social outcomes. Details: New York: Center for Urban Research and Policy, Columbia University, 2007 Source: Spatial Information Design Lab, Columbia University; The Open Society Institute Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 116211 Keywords: InmatesReintegrationSpatial Analysis |
Author: Queensland Ombudsman Title: Justice on the Inside: A Review of Queensland Corrective Services' Management of Breaches of Discipline by Prisoners Summary: The principal objectives of the investigation discussed in this report were to: determine the extent to which officers are complying with the breach practices and procedures, and relevant legislation; determine the adequacy of these practices and procedures; identify and recommend improvements to practices and procedures; and if appropriate, recommend amendment to legislation to enhance the disciplinary system. Details: Brisbane: 2009 Source: Year: 2009 Country: Australia URL: Shelf Number: 117388 Keywords: Corrections OfficersInmates |
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 InstitutionsInmatesLaw and LegislationReligion |
Author: National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University Title: Behind Bars II: Substance Abuse and America's Prison Population Summary: This new report constitutes the most exhaustive analysis ever undertaken to identify the extent to which alcohol and other drugs are implicated in the crimes and incarceration of America's prison population. This report, following more than a decade after CASA's initial analysis, finds that despite greater recognition of the problem and potential solutions, we have allowed the population of substance-involved inmates crowding our prisons and jails -- and the related costs and crimes -- to increase. Details: New York: The Center, 2010 Source: Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 117674 Keywords: Alcohol AbuseDrug Abuse and AddictionInmates |
Author: Talbot, Jenny Title: Identifying and Supporting Prisoners with Learning Difficulties and Learning Disabilities: The Views of Prison Staff Summary: In the U.K., there is a growing concern about the number of people with learning difficulties and learning disabilities who come into contact with the criminal justice system and about how they are identified and whether their needs are met. This research presents the views of prison staff on how prisoners with learning difficulties and learning disabilities are identified and supported at prisons in England and Wales. Details: London: Prison Reform Trust, 2010. 66p. Source: No One Know Programme Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: Shelf Number: 117871 Keywords: InmatesLearning DisabilitiesPrisoners |
Author: Chiu, Tina Title: It's About Time: Aging Prisoners, Increasing Costs and Geriatric Release Summary: Correctional facilities throughout the United States are home to a growing number of older adults with extensive, costly medical needs. This report examines statutes related to the early release of geriatric inmates in 15 states and the District of Columbia and concludes that these provisions are rarely used, despite the potential of reduced costs at minimal risk to public safety. The report identifies factors that help explain the discrepancy and provides recommendations for addressing it. Details: New York: Vera Institute of Justice, Center on Sentencing and Corrections, 2010. 14p. Source: Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118356 Keywords: Aged PrisonersCorrections (U.S.)InmatesMedical Care |
Author: Neto, Abilio Title: Offender Population Trends: Convicted Sex Offenders in NSW Summary: This report presents data on the New South Wales population of sex offenders from 2003 to 2008 collected on 30 June of each year. It consists of an overview of demographics patterns and trends over the past five-year period for both sentenced offenders in full-time custody and those serving community-based orders managed by Corrective Services NSW. Details: Sydney: New South Wales Corrective Services, 2009. 12p. Source: Internet Resource; Research Bulletin No. 26 Year: 2009 Country: Australia URL: Shelf Number: 118561 Keywords: Corrections (New South Wales)InmatesPrisonersSex Offenders (New South Wales) |
Author: Wolff, Nancy Title: Reentry Readiness of Men and Women Leaving New Jersey Prisons Summary: This report presents the findings on a survey of reentry readiness of soon-to-be-released men and women from New Jersey prisons. Data from the survey describe the general state of this population in terms of their needs, strengths, and resources. The survey serves as both a needs/risk assessment tool and a blueprint for intervention to inform New Jersey's reentry initiatives in ways that yield the most rehabilitation and reentry preparedness out of every correctional dollar. Details: New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research, Rutgers University, 2010. 25p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 118709 Keywords: InmatesPrisonersReentry (New Jersey)RehabilitationRisk/Needs Assessment |
Author: Klein, Steven Title: Correctional Education: Assessing the Status of Prison Programs and Information Needs Summary: Drawing on existing federal data sources, this report presents indicators on the scale and effectiveness of correctional education programs offered in federal and state prisons. Documenting trends in inmate access to instructional programs, the characteristics of participants and the outcomes of program participants, each indicator is intended to provide readers with an understanding of the status of correctional education programs today and the context in which they are evolving. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, 2004. 31p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2004 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 119116 Keywords: Correctional EducationCorrectional ProgramsInmates |
Author: Victoria. Office of Police Integrity Title: Update on Conditions in Victoria Police Cells Summary: This report is based on an audit conducted in 2009 by the Professional Standards Assurance Unit of the Office of Police Integrity into conditions in the 22 catagory A police cells operated by Victoria Police. The focus of the audit was to examine facilities, systems and processes in place in the cell complexes. Details: Melbourne: Victorian Government Printer, 2010. 32p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: Australia URL: Shelf Number: 119254 Keywords: InmatesPolice CellsPolice IntegrityPolicingPrisoners |
Author: U.S. National Prison Rape Elimination Commission Title: National Prison Rape Elimination Commission Report Summary: This final report of the the National Prison Rape Commission proposes standards to prevent, detect, respond to and monitor sexual abuse of incarcerated or detained individuals throughout the United States. Nine findings are discussed regarding the problems of sexual abuse in confinement and select policies and practices that must be mandatory everywhere to remedy these problems. Companion volumes include: Standards for the Prevention, Detention, Response, and Monitoring of Sexual Abuse in Adult Prisons and Jails; Standards for the Prevention, Detection, Response, and Monitoring of Standards for Sexual Abuse in Lockups; Standards for the Prevention, Detection, Response, and Monitoring of Sexual Abuse in Community Corrections; and Standards for the Prevention, Detection, Response, and Monitoring of Sexual Abuse in Juvenile Facilities. Details: Washington, DC: National Prison Rape Elimination Commission, 2009. 259p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 115521 Keywords: InmatesPrison RapePrison StandardsPrison ViolencePrisoners, Abuse of |
Author: Warren, Jenifer Title: One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections Summary: Explosive growth in the number of people on probation or parole has propelled the population of the American corrections system to more than 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 U.S. adults. The vast majority of these offenders live in the community, yet new data in this report finds that nearly 90 percent of state corrections dollars are spent on prisons. The report examines the scale and cost of prison, jail, probation and parole in each of the 50 states, and provides a blueprint for states to cut both crime and spending by reallocating prison expenses to fund stronger supervision of the large number of offenders in the community. Details: Washington, DC: Pew Center on the States, 2009. 45p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 114731 Keywords: CorrectionsCosts of CorrectionsImprisonmentInmates |
Author: Steels, Brian Title: Predator or Prey? An Exploration of the Impact and Incidence of Sexual Assault in West Australian Prisons Summary: This study set out to investigate the incidence and social implications of sexual assault within the West Australian prison system. One of the key aims was to gauge the levels of both reported and unreported sexual assault, questioning the prison authority's claim that prison rape is a rare occurrence. Details: Perth: Murdoch University, Centre for Social & Community Research, 2009. 58p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2009 Country: Australia URL: Shelf Number: 117639 Keywords: InmatesPrison Rape ( West Australia)Prison ViolenceSexual Assault |
Author: Hoover, Jeff Title: Harm Reduction in Prison: The Moldova Model Summary: This report focuses on the introduction of harm reduction programs in Moldovan prisons and describes successes achieved as well as remaining challenges. Research was conducted in Moldova in August 2007 and October 2008, with seven site visits to prisons and one site visit to a pretrial detention facility, as well as visits to the headquarters of the penitentiary system and Innovative Projects in Prisons—a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that provides harm reduction services in prisons. The authors interviewed prisoners and pretrial detainees, NGO staff, and penitentiary system officials and employees at both the national and local levels. The extent of research conducted at each prison and pretrial detention facility varied due to several factors, including: length and timing of visit; staff responsibilities and availability at the time; and access to prisoners and their ability and willingness to talk. Details: New York: Open Society Institute, 2009. 66p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2009 Country: Moldova URL: Shelf Number: 116256 Keywords: AIDS (Disease )Drug Addiction and AbuseHarm ReductionHealth CareHIV (Viruses)InmatesPrisons (Moldova) |
Author: Derkzen, Dena Title: Visitation and Post-Release Outcomes Among Federally-Sentenced Offenders Summary: This study examined the association between both general visits and private family visits and re-offence rates in a large sample of Canadian Federal offenders. Data from the Correctional Service of Canada’s automated offender data system were used to investigate this association. Analyses involved all offenders released in fiscal year 2005-06 for whom all relevant data were available (N=6,537). Using these data, a series of logistic regressions and Cox regressions were conducted. The results demonstrated a positive association between receiving visits and lower likelihoods of readmission, after accounting for the influence of ethnicity, gender, age at release, sentence type, offence type, and assessed risk. Analyses based on the number of visits received revealed that offenders who received 6.7 visits (the average among offenders who received visits) had odds of readmission approximately 14% lower than their counterparts who did not receive visits. Similarly, offenders who participated in 2.0 private family visits (the average among those with PFVs) had odds of readmission about 22% lower than those who did not participate. Characteristics of the visits were also found to be associated with readmission, with more recent visits and private family visits, visits from parents and children, and private family visits with spouses all associated with a decreased likelihood of readmission. Finally, participation was much more consistently associated with readmission generally than with re-offending and indeed, in most analyses, participants in visitation was not associated with re-offending. Receiving visits from a spouse was the exception, with offenders receiving such visits having lower odds of re-offending than their counterparts who did not receive such visits. This pattern suggests that the impact of visitation may be primarily apparent in readmission for reasons such as breach of conditions. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service Canada, 2009. 25p. Source: Internet Resource; 2009 No. R-205 Year: 2009 Country: Canada URL: Shelf Number: 119333 Keywords: Inmates |
Author: Muntingh, Lukas Title: Reducing Prison Violence: Implications from the Literature for South Africa Summary: "Few would argue that prisons are violent places and South Africa is no exception. The consistently high number of deaths and complaints of assaults recorded by both the DCS and the JICS over several years indicate that violence is a “normal” feature of the South African prison system. Amongst all the strategic objectives towards transformation of the prison system and the distractions, the most important objective of any correctional system is to detain prisoners under safe and humane conditions. This, very explicitly, means that individuals, when imprisoned, must not only be safe but they must also feel safe. Regrettably this is not the case and thus the need for this paper to take a closer look at violence in South Africa’s prison system. This is done by reviewing the literature on prison violence to gain a deeper understanding of the problem and also to establish whether there have been any effective measures implemented elsewhere to reduce prison violence. Based on these a number of recommendations are made to improve prison safety in South Africa." Details: Bellville, South Africa: Civil Society Prison Reform Initiative, 2009. 39p. Source: Internet Resource; CSPRI Research Report No. 17 Year: 2009 Country: South Africa URL: Shelf Number: 119384 Keywords: InmatesPrison AdministrationPrison ViolencePrisons (South Africa) |
Author: Mudhurima Title: Rights Behind Bars: Landmark Judicial Pronouncement and National Human Rights Commission Guidelines Summary: The Constitution of India guarantees fundamental human rights to every individual. It further pledges that the state will safeguard these human rights and protect citizens from any arbitrary infringement upon their liberty, security and privacy. The Supreme Court of India has reiterated this principle many a times in the past 30 years. Over the years, the Supreme Court has on many occasions emphasised the role of the judiciary as a “guardian of their sentences.” To support this, the court has laid down a number of guidelines and directives for the state to follow. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has also issued guidelines and written letters to various agencies including the judiciary, the prison department and the state government to ensure that the rights of the prisoners are respected. There is, however, a huge gap between the constitutional promises as enunciated by the judiciary, and the reality of the lives of prison inmates. About 65 per cent of the prisoners are not convicted of any offence but are just awaiting trial. They may continue to be held in prisons for years. A huge majority of these under-trial prisoners are poor. The system fails them at every turn. They are denied bail for want of monetary security. Trials take years. Often, they have no lawyers, live in pathetic conditions, do not have access to adequate medical care, and are likely to be tortured or exploited. They are not aware of their rights. Often, legal aid lawyers and prison officials are also unaware. This compilation seeks to bring together important judicial pronouncements and NHRC guidelines on prisons and prisoners’ rights in a simplified form so that this information is easily accessible to those who are interested. Details: New Delhi: Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2009. 89p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2009 Country: India URL: Shelf Number: 119415 Keywords: Criminal Justice System (India)Human RightsInmatesPrisoners (India)Prisoners' RightsPrisons |
Author: Weatherburn, Don Title: Prison Populations and Correctional Outlays: The Effect of Reducing Re-Imprisonment Summary: "Between 1998 and 2008, the Australian imprisonment rate (per capita) rose 20 per cent. In 2008, net recurrent and capital expenditure on prisons in Australia exceeded $2.6 billion per annum. Efforts to reduce the prison population through the creation of alternatives to custody have not been very successful. This bulletin explores the potential savings in prison costs and prison numbers of reducing the rate at which prisoners return to custody. The results of our analysis suggest that modest reductions in the rate at which offenders are re-imprisoned would result in substantial savings in prisoner numbers and correctional outlays. A ten per cent reduction in the overall re-imprisonment rates would reduce the prison population by more than 800 inmates, saving $28 million per year. Comparable reductions in the number of new sentenced prisoners also produce benefits but they are smaller. The potential benefits of reducing the rate of re-imprisonment among subgroups of offenders with a high re-imprisonment rate are particularly noteworthy. A 10 per cent reduction in the Indigenous re-imprisonment rate, for example, would reduce the Indigenous sentenced prisoner population by 365 inmates, resulting in savings of more than $10 million per annum." Details: Sydney: New South Wales Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2009. 11p. Source: Internet Resource; Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice, No. 138; Accessed August 8, 2010 at http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/cjb138.pdf/$file/cjb138.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Australia URL: http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/cjb138.pdf/$file/cjb138.pdf Shelf Number: 119575 Keywords: Costs of CorrectionsInmatesPrison OvercrowdingPrison Population (Australia)PrisonsRecidivism |
Author: Nafekh, Mark Title: Evaluation Report: Correctional Service Canada's Safer Tattooing Practices Pilot Initiative Summary: "The practice of illicit tattooing in prison has been associated with high incidence and prevalence rates of blood borne infectious diseases within federal correctional institutions, a risk which is also extended to correctional staff members and to the general public. In response to the Federal National AIDS Strategy (1997) and the 31st Annual Report of the Correctional Investigator (2004), Correctional Service Canada (CSC) agreed to explore expanding its infectious disease control program to include Safer Tattooing Practices as a harm reduction initiative. In August 2005, CSC began its pilot of the Safer Tattooing Practices Initiative (STPI)2, which was implemented through an education component and an operational component. The operational component saw the implementation of tattoo rooms in six federal institutions – one men’s institution in each of the five regions (Atlantic, Cowansville, Bath, Rockwood and Matsqui Institutions) plus one women’s institution (Fraser Valley Institution for Women). The education component, delivered at CSC’s five regional reception centres, informed all inmates with a new federal offence about the risks of unsafe tattooing practices at the five regional reception centres. The education component also provided information through a guidelines document and pamphlets distributed at each of the six pilot sites. This report provides findings of the targeted evaluation of the STPI. The report measures achievements and outcomes as outlined in the Evaluation Framework (2005). The report is summative in nature even though it incorporates aspects of both the formative and summative approaches towards evaluation. Thus, most but not all of the immediate, intermediate and long term impacts were assessed. As such, the report includes findings and recommendations regarding the implementation of the STPI, however not all aspects of this area were examined in detail as they would in a purely formative evaluation. The findings and recommendations contained in this report are designed to guide decisions regarding the suitability of continuing the Safer Tattooing harm reduction initiative." Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service Canada, Evalution Branch, Performance Assurance Sector, 2009. 70p. Source: Internet Resource; Accessed August 14, 2010 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pa/ev-tattooing-394-2-39/ev-tattooing-394-2-39_e.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Canada URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pa/ev-tattooing-394-2-39/ev-tattooing-394-2-39_e.pdf Shelf Number: 114339 Keywords: CorrectionsHealth CareInmatesPrisonersTattoos |
Author: Beck, Allen J. Title: Sexual Victimization in Prisons and Jails Reported by Inmates, 2008-2009 Summary: This report resents data from the National Inmate Survey (NIS), 2008-09, conducted in 167 state and federal prisons, 286 local jails, and 10 special correctional facilities (operated by U.S. Armed Forces, Indian tribes, or the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)) between October 2008 and December 2009, with a sample of 81,566 inmates ages 18 or older. The report provides a listing of facilities ranked according to the prevalence of sexual victimization, as required under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-79). The prevalence of victimization as reported by inmates during a personal interview is based on sexual activity in the 12 months prior to the interview or since admission to the facility, if less than 12 months. Included are estimates of nonconsensual sexual acts, abusive sexual contacts, inmate-on-inmate and staff sexual misconduct, and level of coercion. The report also presents findings on reported sexual victimization by selected characteristics of inmates, including demographic characteristics, sexual history and orientation, and criminal justice status. It includes details on victims’ experiences and the circumstances surrounding incidents of sexual victimization. Highlights include the following: 1) An estimated 4.4% of prison inmates and 3.1% of jail inmates reported experiencing one or more incidents of sexual victimization by another inmate or facility staff in the past 12 months or since admission to the facility, if less than 12 months; 2) Female inmates in prison (4.7%) or jail (3.1%) were more than twice as likely as male inmates in prison (1.9%) or jail (1.3%) to report experiencing inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization; and 3) Among inmates who reported inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization, 13% of male prison inmates and 19% of male jail inmates said they were victimized within the first 24 hours after admission, compared to 4% of female inmates in prison and jail. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010. 91p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 24, 2010 at: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/svpjri0809.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/svpjri0809.pdf Shelf Number: 119678 Keywords: InmatesJailsPrison RapePrisonsSex OffensesSexual AssaultsSexual Victimization |
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 InstitutionsInmatesPrisonersPrisons |
Author: Fitzgerald, Jacqueline Title: Why are Indigenous Imprisonment Rates Rising? Summary: Between 2001 and 2008 the adult Indigenous imprisonment rate rose by 37 percent in Australia and 48 percent in New South Wales. This paper looks at the reasons behind this rise in New South Wales. The evidence suggests that most of the increase is due to increased severity by the criminal justice system in its treatment of Indigenous offenders. One quarter of the increase has come from remandees and three quarters from sentenced prisoners. The increase in the number of remandees appears to be due to a greater proportion of Indigenous defendants being refused bail and an increase in the time spent on remand. Similarly, the number of sentenced Indigenous prisoners has increased because more Indigenous offenders are receiving a prison sentence and for longer periods. With the possible exception of offences against justice procedures, it does not appear that the increase in imprisonment is due to increased offending. Details: Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2009. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Bureau Brief, Issue Paper no. 41: Accessed October 11, 2010 at: http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/bb41.pdf/$file/bb41.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Australia URL: http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/bocsar/ll_bocsar.nsf/vwFiles/bb41.pdf/$file/bb41.pdf Shelf Number: 118555 Keywords: Incarceration RatesIndigenous PeoplesInmatesPrisonersPrisons |
Author: Appleby, Louis Title: Prison Mental Health: Vision and Reality Summary: The need for better mental health care in prisons has been evident for some time. Reports throughout the last two decades have shown that prisoners have dramatically higher rates of the whole range of mental health problems compared to the general population. This publication aims to examine what has been achieved in prison mental health over recent years from a number of different personal perspectives and individual observations of working in England. It looks at the specific achievements of inreach teams and of efforts to divert offenders from custody. It also looks more broadly at the rapid growth of the prison population during the same period and the treatment of offenders with mental health problems outside as well as inside prison. Details: London: Royal College of Nursing, 2010. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 12, 2010 at: http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/339379/003832.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/339379/003832.pdf Shelf Number: 119932 Keywords: InmatesMental Health ServicesMentally Ill OffendersPrisons |
Author: Carson, Scott Alan Title: African-American and White Inequality the American South: Evidence from the 19th Century Missouri State Prison Summary: The use of height data to measure living standards is now a well-established method in economic history. Moreover, a number of core findings in the literature are widely agreed upon. There are still some populations, places, and times, however, for which anthropometric evidence remains thin. One example is 19th century African-Americans in US border states. This paper introduces a new data set from the Missouri state prison to track black and white male heights from 1829 to 1913. Where modern blacks and whites come to comparable terminal statures when brought to maturity under optimal conditions, whites were persistently taller than blacks in this Missouri prison sample. Over time, black and white adult statures remained approximately constant throughout the 19th century, while black youth stature increased considerably during the antebellum period and decreased during Reconstruction. Details: Munich, Germany: CESifo Group, 2007. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: CESifo Working Paper No. 1954: Accessed October 14, 2010 at: http://www.ifo.de/pls/guestci/download/CESifo%20Working%20Papers%202009/CESifo%20Working%20Papers%20December%202009/cesifo1_wp2876.pdf Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: http://www.ifo.de/pls/guestci/download/CESifo%20Working%20Papers%202009/CESifo%20Working%20Papers%20December%202009/cesifo1_wp2876.pdf Shelf Number: 119957 Keywords: HealthHistorical StudiesInmatesPrisonersSocioeconomic Status |
Author: Olotu, Michael Title: Evaluation Report: LifeLine Program Summary: In 1976, Canada removed the death sentence from its Criminal Code and replaced it with a life sentence disposition. There was a need to tailor the approach to target this group of offenders who are incarcerated for lengthy periods. In 1991, the LifeLine Program was implemented in collaboration with a community-based agency in the Ontario Region. The LifeLine Program is a voluntary program designed to provide support to offenders who are serving life or indeterminate sentences. Support is provided through in-reach workers who themselves are lifers or long-term offenders who are on parole and who have been living in the community without incident for at least five years. Their unique understanding and experience of serving a life or long-term sentence enables them to provide other lifers and offenders with indeterminate sentences with support based on those direct experiences. Currently, the LifeLine Program is a national program that involves three components: in-reach services, community support, and public awareness. The LifeLine mission statement is “to provide, through the in-reach and community components, an opportunity to motivate inmates and to marshal resources to achieve successful, supervised, gradual integration into the community”. The goal of the program is for the in-reach workers to meet with lifers and offenders with indeterminate sentences early in their sentence and assist in their adaptation and eventual integration into the correctional environment. Program delivery is managed through contractual service agreements with community agencies that are responsible for the three elements of the delivery model. A steering committee is responsible for providing leadership and direction to the LifeLine Program. The regional coordinators are responsible for managing the contracts with the respective community agencies in their region. The agencies hire, train and supervise the in-reach workers. Administrative and operational leadership is provided by the Assistant Commissioner, Public Affairs and Parliamentary Relations. This report examines the following issues relating to the program: continued relevance of the program; implementation of the program; success of the program; and cost effectiveness. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service Canada, Evaluation Branch, Policy Sector, 2009. 84p. Source: Internet Resource: File #394-2-60: Accessed October 15, 2010 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pa/ev-ll/ev-ll-eng.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Canada URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pa/ev-ll/ev-ll-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 119989 Keywords: InmatesLife SentenceLifersVolunteers |
Author: Oregon. Department of Corrections Title: Department of Corrections (DOC) Inmate Suicide Prevention Study Summary: This paper includes three studies associated with inmate suicide within Oregon’s Department of Corrections (DOC). The first is a statistical analysis that recognizes the inmate static and demographic factors that differentiate the average inmate from the inmate who is higher risk for a suicide attempt. The second analysis identifies the inmate static and dynamic factors that differentiate the high risk inmate who does not attempt suicide from the inmate who does attempt suicide. The third study includes interviews with inmates who have attempted suicide. Collectively, these three studies allow DOC to identify high risk inmates, identify the questions to ask high risk inmates who might attempt suicide, and provide the context for those attempting suicide. Developing protocols and systems to integrate this information into DOC’s daily efforts is the final step to minimizing the number of inmate suicides at Oregon’s DOC. Details: Salem, OR: Oregon Department of Corrections, 2009. 77p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 20, 2010 at: http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/RESRCH/docs/Inmate_Suicide_Prevention_Study_Report.pdf?ga=t Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/RESRCH/docs/Inmate_Suicide_Prevention_Study_Report.pdf?ga=t Shelf Number: 120029 Keywords: InmatesMental HealthSuicide |
Author: Lovell, Mark Title: Jailbreak: How to Transform Prisoners' Training Summary: Within weeks of coming to office, Kenneth Clark (UK) has announced a dramatic change to justice policy. The use of prison sentences is now to be cut. Those who do end up in jail will be given training - with independent companies brought in to see it through. However, this study warns that radical change in the system is needed if the policy is to work. The last government had set out on the same path, but with little success. Re-offending rates remained high at around 62%. In particular the system: Lacks a clear chain of accountability. Responsibility for training and funding overlaps between different Whitehall Departments and their agencies; The system suffers from confused aims and means. Programmes are often ill-suited to the offenders and have the wrong emphasis. There are high drop-out rates; The system is patchy. Access to it for offenders is uncertain. Many don’t get the chance to train properly. But there are exceptions – where companies and others from outside the system have had remarkable success. A change of direction is needed if the system is to open to success. Responsibility for training must be allocated to one body with a clear chain of accountability. Success should be judged against whether the offender is prepared when in prison to find and keep a job on release. Funds must be transparently allocated on a per capita basis. The total amount now used should go to the contracted body for an individual’s training. Details: London: Politeia, 2010. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 20, 2010 at: http://www.politeia.co.uk/sites/default/files/files/Jailbreak%20PDF.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.politeia.co.uk/sites/default/files/files/Jailbreak%20PDF.pdf Shelf Number: 119974 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsCorrections TrainingInmate ProgramsInmatesOffender TreatmentRehabilitation |
Author: U.S. Department of Justice. Office of the Inspector General. Audit Division Title: Follow-up Audit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Efforts to Management Inmate Health Care Summary: The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is responsible for delivering medically necessary health care to inmates in accordance with proven standards of care. To accomplish this task, the BOP has established policy to hire appropriately trained, skilled, and credentialed staff. The policy identifies lines of authority and accountability to provide for appropriate supervision of health care practitioners. To verify and monitor its health care practitioners’ knowledge and skills in providing health care, the BOP implemented its policy for Health Care Provider Credential Verification, Privileges, and Practice Agreement Program. During fiscal year (FY) 2009, the BOP obligated about $865 million for inmate health care. In February 2008, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) completed an audit of the BOP’s efforts to manage inmate health care. Among other issues, our 2008 audit found that the BOP allowed health care providers to practice medicine without valid authorizations such as privileges, practice agreements, or protocols. In addition, some providers had not had their medical practices evaluated by a peer as required by BOP policy. Allowing practitioners to provide medical care to inmates absent current privileges, practice agreements, or protocols increases the risk that the practitioners may provide medical services without having the qualifications, knowledge, skills, and experience necessary to correctly perform the services. Absent a current peer review, the BOP has a higher risk of providers giving inadequate professional care to inmates. Also, if inadequate professional care goes undetected, the providers may not receive the training or supervision needed to improve the delivery of medical care. We initiated this audit to follow up on the BOP’s corrective actions on the recommendations in our 2008 audit report related to maintaining current privileges, practice agreements, protocols, and peer reviews. While performing the follow-up audit, we also assessed the BOP’s use of National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) reports to ensure health care providers have not been involved in unethical or incompetent practices. The NPDB is maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services and is a central repository of information about: (1) malpractice payments made for the benefit of physicians, dentists, and other health care practitioners; (2) licensure actions taken by state medical boards and state boards of dentistry against physicians and dentists; (3) professional review actions primarily taken against physicians and dentists by hospitals and other health care entities, including health maintenance organizations, group practices, and professional societies; (4) actions taken by the Drug Enforcement Administration; and (5) Medicare and Medicaid Exclusions. The BOP requires its institutions to query the NPDB at the initial appointment of health care providers, and no less than once every 2 years thereafter to identify adverse actions by the providers. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, 2010. 51p. Source: Internet Resource: Audit Report 10-30: Accessed october 29, 2010 at: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/BOP/a1030.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/BOP/a1030.pdf Shelf Number: 120123 Keywords: InmatesPrison Health CarePrisonersU.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons |
Author: Napo: The Trade Union and Professional Association for Family Court and Probation Staff Title: Armed Forces and the Criminal Justice System Summary: A survey conducted by Napo during the summer of 2009 found that 12,000 former armed service personnel were under the supervision of the Probation Service in England and Wales on either community sentences or on parole. Research published by Napo last year found that 8,500 former veterans were in custody at any one time in the UK, following conviction of a criminal offence. There are therefore twice as many veterans in the criminal justice system than are currently serving in military operations in Afghanistan. Indeed the total number of men and women in active service in all locations on 31-05-09 was 13,400 (not including Iraq). The Probation Service caseload on 31-12-08 was 243,000 including 165,000 on court order supervision and a further 47,000 on pre or post release from prison supervision. During the course of 2008, 205,000 persons started supervision. Napo’s survey would suggest therefore that at least 6% of those currently under supervision are former veterans. The custodial study of 2008 concluded that 8.5% of the prison population had an armed service record. Previous studies by the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence had found that the proportion of those in prison with a service record varied from between 4-6% (Home Office) to 16.7% (MOD). A 2007 study carried out by Veterans in Prison, based on prisoners self certification, concluded that 9% of all inmates were veterans. Details: London: Napo, 2009. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 1, 2010 at: http://www.napo.org.uk/publications/Briefings.cfm Year: 2009 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.napo.org.uk/publications/Briefings.cfm Shelf Number: 120328 Keywords: Armed ForcesInmatesMilitaryParoleesVeterans |
Author: Howard League for Penal Reform Title: Leave No Veteran Behind: The Inquiry into Former Armed Service personnel in Prison Visits the United States of America Summary: A Howard League for Penal Reform inquiry reveals that veterans in both the United States of America and England and Wales are less likely to go prison than their respective civilian populations, but when they do veterans are more likely to be serving sentences for violent and sexual offences. The briefing Leave No Veteran Behind follows a visit to the USA and is part of Howard League's inquiry into former armed service personnel in prison, chaired by Sir John Nutting QC, which aims to uncover why veterans enter the penal system and will make recommendations to the government about how to prevent offending. The inquiry finds that: Veterans are less likely to be in prison In England and Wales, civilians are thought to be 43 per cent more likely to end up in prison, and in the USA, veterans are less than half as likely to be in prison as other adult males; Veterans in prison are older In the United States, 65 per cent were over 55 (compared to 17 per cent of non-veteran prisoners). In England and Wales, 29 per cent are over 55, which compares to 9 per cent of the general prison population being 50 or over; Veterans are more likely to be serving sentences for violent offences Among State prisoners, 57 per cent of veterans were categorised as 'violent offenders', compared to 47 per cent of non-veterans. In the UK, 32.9 per cent of veterans are in prison for violence against the person, compared to 28.6 per cent of the non-veteran prison population; and Veterans are more likely to be serving sentences for sexual offences 23 per cent of veterans were in US prisons for sexual offences, compared to 9 per cent of civilian prisoners. In England and Wales, 25 per cent of veterans are in prison for sexual offences, compared to 19 per cent of the civilian prison population. Details: London: Howard League for Penal Reform, 2010. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 2, 2010 at: http://www.howardleague.org/fileadmin/howard_league/user/pdf/Veterans_inquiry/Leave_No_Veteran_Behind_.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.howardleague.org/fileadmin/howard_league/user/pdf/Veterans_inquiry/Leave_No_Veteran_Behind_.pdf Shelf Number: 120340 Keywords: Armed Services PersonnelInmatesMilitaryVeterans (U.S. and England) |
Author: Minnesota. Office of the Legislative Auditor Title: Evaluation Report: MINNCOR Industries Summary: In 1994, the Minnesota Department of Corrections consolidated and centralized individual prison industry programs into a single statewide business known as MINNCOR Industries. In response to legislative concerns about its operations, the commission directed OLA to evaluate MINNCOR’s overall management and business practices. We found that MINNCOR has generally done a good job in achieving high levels of inmate employment and generating enough revenue to cover its costs. Some of its practices though, especially regarding its labor arrangements with private businesses, lack transparency and have placed the state at risk. Financial reporting and oversight need to be improved, and we make several recommendations to accomplish this. Details: St. Paul, MN: Office of the Legislative Auditor, 2009. 93p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 7, 2010 at: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/pedrep/minncor.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.auditor.leg.state.mn.us/ped/pedrep/minncor.pdf Shelf Number: 120402 Keywords: InmatesPrison IndustriesPrison Labor (Minnesota) |
Author: Sturgis, Paul W. Title: Faith Behind Bars: The Social Ecology of Religion and Deviance in the Penitentiary Summary: The relationship between religiosity and institutional misconduct among prison inmates is examined using survey data collected from a large sample of state and federal prison inmates in the United States. It was determined that religiosity was not significantly related to institutional misconduct on the individual level. In addition, aggregate level religiosity did not influence the individual level relationship between religiosity and misconduct. The theoretical implications of this line of research are also discussed. Details: Columbia, MO: University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008. 84p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed December 7, 2010 at: https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/5526/research.pdf?sequence=3 Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/5526/research.pdf?sequence=3 Shelf Number: 120405 Keywords: InmatesPrisoner MisconductReligion |
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 InstitutionsCorrectional ProgramsInmatesJails |
Author: Janetta, Jesse Title: CPAP Assessment of CDCR Recidivism-Reduction Programs Summary: There has been an increasing emphasis in recent years on correctional programming being “evidence-based.” In its report issued in December of 2007,a the Governor’s Rehabilitation Strike Team stated that “prisoners must be assessed, routed to appropriate evidence-based programs, and once released, continuity of treatment must be assured.” Evidence-based practice in the field of corrections is the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use by correctional administrators of current best research evidence in selecting programs designed to manage offenders, reduce recidivism, and increase public safety. Evidence-based programs adhere to “principles of effective intervention” established by prior research. With California facing serious prison overcrowding challenges in addition to the long-standing public safety need to reduce recidivism to the lowest possible levels, the salience of having evidence-based recidivism-reduction programming in California is greater than ever. This report assesses the degree to which 26 recidivism-reduction programs offered to prison inmates and parolees by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) are evidence-based, as determined by a rating of the programs using the California Program Assessment Process (CPAP). The CPAP is an instrument designed to measure the conformity of offender change programs to research-derived principles of effective correctional programming and the extent of research evidence supporting the program’s model. Details: Irvine, CA: Center for Evidence-Based Corrections, University of California, Irvine, 2008. 86p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 1, 2011 at: http://ucicorrections.seweb.uci.edu/files/CPAP%20Assessment%20of%20CDCR.pdf Year: 2008 Country: United States URL: http://ucicorrections.seweb.uci.edu/files/CPAP%20Assessment%20of%20CDCR.pdf Shelf Number: 120646 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsInmatesParoleesRecidivismRehabilitation Programs |
Author: Drago, Francesco Title: Indirect Effects of a Policy Altering Criminal Behaviour: Evidence from the Italian Prison Experiment Summary: We exploit the Collective Clemency Bill passed by the Italian Parliament in July 2006 to evaluate the indirect effects of a policy that randomly commutes actual sentences to expected sentences for 40 percent of the Italian prison population. We estimate the direct and indirect impact of the residual sentence – corresponding to a month less time served in prison associated with a month of expected sentence – at the date of release on individual recidivism. Using prison, nationality and region of residence to construct reference groups of former inmates, we find large indirect effects of this policy. In particular, we find that the reduction in the individuals’ recidivism due to an increase in their peers’ residual sentence is at least as large as their response to an increase in their own residual sentence. From this result we estimate a social multiplier in crime of 2. Details: Bonn, Germany: Institute for the Study of Labor, 2010. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: IZA Discussion Paper No. 5414: Accessed February 1, 2011 at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp5414.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Italy URL: http://ftp.iza.org/dp5414.pdf Shelf Number: 120649 Keywords: Criminal Justice PolicyInmatesRecidivismSentencing (Italy) |
Author: Guerino, Paul Title: Sexual Victimization Reported by Adult Correctional Authorities, 2007-2008 Summary: This report examines 2007 and 2008 data from the Survey of Sexual Violence (SSV). Conducted since 2004, the SSV is an annual collection of official records on incidents of inmate-on-inmate and staff-on-inmate sexual victimization. This report presents counts of nonconsensual sexual acts, abusive sexual contacts, staff sexual misconduct, and staff sexual harassment reported to correctional authorities in adult prisons, jails, and other adult correctional facilities. Appendix tables include counts of sexual victimization, by type, for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, all state systems, and surveyed jail jurisdictions. An in-depth examination of substantiated incidents is also presented, covering the number and characteristics of victims and perpetrators, location, time of day, nature of the injuries, impact on the victims, and sanctions imposed on the perpetrators. Highlights include the following: Correctional administrators reported 7,444 allegations of sexual victimization in 2008 and 7,374 allegations in 2007. About 54% of substantiated incidents of sexual victimization involved only inmates, while 46% of substantiated incidents involved staff with inmates. Female inmates were disproportionately victimized by both other inmates and staff in federal and state prisons, as well as local jails. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2011. 61p. Source: Internet Resource: BJS Special Report: Accessed February 2, 2011 at: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/svraca0708.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/svraca0708.pdf Shelf Number: 120662 Keywords: InmatesJailsPrison RapePrisoners, Sexual VictimizationPrisonsSexual AssaultSexual Violence |
Author: Canada. Public Safety Canada Title: The Investigation, Prosecution and Correctional Management of High-Risk Offenders: A National Guide Summary: This guide has been prepared to provide police, prosecution, correctional and other criminal justice officials with an overview of the Canadian Criminal Code provisions designed to respond to sexual predators and other high-risk offenders. The interventions discussed are: Dangerous offender designations that can result in the worst offenders being indeterminately detained or placed under long-term supervision where a conviction for a breach could result in indeterminate detention; Long-term offender designations where high-risk offenders are sentenced to two or more years imprisonment plus up to ten (10) years of supervision that begins after both the prison sentence and any period of parole have been served; and Peace bonds that allow the courts to impose conditions on an individual’s movement and activities if there is reason to believe that the person will commit violent crimes if not restrained. Details: Ottawa: Her Majesty the Queenin Right of Canada, 2010. 197p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 14, 2011 at: http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/res/cor/rep/_fl/ipcmg-gepgc-eng.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Canada URL: http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/res/cor/rep/_fl/ipcmg-gepgc-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 120753 Keywords: Correctional AdministrationDangerous OffendersInmatesOffenders (Canada)Prisoners |
Author: Porter, Nicole D. Title: The State of Sentencing 2010: Developments in Policy and Practice Summary: Today, 7.2 million men and women are under correctional supervision. Of this total, five million are monitored in the community on probation or parole and 2.3 million are incarcerated in prisons or jails. As a result the nation maintains the highest rate of incarceration in the world at 743 per 100,000 population. The scale of the correctional population results from a mix of crime rates and legislative and administrative policies that vary by state. In recent years, lawmakers have struggled to find the resources to maintain state correctional systems; 46 states are facing budget deficits in the current fiscal year, a situation that is likely to continue, according to the National Governors Association. Many states are looking closely at ways to reduce correctional costs as they seek to address limited resources. States like Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York have successfully reduced their prison populations in recent years in an effort to control costs and effectively manage prison capacity. Overall, prison populations declined in 24 states during 2009, by 48,000 persons, or 0.7 percent. During 2010, state legislatures in at least 23 states and the District of Columbia adopted 35 criminal justice policies that may contribute to reductions in the prison population and eliminate barriers to reentry while promoting effective approaches to public safety. This report provides an overview of recent policy reforms in the areas of sentencing, probation and parole, drug policy, the prison census count, collateral consequences, and juvenile justice. Highlights include: South Carolina equalized penalties for crack and powder cocaine offenses as part of a sentencing reform package that garnered bipartisan support. New Jersey modified its mandatory sentencing law that applies to convictions in “drug free school zones,” and now authorizes judges to impose sentences below the mandatory minimum in appropriate cases. Prior to the reform, more than 3,600 defendants a year were convicted under the statute, 96% of whom were African American or Latino. During 2010, state legislatures in at least 23 states and the District of Columbia adopted 35 criminal justice policies that may contribute to reductions in the prison population and eliminate barriers to reentry while promoting effective approaches to public safety. This report provides an overview of recent policy reforms in the areas of sentencing, probation and parole, drug policy, the prison census count, collateral consequences, and juvenile justice. Details: Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project, 2011. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 28, 2011 at: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/publications/Final%20State%20of%20the%20Sentencing%202010.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/publications/Final%20State%20of%20the%20Sentencing%202010.pdf Shelf Number: 120882 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationCorrectionsCriminal Justice PolicyInmatesParolePrisonersProbationSentencing |
Author: Stadler, William Andrew Title: Empirical Examination of the “Special Sensitivity” to Imprisonment Hypothesis Summary: Quantitative research concerning white-collar offenders has received little attention in recent years. Research that has been conducted has primarily focused on the social and behavioral characteristics of these individuals, as well as the etiology of white-collar offending. In this regard, comparisons have been drawn between conventional street offenders and those convicted or sentenced for white-collar offenses with respect to demographic, social, and criminal history information. However, virtually no research has investigated the attributes and experiences of white-collar inmate within the prison environment. Moreover, there have been few attempts to draw comparisons among samples of imprisoned white-collar offenders and their street offender counterparts. While informative, studies that have examined incarcerated white-collar offenders have largely been guided by a qualitative research methodology that does little to inform the predictive validity of white-collar offender characteristics with respect to their subsequent prison experiences. As a result, the hypothesis that white-collar offenders are particularly sensitive to prison environments, because they are thought to be from backgrounds of privilege and hold higher rank on the social status spectrum, has remained untested. Because of this lack of research, the view that white-collar offenders experience more frequent and significant prison adjustment problems in the form of physical and mental health harms, social isolation, victimization, and institutional misconducts largely remains unchallenged. However, more rigorous investigation of the experiences of incarcerated white-collar offenders could have far-reaching implications with respect to how the justice system wishes to sanction white-collar offenders, how correctional facilities might go about addressing the needs of this special inmate population, and how the prison experience might impact the lives of white-collar offenders, both in prison and upon their release from incarceration. In an attempt to investigate these issues and address the special sensitivity hypothesis, the current study utilizes a male sample of incarcerated federal corrections inmates to explore differences between white-collar and street offenders. Specifically, demographic and social characteristics, as well as those involving attitudes, motivations, self-control, and personality attributes are examined among a male-only sample of prisoners incarcerated for white-collar offenses and non-white-collar offenses. Moreover, the current study examines the hypothesis that white-collar offenders are somehow more sensitive to the pains of imprisonment than offenders of the non-white-collar variety. The subsequent prison experiences of these offenders is examined and measured through a variety of prison adjustment measures during the course of their prison stay. Finally, implications of the findings are discussed with respect to how the justice and correctional systems may be affected by, and how they choose to respond to, white-collar offending populations with different management, supervision, and treatment strategies. Details: Cincinnati, OH: University of Cincinnati, School of Criminal Justice, 2010. 216p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed March 14, 2011 at: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=ucin1281991890 Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://etd.ohiolink.edu/view.cgi?acc_num=ucin1281991890 Shelf Number: 121000 Keywords: InmatesPrisonersPrisonizationWhite-Collar CrimeWhite-Collar Offenders |
Author: Correctional Association of New York Title: Treatment Behind Bars: Substance Abuse Treatment in New York Prisons Summary: Substance abuse is a daunting problem for the majority of prison inmates nationally and more than three-quarters of those in New York State. The devastation that often accompanies substance abuse places notoriously heavy demands on the criminal justice, correctional and substance abuse treatment systems, as well as on inmates, their families and their communities. The prison system has the unique potential to provide effective drug treatment to this captive population, addressing not only the individual needs of inmates but public health and public safety as well. Not only is the prison system in a unique position to provide drug treatment, but a substantial body of research documents that treatment is, on the whole, more effective than incarceration alone in reducing drug abuse and criminal behavior among substance abusers and in increasing the likelihood that they will remain drug- and crime-free. The need to provide more comprehensive substance abuse treatment services in New York State prisons, similar to the increasing need to provide mental health services in prisons as a result of deinstitutionalization of mental hospital patients, has directly been impacted by the Rockefeller drug laws. With their rigid requirements of mandatory minimum sentencing, the Rockefeller drug laws of 1973 radically restricted judicial discretion in utilizing alternatives to incarceration as a response to drug offenses. The result: 11% of the total prison population in 1980 were individuals incarcerated for drug-related offenses; as of January, 2008, that figure was 33%. Though this past year brought significant reform to the Rockefeller Drug Laws, several mandatory minimum sentences are still on the books and a large number of individuals remain ineligible for alternative to incarceration programs. The considerable increase in this population illustrates one of the many factors that make provision of prison-based substance abuse treatment paramount, as the majority of incarcerated individuals will participate in treatment due to the nature of their offense. As of April 2010, the New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) operated 68 facilities, with 57,650 inmates under custody. Eighty-three percent of inmates were designated by DOCS as “in need of substance abuse treatment.” To address their needs, DOCS operates 119 substance abuse treatment programs in 60 of its facilities. As of April l, 2009, two of those programs were licensed as treatment programs by the State’s Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS); the remainder are operated solely under the aegis and oversight of DOCS. The 2009 reforms to the Rockefeller drug laws call for change, however, requiring OASAS to guide, monitor and report on DOCS substance abuse treatment programs. In 2007, the Correctional Association launched a project to evaluate the needs of inmates with substance abuse problems and the State’s response to their needs. The information presented in this report is a result of this effort and presents our findings and recommendations based on visits to 23 facilities, interviews with experts, prison officials and correction officers, more than 2,300 inmate surveys and systemwide data provided by the Department of Correctional Services. Details: New York: Correctional Association of New York, 2011. 325p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2011 at: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/publications/download/pvp/issue_reports/satp_report_and_appendix_february_2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/publications/download/pvp/issue_reports/satp_report_and_appendix_february_2011.pdf Shelf Number: 121107 Keywords: Drug Abuse and CrimeDrug Abuse PolicyDrug Abuse Treatment (New York State)Drug OffendersInmatesPrisonersSubstance Abuse Treatment |
Author: Argentina. Chief National Cabinet of Ministers Title: Public Policies for Health Care in Prison Settings Summary: The Argentine Republic throughout the 1994 reform of the National Constitution has incorporated with constitutional hierarchy by the article 75, clause 22, international instruments of Human Rights, which are part of the constitutional body. The National Government takes as an essential axis in its policies the promotion and assurance of Human Rights in prison settings and guarantees the dignity of persons deprived of their freedom and other rights that act as their support, such as the right of life, of physical integrity and of health care. In this constitutional frame, it has been a concern not only the protection of health, but also the support of a policy that insures the highest possible level of physical and mental health (art. 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), which would provide, in a prison setting, the same quality of health that the rest of the community have (principle of universality and equivalence). At first stage, it was crucial to consider health in prisons as a public policy and necessary for the Ministry responsible for the Public Health to assume the responsibility and dictate the protocols by which prevention and assistance in prisons must be guided. Moreover, coordination must exist among the different government agencies to guarantee the right to health care, as well as social inclusion of inmates. Therefore, on the 29th.July 2008, the Ministries of Justice, Security and Human Rights, Health and the Scientific Consultant Committee for Control of Illegal Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and Complex Crimes (nowadays depends on the Chief of Cabinet of Ministers), they signed the framework agreement of cooperation in order to coordinate and improve the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation, throughout the implementation of programs, activities and plans on integral policies for health care and social inclusion (education, work and social development). On the one hand, in order to modify the health penitentiary paradigm and guarantee health post-penitentiary mechanisms for the people deprived of their freedom, the creation of "Inter-Ministerial Office for the Social Inclusion of People on Freedom Situation" has been proposed, which coordinates the different Ministries involved. On the other hand, being Argentina a federal country, on 29th December 2009, it was signed an Agreement for Cooperation and Assistance in Prisons, of which the Chief of the Cabinet Ministers, the Ministry of Justice, Security and Human Rights, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Development and the Provinces of Salta, Mendoza, Tierra del Fuego and Buenos Aires; the Committee on Public Policies for Prevention and Control of Transnational Illegal Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime and Corruption was the technical consultant. Finally, this change of state policies, that is that Ministry of Health is the one who establishes the strategies for assistance and prevention in prisons, through coordinated actions with the Ministries of Justice, Social Development, Work and Education, enabling the access of persons deprived of their freedom to health, in accordance with the obligations assumed by our country by the International Covenants of Human Rights. Details: Buenos Aires, Argentina: Chief National Cabinet of Ministers, 2010. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2011 at: www.jgm.gov.ar/archivos/jgm/public_policies_health_prison_en.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Argentina URL: Shelf Number: 121113 Keywords: Correctional ManagementInmatesPrison Health Care (Argentina)Prisoners |
Author: Kunic, Dan Title: The Aboriginal Offender Substance Abuse Program (AOSAP): Examining the Effects of Successful Completion on Post-Release Outcomes Summary: Over 90% of the Aboriginal men in federal custody require substance abuse intervention. In response to this need, CSC introduced the Aboriginal Offender Substance Program (AOSAP) in 2004. The first version (V-1) of the program consisted of 31 sessions and was field-tested from November 2004 to June 2005. As a result of feedback from field staff and program participants, a restructured and improved second version (V-2), comprising 53 sessions, was delivered to participants from June 2005 to October 2006. The final version of the program (V-3), 65 sessions in length, was launched in November 2006. All versions of the program were designed to reduce the Aboriginal offender’s risk of relapse to substance abuse and recidivism through a holistic process that examines the impact of substance abuse through the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions of the Aboriginal offender. Contemporary best-practices approaches in substance abuse treatment are also interwoven throughout the program. A cohort of AOSAP participants, who were released to the community on day parole, full parole, or statutory release, were studied for a period not exceeding the warrant expiry date to evaluate the effects of the program on post-release outcomes. If AOSAP reduced the likelihood of revocation and/or testing positive for drugs following conditional release to the community, then the program’s effectiveness with respect to mitigating the risk of revocation and/or relapse to substance abuse was confirmed. The methodology that was employed to investigate the effectiveness of AOSAP is particularly notable because it compared Aboriginal offenders who participated in AOSAP to other Aboriginal offenders who participated in the moderate (M) and high (H) intensity National Substance Abuse Programs (NSAP). Including comparisons of this nature was important because it provided a more conservative estimate of AOSAP’s effect on post-release outcomes. A total of 94 (3.5%) of the Aboriginal men in the release cohort fully or partially participated in AOSAP, and 79 (2.9%) and 344 (12.8%) fully or partially participated in the NSAP high and moderate intensity interventions, respectively. The remaining 2,178 (81%) of the Aboriginal men did not participate in institutionally-based AOSAP or NSAP interventions. Main Findings: 1. Generally, Aboriginal offenders who participated in AOSAP were returned to custody at a lower rate during the follow-up period than the groups of Aboriginal offenders who participated in NSAP-H, NSAP-M, failed to complete a substance abuse program, or did not participate in a substance abuse program prior to release from custody. Aboriginal offenders who participated in versions 2 or 3 of AOSAP were returned to custody at the same rate as Aboriginal offenders who participated in version 1 of AOSAP. There was no statistical difference between versions of AOSAP. Advanced statistical analysis, which allow for the control of offender characteristics associated with criminal behaviour, confirm these results. 2. Only 5% of the successful participants of AOSAP- V 2&3, and 6% of the participants of AOSAP version 1 were returned to custody because of a new offence or charge compared to 16% and 20% of the successful participants of NSAP-H and NSAP-M, respectively. 3. Exposure to substance abuse treatment prior to release from custody was a relatively weak predictor of relapse to substance abuse. Nevertheless, there was some evidence suggesting that successful participants of AOSAP and NSAP-M were less likely to incur a positive urinalysis result while on release than successful participants of NSAP-H. The result emerged after adjusting for the effects of other offender characteristics that are known to be associated with criminal behaviour. 4. There was some evidence that Aboriginal offenders who participated in AOSAP were less likely than Aboriginal offenders from the other program exposure categories to test positive for drugs that are considered dangerous because of the physical harms they cause the individual (e.g., cocaine, opioids) and the effects they have on significant others and the broader community. Details: Ottawa: Research Branch, Correctional Service of Canada, 2009. 89p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report 2010 Nº R-217; Accessed March 26, 2011 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/rsrch/reports/r217/r217-eng.pdf Year: 2009 Country: Canada URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/rsrch/reports/r217/r217-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 121120 Keywords: Corrections ProgramsDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersIndigenous PeoplesInmatesRecidivismRehabilitationSubstance Abuse (Canada) |
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 InstitutionsCost-AnalysisDetention (New Mexico)Felony OffendersInmatesJails |
Author: California. Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Office of Research Title: 2010 Adult Institutions Outcome Evaluation Report Summary: To comport with national best practices, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) now measures recidivism by tracking arrests, convictions and returns to prison. Although all three measures are displayed in charts and tables in Appendix A, CDCR uses the latter measure, returns to prison, as the primary measure of recidivism for the purpose of this report. We chose this measure because it is the most reliable measure available and is well understood and commonly used by most correctional stakeholders. CDCR has reported recidivism rates for felons released from custody since 1977. Prior to this report, CDCR provided recidivism rates only for felons paroled for the first time on their current term during a specified calendar year. Parolees were only tracked until they discharged from parole. CDCR is now expanding the cohort to include direct discharge, first-release and re-released felons who are released during a State Fiscal Year (FY), beginning with FY 2005-06. All felons are tracked for the full follow-up period, regardless of their status as active or discharged. In addition, recidivism rates are presented based on numerous characteristics (e.g., commitment offense, length-of-stay). This report is intended to provide more detailed information about recidivism to CDCR executives and managers, lawmakers and other correctional stakeholders who have an interest in the dynamics of reoffending behavior and recidivism reduction. Details: Sacramento: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 2010. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 16, 2011 at: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Adult_Research_Branch/Research_Documents/ARB_FY0506_Outcome_Evaluation_Report.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Adult_Research_Branch/Research_Documents/ARB_FY0506_Outcome_Evaluation_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 121369 Keywords: Corrections (California)InmatesPrisonersRecidivismRehabilitation |
Author: Jackson, Martin Title: Acquired Brain Injury in the Victorian Prison System Summary: This research set out to gain an understanding of the prevalence of acquired brain injury (ABI) among Victorian prisoners and to test an ABI screening tool to assist with identification of brain injury in this population. The study employed a three-stage process of initial screening, clinical interview and comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. One hundred and ten adult male prisoners and 86 adult female prisoners took part in the initial screen, with 74 males and 43 females completing the neuropsychological assessment. Individuals with an ABI appear to be substantially overrepresented in the Victorian prison population. Comprehensive neuropsychological assessment indicated that 42 per cent of male prisoners and 33 per cent of female prisoners from Stage Three had an ABI. This compares with an estimated prevalence of ABI among the general Australian population of two per cent (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007). Of prisoners assessed as having an ABI, six per cent of males and seven per cent of females were rated as having a severe ABI, which is consistent with figures for the general population. Drug and alcohol use appeared to be the main cause of ABI among prisoners, while in the general population traumatic head injury is the most common cause. Prisoners also reported substantially higher rates of drug and alcohol use than are typically reported in the community, as well high rates of co-morbid psychiatric conditions. These findings point to the need for a coordinated and multi-disciplinary approach to addressing the therapeutic needs of prisoners with an ABI. The nature of cognitive deficits identified in the current study also suggests that prisoners with a severe ABI are likely to have difficulty functioning in a prison environment, and may require specific assistance from correctional staff as well as altered approaches to the delivery of offending behaviour programs. In light of the study findings, Corrections Victoria is currently developing a comprehensive service model and has also implemented a specialist, multifocused pilot across part of the prison and community correctional service to work with offenders with an ABI. Details: Melbourne: Victoria Department of Justice, 2011. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Corrections Research Paper Series, Paper No. 04: Accessed July 1, 2011 at: http://www.justice.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/justlib/DOJ+Internet/resources/9/b/9b711080468f099b99d59d4d58beb1dd/Acquired_Brain_Injury_in_the_Victorian_Prison_System.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Australia URL: http://www.justice.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/justlib/DOJ+Internet/resources/9/b/9b711080468f099b99d59d4d58beb1dd/Acquired_Brain_Injury_in_the_Victorian_Prison_System.pdf Shelf Number: 121945 Keywords: Drug Abuse and AdditionDrug OffendersHealth CareInmatesMental Health ServicesPrisoners (Australia) |
Author: Gabhann, Conn Mac Title: Voices Unheard: A Study of Irish Travellers in Prison Summary: The Travellers in Prison Research Project, (TPRP), an initiative of the Irish Chaplaincy in Britain, (ICB), conducted research across prisons in England and Wales during the period August 2010 to March 2011 in order to establish an accurate picture of prisoners from an Irish Traveller background. The culmination of this research, Voices Unheard, is the first study of Irish Travellers in prison in England and Wales. It is first and foremost a presentation of data regarding Irish Travellers in prison. By accurately describing the situation of Irish Travellers in prison, it is hoped that the report proves to be a catalyst for effective monitoring of this prisoner group and consequently, the efficient re-deployment of available resources for Irish Travellers in prison. Effective service delivery to Irish Travellers in prison can result in a reduction in re-offending amongst this group and a corresponding reduction in the harm done to society in general. Voices Unheard, thereby, can represent a positive way forward for both the Irish Travelling community and wider society. Since 2003, HM Prison Service has been aware of the failure to adequately address the needs of Irish Travellers in prison in England and Wales. Irish Travellers suffer unequal hardship in prison. Poor levels of literacy, mental illness, limited access to services, discrimination and prejudicial licence conditions for release, disproportionately affect Traveller prisoners. Despite official recognition of these issues and the size of the Traveller population perhaps being as high as 1% of the overall prison population, little intervention has taken place to encourage rehabilitation amongst this group. Without appropriate strategies for Travellers in prison, society will continue to bear the social and economic burden of warehousing an ethnic group who cannot access education courses because they cannot read; a group that cannot complete rehabilitation programmes because they cannot write; and a group that cannot file their grievances because they cannot complete forms. Irish Travellers are members of a legally recognised ethnic group which has been a part of British society for centuries. Irish Travellers were, until the 1950s, an integral part of the rural economy in Britain, providing a wide range of skills and labour. Urbanisation, mass production of plastics, the mechanisation of agriculture and the bureaucratisation of society have undermined the traditional basis of the Traveller economy. Irish Travellers, as a result, have become marginalised economically and in turn, have become increasingly marginalised socially. A hostile media and definitively anti-nomadic legislation such as the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, have exacerbated the precarious condition of this group. Irish Travellers have not always adapted to the dynamics of contemporary life in Britain. Committed to retaining their strong family bonds and nomadic way of life, many Travellers have refused to assimilate into British society. On occasion, maintaining the Traveller way of life, has, for some Travellers, meant living apart from mainstream society. Experiences of pervasive prejudice from within mainstream society, for example, in terms of accommodation or educational opportunities, have conditioned some in this community to become less concerned with society’s rules and more interested in their own survival and prosperity. TPRP found that this narrative frequently results in the imprisonment of Irish Travellers. Overall, TPRP found that prisons are ill-prepared to deal with this distinctive prisoner group, failing to address the needs of Irish Traveller prisoners and consequently, failing in broader ambitions to reduce recidivism. Voices Unheard enumerates the challenges facing Irish Travellers in prison and makes initial recommendations for the improved delivery of services to this prisoner group, for the benefit of the Irish Traveller community and wider society. Details: London: Irish Chaplaincy in Britain, 2011. 91p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 19, 2011 at: http://www.iprt.ie/files/Voices_Unheard_June_2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.iprt.ie/files/Voices_Unheard_June_2011.pdf Shelf Number: 122109 Keywords: Ethnic GroupsGypsies (U.K.)InmatesMinority GroupsPrisoners |
Author: John Howard Society of Toronto Title: Homeless and Jailed: Jailed and Homeless Summary: Previous research has established that being homeless increases the likelihood of ending up in jail, while imprisonment increases the risk of homelessness and the length of time that homeless people spend in shelters. The number of homeless prisoners in Toronto area jails is increasing. And a small, but growing, number of men are caught in a revolving door between jails and shelters. This report explores the housing situation of adult men serving sentences in Toronto area jails, focusing on those who are homeless. These prisoners‘ housing plans on discharge, as well as their immediate and anticipated service needs in the months after release, are documented. Their residential locations are mapped in relation to selected neighbourhood characteristics. The survey results are based on interviews with 363 sentenced prisoners who have spent a minimum of five consecutive nights in custody and who are within days of scheduled release from one of four provincial correctional facilities in the Greater Toronto Area. Among this group, 22.9 percent, or roughly one of every five prisoners, was homeless when incarcerated, that is they were staying in a shelter, living on the street (in places considered unfit for human habitation), in a treatment facility, or staying at the home of a friend, paying no rent. The latter situation is a common form of hidden homelessness; if persons in that situation are excluded, in line with a more conservative definition of homelessness, a total of 19.3 percent were homeless. The average stay in custody was a little more than two months. Within days of discharge, the prisoners‘ housing plans indicate that their overall projected rate of homelessness would increase by 40 percent. Half of them plan to return to their pre-custody housing situation, even if it meant staying in a shelter, on the street, or using a friend‘s couch. Of those who were homeless before being incarcerated, the majority, 85.5 percent, anticipate being homeless again on discharge. Among prisoners who were housed before being incarcerated, 16.4 percent anticipate being homeless upon discharge. Thirteen percent of the survey respondents were homeless both before and after being incarcerated. Overall, 32.2 percent, or almost one of every three prisoners had plans upon discharge to go a shelter, live on the street, or couch-surf at the home of a friend. Another 12 percent of these prisoners are at risk of being homeless since they do not know where they will go. If these two groups are combined, a total of 44.6 percent are homeless or at risk of homelessness. This is a large, identifiable stream of people who should be targeted for assistance to reduce chronic homelessness. Analysts have pointed out repeatedly that relative to other homeless sub-groups, those who are chronically homeless have the greatest need for appropriate housing and services, an investment that would provide the largest social returns (Trypuc and Robinson 2009). Homeless prisoners are a vulnerable group – they tend to be older, 22.3 percent are 50 years of age or older. A high proportion of them, 43.3 percent, have severe health impairments. Most of them rely on income support programs, whose benefits they lose while in jail; in many cases, they must re-apply for these benefits after they are discharged. Homeless prisoners requested more types of service to deal with community re-entry than housed prisoners. Yet, almost all the prisoners (95 percent) said they needed various kinds of support. Overall, the survey respondents were only slightly more likely than the general population to have been living in low-income neighbourhoods that lack adequate services for the needs of residents. Homeless prisoners were most likely to have been living in downtown and City-designated priority neighbourhoods. Details: Toronto: John Howard Society of Toronto, 2010. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 19, 2011 at: http://media.thestar.topscms.com/acrobat/ef/6e/a2fdc45d452d8cc6e23535371b07.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Canada URL: http://media.thestar.topscms.com/acrobat/ef/6e/a2fdc45d452d8cc6e23535371b07.pdf Shelf Number: 122110 Keywords: Homeless Persons (Toronto)HomelessnessHousingInmatesJailsPrisoners |
Author: Reiter, Keramet Title: Parole, Snitch, or Die: California’s Supermax Prisons & Prisoners, 1987-2007 Summary: Supermax prisons across the United States detain thousands in long-term solitary confinement, under conditions of extreme sensory deprivation. They are prisons within prisons, imprisoning those who allegedly cannot be controlled in a general population prison setting. Most supermaxes were built in a brief period, between the late 1980s and the late 1990s. In 1988 and 1989, California opened two of the first and largest of the modern supermaxes: Pelican Bay and Corcoran State Prisons. Today, California houses more than 3,300 prisoners in supermax conditions. Each month, between 50 and 100 people are released directly from these supermaxes onto parole. Using statistics obtained from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, this paper explores who these parolees are: what race are these prisoners, how long did they spend in solitary confinement, how frequently are they released, and how frequently are they returned to prison? These supermax-specific statistics are then compared with publicly available state statistics describing the overall race and return-to-prison rates of parolees in California, revealing that supermax prisoners are disproportionately Latinos who have served long prison sentences, under severe conditions. The potential effects of supermax confinement on levels of violence within supermax institutions and throughout the state prison system are also explored, through the lens of prisoner death and assault statistics; no conclusive data establish a direct relationship between supermaxes and reductions in violence. Analysis of interviews with correctional department administrators about the original goals and purposes of the supermaxes further contextualizes these data, revealing that supermaxes today function rather differently than their designers envisioned twenty years ago. In sum, this research provides one of the first evaluations of how supermaxes function, in terms of whom they detain and for how long, and how these patterns relate to their originally articulated purposes. Details: Berkeley, CA: Institute for the Study of Social Change, University of California Berkeley, 2010. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: ISSC Fellows Working Papers: Accessed July 26, 2011 at: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/04w6556f` Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/04w6556f` Shelf Number: 122154 Keywords: GangsInmatesParoleesPrison ViolencePrisonersRecidivismSolitary ConfinementSupermax Prisons (California) |
Author: Lindahl, Nicole Title: Intimacy, Manipulation, and the Maintenance of Social Boundaries at San Quentin Prison Summary: San Quentin is an infamous prison in US history, the subject of myths, cautionary tales, and cable network specials. And yet ask the men living inside its walls, and they will insist San Quentin is the best place to do time in California. Beginning in the mid-1990s, San Quentin’s gates were opened to volunteers from the San Francisco Bay Area interested in providing educational and therapeutic programs. The implementation of these programs disrupted the routines and norms governing social relations within San Quentin and provided a rich window into the daily operation of the prison as it responds to pressure. In this paper, I identify and analyze three narratives which surface in the official discourse used by institutional actors to describe the prison environment and compare these narratives with observations of daily life behind San Quentin’s walls. Ultimately, I argue that in contrast to popular portrayals of prisons, which depict prisoners and officers as locked in depraved and antagonistic relationship patterns, the very structure of San Quentin, and perhaps prisons more generally, is highly conducive to the development of intimate bonds between these groups. Details: Berkeley, CA: Institute for the Study of Social Change, Unviersity of California Berkeley, 2011. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: ISSC Fellows Working Papers: Accessed July 26, 2011 at: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/15w491vk?query=lindahl Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/15w491vk?query=lindahl Shelf Number: 122155 Keywords: InmatesPrisonersPrisons (California)RehabilitationSan Quentin |
Author: Kevin, Maria Title: Addressing Prisoner Drug Use: Prevalence, Nature and Context. 3rd Collection of a Biennial Survey of Prisoners in New South Wales Summary: The extent and severity of drug-related problems among inmate populations presents significant challenges to correctional administrators. Inmates presenting with drug problems are among the most difficult to care for and manage. The current findings suggest an encouraging trend in the rate of drug-related offending and drug-related morbidity in the NSW inmate population. Despite an increase in the NSW prison population in 2003, there has been a decrease in drug-related offending and heavy-end drug use by inmates both before and during imprisonment. Encouragingly, inmates also indicated a greater awareness of the risks associated with drug use when compared with the findings of prior collections in this series. Even though this trend is positive, the levels of drug-related morbidity remain sufficiently high to maintain this as a priority area. The findings from this data collection series provide factual data to improve policy and strategy for this high need and high risk population. This data collection also provides a valuable and unique insight into prison life that can be used in the development of further effective management and rehabilitation programs. Details: Sydney: New South Wales Department of Corrective Services, 2005. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Publication No. 47: Accessed August 26, 2011 at: http://csa.intersearch.com.au/csajspui/bitstream/10627/122/2/RP047.pdf Year: 2005 Country: Australia URL: http://csa.intersearch.com.au/csajspui/bitstream/10627/122/2/RP047.pdf Shelf Number: 108596 Keywords: Drug Abuse TreatmentDrug Addiction and CrimeDrug OffendersInmatesPrisoners (Australia) |
Author: Kaminski, Robert J. Title: National Survey of Self-Injurious Behaviors in Prison, 2008 Summary: Self-injurious behaviors are defined as „„the deliberate destruction or alteration of body tissue without conscious suicidal intent‟‟ (Favazza, 1989, p. 137; see also Favazza & Rosenthal, 1993, for discussion). Within incarcerated populations the “typical” manifestation of self-injury involves inmates cutting themselves with or without an object or inserting objects into their bodies. Some inmates have self-injured for many years and have comorbidity with psychological disorders, particularly Borderline Personality Disorder. Self-injurious behaviors are also known to have a contagion effect, in which non-injuring inmates learn to replicate the behavior. Prisons house a number of individuals who face significant risk of engaging in this behavior. Studies estimate that 2% to 4% of the general prison population and 15% of prisoners receiving psychiatric treatment routinely exhibited self-injury (Toch, 1975; Young, Justice, & Erdberg, 2006). When self-injuring inmates are housed in specialized units this prevalence can be as high as 52.9% (Gray et al., 2003). This state of affairs places tremendous demands on the correctional institution. DeHart, Smith, and Kaminski (2009) found a consensus among professionals that correctional institutions are ill-equipped to adequately treat inmates who self-injure. These mental health professionals unequivocally supported a need for specialized training, equipment, and staffing to respond to acts of self-injury. To date, there is currently no epidemiological surveillance system or evidence-based treatment available that can effectively reduce acts of self-injury. A fuller understanding of processes that drive self-injury can give mental health professionals the opportunity to identify efficacious interventions. This was the motivation for the first National Survey of Self-Injurious Behaviors in Prison. Our goals included: 1. Estimate the prevalence of inmate self-injury in prisons. 2. Better understand of the manifestation of self-injury in prisons. 3. Gain insight into the impact of self-injury on the prison system and identify the procedures in place for preventing and responding to self-injury. Details: Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2009. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 2, 2011 at: http://www.cas.sc.edu/crju/research/self_injurious_behavior_final2008.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.cas.sc.edu/crju/research/self_injurious_behavior_final2008.pdf Shelf Number: 122624 Keywords: InmatesMental HealthPrisoners, Self-Injury |
Author: Kujath, Carlyne L. Title: Prison Violence: Preliminary Study Summary: This report has three primary objectives: 1) to identify a sample of offenders for use in our study, 2) to examine characteristics of this sample, and 3) to explore how these characteristics might influence whether an offender is violent or nonviolent. The demographic characteristics examined in this report were age, race, and sex. The sample consisted of 25,273 offenders incarcerated in FY07 and/or FY08. Twelve percent of the sample were violent (n = 2985). The remaining 22,288 offenders comprised our comparison group of nonviolent offenders. Analyses indicated a negative relationship between age and violent behavior (e.g., as age increased, the number of violent infractions decreased). This suggests that older offenders are less likely than younger offenders, to be violent. In terms of racial differences, non-white offenders were significantly more likely to be violent than white offenders. Hispanic males, in particular, had the highest mean number of violent infractions compared to any other racial/gender group. And while male offenders were found to be more likely to engage in violent behavior than female offenders by a factor of nearly 4:1, there were statistically significant differences found between females of different racial groups. For example, black females seemed to be almost equivalent with male offenders in terms of their mean number of violent infractions. Findings within this report suggest there might be additional factors to examine in future studies of prison violence. For example, examining the prevalence of Security Threat Groups (STGs) among different racial groups can provide DOC with additional information on who to expect violence from. Details: Olympia, WA: Department of Corrections, 2009. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 16, 2011 at: http://www.doc.wa.gov/aboutdoc/measuresstatistics/docs/PrisonViolence2009.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.doc.wa.gov/aboutdoc/measuresstatistics/docs/PrisonViolence2009.pdf Shelf Number: 122758 Keywords: InmatesPrison Violence (Washington State)PrisonersViolent Offenders |
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 InstitutionsInmatesPrisons (Liberia) |
Author: Burke, Cynthia Title: Adult Offenders in Local Custody and Under Community Supervision in San Diego County: Current Capacities and Future Needs Summary: Over the years, the Criminal Justice Clearinghouse at the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) has periodically produced a report entitled “Local Detention Facilities in the San Diego Region.” Historically, this report has examined the number and characteristics of adults and juveniles detained locally in jails and other facilities by either the San Diego County Sheriff’s or Probation Departments. However, with crime and arrest rates steadily declining and jail populations also going down, the most recent report was published over a decade ago, in 1999. As such, despite the fact that crime remains at 30-year lows, it seemed timely to update this report, especially given the upcoming changes across the state that will significantly impact who is detained and supervised locally, as opposed to at the state level through Assembly Bill 109 (Segerblom) (AB 109). Since this realignment currently applies solely to adult offenders, this bulletin is likewise focused on adults who have been detained and under community supervision in 2006, 2009, and 2010. These data are summarized and presented to serve as a baseline for 2011 and future years when these significant shifts in public policy have been made and the local justice system has responded. The information presented here will be useful to regional stakeholders as a tool to prepare and plan for the new populations that will be supervised locally, document the effects of various policy changes, and determine where additional resources may be needed. Details: San Diego: SANDAG, Criminal Justice Research Division, 2011. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: CJ Bulletin: Accessed November 4, 2011 at: http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1612_13431.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.sandag.org/uploads/publicationid/publicationid_1612_13431.pdf Shelf Number: 123226 Keywords: Adult Offenders (California)Community SupervisionInmatesJails |
Author: Neal, Rosemary A. Title: URICA: Assessing Readiness to Change among Male Offenders at Intake Summary: The University of Rhode Island Change Assessment (URICA) is a self-assessment tool designed to measure the level of an individual's motivation to modify their behavior as they progress through a process known as the stages of change. In the present study, the stages of change included precontemplation, contemplation, action, and maintenance phases. This research investigated the readiness to change behavior among male offenders at intake at the Oregon Department of Corrections based on the stages of change approach. Details: Monmouth, OR: Western Oregon University, 2011. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: Master's Essay: Accessed November 29, 2011 at: http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/RESRCH/docs/URICA.pdf?ga=t Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.oregon.gov/DOC/RESRCH/docs/URICA.pdf?ga=t Shelf Number: 123459 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsInmatesOffenders (Oregon)PrisonersRehabilitation |
Author: Fishbein, Diana Title: Assessing the Role of Neuropsychological Functioning in Inmates' Treatment Response Summary: The findings indicated that inmates with ECF (executive cognitive functions), in particular impulsivity, were less likely to respond to standard correctional treatment favorably, were more likely to drop out of treatment, and were more disruptive during treatment. The results thus supported the main hypothesis that performance deficits in ECF tasks and emotional responses would characterize disruptive inmates and predict their treatment response. Other factors that predicted treatment outcomes of ECF inmates included history of physical abuse, age of inmate, and the experience of psychological problems within the past 30 days. Factors unrelated to treatment outcomes for ECF inmates included IQ and prior drug use. The authors suggest that ECF inmates may be better treated with a targeted, neurocognitive-based treatment strategy to reduce violence among prison inmates. Details: Baltimore, MD: RTI International, 2006. 104p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 21, 2012 at https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/216303.pdf Year: 2006 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/216303.pdf Shelf Number: 123713 Keywords: InmatesMental Illness |
Author: Oldemeyer, Lacey N. Title: Demographic and Historical Factors in Violent and Nonviolent Offenders with Psychotic Disorders Summary: The purpose of this study was to explore historical or demographic factors of inmates diagnosed with a psychotic disorder as well as to assess whether any of these factors distinguish violent and nonviolent offenders diagnosed with mental illness. The sample consisted of 73 male inmates who had been released from Oregon Department of Corrections before 2004. Of these, 44 had been convicted of nonviolent crimes and 29 had been convicted of violent crimes. Inmates’ institutional and medical files were examined for 18 factors: conviction, arrest record, race, marital status, employment history, highest grade level completed, psychiatric treatment before arrest, inpatient treatment, psychiatric medication history, probation or parole revocation, history of disciplinary reports, age of first crime, age of onset of psychosis, parents’ marital status before participant reached the age of 18, history of abuse, history of substance abuse, family history of crime, and violence before the age of 18. The results of a frequency analysis showed large differences (10% or more) between nonviolent and violent inmates for the following variables: race, marital status, parents’ marital status, type of parent/guardian figure present in the childhood home, unemployment 6 months before arrest, age of psychotic onset, revocation of probation or parole, disciplinary reports, and history of violence. A chi square analysis was conducted to determine if there were any significant differences in the variables between violent and nonviolent offenders. There was a significant difference in age of psychotic onset. Inmates in the violent group more often experienced psychotic onset between the ages of 15 to 19 than at younger or older ages, whereas inmates in the nonviolent group more often experienced psychotic onset before the age of 15 and between the ages of 20 to 29. Details: Hillsboro, OR: School of Professional Psychology, Pacific University, 2009. 66p. Source: Thesis. Internet Resource: Accessed on January 22, 2012 at http://commons.pacificu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1221&context=spp&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%2522demographic%2520and%2520historical%2520factors%2520in%2520violent%2520and%2520nonviolent%2520offenders%2520with%2520psychotic%2520disorders%2522%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D2%26ved%3D0CCYQFjAB%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fcommons.pacificu.edu%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1221%2526context%253Dspp%26ei%3DN2kcT9vmGMbv0gHbs9HoAg%26usg%3DAFQjCNEGIuJ3NdIeKOotWYNKvowpYUAp7w#search=%22demographic%20historical%20factors%20violent%20nonviolent%20offenders%20psychotic%20disorders%22 Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://commons.pacificu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1221&context=spp&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%2522demographic%2520and%2520historical%2520factors%2520in%2520violent%25 Shelf Number: 123726 Keywords: Demographic TrendsInmatesMental Illness (United States)Nonviolent OffendersViolent Offenders |
Author: La Vigne, Nancy G. Title: Women on the Outside: Understanding the Experiences of Female Prisoners Returning to Houston, Texas Summary: This research report explores the unique experiences of women exiting prison, focusing on a representative sample of 142 women who were released from Texas prisons and state jails in 2005 and returned to Houston communities. It describes the challenges women face in obtaining housing, reuniting with family, and avoiding drug use and criminal behavior after their return to the community. Recommendations for improvements in policies and practices specific to increasing the successful reintegration of women are also presented. Details: Washington, DC: Justice Policy Institute, Urban Institute, 2009. 17p. Source: Research Report: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 27, 2012 at Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 123795 Keywords: Female OffendersInmatesPrisoner Reentry (Texas)Reintegration, Offenders |
Author: U.S. Government Accountability Office Title: Bureau of Prisons: Eligibility and Capacity Impact Use of Flexibilities to Reduce Inmates’ Time in Prison Summary: The Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is responsible for the custody and care of federal offenders. BOP’s population has increased from about 145,000 in 2000 to about 217,000 in 2011 and BOP is operating at 38 percent over capacity. There is no longer parole for federal offenders and BOP has limited authority to affect the length of an inmate's prison sentence. BOP has some statutory authorities and programs to reduce the amount of time an inmate remains in prison, which when balanced with BOP’s mission to protect public safety and prepare inmates for reentry, can help reduce crowding and the costs of incarceration. GAO was asked to address: (1) the extent to which BOP utilizes its authorities to reduce a federal prisoner’s period of incarceration; and (2) what factors, if any, impact BOP's use of these authorities. GAO analyzed relevant laws and BOP policies; obtained nationwide data on inmate participation in relevant programs and sentence reductions from fiscal years 2009 through 2011; conducted site visits to nine BOP institutions selected to cover a range of prison characteristics and at each, interviewed officials responsible for relevant programs; and visited four community-based facilities serving the institutions visited. Though not generalizable, the information obtained from these visits provided insights. GAO recommends that BOP establish a plan, including time frames and milestones, for requiring contractors to submit prices of RRC beds and home detention services. BOP concurred with this recommendation. Details: Washington, DC: GAO, 2012. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: GAO-12-320: Accessed February 13, 2012 at: http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588284.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.gao.gov/assets/590/588284.pdf Shelf Number: 124115 Keywords: Costs of Criminal JusticeEarly ReleaseFederal Prisons (U.S.)InmatesPrison Overcrowding |
Author: Taylor, Mac Title: The 2012-13 Budget: Refocusing CDCR After The 2011 Realignment Summary: In 2011, the state enacted several bills to “realign” to county governments the responsibility for certain low-level offenders, parolees, and parole violators. These changes will result in significant reductions in the inmate and parole populations managed by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). These reductions will have various implications for how CDCR manages its prison and parole system. In 2011, the state enacted several bills to realign to county governments the responsibility for managing and supervising certain felon offenders who previously had been eligible for state prison and parole. Over the next few years, these changes will result in significant reductions in the inmate and parole populations managed by CDCR. The purpose of this report, which is the second of a two-part series examining the impacts of the 2011 realignment on California’s criminal justice system, is to identify the impacts of the realignment of adult offenders on CDCR’s operations and facility needs. Specifically, this report discusses whether realignment will enable the state to meet the prison population limit required by the federal court, and how the state should proceed if it appears that these limits will be missed in the time line specified by the court. In addition, the report discusses how the change in the makeup of CDCR’s inmate population following realignment will affect its housing, mental health, and medical facility needs, and provides recommendations on how to better match CDCR facilities with the remaining inmate population. We also discuss how realignment will impact the state’s fire camp program and how the state can ensure that this program continues to yield its full benefit following realignment. Finally, we describe how realignment will affect the need for rehabilitation programs and how to better match these programs to the needs of the remaining inmates and parolees. Details: California: Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO), 2012. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 15, 2012 at http://www.lao.ca.gov/analysis/2012/crim_justice/cdcr-022312.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.lao.ca.gov/analysis/2012/crim_justice/cdcr-022312.pdf Shelf Number: 124966 Keywords: Corrections AdministrationInmatesParole (California)Parole Supervision |
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 IndiansCorrectional InstitutionsInmatesJailsNative Americans |
Author: California. Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Office of Inspector General Title: Special Report: Inmate Cell Phone Use Endangers Prison Security and Public Safety Summary: According to numerous California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (Department) officials, the possession of cell phones and electronic communication devices by California’s inmates is one of the most significant problems facing the Department today. Therefore, in February 2009, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) began a review into the proliferation of contraband cell phones in California prisons and how their use puts Department staff, inmates, and the general public at risk. During 2006, correctional officers seized approximately 261 cell phones in the state’s prisons and camps. However, by 2008, that number increased ten-fold to 2,811 with no end in sight. Inmates’ access to cell phone technology facilitates their ability to communicate amongst themselves and their associates outside of prison, to plan prison assaults, plot prison escapes, and orchestrate a myriad of other illegal activity. In addition, these devices can provide an inmate unrestricted and unmonitored access to the Internet, whereby they can communicate with unsuspecting victims, including minors. According to the Department, inmates are paying those involved in smuggling cell phones into California prisons between $500 and $1,000 per phone. There are currently no criminal consequences for the introduction or possession of cell phones in prison, making this activity merely an administrative violation. Furthermore, current security entrance procedures provide ample opportunities for staff and visitors to bring contraband into prison facilities without fear of discovery. Therefore, the introduction of cell phones into state prisons is a low risk, high reward endeavor. In addition to staff, other conduits for smuggling cell phones include visitors, outside accomplices, minimum support facility inmates working outside perimeter fences, and contracted employees. In an effort to combat this growing threat, the Department is supporting legislation making it a crime to introduce or possess cell phones in California’s prisons. Unfortunately, previous efforts to pass similar legislation have failed. In addition, technology that detects or jams cell phone signals is commercially available but potentially expensive and would require federal authorization to place into use. Other detection methods that have been used or are now in sporadic use, such as hands-on searches, metal detectors, and x-ray equipment, are more labor intensive and would require an increase in staffing and funding. Details: Sacramento: Office of the Inspector General, 2009. 18p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 17, 2012 at: http://www.oig.ca.gov/media/reports/BOI/Special%20Report%20of%20Inmate%20Cell%20Phone%20Use.pdf Year: 2009 Country: United States URL: http://www.oig.ca.gov/media/reports/BOI/Special%20Report%20of%20Inmate%20Cell%20Phone%20Use.pdf Shelf Number: 125321 Keywords: Cell PhonesInmatesPrison ContrabandPrisonersPrisons (California) |
Author: Hafemeister, Thomas L. Title: The Ninth Circle of Hell: An Eighth Amendment Analysis of Imposing Prolonged Supermax Solitary Confinement on Inmates with a Mental Illness Summary: The increasing number of inmates with a mental disorder in America’s prison population and the inadequacy of their treatment and housing conditions have been issues of growing significance in recent years. The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that “over one and a quarter million people suffering from mental health problems are in prisons or jails, a figure that constitutes nearly sixty percent of the total incarcerated population in the United States.” Furthermore, a person suffering from a mental illness in the United States is three times more likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized, with as many as forty percent of those who suffer from a mental illness coming into contact with the criminal justice system every year and police officers almost twice as likely to arrest someone who appears to have a mental illness. As a result, the United States penal system has become the nation’s largest provider of mental health services, a “tragic consequence of inadequate community mental health services combined with punitive criminal justice policies.” This growth in the number of inmates with a mental disorder, combined with the recent rise of prolonged supermax solitary confinement and the increasingly punitive nature of the American penological system, has resulted in a disproportionately large number of inmates with a mental disorder being housed in supermax confinement. The harsh restrictions of this confinement often significantly exacerbate these inmates’ mental disorders or otherwise cause significant additional harm to their mental health, and preclude proper mental health treatment. Given the exacerbating conditions associated with supermax settings, this setting is not only ill-suited to the penological problems posed by the growing number of these inmates, but intensifies these problems by creating a revolving door to supermax confinement for many such inmates who may be unable to conform their behavior within the prison environment. Housing inmates with a mental disorder in prolonged supermax solitary confinement deprives them of a minimal life necessity as this setting poses a significant risk to their basic level of mental health, a need “as essential to human existence as other basic physical demands . . . .”, and thereby meets the objective element required for an Eighth Amendment cruel and unusual punishment claim. In addition, placing such inmates in supermax confinement constitutes deliberate indifference to their needs as this setting subjects this class of readily identifiable and vulnerable inmates to a present and known risk by knowingly placing them in an environment that is uniquely toxic to their condition, thereby satisfying the subjective element needed for an Eighth Amendment claim. Whether it is called torture, a violation of evolving standards of human decency, or cruel and unusual punishment, truly “a risk this grave — this shocking and indecent — simply has no place in civilized society.” Details: Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia School of Law; University of Virginia School of Medicine, 2012. 62p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 18, 2012 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2032139 Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2032139 Shelf Number: 125245 Keywords: Conditions of ConfinementInmatesMental HealthPrisoners (U.S.)PunishmentSolitary ConfinementSupermax Prisons |
Author: Pew Center on the States Title: Time Served: The High Cost, Low Return of Longer Prison Terms Summary: Over the past four decades, criminal justice policy in the United States was guided largely by a central premise: the best way to protect the public was to put more people in prison. A corollary was that offenders should spend longer and longer time behind bars. The logic of the strategy seemed inescapable—more inmates serving more time surely equals less crime—and policy makers were stunningly effective at putting the approach into action. As the Pew Center on the States has documented, the state prison population spiked more than 700 percent between 1972 and 2011, and in 2008 the combined federal-statelocal inmate count reached 2.3 million, or one in 100 adults. Annual state spending on corrections now tops $51 billion and prisons account for the vast majority of the cost, even though offenders on parole and probation dramatically outnumber those behind bars. Indeed, prison expansion has delivered some public safety payoff. Serious crime has been declining for the past two decades, and imprisonment deserves some of the credit. Experts differ on precise figures, but they generally conclude that the increased use of incarceration accounted for one-quarter to one-third of the crime drop in the 1990s. Beyond the crime control benefit, most Americans support long prison terms for serious, chronic, and violent offenders as a means of exacting retribution for reprehensible behavior. But criminologists and policy makers increasingly agree that we have reached a “tipping point” with incarceration, where additional imprisonment will have little if any effect on crime. Research also has identified new offender supervision strategies and technologies that can help break the cycle of recidivism. Across the nation, these developments, combined with tight state budgets, have prompted a significant shift toward alternatives to prison for lower-level offenders. Policy makers in several states have worked across party lines to reform sentencing and release laws, including reducing prison time served by nonviolent offenders. The analysis in this study shows that longer prison terms have been a key driver of prison populations and costs, and the study highlights new opportunities for state leaders to generate greater public safety with fewer taxpayer dollars. Details: Washington, DC: Pew Charitable Trusts, 2012. 65p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 26, 2012 at: http://www.pewstates.org/uploadedFiles/PCS_Assets/2012/Prison_Time_Served.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.pewstates.org/uploadedFiles/PCS_Assets/2012/Prison_Time_Served.pdf Shelf Number: 125400 Keywords: Costs of Criminal JusticeCriminal Justice ExpendituresCriminal Justice PolicyImprisonmentInmatesPrison PopulationSentencing |
Author: Ashamu, Elizabeth Title: “Prison Is Not For Me”: Arbitrary Detention in South Sudan Summary: While ensuring accountability for crimes is a critical aspect of establishing the rule of law, arbitrary detention is rife in South Sudan, with individuals who should not have been detained at all spending months or even years in one of the country’s approximately 79 prisons. There are people in prison detained simply to compel the appearance of a relative or friend; because they were said to show evidence of mental disability; or because they are unable to pay a debt, court fine, or compensation award. Many are serving prison terms for adultery or for customary law crimes such as “elopement” or “pregnancy,” which place undue restrictions on the rights to privacy and to marry a spouse of one’s choice. Legal aid is almost totally absent, leaving individuals charged with crimes—the vast majority of whom are illiterate—unable to follow the status of their case or to call and prepare witnesses in their defense. In “Prison Is Not For Me” Arbitrary Detention in South Sudan, Human Rights Watch documents how, because of weaknesses across the criminal justice system, many of the approximately 6,000 individuals in South Sudan’s prisons are deprived of their liberty arbitrarily and should not be living behind bars. It also describes the grim conditions in which they live—overcrowded and unsanitary, and without adequate health care or food. In the face of severe underdevelopment and myriad long-term challenges, South Sudan’s leaders have voiced their commitment to uphold human rights. The government should urgently work to reduce arbitrary detentions by enacting legal and policy reforms that limit remand detention and end imprisonment for adultery and for non-payment of debts. It should also find a way to guarantee the right to legal aid, to ensure rule of law actors are sufficiently trained, and to provide proper care for people with mental disabilities outside of prison. Details: New York: Human Rights Watch, 2012. 105p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 10, 2012 at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/southsudan0612_forinsert4Upload.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Sudan URL: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/southsudan0612_forinsert4Upload.pdf Shelf Number: 125534 Keywords: Arbitary DetentionHuman RightsInmatesPrisoners (South Sudan)Prisons |
Author: Allen, Rob Title: Reducing the Use of Imprisonment: What Can We Learn from Europe? Summary: The familiar story of a rising prison population across Europe, and a general ‘punitive turn’ in Western democracies, now requires a new chapter. Since 2004, European countries have seen a divergence in prison numbers, with the Netherlands, Germany and some others successfully managing to reduce their prison populations, effectively tracking their falling crime levels, whereas England and Wales, along with France, have not achieved this. In England and Wales the prison population has continued to rise despite a clear and sustained reduction in crime. Since 2004 the total numbers incarcerated in the Netherlands has fallen from more than 20,000 to less than 15,000. In 2009 the Dutch Ministry of Justice announced plans to close eight prisons and cut 1,200 jobs in the prison system. They expect the number of prisoners to continue to decline and to average 8,875 by 2015. The Netherlands now uses the spare capacity to lease space at Tilburg jail to house 500 prisoners from Belgium, whose prisons are severely overcrowded. Alongside the Netherlands, Germany, too, has seen a significant decrease in numbers in custody since the middle of last decade. The aim of this paper is to look at features of the criminal justice systems in operation in these countries and to analyse changes in prison numbers in order to see whether any lessons might usefully be considered in England and Wales. There is a particular focus on Germany and the Netherlands as these are countries which share certain similarities with the UK. All three are highly urbanised countries with a GDP per capita well above the EU average, although the UK has recently had higher rates of unemployment and a higher proportion of citizens at risk of poverty and leaving education early than either the Netherlands or Germany. Spending on courts, prosecution and legal aid is similar in the UK and Netherlands, and trust in justice institutions is broadly comparable. Both Labour and the Conservatives have looked to the Netherlands for some of their ‘welfare to work’ agendas. Details: London: Criminal Justice Alliance, 2012. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 11, 2012 at: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/CJA_ReducingImprisonment_Europe.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Europe URL: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/CJA_ReducingImprisonment_Europe.pdf Shelf Number: 125548 Keywords: InmatesPrison PopulationPrisoners (Europe) |
Author: Great Britain. HM Inspectorate of Probation and HM Inspectorate of Prisons Title: Second Aggregate Report on Offender Management in Prisons Summary: This report is the second to be published from our joint Prison Offender Management Inspection programme, in which we have examined how well work with prisoners is being carried out during their time in custody. The assumption underlying the criminal justice system is that imprisonment should not only punish those who have offended by containing them, and thereby provide some form of deterrence to others whilst at the same time protecting the wider community, but also reform them. In order to achieve this, work with individual prisoners needs to address effectively their attitudes, behaviour and lifestyle. We were disappointed to find that, with some notable exceptions, this is not happening to any meaningful extent. Our inspections found that many prisons paid good attention to the ‘resettlement’ needs of the prisoner, i.e. their personal and social circumstances including education, employment, health etc. Such work plays an important part in reducing the likelihood of reoffending on release, but needs to be underpinned by work which encourages and sustains changes in attitudes and behaviour. There are still insufficient places across the prison estate on accredited programmes which deal with thoughts and attitudes. As a result some prisoners, notably sex offenders, are not always able to access the treatment programmes they need to change their behaviour before they are released. We saw many committed staff in Offender Management Units in prisons who clearly wanted to work effectively with individual prisoners and were frustrated when deployed to other duties because of operational demands. There was insufficient guidance about their role and some felt inadequately trained. Professional supervision by line managers is not generally a part of the prison culture and oversight of work with individual cases, even the most serious, was limited. Although we found some examples of good public protection work, we were concerned that, overall, the work on both public protection and child protection issues was not of a sufficient standard. Too often the separation of offender management and public protection functions within the prison meant that information critical to public protection did not inform offender management decisions. Given the lack of priority afforded to offender management work it was not surprising to find that prison staff outside the Offender Management Unit had little appreciation of its work. The electronic case record P-NOMIS has the capacity to address some of our concerns by capturing and communicating information about an individual prisoner, including their progress towards achieving sentence plan objectives. However, despite the investment in the roll-out of the system, it was not being used effectively to support offender management. Sentence plans were generally inadequate. Too often they were based on the interventions that were available rather than on what were required. This has had the effect of masking the true level of need across the prison estate. Objectives were rarely outcome focused, so it was not surprising that progress and change were insufficiently recorded. These failings raise problems for offender managers in the community, as well as staff in prisons, as they are responsible for preparing risk assessments to inform progress through the prison system and ultimately release. A period of incarceration offers an opportunity to tackle a prisoner’s entrenched behaviour and attitudes, and moreover to observe and capture on a day-to-day basis whether the necessary changes are taking place prior to release. Failing to capitalise on that opportunity is a waste of an expensive resource. Details: London: Criminal Justice Joint Inspection, 2012. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 23, 2012 at: http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/inspectorate-reports/hmiprobation/adult-inspection-reports/omi2/omi2-aggregate-report.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/publications/inspectorate-reports/hmiprobation/adult-inspection-reports/omi2/omi2-aggregate-report.pdf Shelf Number: 125740 Keywords: Correctional AdministrationCorrectional ProgramsInmatesPrison ManagementPrisoner RehabilitationPrisoners (U.K.) |
Author: Ombudsman SA (South Australia) Title: Ombudsman Investigation into the Department for Correctional Services in Relation to the Restraining and Shackling of Prisoners in Hospitals Summary: All adult prisoners held on remand and under sentence in South Australia are under the care of the department. Except in a few instances, it is responsible for all aspects of their care. The Department for Health and Ageing, through the South Australian Prisoner Health Service (SAPHS), provides health services in the nine state prisons. It provides a range of primary services from nursing staff, salaried medical officers, visiting mepractitioners and a limited range of allied health services. Yatala Labour Prison and the Adelaide Remand Centre have small medical centres capable of managing semi-acute health problems, which are operated by SAPHS. Also, a limited 24-hour nursing service is provided at these sites. On-site psychiatric clinics are provided at these prisons by Forensic Mental Health Services, which also provides a separate inpatient facility at James Nash House. Most secondary and tertiary health care and most allied health services are provided off-site through the public health system. Generally, when prisoners are receiving medical treatment in hospital they are under the supervision of the department. However, this varies with mental health patients. When mental health patients are in an emergency department or an open ward of a hospital, their security is managed by the department. Once a mental health patient is transferred to a secure, locked ward all restraints and guards are removed, and they can be accommodated to receive treatment for their mental health needs. This investigation relates only to the restraint of prisoners who are receiving treatment in the general wards of South Australian public hospitals whilst restrained and under the supervision of the department. Details: Rundle Mall, SA: Ombudsman SA, 2012. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 30, 2012 at: http://www.ombudsman.sa.gov.au/Ombudsman%20investigation%20into%20the%20Department%20for%20Correctional%20Services.pdf Year: 2012 Country: Australia URL: http://www.ombudsman.sa.gov.au/Ombudsman%20investigation%20into%20the%20Department%20for%20Correctional%20Services.pdf Shelf Number: 125815 Keywords: InmatesPrisoners, Medical Treatment (Australia)Prisoners, Restraints and Shackling |
Author: Cooke, David J. Title: Violence in Barbados Prisons: past, Present, and Future Summary: On March 30 2005, according to local media reports, a fight broke out among a small group of prisoners in HMP Glendairy, Barbados. The fight, reportedly a retaliatory response by a group of younger prisoners on the perpetrator of a sexual assault on one of their number, was the catalyst for widespread prisoner disruption. Over the next three days, this single violent incident escalated to the point where a significant proportion of the prisoner population ─ which stood at the time at just over 1000 ─ took control of the prison and systematically engaged in a campaign of widespread destruction and arson. The consequence of this three-day riot was that the prison was damaged to such an extent that it was no longer habitable and Barbados lost its only prison. It is tempting to look for an explanation for such events in the actions of individual prisoners, and while there is no doubt that the events were sparked by individual action, our interviews with prisoners and staff would lead us to conclude that the reasons are more complex than that. Many prisoners chose to become part of the disruption because a sense of injustice pervaded the prison, a sense of injustice about the operation of the justice system in Barbados and the functioning of the regime in Glendairy. The main body of this report will explore these situational factors in more detail; this short section will set out our observations. Details: Ottawa: International Corrections and Prisons Association, 2007. 3 vols. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 17, 2012 at: http://www.icpa.ca/tools/download/477/Violence_in_Barbados:_Past,_Present_and_Future Year: 2007 Country: Barbados URL: http://www.icpa.ca/tools/download/477/Violence_in_Barbados:_Past,_Present_and_Future Shelf Number: 126061 Keywords: Collective ViolenceCorrectional AdministrationInmatesPrison Violence (Barbados)PrisonersVictimization in Prisons |
Author: California Council on Science and Technology Title: The Efficacy of Managed Access Systems to Intercept Calls from Contraband Cell Phones in California Prisons Summary: This report is in response to a July 7, 2011 letter of request to the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) from four California State Senators (Senators Elaine Alquist, Loni Hancock, Christine Kehoe and Alex Padilla). As detailed in the front of this report, the senators asked CCST to provide input on the best way to prevent cell phones from getting into the hands of inmates and, if they do, how best to prevent calls from being completed without impairing the ability of prison authorities to make and receive official business cell phone calls. In addition, they asked CCST to undertake a study on the feasibility of Managed Access Systems (MAS) technology as an effective strategy to curtail the use of contraband cell phones in the California State Prisons. In their letter the senators indicated that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) had issued an Invitation for Bid (IFB), for replacement of the Inmate and Wards Telephone System (IWTS) including a requirement and specifications for the installation and operation of a MAS at each of the 33 State Prison sites to combat the problem of contraband cell phones in the California State Prison system. In exchange for the MAS system, the successful bidder/vendor would receive the right to operate and collect revenues from the IWTS landline phone system. Across all of the California prison facilities this IWTS use is estimated to be approximately 99 million minutes of landline calls. The CDCR IFB defines in detail the required parameters for the IWTS and the MAS. Details: Sacramento, CA; California Council on Science and Technology, 2012. 78p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 23, 2012 at http://www.ccst.us/publications/2012/2012cell.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.ccst.us/publications/2012/2012cell.pdf Shelf Number: 126411 Keywords: Cell Phones (California)Evaluative StudiesInmatesPrison Contraband (California)PrisonersPrisons (California) |
Author: Sexton, Lori Title: Under the Penal Gaze: An Empirical Examination of Penal Consciousness Among Prison Inmates Summary: This dissertation develops a new theoretical framework that examines the ways in which prisoners orient to and make meaning of their punishment in order to more fully understand the nature of penality writ large. The framework, which I call penal consciousness, moves beyond the limited, objective view of punishment as legal sanction to a more expansive view of penality that privileges subjectivity and meaning. Through the inductive analysis of 80 in-depth, qualitative interviews with Ohio state prisoners, I investigate the ways in which penality— defined here that which is experienced as punishing or recognized as punishment—is understood by different populations of prisoners in different carceral settings. This design allows me to examine the patterned nature of punishment across populations (male and female prisoners) and settings (traditional indirect and innovative direct supervision carceral environments) while setting the stage for a broadly applicable theoretical framework. The penal consciousness framework examines punishment along two key dimensions: salience and severity. Through an examination of the level of abstraction at which punishment is experienced, as well as what I call the “punishment gap” between an individual’s expectations and experiences of punishment, variation in severity and salience can be better understood. The examination of the interplay between severity and salience reveals four distinct narratives of penal consciousness. Each narrative of penal consciousness is a story that prisoners tell about the meaning and place of punishment in their lives. These narratives differ according to the ways in which prisoners situate their punishment in the larger landscape of their lives, with punishment viewed as part of life, a separate life, suspension of life, or death. By examining punishment as the nexus between the objective and the subjective and locating punishment in prisoners’ lives, the penal consciousness framework allows us to map variation in the lived experience of punishment and makes visible the processes by which penality is constructed. Details: Irvine, CA: Department of Criminology, Law and Society, University of California, Irvine, 2012. 217p. Source: PhD Dissertation: Internet Resource: Accessed October 16, 2012 at https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239671.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/239671.pdf Shelf Number: 126739 Keywords: InmatesPrisonersPunishment, Experience of |
Author: Dolovich, Sharon Title: Exclusion and Control in the Carceral State Summary: Theorists of punishment typically construe the criminal justice system as the means to achieve retribution or to deter or otherwise prevent crime. But a close look at the way the American penal system actually operates makes clear the poor fit between these more conventional explanations and the realities of American penal practice. Taking actual practice as its starting point, this essay argues instead that the animating mission of the American carceral project is the exclusion and control of those people officially labeled as criminals. It maps the contours of exclusion and control, exploring how this institution operates, the ideological discourse that justifies it, and the resulting normative framework that has successfully made a set of practices that might otherwise seem both inhumane and self-defeating appear instead perennially necessary and appropriate. Appreciating the “cognitive conventions” by which current penal practices are rendered at once logical and legitimate proves to shed light on a number of mystifying features of the Americanpenal landscape, including why LWOP and supermax have proliferated so widely; why sentences are so often grossly disproportionate to the offense; why, given the multiple complex causes of crime, the state persists in responding to criminal conduct by locking up the actors; why prison conditions are so harsh; why recidivism is so high; why extremely long sentences are so frequently imposed even for relatively non-serious crimes; and even why the people we incarcerate are disproportionately African-American. Without claiming to provide comprehensive answers to these vexing questions, this essay offers a framework that helps to explain these striking aspects of the American carceral system. This framework takes as its starting point the practical demands incarceration imposes on the state itself: the exclusion and control of the people sentenced to prison. But as will be shown, in the American context, efforts to make sense of this way of responding to antisocial behavior quickly lead beyond practicalities to a moral economy on which the incarcerated lose not only their liberty but also their full moral status as fellow human beings and fellow citizens. What happens to them is thus no longer a matter for public concern. And as a consequence of this collective indifference, penal practices that may otherwise seem counterproductive, unnecessarily harsh, and even cruel become comprehensible and even inevitable. Part II of this essay sketches the structure of the American carceral system, exposing both its dependence on the logic of exclusion and control and the moral economy that drives it. Part III explores the self-defeating nature of current carceral practices — the way the combination of prison conditions and postcarceral burdens ensures that many people who have done time will return to society more prone to criminal activity than previously. Part IV considers the question of how such an evidently self-defeating system has been able to sustain itself, and locates the answer in the radically individualist ideology, pervasive in the criminal context, that construes all criminal conduct as exclusively the product of the offender’s free will. Part V illustrates the way this individualist discourse constructs criminal offenders as not just unrepentant evildoers but also sub-human — a process referred to as “making monsters” — and examines the work this normative reframing does both to vindicate the penal strategy of exclusion and control and to justify the arguably inhumane treatment of prisoners. Part VI explores the way that perceiving criminal offenders as moral monsters makes it difficult to distinguish the relatively few individuals who are genuinely congenitally violent and dangerous from the vast majority who are not; through this ideological (re)construction, all people who persist in committing crimes, even nonviolent offenders, can come to seem appropriate targets for extended and even permanent exclusion. Part VII considers the racial implications of exclusion and control, in particular the way the cultural construction of African Americans as “incorrigible” may explain why members of this group are overrepresented as targets of the American carceral system. Part VIII shifts the focus to the prison itself, where the self-defeating logic of exclusion and control has reappeared behind bars in the form of the supermax prison. Finally, the Conclusion considers how the destructive and self-defeating dynamic of exclusion and control may be disrupted. It argues that a political strategy emphasizing the financial costs of incarceration is bound to fail unless it also generates an ideological reorientation towards recognizing the people the state incarcerates as fellow human beings and fellow citizens, entitled to respect and consideration as such. Details: New York: New York University School of Law, 2012. 82p. Source: Internet Resource: UCLA School of Law Research Paper No. 12-25; NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 12-60: Accessed November 24, 2012 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2171862 Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2171862 Shelf Number: 126994 Keywords: InmatesPrisonersPrisonsPunishment (U.S.) |
Author: Russell, Susan L. Title: Summary of a Review of Prison Healthcare in Northern Ireland Summary: In April 2008, responsibility for the commissioning and delivery of healthcare services in prisons passed over to the DHSSPS, through the Health and Social Care Commissioning Board (HSCB) and the South East Health and Social Care Trust (SE Trust). This is a summary of a review of prison healthcare in Northern Ireland carried out by Susan Russell in March 2011. It reflects the situation at that time, three years after the transfer of healthcare commissioning and provision to the Health and Social Care Board and the South East Health and Social Care Trust. Prisons need to provide a range of health services, based on community primary care services, similar to that found in local GP surgeries, with additional services that would be available in larger GP practices or health centres in the community, such as community dentistry, pharmacy and optical services. Due to the need to provide a secure environment, many enhanced primary care services also include clinics that in the community would normally be referred by GPs to secondary care services. They may include dermatology, x-ray services, genito-urinal medicine, general medicine, forensic psychiatry and physiotherapy, depending on the health needs of the population. Hydebank Wood prison and young offender centre (for women and young adults) and Maghaberry prison are expected to provide for a population that includes new committals, recalls to prison, fine defaulters, those on remand and sentenced prisoners. Magilligan prison holds sentenced and recalled prisoners. They usually have more stable health needs, but still have significant needs that can be resource intensive and need to be planned for. They should however have been identified before or on transfer and new or existing treatment plans implemented in a planned way. Each of these establishments needs to provide healthcare that meets the needs of its specific population and the groups within it: adult men, young adults and women, as well as those who have a disability and those who are foreign nationals or from black and minority ethnic communities. This will require both an accurate assessment of actual need, and an agreed improvement plan to ensure this is met. The primary care and GP services need to be provided in partnership with the prison in order to minimise any regime limitations that may impact on service delivery. There should be a range of nurse-led clinics to support health promotion and GP services, and regular audits to evidence the level and activity of the services provided. Access to secondary and specialist services should be available when clinically indicated in all establishments, and links to and from community services are essential to ensure continuity of care. The overall finding of the review was that, while there had been some progress, and more was planned, the services provided were basic, and still reminiscent of prison health delivery before the transfer of responsibility for health services. In summary, the reviewer found that both the primary care and mental health pathways were not developed, that medical and nursing staff were not used effectively, and that services were not sufficiently geared to assessed need. Reviews and inspections have chronicled some of these deficiencies, most recently at Hydebank Wood, and show that there is considerable unmet need, in terms of both mental and physical health. In developing services, it may be useful to draw upon the work done in England and Wales by the Kings Fund in the Enhancing the Healing Environment (EHE) programme in prisons. Currently, 40 prisons have participated in the programme, which has covered all populations and ages. Details: Belfast: Prison Review Team, 2011. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 30, 2013 at: http://www.prisonreviewni.gov.uk/summary_of_a_review_of_prison_healthcare_in_northern_ireland_-_carried_out_by_s_l_russell__march_2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.prisonreviewni.gov.uk/summary_of_a_review_of_prison_healthcare_in_northern_ireland_-_carried_out_by_s_l_russell__march_2011.pdf Shelf Number: 127451 Keywords: Health CareInmatesPrisons (Northern Ireland) |
Author: Porter, Nicole D. Title: The State of Sentencing 2012: Developments in Policy and Practice Summary: Today, 6.98 million men and women are under correctional supervision. A total of 4.8 million individuals are monitored in the community on probation and parole and 2.2 million are incarcerated in prisons or jail. The nation continues to maintain the highest rate of incarceration in the world at 716 people in prison per 100,000 population. The scale of incarceration varies substantially by state, resulting from a mix of crime rates and legislative and administrative policies. Lawmakers continue to face challenges in funding state correctional systems. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, several states are likely to be reducing services, including education and health care, during the 2013 legislative session due to reduced state revenues, uncertainty at the federal level and the impact of potential cuts in federal funding. In recent years, reducing prison populations with the goal of controlling correctional costs has been a salient reason for reform in states like Kansas, New York, and New Jersey. Overall, prison populations declined by 28,582 in twenty-six states during 2011, or 1.5%. State lawmakers in at least 24 states adopted 41 criminal justice policies that in 2012 may contribute to downscaling prison populations and eliminating barriers to reentry while promoting effective approaches to public safety. This report provides an overview of recent policy reforms in the areas of sentencing, probation and parole, collateral consequences, and juvenile justice. Highlights include: • Relaxed mandatory minimums – Seven states – Alabama, California, Missouri, Massachusetts, Kansas, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania – revised mandatory penalties for certain offenses including crack cocaine possession and drug offense enhancements; • Death penalty – Connecticut abolished the death penalty, becoming the 17th to eliminate death as a criminal sanction; • Sentence modifications – Two states – Louisiana and Oklahoma – authorized or expanded mechanisms to modify sentences post-conviction. These policies allow prosecutors and judges to reduce the prison sentences of individuals who meet eligibility requirements; • Parole and probation revocation reforms – Seven states – Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Missouri, and Pennsylvania -- expanded the use of earned time for eligible prisoners and limited the use of incarceration for probation and parole violations; and • Juvenile life without parole – Three states -- California, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania – authorized sentencing relief for certain individuals sentenced to juvenile life without parole. Changes in criminal justice policy were realized for various reasons, including an interest in managing prison capacity. Lawmakers have demonstrated interest in enacting reforms that recognize that the nation’s scale of incarceration has produced diminishing returns for public safety. Consequently, legislators and other stakeholders have prioritized implementing policies that provide a more balanced approach to public safety. The evolving framework is rooted in reducing returns to prison for technical violations, expanding alternatives to prison for persons convicted of low level offenses and authorizing earned release for prisoners who complete certain rehabilitation programs. Details: Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project, 2013. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 4, 2013 at: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/sen_State%20of%20Sentencing%202012.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/sen_State%20of%20Sentencing%202012.pdf Shelf Number: 127475 Keywords: Correctional ReformInmatesParolePrisonersProbationSentencing (U.S.) |
Author: Noonan, Margaret E. Title: Mortality in Local Jails and State Prisons, 2000-2010 - Statistical Tables Summary: During 2010, 4,150 inmates died while in the custody of local jails and state prisons—a 5% decline from 2009. Local jails accounted for about a quarter of all inmate deaths, with 918 inmates who died in custody in 2010. The number of jail inmate deaths declined from 2009 to 2010 (down 3%), while the mortality rate remained relatively stable, from 128 deaths per 100,000 jail inmates in 2009 to 125 per 100,000 in 2010. The five leading causes of jail inmate deaths were suicide, heart disease, drug or alcohol intoxication, cancer, and liver disease. Most inmates who died in custody were serving time in state prisons (78%). In 2010, 3,232 state prison inmates died in custody—a 5% decline from 2009. The mortality rate in state prisons declined slightly, from 257 deaths per 100,000 prison inmates in 2009 to 245 per 100,000 in 2010. In 2010, the five leading causes of state prison inmate deaths were cancer, heart disease, liver disease, respiratory disease, and suicide. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2012. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 3, 2013 at: http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/mljsp0010st.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/mljsp0010st.pdf Shelf Number: 128199 Keywords: Deaths in CustodyHealth CareInmatesJailsPrisoner HomicidesPrisoner Suicides |
Author: Scottish Parliament. Justice Committee Title: 5th Report, 2013 (Session 4): Inquiry Into Purposeful Activity in Prisons Summary: 1. The Justice Committee believes that the effective rehabilitation of offenders is vital in order to reduce crime levels, reduce the economic and social costs of crime and help create a safer Scotland. It also enables those individuals who have offended, for a variety of reasons, to choose a better life for themselves, their families and communities. 2. A key element of rehabilitation is the recognition of those factors which cause some people to offend and the appropriate level of support to help them develop the skills, experiences and confidence to address these factors and change their behaviour. The Committee recognises that this process takes time and resources. The Committee also recognises, however, that evidence shows this process works. In addition, the Committee believes that this time and those resources can be justified given the significant time and resources currently spent by the police, courts, prison service and wider criminal justice system in connection with reoffending. 3. The Committee believes that, as well as punishing offenders by taking away their liberty, the prison system has an important role to play in rehabilitating offenders. In fact, rehabilitation must start in prison and, to be most effective, must also continue after release when, most often, offenders are back in the environment where they committed their crimes. 4. Purposeful activities, of an educational, counselling, work nature and such others as family contact, are a fundamental element of the rehabilitation process. They can help prisoners address any personal issues that may have contributed to their offending behaviour and help develop the working routine, education, skills and experience necessary to find employment on release and lead a stable, non-offending life. 5. The recommendations of the Committee are included. Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Parliament, 2013. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2013 at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_JusticeCommittee/Reports/jur-13-05w.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_JusticeCommittee/Reports/jur-13-05w.pdf Shelf Number: 128301 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsInmatesPrisoners (Scotland)Rehabilitation ProgramsVocational Education and Training |
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 IncarcerationCorrectional InstitutionsCounty Jails (New Jersey, U.S.)Inmates |
Author: Pawasarat, John Title: Wisconsin’s Mass Incarceration of African American Males: Workforce Challenges for 2013 Summary: Among the most critical workforce issues facing Wisconsin are governmental policies and practices leading to mass incarceration of African Americans men and suspensions of driving privileges to low-income adults. The prison population in Wisconsin has more than tripled since 1990, fueled by increased government funding for drug enforcement (rather than treatment) and prison construction, three-strike rules, mandatory minimum sentence laws, truth-in-sentencing replacing judicial discretion in setting punishments, concentrated policing in minority communities, and state incarceration for minor probation and supervision violations. Particularly impacted were African American males, with the 2010 U.S. Census showing Wisconsin having the highest black male incarceration rate in the nation. In Milwaukee County over half of African American men in their 30s have served time in state prison. This report uses two decades of state Department of Corrections (DOC) and Department of Transportation (DOT) files to assess employment and training barriers facing African American men with a history of DOC offenses and DOT violations. The report focuses on 26,222 African American males from Milwaukee County incarcerated in state correctional facilities from 1990 to 2012 (including a third with only non-violent crimes) and another 27,874 men with DOT violations preventing them from legally driving (many for failures to pay fines and civil forfeitures). Prison time is the most serious barrier to employment, making ex-offender populations the most difficult to place and sustain in full-time employment. When DOT driver’s licensing history is also considered, transportation barriers make successful labor force attachment even less likely. Yet, most of the recent state policy discussions about preparing the Wisconsin workforce and debates over redistribution of government job training dollars have largely ignored African American men and relegated ex-offender populations to a minor (if not invisible) place in Wisconsin’s labor force. • This paper quantifies Milwaukee County African American male populations in need of increased workforce policy attention and program support. • Proposed changes in state policies and legislation have been brought forward by religious groups, the Milwaukee County District Attorney, The Sentencing Project, and others to reduce Wisconsin’s levels of incarceration. They deserve serious consideration. • Programs to address reentry and workforce needs are currently operated by the Department of Corrections and non-profit organizations but serve only a small portion of those in need. These should be expanded and tested for their effectiveness. • Recognizing that there is no quick fix for ex-offender populations, the cost savings from reductions in the prison population should be used to fund employment and training programs for those in and out of corrections and to support programs to assist those without driver’s licenses, an essential employment credential. • The Windows to Work, a joint effort between the DOC and workforce investment boards, should be expanded. If successful, these efforts will save the state money, help ensure public safety, and reduce recidivism. Details: Milwaukee: Employment and Training Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2013. 33p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 8, 2013 at: http://www4.uwm.edu/eti/2013/BlackImprisonment.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www4.uwm.edu/eti/2013/BlackImprisonment.pdf Shelf Number: 128680 Keywords: African AmericansEx-Offender EmploymentInmatesPrisoner ReentryPrisoners (Wisconsin, U.S.)Vocational Education and Training |
Author: Kukoroski, Drew Title: The Price To Call Home: State-Sanctioned Monopolization In The Prison Phone Industry Summary: Exorbitant calling rates make the prison telephone industry one of the most lucrative businesses in the United States today. This industry is so profitable because prison phone companies have state-sanctioned monopolistic control over the state prison markets, and the government agency with authority to rein in these rates across the nation has been reluctant to offer meaningful relief. Prison phone companies are awarded these monopolies through bidding processes in which they submit contract proposals to the state prison systems; in all but eight states, these contracts include promises to pay “commissions” — in effect, kickbacks — to states, in either the form of a percentage of revenue, a fixed up-front payment, or a combination of the two. Thus, state prison systems have no incentive to select the telephone company that offers the lowest rates; rather, correctional departments have an incentive to reap the most profit by selecting the telephone company that provides the highest commission. This market oddity — that the government entity has an incentive to select the highest bidder and that the actual consumers have no input in the bidding process — makes the prison telephone market susceptible to prices that are well-above ordinary rates for non-incarcerated persons. This fact, coupled with what economists would label as the “relative inelastic demand” that incarcerated persons and their families have to speak with one another, leads to exorbitant prices. The prison telephone market is structured to be exploitative because it grants monopolies to producers, and because the consumers — the incarcerated persons and their families who are actually footing the bills — have no comparable alternative ways of communicating. Details: Northampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative, 2012. 8p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 1, 2013 at: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/phones/price_to_call_home.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/phones/price_to_call_home.pdf Shelf Number: 128915 Keywords: Families of InmatesInmatesPrison Telephone IndustryPrisoners (U.S.) |
Author: Piehl, Anne Morrison Title: Immigrant Assimilation into U.S. Prisons, 1900-1930 Summary: The analysis of a new dataset on state prisoners in the 1900 to 1930 censuses reveals that immigrants rapidly assimilated to native incarceration patterns. One feature of these data is that the second generation can be identified, allowing direct analysis of this group and allowing their exclusion from calculations of comparison rates for the “native” population. Although adult new arrivals were less likely than natives to be incarcerated, this likelihood was increasing with their years in the U.S. The foreign born who arrived as children and second generation immigrants had slightly higher rates of incarceration than natives of native parentage, but these differences disappear after controlling for nativity differences in urbanicity and occupational status. Finally, while the incarceration rates of new arrivals differ significantly by source country, patterns of assimilation are very similar. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2013. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper No. w19083 : Accessed June 3, 2013 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2272519 Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2272519 Shelf Number: 128922 Keywords: Immigrants and CrimeIncarceration RatesInmatesPrisoners (U.S.) |
Author: Butler, Tony Title: Sexual Health and Behaviour of Queensland Prisoners with Queensland and New South Wales Comparisons Summary: This report presents the findings from the Queensland component of a National Health and Medical Research Council funded study of New South Wales and Queensland prisoners’ sexual health and behaviours. Comparisons of the Queensland and New South Wales components of this survey can be found in Appendix 1. Overall, 900 men and 134 women in Queensland prisons were surveyed in 2007–08 by computer-assisted telephone interview after random selection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that an epidemiological survey of prisoners has been conducted via telephone. Most found the telephone approach acceptable, would do the survey again, and reported that they provided honest answers. The response rate among eligible prisoners was high at over 75%. The respondents About half the prisoners in the survey were aged 30 years or younger; men were aged from 18 to 78 years and women from 18 to 61 years. This is similar to the age of the general Queensland prisoner population. A quarter identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. Education levels were low and few (14% men and 18% women) had post-school qualifications; 30% of men and 16% of women had not completed Year 10 or equivalent. The most common ‘most serious offences’ were for men assault (33%), property offences (17%) and sexual offences (15%), and for women assault (25%), property offences (19%) and homicide (19%). For 39% of men and 55% of women this was their first time in an adult prison. Over half of the men (56%) and 65% of women had been in prison (this time) for less than a year, but 17% of men and 5% of women had been in prison for more than 10 years. Sexuality and relationships ■ Most men (95%) self-identified as heterosexual and were attracted exclusively or mostly to women (96%) whereas 63% of women identified as heterosexual and 75% were attracted exclusively or mostly to men. Almost 3 in 10 women (28%) identified as bisexual. ■ Half the men in the sample had had inter-course for the first time before they turned 15 (16 for women). This is younger than in the general community (18 for men and 19 for women). ■ The median lifetime number of opposite-sex sexual partners (for any form of sex, not just intercourse) was 23 for men and 10 for women with over 1000 partners reported for some men and women. One quarter of men (25%) and 12% of women reported over 50 lifetime opposite-sex sexual partners. ■ Around three-quarters of men and women were in regular relationships before coming into prison with around a third of those in a relationship reporting that imprisonment had resulted in the relationship ending. ■ One third of men had ever paid for sex; 10% of men and 21% of women had been paid for sex. Reproductive experiences ■ Most women in the sample (84%) had been pregnant. The median age of first pregnancy was 18 years, and the women had had an average of 2.3 children. ■ Around one quarter of women reported having difficulty getting pregnant, which is high for a population whose average age is around 30 years. Sexual forcing ■ Three-fifths of women prisoners (compared with 21% in an Australian community survey) had been forced or frightened into some sort of sexual activity at some time in their lives. The median number of episodes of forced sexual activity was 2, with some women reporting up to 500 events. This highlights the exposure of women in this population to high levels of violence and trauma. Sexual attitudes ■ Prisoners’ attitudes to statements on a range of sexual matters (e.g. explicit films, sex before marriage, abortion) were remarkably consistent with those expressed by the general community. However, male prisoners were more intolerant of male-to-male sex than men in the general community. Knowledge of sexually transmissible infections (STIs) ■ Prisoners’ knowledge of STIs and their consequences was good, and for some of the questions it was better than the general community. Prison sex and physical assault ■ Nine per cent of men and 27% of women had engaged in some form of sexual contact (including kissing or touching) with another (same-sex) prisoner. Most reported that this sexual contact was for pleasure and not for protection or as a trade for drugs. ■ While women were more likely to report engaging in sexual contact with another prisoner, men reported higher levels of self-masturbation in the past four weeks (median number of times masturbated for men 6, and for women 3). ■ There was a high level of support among men (88%) and women (74%) in favour of allowing overnight family/partner visits in prison. ■ One third of men and one fifth of women had been physically assaulted or attacked whilst in prison. ■ More than a third of men (37%) and 26% of women had worried about being sexually assaulted before coming into prison, but fewer (7%) were currently worried about this. ■ 8% of men and 6% of women had been threatened with sexual assault in prison, while 3% of men and 4% of women reported being actually forced to do something sexual they did not want. Queensland and New South Wales comparisons ■ Overall, Queensland and New South Wales prisoners were remarkably similar with regard to sexual health behaviours, sexual identity, past exposure to sexually transmissible infections (STIs), knowledge of STIs, and attitudes to sexual issues. ■ The level of sexual activity between inmates was not lower in Queensland prisons than in New South Wales prisons, where the policy of the NSW Department of Corrective Services is to provide condoms and dental dams to prisoners. Details: Perth and Sydney: National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, and School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales., 2010. 87p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 6, 2013 at: http://ndri.curtin.edu.au/local/docs/pdf/publications/R236.pdf Year: 2010 Country: Australia URL: http://ndri.curtin.edu.au/local/docs/pdf/publications/R236.pdf Shelf Number: 129263 Keywords: Inmate Sexual BehaviorInmate Sexual HealthInmatesPrisoner HealthPrisoners (Australia) |
Author: Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Title: Pre-Trial Detention in Zimbabwe: Analysis of the Criminal Justice System and Conditions of Pre-Trial Detention Summary: This analysis of the criminal justice system and conditions of pre-trial detention in Zimbabwe was conducted to better understand the variance between the policy and legislative frameworks that govern pre-trial detention and the conditions in detention facilities in Zimbabwe, and to provide concrete recommendations to improve the situation. It was undertaken in the context of a country emerging from over a decade of socio-economic collapse, aspects of which had negatively affected the justice delivery system. Researched and produced by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Law Society of Zimbabwe, the study found that the number of pre-trial detainees was found to be high - approximately 30 percent of the total prison population - due to inefficiencies in the country's justice delivery system. Direct and indirect political control of the criminal justice system has also meant that the independence and neutrality of key institutions - such as the police, Attorney-General's office and the judiciary - has often been hindered. Severe underfunding, capacity constraints and poor conditions of service among institutions within the justice delivery system have also contributed to increasing inefficiency in caseflow management, which has resulted in unnecessarily prolonged stays for many PTDs. This excessive detention undoubtedly violates inmates' rights to freedom, dignity and a fair and speedy trial as enshrined in the constitution as well as in other national, regional and international statutes. The situation of human rights defenders and detainees held for political reasons was found to be worse, with political vendettas seemingly taking pre-eminence over the execution of justice. The conditions in pre-trial detention were found to be despicable and inhumane, and amounted to violations of the detainees' rights. The report also highlights the plight of female inmates, children incarcerated alongside their mothers and juvenile offenders, as well as other concerns, such as overcrowding in prisons, run-down infrastructure and the shortage of basic services, nutritious food and adequate clothing. The study concludes that, while the country has an apparently adequate legislative framework to enable the realisation of the rights of pre-trial detainees, the implementation of these legislative provisions remains the major obstacle - due primarily to funding shortages, institutional capacity constraints, and the slow recovery in the country's socio-political and economic fortunes. The report concludes with a number of key recommendations, including the establishment of an integrated caseflow management system to enable more rapid processing of cases; more effective implementation of the parole system; an increase in government funding to upgrade the infrastructure at detention facilities, and provide adequate nutrition and clothing; and an improvement in social amenities so as to meet humane standards of treatment for detainees. The report also argues that improved conditions of service for employees within various institutions in the criminal justice system - such as the police, prison services, Attorney-General's office and judiciary - would complement efforts to improve professionalism and efficiency in the country's justice delivery system. However, there is also an overarching need for socio-economic and political stability in Zimbabwe to pave the way for the creation of an environment that allows for the optimal functioning of the criminal justice system. Conclusions and Recommendations The study found that despite a strong legislative framework - ranging from the constitution to various acts of parliament and also regional and international statues mandating rights for pre- and post-trial detainees - there were a number of challenges at the implementation level. Among the key challenges was the poor administration of criminal procedure by law enforcement institutions and agents and the judiciary, which in many cases resulted in prejudice against pre-trial detainees and the violation of their rights. Many pre-trial detainees had faced prolonged pre-trial incarceration due to the failure by the police to fully investigate their cases, so that their cases were tossed back and forth between the police and the Attorney General's Office, and they were tossed back and forth between the courts and remand prison. Meanwhile, the lack of adequate resources within the judiciary and prison services resulted in inefficiency in dealing with trials and ensuring the pre-trial detainees spent the least amount of time possible awaiting trial. There are also serious concerns about the condition of detention centres, including overcrowding, dilapidated infrastructure, and inadequate food and clothing for inmates. Unfortunately, owing to many years of neglect and underfunding, there seemed to no sustainable solutions to these problems, despite the fact that non-state actors, such as NGOs, were working hard to try and improve conditions. Recommendations: Rights of pre-trial detainees To better safeguard the rights of pre-trial detainees, there is a need for: Increased awareness and implementation of the Constitutional provisions guaranteeing pre-trial detainees their rights while they are incarcerated by all key state institutions; - Increased use of non-custodial measures such as diversion, particularly for young offenders; - Increased cooperation between criminal justice institutions to ensure the efficient flow of cases from the moment of arrest until finalisation of a trial; and - Firm judicial control over every stage of criminal proceedings. Improving conditions of service for government employees - The government must improve conditions of services for all state institutions in the justice delivery system, which would help to minimise institutional lethargy, motivate employees, promote greater effectiveness and efficiency, and reduce corruption. Improving coordination between 'sentencing' and 'custodian' authorities - A liaison committee should be established to improve coordination between the ZPS and the judiciary to help alleviate overcrowding in prisons since there is reportedly no consultation or coordination at all between the 'sentencing authority' and the 'custodian authority', which cannot refuse to accept new inmates. Strengthening caseflow management - The government and its partners should develop and implement an integrated caseflow management system, enabled by effective ICT, which will result in an automated and quicker flow of cases using an electronic filing system. - A Caseflow Management Committee should also be established to ensure that cases in the Magistrates, High and Supreme Courts are dealt with expeditiously and that in future no-one spends months or years in remand prison. - The operation of the parole system, which allows prisoners serving long sentences to be eligible for release with specific conditions before the expiry of their sentences, needs to be enhanced. - Judges and magistrates should consider travelling to prisons to hold court hearings since this would reduce congestion in the courts and consequentially the number of remand prisoners. Improving prisoners' welfare - The government should immediately fund the repair of prison infrastructure across the country, and should engage other partners, such as donor organisations and the private sector, to assist. - The involvement of volunteers, community groups and NGOs should be increased to provide meaningful programmes for prisoners since these improve morale and reduce inmate idleness. - The government - through the Department of Social welfare and with support from non-state partners - should boost funding of the Zimbabwe Prison Services so that it can adequately care for pregnant women as well as infants and children who are incarcerated with their mothers and who need play areas, bedding, clothing and food for their growth, health and developmental needs. - Prison officers need to be trained to assist pregnant prisoners by learning how to assess risk and about their extra requirements in terms of diet, nutrition, and general prenatal care. - The rehabilitation aspect within the country's prisons - particularly the thrust towards providing inmates with sustainable social, technical and economic skills so that they can reintegrate more effectively into communities upon release - needs to be strengthened. The government should also enhance collaboration with NGOs to promote better community reintegration of offenders. - Inmates should be trained on preventative health care, including basic sanitation, food preparation and personal hygiene. - Prison officers should be trained to communicate with prisoners with hearing and speech impairments. Details: Harare: ZLHR, Law Society of Zimbabwe, 2013. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 13, 2014 at: http://www.osisa.org/sites/default/files/pre-trial_detention_in_zimbabwe.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Zimbabwe URL: http://www.osisa.org/sites/default/files/pre-trial_detention_in_zimbabwe.pdf Shelf Number: 131893 Keywords: Criminal Justice SystemsInmatesPre-Trial DetentionPrisons |
Author: Usher, Amelia Title: The Effectiveness of Correctional Programs with Diverse Offenders: A Meta-Analytic Study Summary: Correctional populations in most countries today are composed of a heterogeneous group representing offenders from varying ethnic and racial backgrounds. Correctional constituencies therefore have an interest in determining if interventions are effective in reducing criminal recidivism for a diverse group of individuals. Canada's federal offender population increasingly represents a broad range of ethnic and cultural groups. The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is responsible for providing effective correctional programming for all offenders requiring it. Traditionally, most research on correctional interventions has not disaggregated outcomes for the various ethnic groups participating in these programs. Some critics have suggested that the current correctional model may not be appropriate for all ethnic groups. There is evidence to suggest from individual studies, however, that cognitive-behavioural approaches, which form the basis of CSC's correctional programming, are appropriate for individuals from a wide range of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. The present study seeks to examine the effectiveness of CSC's correctional model for offenders of diverse ethnic backgrounds by using meta-analysis. The study will also estimate the base rates of reoffending for the various groups attending programming and their comparison groups. To investigate this issue, a search was undertaken of all previous outcome research on CSC correctional programs. Studies were selected for inclusion in the meta-analysis if they investigated cognitive-behavioural correctional interventions, included federal offenders from a wide range of ethnic groups, used readmission to custody as an outcome measure, and employed a control group methodological design. Participants were grouped according to four different ethnic backgrounds: Aboriginal, Black, Caucasian, and Other. Overall mean effect sizes were calculated for each group using the odds ratio. Overall, it was found that all ethnic groups showed decreased likelihood of readmission after participating in correctional programming. Odds ratios ranged from 1.36 to 1.76. For example, Aboriginal offenders who participated in correctional programming had odds of success that were 1.45 times greater than Aboriginal offenders who did not participate in programming. Base rates of readmissions to custody were also calculated. The highest rates of readmission were found for Aboriginal offenders, followed by Caucasian, Black and Other offenders. Results of this study indicate that CSC's correctional programs are effective across a broad range of ethnic groups. Offenders who participate in programming are less likely to return to custody than offenders who do not participate in programs, regardless of ethnic background. While the cognitive-behavioural treatment model appears to be effective in addressing criminal recidivism for offenders with diverse cultural backgrounds, the results do not preclude attending to responsivity issues related to culture within the treatment model. Offender ethnicity and culture remain important responsivity factors in effective correctional programming. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada, 2011. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: 2011 No. R-246: Accessed March 31, 2014 at: http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/lbrr/archives/cn21448-eng.pdf Year: 2011 Country: Canada URL: http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/lbrr/archives/cn21448-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 132033 Keywords: AboriginalsCognitive-Behavioral TreatmentEthnic GroupsInmatesOffender TreatmentRecidivism |
Author: Powis, Beverly Title: Drug Recovery Wings Set Up, Delivery and Lessons Learned: Process Study of First Tranche DRW Pilot Sites Summary: Drug Recovery Wings (DRWs) were launched in five adult prisons in June 2011. Their core aims were to: - Target those serving short sentences of three to twelve months and who are dependent on drugs/alcohol (including problematic use); - Offer a route out of dependency for those who are motivated to change but need intensive support whilst in the initial stages of their recovery; - Increase the number of short sentenced offenders participating in recovery-focused interventions whilst in custody; and - Improve continuity of care, support and treatment between prisons and the community. The National Offender Management Service (NOMS) Interventions Unit carried out a process study to describe the defining characteristics of the regime at each pilot site and explore the challenges and lessons that can be learned from setting up a DRW pilot project. The research fieldwork took place between November 2011 and June 2012. The report therefore recognises that the pilots were still at varying stages of implementation and that this study does not reflect the full scale of progress made to date or the range of services that may now be available across pilot sites since fieldwork was undertaken. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with members of staff and wing participants. These included DRW staff (thirty-six), organisations working in partnership with NOMS both in the prison itself and in the community on release (twelve), staff from the wider establishment (sixteen), current participants of the DRW (forty-four) and those who did not start or complete their stay on the wing (seven). In addition, documentation produced by the wings was obtained and analysed. The study described the regime at each establishment at the time of the fieldwork. All the wings were found to be operating well. They were successfully delivering varied, recovery-focused interventions and had established links to services in the community which provided continuity of care upon release. Staff from the wings, wider establishment and partnership organisations generally spoke positively about the drug recovery regimes. In addition, nearly all the DRW participants interviewed reported a positive change in their attitudes and behaviour from their involvement with the wing. Details: London: National Offender Management Services, Ministry of Justice, 2014. 94p. Source: Internet Resource: Ministry of Justice Analytical Series: Accessed April 19, 2014 at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/286040/Drug-recovery-wings-process-study.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/286040/Drug-recovery-wings-process-study.pdf Shelf Number: 132078 Keywords: Drug Abuse TreatmentInmatesPrisonersSubstance Abuse TreatmentTreatment Programs |
Author: Nobles, James Title: Health Services in State Correctional Facilities: Evaluation Report 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 copayments in a more limited set of circumstances than indicated by Minnesota statutes. Details: St. Paul, MN: Program Evaluation Division, Office of the Legislative Auditor, State of Minnesota, 2014. 135p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 19, 2014 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: 132086 Keywords: Health CareInmatesPrisoners |
Author: Beck, Allen J. Title: Sexual Victimization Reported by Adult Correctional Authorities, 2009-2011 Summary: This report presents counts of nonconsensual sexual acts, abusive sexual contacts, staff sexual misconduct, and staff sexual harassment reported to correctional authorities in adult prisons, jails, and other adult correctional facilities in 2009, 2010, and 2011. An in-depth examination of substantiated incidents is also presented, covering the number and characteristics of victims and perpetrators, location, time of day, nature of the injuries, impact on the victims, and sanctions imposed on the perpetrators. Companion tables in Survey of Sexual Violence in Adult Correctional Facilities, 2009-11 - Statistical Tables, include counts of types of sexual victimization reported for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, state prison systems, facilities operated by the U.S. military and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sampled jail jurisdictions, privately operated jails and prisons, and jails in Indian country. Data are from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' Survey of Sexual Violence (SSV), which has annually collected official records on allegations and substantiated incidents of inmate-on-inmate and staff-on-inmate sexual victimization since 2004. Highlights: Correctional administrators reported 8,763 allegations of sexual victimization in prisons, jails, and other adult correctional facilities in 2011, a statistically significant increase over the number of allegations reported in 2009 (7,855) and 2010 (8,404). About half of all allegations (51%) involved nonconsensual sexual acts (the most serious, including penetration) or abusive sexual contacts (less serious, including unwanted touching, grabbing, and groping) of inmates with other inmates. Nearly half (49%) involved staff sexual misconduct (any sexual act directed toward an inmate by staff) or sexual harassment (demeaning verbal statements of a sexual nature) directed toward inmates. In 2011, 902 allegations of sexual victimization (10%) were substantiated (i.e., determined to have occurred upon investigation). The total number of substantiated incidents has not changed significantly since 2005 (885). Victims were physically injured in 18% of substantiated incidents of inmate-on-inmate sexual victimization, compared to less than 1% of incidents of staff-on-inmate victimization. More than half (54%) of all substantiated incidents of staff sexual misconduct and a quarter (26%) of all incidents of staff sexual harassment were committed by female staff. Overall, more than three-quarters (78%) of staff perpetrators were fired or resigned. Nearly half (45%) were arrested, referred for prosecution, or convicted. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2014. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 29, 2014 at: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/svraca0911.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/svraca0911.pdf Shelf Number: 132156 Keywords: InmatesJailsPrison RapePrisoners, Sexual VictimizationPrisonsSexual AssaultSexual HarassmentSexual Violence |
Author: Hearts on a Wire Collective Title: This is a Prison: Glitter is Not Allowed. Experiences of Trans and Gender Variant People in Pennsylvania's Prison Systems Summary: The inspiration for this report grew from our own experiences and the stories our friends told us. Since 2007, Hearts on a Wire has been building a movement to address the policing and imprisonment of our trans and gender variant communities across Pennsylvania. Hearts on a Wire is connected to transgender and gender variant (T/GV) individuals who are incarcerated, detained, and recently released. Accounts of prison conditions from these contacts show the intensity of discrimination, abuse, medical neglect, and punitive isolation that our communities face on the inside. Incarcerated T/GV individuals report dismissal, intimidation, or retaliation when attempting to file grievances. In response to these injustices, formerly incarcerated T/GV Philadelphians and their allies began a conversation about ways to address these issues. Chief among the concerns raised were the ways that prisons remove incarcerated people from their support networks and communities. Breaking the isolation of our incarcerated community members has been a critical step in addressing health and safety issues from the outside. Out of a desire to meet these needs, a network grew and became Hearts on a Wire. The group's first project was to gather community members on the outside to make and send Valentines to T/GV people incarcerated across Pennsylvania. The event was an opportunity for formerly incarcerated people and those with friends and family members inside to discuss how prisons affected our lives and the lives of our loved ones. Hearts on a Wire has held art-making and letter-writing events to build a network with T/GV community members locked in prisons around the state. Additionally, the group tries to respond to urgent situations, such as incidents where our members have been placed in the hole - or have endured abuse within their institutions. In their letters, incarcerated individuals highlighted the critical health and safety issues they face. From this correspondence, incarcerated and outside Hearts on a Wire members determined the need to create this research project. Details: Philadelphia, PA: Hearts on a Wire Collective, 2011. 75p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 28, 2014 at: http://www.galaei.org/documents/thisisaprison.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://www.galaei.org/documents/thisisaprison.pdf Shelf Number: 132201 Keywords: Gays, Lesbians and BisexualsInmatesPrisonersTransgender |
Author: Flower, Shawn M. Title: Veteran Inmates in Maryland Summary: This report presents the results from the Veterans Survey conducted in February 2013 of inmates identified as Veterans, and housed in 25 DPSCS facilities. The objective of the survey was to describe the inmate veteran population, confirm veteran status, deployment history, identify benefits received, housing plans upon release, and ascertain the inmate's needs upon release. A second data source was a data extract from DPSCS IT systems which identified which inmates were on the "VA Match List", as well as providing institutional data (facility, security level, admittance date, offense, projected release date, and detail assignment), risk assessment history (date of assessment, risk level at intake), and additional demographic data (race, gender, date of birth). Details: Greenbelt, MD: Choice Research Associates, 2013. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 6, 2014 at: http://www.choiceresearchassoc.com/documents/cra_veteran_report_final_031313.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.choiceresearchassoc.com/documents/cra_veteran_report_final_031313.pdf Shelf Number: 132253 Keywords: InmatesMilitary VeteransPrisonersVeterans and Crime |
Author: Weatherburn, Don Title: Why is the NSW Prison Population Growing? Summary: Aim: To provide a preliminary analysis of the rapid rise in the NSW prison population from January 2013 to March 2014. Method: Descriptive analysis of court, crime, arrest and correctional data, and ARIMA modelling of prison trends. Results: The key factors responsible for the recent rise in the NSW prison population appear to be a higher rate of arrest for serious crime and an increase in the proportion of convicted offenders given a prison sentence. There is no evidence that prisoners during 2013 are spending longer in custody but there is evidence the length of stay in custody may increase over the coming year. If the current trend in inmate numbers continues, the NSW prison population will rise by another 17 per cent (i.e., to about 12,500 inmates) by March 2015. Conclusion: Early consideration should be given to measures that reduce the demand for prison accommodation and/or expand prison capacity. Keywords: prison, Details: Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2014. 7p. Source: Internet Resource: Issue Paper No. 95: Accessed May 15, 2014 at: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/agdbasev7wr/_assets/bocsar/m716854l4/bb95.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Australia URL: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/agdbasev7wr/_assets/bocsar/m716854l4/bb95.pdf Shelf Number: 132355 Keywords: ImprisonmentIncarcerationInmatesPrisoners (Australia)Prisons Sentencing |
Author: University of Texas School of Law. Human Rights Clinic Title: Deadly Heat in Texas Prisons Summary: The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is currently violating the human and constitutional rights of inmates in Texas by exposing them to dangerously high temperatures and extreme heat conditions. Extreme heat in TDCJ-run correctional facilities has long caused heat-related injuries and deaths of inmates during the hot Texas summers. Since 2007, at least fourteen inmates incarcerated in various TDCJ facilities across the state of Texas have died from extreme heat exposure while imprisoned. Many of these inmates had preexisting health conditions or were taking medications that rendered them heat-sensitive, yet properly cooled living areas were not provided to them by the TDCJ. These fourteen victims, along with other TDCJ prisoners and even TDCJ personnel, were and continue to be exposed to dangerously high heat levels on a regular basis. This practice violates individuals' human rights, particularly the rights to health, life, physical integrity, and dignity. In spite of repeated, serious, and egregious incidents, the TDCJ has yet to implement measures that effectively mitigate heat-related injury in inmate housing. While the TDCJ has installed fans and allowed for ventilation in inmate living areas, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has proven these measures to be ineffective in preventing heat-related injuries in very hot and humid conditions, such as those present in TDCJ facilities. Despite these findings, TDCJ facilities largely do not provide air conditioning to the living areas of the general inmate population, many of whom are serving time for non-violent offenses. At the same time, the TDCJ has spent money on air conditioning for its warden offices and for its armories. Additionally, the TDCJ has not promulgated any maximum temperature policies for inmate housing, even though the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and numerous other state departments of corrections across the country have done so. As a result, TDCJ inmates continue to suffer through Texas summers, and are forced to risk heatstroke and other heat-related injuries while incarcerated with the TDCJ. This Report, prepared by the Human Rights Clinic of the University of Texas School of Law, concludes that current conditions in TDCJ facilities constitute a violation of Texas's duty to guarantee the rights to health, life, physical integrity, and dignity of detainees, as well as its duty to prevent inhuman or degrading treatment of its inmates. These duties have been affirmed by countless human rights bodies and instruments such as the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, to mention just a few. Many international human rights decisions have found that extreme heat similar to situations in Texas contributes to a finding of inhuman or degrading prison conditions. The TDCJ's continued incarceration of inmates in extreme heat conditions violates its duties to inmates, and constitutes inhumane treatment of such prisoners in violation of international human rights standards. The Human Rights Clinic concludes that current extreme heat conditions in TDCJ facilities also violate inmates' constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has recognized time and again that extreme heat in prisons can constitute a violation of inmates' Eighth Amendment rights. In a 2012 case, a 63 year old Texas prisoner presented with a preexisting blood pressure condition, and was taking medication that would affect his body's ability to regulate temperature. The court decided that a reasonable jury could conclude that a failure to provide air conditioning, among other things, to an individual with these conditions was a violation of the prisoner's constitutional rights. Most recently, the Middle District of Louisiana issued a decision in 2013 condemning the extreme heat conditions in a Louisiana prison facility similar to those conditions present in TDCJ facilities as a violation of the Constitution. There is therefore clear and recent precedent for denouncing the hot conditions in TDCJ facilities as violating the guarantees and rights of inmates under the Eighth Amendment. Details: Austin, TX: University of Texas School of Law, Human Rights Clinic, 2014. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 17, 2014 at: http://www.utexas.edu/law/clinics/humanrights/docs/HRC_EH_Report_4-7-14_FINAL.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.utexas.edu/law/clinics/humanrights/docs/HRC_EH_Report_4-7-14_FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 132378 Keywords: Health CareHuman Rights ViolationsHumane TreatmentInmatesPrison ConditionsPrisoner HealthPrisoners (Texas)Prisoners Rights |
Author: Hoke, Scott Title: Inmate Behavior Management: Guide to Meeting Basic Needs Summary: Violence, vandalism, and other unwanted inmate behaviors prevail in many jails nationwide, and they frustrate jail practitioners who must ensure the safety and security of inmates, staff and the public. Jail environments are one of the few environments in our communities where this type of behavior is expected and accepted. The environment created by these behaviors should not be considered acceptable and it is the jail administrators responsibility to operate their facilities in a way that prevents these behaviors from occurring. Relatively few resources make it challenging to provide assistance and detailed direction to administrators on how best to operate such a complex organization. National Institute of Corrections (NIC) has introduced an initiative designed to: teach administrators, managers, and corrections officers the most effective methods to control inmate behavior and optimize operational efficiency. NIC calls the initiative Inmate Behavior Management or IBM. The comprehensive management system has six identifiable elements that work together to manage inmate behavior and create an efficient and effective organization (Hutchinson, Keller, and Reid 2009): 1 Assessing risks and needs 2 Assigning inmates to housing 3 Meeting inmates basic needs 4 Defining and conveying expectations for inmates 5 Supervising inmates 6 Keeping inmates productively occupied 7 Defining and conveying expectations is one in a series of documents or tools for jails practitioners to use as they implement this management strategy A Guide to Meeting Basic Needs offers practical information and guidance on implementing element three meeting inmates basic needs. One important aspect of managing inmate behavior is to understand what motivates human behavior. Experience has shown that if a jail does not meet the basic human needs of inmates, the inmates will find a way to satisfy their needs in ways that may be unfavorable to the orderly operation of the jail. Understanding what motivates human behavior provides jail administrators with a very useful tool for managing inmates since it helps explain both good inmate behavior and bad. This document not only provides guidance to jail practitioners as they implement this element, but it also provides self-assessment checklists to determine how well the jail is doing in the delivery of basic needs and suggestions for area of improvement. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Corrections, 2014. 76p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 1, 2014 at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/027704.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/027704.pdf Shelf Number: 132577 Keywords: Correctional AdministrationInmate DisciplineInmatesJail AdministrationJailsPrison AdministrationPrison ViolencePrisoners |
Author: Zajac, Gary Title: An Examination of Pennsylvania's Rural County Prison Systems Summary: This study explores issues surrounding the operation of the 44 rural county jails in Pennsylvania. County jails house two primary categories of inmates - presentenced detainees and sentenced inmates. Presentenced detainees are inmates who have not made bail or have not yet been sentenced (and may or may not yet have been convicted of an offense). Some of these presentenced detainees may be bailed at any moment, and, thus, are in custody for widely varying lengths of time. At any given time, over half of a county jail's population may be presentenced detainees. Sentenced inmates are those who have been convicted and are serving their sentence in a county facility. Sentenced inmates in county jails nationwide typically have sentences of less than one year, but in Pennsylvania they can serve up to two years or more. County jails in general face a unique set of challenges, including large numbers of inmates who spend only a very short time in custody, difficulty in classifying and assessing a short-term inmate population, challenges in providing treatment services to inmates who may be in custody for only a short period, and financial issues related inmate medical costs and strained county budgets. County jails are often quite small, in some cases housing just over 20 inmates, making it difficult to maintain specialized staff positions to deliver needed services to inmates. In Pennsylvania, county jails in recent years have begun to serve as a relief valve for the increasingly strained state prison system. The state system has transferred hundreds of inmates to county jails since 2009, as many of these jails have excess capacity. The current study examines trends in rural county jail populations and demographics, jail capacity, capital projects and development (undertaken and planned), budgets, and staffing over the period 2004 through 2011. This study also documents types of treatment programs and services being offered at the jails and compares them to what is known about effective offender rehabilitation practices. Finally, this study also explores fiscal and other challenges facing the 44 rural county jails. Details: Harrisburg, PA: Pennsylvania State University, 2012. 83p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 17, 2014 at: http://justicecenter.psu.edu/research/documents/JailsFinalReportJusticeCenterversion.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: http://justicecenter.psu.edu/research/documents/JailsFinalReportJusticeCenterversion.pdf Shelf Number: 131699 Keywords: Correctional AdministrationCounty JailsInmatesOffender RehabilitationPrisonersPrisonsRural AreasTreatment Programs |
Author: Hoke, Scott Title: Inmate Behavior Management: Northampton County Jail Case Study Summary: Violence, vandalism, and other unwanted inmate behaviors prevail in many jails nationwide, and they frustrate jail practitioners who must ensure the safety and security of inmates, staff and the public. Jail environments are one of the few environments in our communities where this type of behavior is expected and accepted. The environment created by these behaviors should not be considered acceptable, and it is jail administrators' responsibility to operate their facilities in a way that prevents these behaviors from occurring. Effectively managing inmate behavior creates a safer environment for the inmates and staff and allows the jail to provide a valuable service to the public. Community safety is enhanced by strong jail management and facilities should aspire to create environments where compliance, respect, and cooperation are fostered. In an attempt to create a system of strong management, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) introduced an initiative that was designed to teach administrators, managers, and corrections officers the most effective methods to control inmate behavior and optimize operational efficiency. NIC calls the initiative Inmate Behavior Management or IBM. The comprehensive management system has six identifiable elements that work together to control inmate behavior and create an efficient and effective organization (Hutchinson, Keller, and Reid 2009): 1 Assessing risks and needs 2 Assigning inmates to housing 3 Meeting inmates' basic needs 4 Defining and conveying expectations for inmates 5 Supervising inmates 6 Keeping inmates productively occupied Inmate Behavior Management: Northampton County Jail Case Study provides an example of how one facility planned and implemented the IBM management system and transitioned to a philosophy that refused to accept negative behavior as a natural result of the process of confinement. The experiences and results detailed in this report can be considered a valuable resource for any jail administrator who wants to make similar changes. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Corrections, 2013. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 12, 2014 at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/027702.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/027702.pdf Shelf Number: 133014 Keywords: Correctional Administration Inmate Discipline Inmates Jail Administration JailsPrison Administration Prison Violence Prisoners |
Author: Hoke, Scott Title: Inmate Behavior Management: Brazos County Jail Case Study Summary: Violence, vandalism, and other unwanted inmate behaviors prevail in many jails nationwide, and they frustrate jail practitioners who must ensure the safety and security of inmates, staff, and the public. Jail environments are one of the few environments in our communities where this type of behavior is expected and accepted. The environment created by these behaviors should not be considered acceptable, and it is jail administrators' responsibility to operate their facilities in a way that prevents these behaviors from occurring. Effectively managing inmate behavior creates a safer environment for inmates and staff and allows the jail to provide a valuable service to the public. Community safety is enhanced by strong jail management, and facilities should aspire to create environments where compliance, respect, and cooperation are fostered. In an attempt to create a system of strong management, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) introduced an initiative that was designed to teach administrators, managers, and corrections officers the most effective methods to control inmate behavior and optimize operational efficiency. NIC calls the initiative Inmate Behavior Management or IBM. The comprehensive management system has six identifiable elements that work together to control inmate behavior and create an efficient and effective organization (Hutchinson, Keller, and Reid 2009): 1 Assessing risks and needs 2 Assigning inmates to housing 3 Meeting inmates' basic needs 4 Defining and conveying expectations for inmates 5 Supervising inmates 6 Keeping inmates productively occupied Inmate Behavior Management: Brazos County Jail Case Study provides an example of how one facility planned and implemented the IBM management system and transitioned to a philosophy that refused to accept negative behavior as a natural result of the process of confinement. The experiences and results detailed in this report can be considered a valuable resource for any jail administrator who wants to make similar changes. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2014. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 12, 2014 at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/027703.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/027703.pdf Shelf Number: 133021 Keywords: Correctional Administration Inmate Discipline Inmates Jail Administration JailsPrison Administration Prison Violence Prisoners |
Author: Costello, Liza Title: Travellers in the Irish Prison System: A Qualitative Study Summary: Over recent years, the Irish Penal Reform Trust (iprt) has become increasingly aware that very little has been documented about the experiences of Travellers in the Irish prison system, while evidence that has emerged from the UK gives cause for concern. Reports by the Irish Chaplaincy in Britain, the Scotland Equality and Human Rights Commission, the (then) Commission for Racial Equality and others have all revealed a wide range of issues that disproportionately affect Travellers in prison. These include racist abuse from other prisoners and prison officers, discrimination, lack of literacy, high rates of suicide, substance misuse, and often the strength of Traveller family ties not being recognised, leading to isolation, self-harm and even suicide. In 2011, the UN Committee Against Torture's Concluding Observations to Ireland suggested that such issues were not unique to the UK context. In this document, it expressed concern "at reports of allegations by prisoners from the Traveller community in Cork prison that they are consistently subjected to acts of intimidation by other prisoners" and recommended that the State address "the issue of intimidation of the Traveller community and investigat[e] all allegations of such intimidation". The aim of this research is to illuminate the experiences and needs of Travellers in prison. Its objectives are to: - present what is already known regarding Travellers in prison; - analyse the rights of Travellers in prison from an equality and human rights perspective; - conduct primary research into the needs and experiences of Travellers in the Irish prison system; - highlight models of good practice in meeting the needs of minority ethnic groups in prison; and - to make relevant evidence-based recommendations to the Irish Prison Service and other relevant bodies. Details: Dublin: Irish Penal Reform Trust, 2014. 77p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 23, 2014 at; http://www.iprt.ie/files/IPRT_Travellers_Report_web.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Ireland URL: http://www.iprt.ie/files/IPRT_Travellers_Report_web.pdf Shelf Number: 133122 Keywords: DiscriminationEthnic GroupsGypsiesInmatesMinority GroupsPrisoners (Ireland)Prisons |
Author: Heil, Peggy Title: Prison Sex Offender Treatment: Recommendations for Program Implementation Summary: Sexual offenses cause tremendous harm to the lives of victims, the victims' families and our communities. We recommend that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation implement the "containment approach" for managing sex offenders in prison and on parole. The containment approach is a comprehensive strategy that prioritizes victim protection and community safety. Prison treatment for sex offenders can be an effective component of the containment approach. Intense prison treatment can reduce recidivism and enhance community safety. It can also reduce the substantial costs (emotional and financial) associated with recidivism. Miller, Cohen and Wiersema (1996)1 estimated that child sexual abuse crimes costs victims and society $99,000 per victimization, and estimated $87,000 per rape/sexual assault victimization. These costs are estimated to be $140,531 and $123,497 in 2007 dollars. Ninety-percent of the costs are associated with significant reduction in the quality of life for victims of these crimes. Quantifying the costs of sexual victimization seems to trivialize it nonetheless. As Miller et al. (1996:14) state, "pain, suffering, and reduced quality of life do not have a market price and cannot be bought and sold." Certainly victims would pay dearly to avoid them, as would their families and members of the community. The following report details a prison sex offender treatment program plan that is designed to reduce recidivism and avoid the costs and immeasurable harm of sex crime victimization. It provides evidence-based sex offender treatment and management recommendations to increase community safety and decrease new sex crimes by known offenders. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) requested a document that describes an empirically based prison sex offender treatment program and provides recommendations for the development and implementation of such a program in the California prison system. Program recommendations are drawn from research and clinical experience. Where possible, materials from other programs are included in appendices to facilitate implementation. Details: Sacramento: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, 2007. 567p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 23, 2014 at: http://www.casomb.org/docs/PSOT_CDCR_Report.pdf Year: 2007 Country: United States URL: http://www.casomb.org/docs/PSOT_CDCR_Report.pdf Shelf Number: 131049 Keywords: Cost-Benefit AnalysisEvidence-Based PracticesEvidence-Based ProgramsInmatesPrison ProgramsPrisonersSex Offender TreatmentSex OffendersTreatment Programs |
Author: Ternes, Marguerite Title: An Examination of the Effectiveness of the National Substance Abuse Program Moderate Intensity (NSAP-M) on Institutional Adjustment and Post-Release Outcomes Summary: What it means The findings suggest that the National Substance Abuse Program - Moderate Intensity (NSAP-M) reduced the risks associated with substance use and criminality. The offenders with partial exposure to the program showed the poorest outcomes with respect to return to custody. The results also demonstrate the value of participating in community maintenance even with limited exposure to NSAP-M. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of offenders participated in community aftercare. What we found The occurrence of institutional misconduct was not significantly reduced by NSAP-M participation. Offenders who fully completed NSAP-M were as likely to engage in serious institutional misconduct as offenders who failed to complete all sessions of the program or offenders who had been assigned to NSAP-M but who had not enrolled in the program. Offenders who completed NSAP-M were less likely to be readmitted to prison during the 24-month follow-up period. In fact, offenders who partially completed were 25% more likely to return to prison compared to those who completed NSAP-M. The Not Enrolled group did not differ from program completers in likelihood of returning to custody. At the end of the 2 year follow-up period, 52% of both the Complete and Not Enrolled groups remained in the community, compared to 39% of the Incomplete group. When participation in the National Maintenance Substance Abuse Program delivered in the community and release type were considered, the association between NSAP-M and return to custody was no longer significant, suggesting that release type and community aftercare may be key variables in the pathway between program exposure and returning to custody. Overall, offenders who did not participate in community aftercare were 41% more likely to return to custody than those who had some exposure to the program; offenders who were released on a non-discretionary basis were 53% more likely to return to custody. Why we did this study Ensuring the safety and security of staff and offenders within the institution environment and the safe reintegration offenders into the community are key priorities of Correctional Service Canada (CSC). Correctional interventions can help address offender behavior associated with criminal activity. Given that 80% of the federal offender population has a substance use problem, it is imperative that effective substance abuse interventions are available to these offenders. The current study examined the effectiveness of NSAP-M in addressing the needs of federally incarcerated male offenders who have an identified substance abuse problem. What we did The study examined the effect of NSAP-M on institutional misconduct and return to custody. The study sample consisted of 8,121 male offenders who had accessed NSAP-M between June 2004 and December 2009. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada, 2014. 63p. Source: Internet Resource: Research Report R-291: Accessed September 12, 2014 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/005008-0291-eng.shtml Year: 2014 Country: Canada URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/005008-0291-eng.shtml Shelf Number: 133297 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsDrug Abuse and AddictionDrug OffendersInmatesPrisoner AftercarePrisoner MisconductSubstance Abuse Treatment (Canada)Treatment Programs |
Author: U.S. Government Accountability Office Title: Bureau of Prisons: Information on Efforts and Potential Options to Save Costs Summary: BOP is responsible for the custody and care of 216,000 federal inmates-an almost 9-fold increase since 1980. At the same time, BOP appropriations increased more than 20-fold. DOJ states that the costs of the growing population are BOP's greatest challenge. BOP's population size is driven by several factors, such as law enforcement policies and sentencing laws. GAO was asked to review BOP's opportunities to save costs. This report (1) describes BOP's major costs and actions to achieve savings, (2) assesses the extent to which BOP has mechanisms to identify additional efficiencies, and (3) describes potential changes within and outside of BOP's authority that might reduce costs. GAO analyzed BOP financial data for fiscal years 2009 through 2013, reviewed but did not test its internal control system and processes for achieving efficiencies, and interviewed BOP officials. On the basis of sentencing reform options identified by experts and actions by the Attorney General, GAO developed a list of policy options that could reduce BOP's population. GAO gathered views on their potential effects from entities and 4 states selected for their criminal justice expertise. The views are not generalizable, but provide insights. What GAO Recommends GAO recommends that BOP establish a mechanism to consistently monitor if bureau-wide corrective actions address repeated deficiencies and findings. DOJ concurred. Details: Washington, DC: GAO, 2014. 139p. Source: Internet Resource: GAO-14-821: Accessed October 9, 2014 at: http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/666254.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.gao.gov/assets/670/666254.pdf Shelf Number: 133618 Keywords: Correctional AdministrationCosts of CorrectionsCosts of Criminal JusticeFederal Prisons (U.S.)InmatesPrisoners |
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 InstitutionsInmatesPrison ConditionsPrison ReformPrisonersPrisons (U.K.) |
Author: Levins, Alice Title: Living among sex offenders: Identity, safety and relationships at Whatton Prison Summary: Little research has been carried out on the sociology of imprisonment for sex offenders, despite them making up 16 per cent of the sentenced adult male population in England and Wales. This report applies some of the established questions from the prison sociology tradition to the sex offender prisoner population. The research explores experiences related to safety, the management of identity, the development of hierarchies and the formation and maintenance of friendships within this institutional context. The research was based on 22 semi-structured interviews with 22 prisoners in Whatton prison. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and the data was then coded using adaptive theory, with some themes drawn from the literature and others emerging from the data. The research found that, although prisoners reported feeling much safer in Whatton than they had elsewhere, they experienced a distinctive form of anxiety as a result of the social pressures of living solely among sex offenders. The research also found that prisoners struggled with their stigmatisation as sex offenders, and this structured their identities and relationships in various ways. The report argues that sex offenders have markedly different experiences in prison than 'mainstream' prisoners, thereby meriting separate study. Details: London: Howard League for Penal Reform, 2014. 42p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 19, 2015 at: https://d19ylpo4aovc7m.cloudfront.net/fileadmin/howard_league/user/pdf/Publications/Living_among_sex_offenders.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://d19ylpo4aovc7m.cloudfront.net/fileadmin/howard_league/user/pdf/Publications/Living_among_sex_offenders.pdf Shelf Number: 134971 Keywords: InmatesPrisonersSex Offenders (U.K.) |
Author: Trebilcock, Julie Title: No winners: The reality of short term prison sentences Summary: Every year over 60,000 adults receive a short prison sentence of less than 12 months. These prisoners usually serve half of their sentence in custody and the remainder in the community. Although they can be returned to prison during the second half of their sentence if they commit another crime, they are not subject to post-release supervision or intervention from probation (unless they are aged between 18 and 21 years). While in prison, the short time available often means there is little opportunity to adequately address the needs of this population, with limited access to offending behaviour programmes, education and work (Lewis et al, 2003; National Audit Office, 2002, 2008, 2010; Social Exclusion Unit, 2002). On release, short sentence prisoners often face a number of barriers to their resettlement, highlighting that 'those serving short sentences, receive little practical support, before release or afterwards' (Social Exclusion Unit, 2002). This is despite the fact that short sentence prisoners have the highest re-conviction rates amongst adult prisoners (Lewis et al, 2003; National Audit Office, 2010). In 2009, the Commission on English Prisons Today called for 'radical and transformational change' and for short prison sentences to be replaced with community penalties (Howard League, 2009:6). In the same year a motion was passed by the Prison Governors' Association (PGA) to abolish prison sentences of 12 months and under on the basis that they do not work. Since then, a number of other key stakeholders have also expressed concern about the ineffectiveness of short prison sentences, including NAPO (the Trade Union and Professional Association for Family Court and Probation Staff) and the Howard League for Penal Reform. Following the new coalition government and Kenneth Clarke's appointment as the Justice Secretary, a full review of sentencing and rehabilitation policy was promised (Hansard, 2010) leading to the publication of a green paper entitled Breaking the cycle: Effective punishment, rehabilitation and sentencing of offenders in December 2010 (Ministry of Justice, 2010a). It is within this context that this research sought to give further consideration to the reality of short term imprisonment from the perspective of both prisoners and prison staff. In May 2010 the Howard League for Penal Reform, in collaboration with the PGA, commissioned a piece of research to consider the reality of short term imprisonment from the perspective of prisoners, prison staff and prison governors. The research was interested to explore three key research questions: - What are the day-to-day experiences and views of male prisoners serving short term prison sentences of 12 months and under? - What are the views of prison staff working with male prisoners serving short term prison sentences of 12 months and under? - What are the views of PGA members and other key stakeholders regarding short term prison sentences of 12 months and under? In order to explore these key questions the study relied on a number of interlinked investigations. These were: - an interview survey of short sentence prisoners; - an interview survey of prison staff; - an electronic questionnaire survey of PGA members; and, - an electronic questionnaire survey of other key stakeholders. This research was conducted with prisoners and prison staff in three male prisons in one National Offender Management Service (NOMS) region. The three study sites were selected on the basis that they all held male prisoners serving prison sentences of 12 months and under. At each site fieldwork was completed by an independent academic and a small team of retired prison governors. Interviews ranged from between 30 and 60 minutes. A total of 44 interviews with short sentence prisoners and twenty-five with prison staff were conducted. This report presents the findings of the interview surveys with short sentence prisoners and prison staff only. The findings from the electronic questionnaire surveys of PGA members and other key stakeholders will be reported elsewhere. Details: London: Howard League for Penal Reform, 2011. 52p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 19, 2015 at: https://d19ylpo4aovc7m.cloudfront.net/fileadmin/howard_league/user/pdf/Publications/No_Winners.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://d19ylpo4aovc7m.cloudfront.net/fileadmin/howard_league/user/pdf/Publications/No_Winners.pdf Shelf Number: 134973 Keywords: InmatesPrisonersPunishmentSentencing (U.K.)Sentencing ReformShort Term Imprisonment |
Author: Great Britain. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary Title: The Welfare of vulnerable people in police custody Summary: Every day, the police in England and Wales are required to respond to the widest possible range of human behaviour and conditions. One moment they might be seeking a place of safety for an abandoned child, or for a person suffering from mental health problems who is confused and vulnerable; the next, they could be arresting an armed criminal. In some cases, people may be both offenders and in need of care. Vulnerability can be a trigger for crime or it can make people more likely to be victims of crime. The task that we ask of our police officers in making the distinction between the need for care and the requirements of justice is therefore both highly complex, and crucial if we are to ensure that vulnerable adults and children in our society do not become criminalised for want of a more appropriate response. The bricks and mortar of the custody suite and the police cell do not, and cannot make this distinction. As a result, some of the most vulnerable in our society may be subject to the same physical conditions and treatment as some of the most harmful. Police officers are civilians in uniform, possessing and discharging powers given to them freely by the consent of the communities they serve. There can be no greater power invested in a civilian than the power to take away the liberty of the citizen; nor can there be a stronger illustration of the power and trust invested in the police. The way that officers and staff engage with people in their custody or care therefore, has a most significant effect on the legitimacy with which the police are viewed, both by those detained, and by wider society. Future co-operation as witnesses to crime, or trust in the police as a victim of crime, may also be dependent on these contacts with the service. This being the case, the attitude and actions of the police - whether on the front line or in custody - are of paramount importance in ensuring that the very different needs of all those they encounter are met by the most appropriate agency. For those members of the public taken into custody, there are risks of harm from the experience of detention itself. They may also pose a risk to themselves and/or to others. All of these risks must be managed effectively by officers and staff with the relevant specialist expertise, who must communicate effectively, implement good standards of care, follow the law and work proactively with other agencies to ensure the right protection is put in place for vulnerable detainees, both in and following police custody. The primary purpose of the police is the prevention of crime and disorder. Other public agencies also have responsibilities in this regard. It is important to reiterate that the care of those who are vulnerable and at risk of coming to police attention is not the responsibility of the police alone. As this report emphasises, each service with a role to play in helping these individuals - including health, mental health, social and housing services - must fully and properly discharge its responsibilities, so that the police do not become the default response for vulnerable people in crisis. Details: London: HMIC, 2015. 212p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 15, 2015 at: http://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/wp-content/uploads/the-welfare-of-vulnerable-people-in-police-custody.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmic/wp-content/uploads/the-welfare-of-vulnerable-people-in-police-custody.pdf Shelf Number: 135211 Keywords: DetaineesInmatesMentally IllMinority GroupsPolice BehaviorPolice CustodyPrisoners (U.K.) |
Author: Arthur, Raymond Title: Evaluation of Prince's Trust Fairbridge Programme - Holme House Prison Project Summary: The goal of the evaluation was to examine how the Prince's Trust Programme at Holme House Prison works as a rehabilitative strategy, outlining both the dynamic processes involved and their immediate/short-term and medium/longer-term impacts on the lives of participants. This model was based on qualitative feedback from participants themselves as well as an analysis of the existing literature on the rehabilitation of young people leaving custody. The programme began running in October 2012 with funding for two years. The programme is underpinned by using Kolb's Learning Theory, Choice Theory and Reality Therapy. The key findings from the research suggest that participation in the Prince's Trust programme can potentially provide the starting-block for positive change in the lives of participants. Participants experience sustained positive, emotional, psychological and behavioural improvements. Engagement with this programme provides the potential to help give young offenders a chance to become non-offenders in the future by: - acting as a catalyst for change in the lives of offenders; - significantly improving confidence, listening and communication skills, tolerance, levels of self-expression, ability to cope with stress; - enhancing participants levels of engagement with further education and training; - positively impacting on the emotional well-being of the participants; - being responsive to the particular needs of participants. Details: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Northern Rock Foundation, 2014. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 16, 2015 at: http://www.nr-foundation.org.uk/downloads/X_PTrust_HolmeHousePrisonEval_FinalReport_March2014.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.nr-foundation.org.uk/downloads/X_PTrust_HolmeHousePrisonEval_FinalReport_March2014.pdf Shelf Number: 135250 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsInmatesPrisoners (U.K.)RehabilitationYoung Adult Offenders |
Author: Guidry, Sarah R. Title: A Blueprint for Criminal Justice Policy Solutions in Harris County Summary: On any given day, Texas county jails house approximately 65,000 people. More than half of these individuals are typically awaiting trial, not yet having been convicted. Many others are misdemeanants or serving terms for nonviolent offenses. And sadly, some individuals have repeatedly returned to jail, trapped in a continuous cycle of recidivism, unprepared for a life outside of the criminal justice system without access to post-release treatment and programming. As more and more individuals are incarcerated or otherwise involved in the criminal justice system, the fiscal and human costs increase: Individuals with criminal records have difficulty finding stable employment and housing, leading to re-offending; the expenses associated with managing bloated jail populations can be extensive; and public safety and health are likewise compromised when crowded jails fail to meet the needs of incoming and exiting individuals. Despite being home to the largest jail in Texas (and third largest in the United States), Harris County has nonetheless struggled with jail overcrowding for the past four decades. In 1974, a group of inmates filed a lawsuit against the Sheriff and County Commissioners that challenged the conditions of their confinement; it culminated in a federal court order condemning the overcrowded conditions in the Harris County jail, and it provided jurisdiction to the federal court to ensure steps were taken to bring the conditions of the jail within constitutionally protected standards. For nearly two decades, that court wielded its oversight power heavily, frequently intervening to prevent conditions at the Harris County jail from deteriorating further. And yet, following the termination of the court's oversight in the mid-1990's, the Harris County jail population once again swelled. By the late 2000's, Harris County's jail population was exceeding the design capacity of the jail facilities by almost 2,000 inmates and exceeding the target figure for safe operation of the jail by more than 2,400 inmates. The large number of inmates forced the County to outsource approximately 1,000 inmates each month to jail facilities in Louisiana; additionally, the County housed approximately 2,100 inmates in jail facilities in other Texas counties. Unsafe and unsanitary crowding conditions prompted new federal oversight in the form of a 2008 investigation by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Facing a county budget burdened by the fiscal costs associated with such a large number of jail inmates, the Harris County Commissioners Court contracted with the Justice Management Institute (JMI) to conduct a study on improving the County's criminal justice system and addressing the County's jail crowding problem. The release of the JMI report in 2009 and the ongoing DOJ investigation inspired the formation of the Harris County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (HCCJCC), a panel of county officials and stakeholders, as the first step in a concerted effort to solve the County's jail population issues. Since then, various strategies have been implemented to address specialized populations, including those with substance abuse and mental health problems who too frequently end up behind bars. The County has implemented emergency response teams that provide assistance to those in mental health crisis, and District Attorney Devon Anderson has implemented a policy in regard to nonviolent individuals charged with a low-level drug offense who have a history of drug or alcohol dependency; rather than sentencing the person under 12.44(a), the defendant is offered intensive rehabilitation with community supervision to address the addiction issue. Additionally, in October 2014, District Attorney Anderson's office initiated the First Chance Intervention Program, a pilot diversion program offered to first-time offenders who would otherwise be charged with Class B possession of marijuana (2 ounces or less). Harris County Probation Director Teresa May has worked ardently with judges to drastically reduce technical violations among those being supervised, and Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia has expanded the use of legally permitted "good time" credit for eligible jail inmates who exhibit positive behavior. We are now seeing a reduction in Harris County's jail population, which has been below its operating capacity since October 2011. Sustaining that initial success would prove difficult, however, and an influx of inmates in the fall of 2013 nearly drove the jail population over its operating capacity. Similar influxes have, at times, necessitated Harris County to make requests to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards for additional jail beds through temporary variances (See Appendix 1). Absent further jail population reduction strategies, more variances may become necessary in the future, and further county resources may be expended on confinement. Those costs are not insubstantial. In fiscal year 2013, following a rise in the County's jail population, taxpayers spent nearly a half-million dollars per day operating the jail. Harris County stakeholders - including law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, jailers, County Commissioners, county budget staff, and treatment providers - must collaborate to deliver cost-savings to county taxpayers through jail population management strategies and through a more public health response to drug use and mental illness. Ultimately, where possible, low-risk, nonviolent individuals should be diverted and handled outside of already overburdened court and jail systems, rather than forcing taxpayers to foot the bill for their pretrial detention and later confinement; meanwhile, those who are exiting jail should have access to post-release assistance to stay on the right path. Smart-on-crime strategies can ensure that funds needed for social services and programs are not unnecessarily diverted to criminal justice oversight. Details: Austin, TX: Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, 2015. 60p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 14, 2015 at: http://www.texascjc.org/sites/default/files/publications/Blueprint%20for%20Criminal%20Justice%20Policy%20Solutions%202015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.texascjc.org/sites/default/files/publications/Blueprint%20for%20Criminal%20Justice%20Policy%20Solutions%202015.pdf Shelf Number: 135637 Keywords: Costs of CorrectionsCosts of Criminal JusticeCriminal Justice SystemsDrug Abuse TreatmentDrug OffendersGood Time CreditsInmatesJail OvercrowdingJailsPretrial Detention |
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 InstitutionsInmatesPrisonersPrisons |
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 InstitutionsCorrectional ProgramsCosts of CorrectionsCosts of Criminal JusticeInmatesPrisonersPrisonsRecidivism |
Author: James, Nathan Title: Risk and Needs Assessment in the Criminal Justice System Summary: The number of people incarcerated in the United States has increased significantly over the past three decades from approximately 419,000 inmates in 1983 to approximately 1.5 million inmates in 2013. Concerns about both the economic and social consequences of the country's growing reliance on incarceration have led to calls for reforms to the nation's criminal justice system. There have been legislative proposals to implement a risk and needs assessment system in federal prisons. The system would be used to place inmates in rehabilitative programs. Under the proposed system some inmates would be eligible to earn additional time credits for participating in rehabilitative programs that reduce their risk of recidivism. Such credits would allow inmates to be placed on prerelease custody earlier. The proposed system would exclude inmates convicted of certain offenses from being eligible to earn additional time credits. Risk and needs assessment instruments typically consist of a series of items used to collect data on behaviors and attitudes that research indicates are related to the risk of recidivism. Generally, inmates are classified as being high, moderate, or low risk. Assessment instruments are comprised of static and dynamic risk factors. Static risk factors do not change, while dynamic risk factors can either change on their own or be changed through an intervention. In general, research suggests that the most commonly used assessment instruments can, with a moderate level of accuracy, predict who is at risk for violent recidivism. It also suggests that no single instrument is superior to any other when it comes to predictive validity. The Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) model has become the dominant paradigm in risk and needs assessment. The risk principle states that high-risk offenders need to be placed in programs that provide more intensive treatment and services while low-risk offenders should receive minimal or even no intervention. The need principle states that effective treatment should focus on addressing needs that contribute to criminal behavior. The responsivity principle states that rehabilitative programming should be delivered in a style and mode that is consistent with the ability and learning style of the offender. However, the wide-scale adoption of risk and needs assessment in the criminal justice system is not without controversy. Several critiques have been raised against the use of risk and needs assessment, including that it could have discriminatory effects because some risk factors are correlated with race; that it uses group base rates for recidivism to make determinations about an individual's propensity for re-offending; and that risk and needs assessment are two distinct procedures and should be conducted separately. There are several issues policymakers might contemplate should Congress choose to consider legislation to implement a risk and needs assessment system in federal prisons, including the following: - Should risk and needs assessment be used in federal prisons? - Should certain inmates be excluded from earning additional time credits? - Should risk assessment be incorporated into sentencing? - Should there be a decreased focus on punishing offenders? Details: Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2015. 23p. Source: Internet Resource: R44087: Accessed July 8, 2015 at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44087.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R44087.pdf Shelf Number: 135962 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsInmatesPrisoner RehabilitationPrisonersRisk and Needs AssessmentRisk Assessment |
Author: Forrester, Pamela Title: Promising Intervention Approaches for Offenders with Cognitive Deficits Related to Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and Other Neuropsychological Disorders Summary: What it means Offenders with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and other neurological disorders have complex, lifelong disorders that require adapted correctional practices and continued services from multiple providers. Although there is a scarcity of literature on evidence-based practices with this group, this review has identified best practice guidelines. What we found The evidence-base on what works for offenders with FASD and other neurological disorders is very sparse. There is, however, a growing consensus on promising practices that assist offenders with special needs in key aspects of their functioning. Many of these practices are currently in place within the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC). Based on the literature review, recommendations for institutional correctional practices include: - initial screening for cognitive deficits; - enhanced assessment for those identified with deficits, including an examination of functional deficits and a comprehensive assessment of criminogenic needs; - participation in adapted institutional programs (e.g., small groups; teaching only one or two concepts per session; repetition of material; coaching to demonstrate the application of the concepts). - staff training on strategies for working effectively with this subgroup of offenders; - provision of continuity of care through detailed pre-release planning; and, - case management provisions that broker and coordinate services while incarcerated. Based on the literature review, recommendations for community correctional practices include: - provision of supportive housing; - participation in comprehensive programs that include enhanced supportive case management and mentoring services; - access to meaningful and supported employment services; and, - consolidation of family and/or community support. Why we did this study FASD encompasses a range of conditions caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol which can result in neurophysiological changes to an individual's brain structure and function. Offenders with FASD and other neurological disorders may have difficulty adjusting to the correctional environment and benefiting from conventional programs because of deficits in executive functioning, memory, attention, and adaptive behavior. The purpose of the present study was to provide a comprehensive summary of the existing literature relevant to promising practices for adult offenders with these disorders. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada, 2015. 44p. Source: Internet Resource: Draft: Research Report No. R-340: Accessed August 31, 2015 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/005008-r340-eng.shtml Year: 2015 Country: Canada URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/005008-r340-eng.shtml Shelf Number: 136629 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsDisabilityFetal Alcohol Spectrum DisorderInmatesNeurological DisordersSpecial Needs Inmates |
Author: Stys, Yvonne Title: Violent Extremists in Federal Institutions: Estimating Radicalization and Susceptibility to Radicalization in the Federal Offender Population Summary: There is a growing recognition of the need to understand and address violent extremist threats in Western countries. Given that the majority of research in this area has been conducted on nonoffender populations outside of Canada, there is a need to better understand the scope, nature, and process of radicalization in Canada. In recognition of the fact that the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is in a position to contribute to addressing this gap, Public Safety Canada entered into a Letter of Agreement with the CSC to produce a report focused on CSC's data holdings on and estimation of violent extremism. This report summarizes the data holdings and gaps in the area, as well as the results of three studies focused on the examination and estimation of radicalization and susceptibility to radicalization of offenders under CSC's jurisdiction. The first study was a qualitative examination of the unique characteristics of offenders who are radicalized and who are susceptible to radicalization, from the perspective of operational staff. Based on data collected at a total of 10 focus groups involving institutional and community security and front-line staff from each of CSC's five regions, a number of themes emerged. Participants recognized the complex, multi-faceted nature of radicalization, and identified a wide range of behaviours indicative of radicalization or susceptibility to radicalization. In most cases, responses (e.g., vocalization of shared grievance, changes in religion) were consistent with the literature, though staff also suggested unique responses. Staff also drew attention to areas of possible improvement. The second study was a quantitative examination of differences between radicalized and nonradicalized offenders. Informed by literature and by the results of study 1, radicalized and nonradicalized offenders were compared on a wide variety of variables which could be measured using administrative data. There were many areas where radicalized offenders were found to differ from other offenders, including ethnicity and citizenship, education and employment, substance abuse history, previous contact with the criminal justice system, and characteristics of their offence(s). The data suggested that, in some ways, radicalized offenders may be more similar to radicalized individuals in the community than to other offenders. The third study involved a theory-drive attempt to identify constructs associated with susceptibility to radicalization. Based on a literature and data review, frequency analysis of variables, and principle component analysis, nine constructs were identified and explored. Though considerable additional work is required to confirm the role and nature of these constructs in influencing susceptibility, this study represents an important first step in this endeavour. Together, the three studies have allowed the CSC to contribute to the evidence base surrounding violent extremism in Canada. The results of these studies may also inform institutional operations and policies at CSC. They consistently demonstrate the need for additional research focused on population management for radicalized offenders, with a particular need for research focused on effective interventions for this group. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada, 2015. 130p. Source: Internet Resource: Report No. R-313: Accessed September 16, 2015 at: http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/lbrr/archives/cn34475-eng.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Canada URL: http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/lbrr/archives/cn34475-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 136785 Keywords: Extremist GroupsInmatesPrisonersRadical GroupsRadicalizationTerrorismViolent Extremists |
Author: Beck, Allen J. Title: Use of Restrictive Housing in U.S. Prisons and Jails, 2011-12 Summary: Presents data on the use of restrictive housing in U.S. prisons and jails, based on inmate self-reports of time spent in disciplinary or administrative segregation or solitary confinement. The report provides the percentage of prison and jail inmates who were currently held in restrictive housing, those who had spent any time in restrictive housing in the last 12 months or since coming to the facility if shorter, and the total time spent in restrictive housing. It provides prevalence rates for inmates by selected demographic characteristics, criminal justice status and history, current and past mental health status, and indicators of misconduct while in the facility. It also describes the relationship between the use of restrictive housing and facility-level characteristics, including measures of facility disorder and facility composition. Data are from the National Inmate Survey (NIS), 2011-12, conducted in 233 state and federal prisons and 358 local jails, with a sample of 91,177 inmates nationwide. Highlights: Younger inmates, inmates without a high school diploma, and lesbian, gay, and bisexual inmates were more likely to have spent time in restrictive housing than older inmates, inmates with a high school diploma or more, and heterosexual inmates. Inmates held for a violent offense other than a sex offense and inmates with extensive arrest histories or prior incarcerations were more likely to have spent time in restrictive housing than inmates held for other offenses and inmates with no prior arrests or incarcerations. Use of restrictive housing was linked to inmate mental health problems: 29% of prison inmates and 22% of jail inmates with current symptoms of serious psychological distress had spent time in restrictive housing in the past 12 months. More than three-quarters of inmates in prisons and jails who had been written up for assaulting other inmates or facility staff had spent time in restrictive housing in the past 12 months. Among inmates who had spent 30 or more days in restrictive housing in the last 12 months or since coming to the facility, 54% of those in prison and 68% of those in jail had been in a fight or had been written up for assaulting other inmates or staff. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2015. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 27, 2015 at: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/urhuspj1112.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/urhuspj1112.pdf Shelf Number: 137148 Keywords: Administrative SegregationInmatesJailsPrisoner MisconductRestrictive HousingSolitary Confinement |
Author: Lydon, Jason Title: Coming Out of Concrete Closets: A Report on Black & Pink's LGBTQ Prisoner Survey Summary: This report lifts up the voices of LGBTQ prisoners from across the United States so that they can inform, shape, and lead the movement for prisoner justice. These numbers, statistics, and stories represent the largest ever collection of information from LGBTQ prisoners. This collection of information is possible because of the time taken by 1,118 prisoners across the United States to handwrite responses to our 133 question survey, which was itself designed/drafted with prisoners themselves. Black & Pink's free world leadership extends the utmost thanks to prisoner members who took the time to help design and respond to the National LGBTQ Prisoner Survey and for sharing their deeply personal and valuable stories of harm and resilience. This report will be printed in the Black & Pink newspaper for all prisoner members to read. Along with the report, there will be space for responses and reflections that will be compiled into a supplementary report to be released in Spring/Summer of 2016. LGBTQ people, particularly people of color and poor people, experience high levels of policing and criminalization, leading to arrest and incarceration. Once inside prison, LGBTQ people are subjected to constant violence by both prison staff and other prisoners. This report seeks to offer a tool for organizers, both inside and outside of prisons, to strengthen national campaigns and grassroots efforts to alleviate the immediate suffering of prisoners and bring an end to the prison industrial complex while centering the needs of LGBTQ prisoners. Details: Dorchester, MA: Black and Pink, 2015. 68p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 28, 2015 at: http://www.blackandpink.org/wp-content/upLoads/Coming-Out-of-Concrete-Closets.-Black-and-Pink.-October-21-2015..pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.blackandpink.org/wp-content/upLoads/Coming-Out-of-Concrete-Closets.-Black-and-Pink.-October-21-2015..pdf Shelf Number: 137159 Keywords: GaysInmatesLesbiansPrison ViolencePrisoners |
Author: Lessing, Benjamin Title: A Hole at the Center of the State: Prison Gangs and the Limits to Punitive Power Summary: The state's central function is to establish authority through its monopoly on violence; the very attempt, however, can be counterproductive. Punishment incapacitates and deters individuals, but can empower destructive collective forces. Prison gangs, their ranks swelled by mass incarceration, transform the core of the coercive apparatus into a headquarters for organizing and taxing street-level criminal activity, supplanting state authority in communities, and orchestrating mass violence and protest. Drawing on a formal model, fieldwork, and case studies from the US and Latin America, I show how gangs use control over prison life, plus the state-provided threat of incarceration, to project power. The model predicts that common state responses-crackdowns and harsher sentencing- can strengthen prison gangs' leverage over outside actors, consistent with the observed expansion of prison gangs during mass-incarceration initiatives. These gang-strengthening effects of incarceration can have increasing returns, implying a point beyond which additional punishment erodes state authority. Details: Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, 2014. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: CDDRL Working Papers, Vol. 149: Accessed January 13, 2016 at: http://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/Lessing_-_A_Hole_at_the_Center_of_the_State.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://cddrl.fsi.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/Lessing_-_A_Hole_at_the_Center_of_the_State.pdf Shelf Number: 137558 Keywords: InmatesPrison GangsPrison ViolencePrisoners |
Author: U.S. Department of Justice Title: Report and Recommendations Concerning the Use of Restrictive Housing: Final Report Summary: In a July 14, 2015, speech at the NAACP National Convention, President Barack Obama announced that he had asked Attorney General Loretta Lynch to conduct a review of "the overuse of solitary confinement across American prisons." The President directed that the purpose of the review be not simply to understand how, when, and why correctional facilities isolate certain prisoners from the general inmate population, but also to develop strategies for reducing the use of this practice throughout our nation's criminal justice system. Over the past several months, a team of senior officials at the U.S. Department of Justice met regularly to study the issue of solitary confinement-or "restrictive housing," to use the more general corrections term-and formulate policy solutions. This Report is the culmination of the Department's review. The Justice Department embraced this opportunity to think deeply about the use of restrictive housing in America. The issue strikes at some of the most challenging questions facing correctional officials and criminologists: How should prisons and other correctional facilities manage their most violent and disruptive inmates? How can they best protect their most vulnerable and victimized ones? And what is the safest and most humane way to do so? These questions are of particular importance to the Justice Department. Not only does the Department oversee the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the nation's largest prison system, but it also provides funding and technical assistance to other correctional systems, through the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) and the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), and enforces the constitutional and statutory rights of state and local inmates through the Department's Civil Rights Division. After extensive study, we have concluded that there are occasions when correctional officials have no choice but to segregate inmates from the general population, typically when it is the only way to ensure the safety of inmates, staff, and the public. But as a matter of policy, we believe strongly this practice should be used rarely, applied fairly, and subjected to reasonable constraints. This Report includes a series of "Guiding Principles" that we believe should guide plans for limiting the use of restrictive housing across the American criminal justice system, as well as specific policy changes that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (the Bureau) and other Department components could undertake to implement these principles. The stakes are high. Life in restrictive housing has been well-documented by inmates, advocates, and correctional officials. In some systems, the conditions can be severe; the social isolation, extreme. At its worst, and when applied without regard to basic standards of decency, restrictive housing can cause serious, long-lasting harm. It is the responsibility of all governments to ensure that this practice is used only as necessary-and never as a default solution. But just as we must consider the impact on inmates, so too must we consider the impact on correctional staff. These public servants work hard, often for long hours and under difficult conditions, and we must protect them from unreasonable danger. For years, the Bureau has been asked to do more and more, putting strain on its officers and other staff. Correctional officers need effective tools to manage the most challenging inmates and protect the most vulnerable. We do not believe that the humane treatment of inmates and the safety of correctional staff are mutually exclusive; indeed, neither is possible without the other. In recent years, numerous correctional systems have succeeded in safely lowering the number of inmates in restrictive housing, including the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which has reduced its total restrictive housing population by nearly 25% since January 2012. Under the leadership of its outgoing Director, Charles E. Samuels, Jr., the Bureau has also developed a range of progressive alternatives to restrictive housing-and has done so while supporting and enhancing staff safety. This Report includes a number of proposals that would help continue the downward trends in the Bureau's restrictive housing population, while also ensuring that those placed in segregation receive the support and rehabilitative services they need. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 2016. 128p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 27, 2016 at: http://www.justice.gov/dag/file/815551/download Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.justice.gov/dag/file/815551/download Shelf Number: 137665 Keywords: Administrative SegregationInmatesIsolationJailsPrisoner MisconductRestrictive HousingSolitary Confinement |
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 InstitutionsInmatesPrisoners |
Author: Bronson, Jennifer Title: Disabilities Among Prison and Jail Inmates, 2011-12 Summary: Presents the prevalence of disabilities among prison and jail inmates, detailing the prevalence of six specific disability types: hearing, vision, cognitive, ambulatory, self-care, and independent living. Important differences in each type of disability are highlighted by demographic characteristics. The report also assesses the prevalence of disabilities with other health problems, such as a current chronic condition, obesity, ever having an infectious disease, and past 30-day serious psychological distress. Findings are based on prison and jail inmate self-reported data from BJSs 201112 National Inmate Survey (NIS-3). Data from the 2012 American Community Survey (ACS) and 20092012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) were used to compare the incarcerated populations to the noninstitutionalized general population. Highlights: An estimated 32% of prisoners and 40% of jail inmates reported having at least one disability. Prisoners were nearly 3 times more likely and jail inmates were more than 4 times more likely than the general population to report having at least one disability. About 2 in 10 prisoners and 3 in 10 jail inmates reported having a cognitive disability, the most common reported disability in each population . Female prisoners were more likely than male prisoners to report having a cognitive disability, but were equally likely to report having each of the other five disabilities. Non-Hispanic white prisoners (37%) and prisoners of two or more races (42%) were more likely than non-Hispanic black prisoners (26%) to report having at least one disability. More than half of prisoners (54%) and jail inmates (53%) with a disability reported a co-occurring chronic condition. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2015. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 8, 2016 at: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/dpji1112.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/dpji1112.pdf Shelf Number: 137801 Keywords: DisabilityDisabled PersonsInmatesPrisoners |
Author: Sentencing Project Title: U.S. Prison Population Trends 1999-2014: Broad Variation Among States in Recent Years Summary: Our comparative analysis of U.S. Prison Population Trends 1999-2014 reveals broad variation in nationwide incarceration trends. While 39 states have experienced a decline since reaching their peak prison populations within the past 15 years, in most states this decline has been relatively modest. In addition, 11 states have had continuing rises in imprisonment. These developments suggest that while the recent national decline in the prison population is encouraging, any significant decarceration will require more sustained attention. Details: Washington, DC: The Sentencing Project, 2016. 2p. Source: Internet Resource: Fact Sheet: Accessed February 17, 2016 at: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_US_Prison_Population_Trends_1999-2014.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_US_Prison_Population_Trends_1999-2014.pdf Shelf Number: 137876 Keywords: InmatesPrisoners Prisons |
Author: New South Wales. Inspector of Custodial Services Title: Full House: The growth of the inmate population in NSW Summary: This first inspection by the office of the Inspector was undertaken in response to a rapid rise in the prison population in NSW in 2014. While long-term trends show a consistent rise in the number of people being incarcerated, this number peaked at 11,021 in May 2014, giving rise to significant overcrowding. NSW has the lowest number of hours out-of-cell each day for inmates, and this, combined with overcrowding, presents significant risks to the correctional system. Confining two or three inmates to cells designed for one or two for prolonged periods, where they shower, eat and defecate, inevitably raises tensions in an already volatile population. The experience in other jurisdictions has been that this potentially increases the risk of assault, self-harm and suicide and more general prison disorder. Rehabilitation outcomes are also compromised when inmate numbers are increased without a commensurate increase in appropriate resources. Overcrowding limits opportunities for parole because access to required programs is constrained. Reduced access to work and limited contact with families contribute to the creation of an unproductive environment. While it is difficult to define 'overcrowding', for the purposes of this inspection the term has been used to define a situation where a centre is holding a number of inmates that exceeds the original capacity that the centre was designed to accommodate. In NSW, 21 of 44 correctional centres are currently operating over design capacity. Prison overcrowding has the potential to negatively impact on all aspects of custodial life, from the initial reception of an inmate through to their transition back into the community upon release. Accordingly, this inspection examined the impact of overcrowding as it relates to three key areas: - Security and safety; - Health and wellbeing; - Resources and services. This inspection examined three metropolitan centres: Parklea Correctional Centre (the second largest centre in NSW and a privately operated centre), the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre (the largest centre in NSW which receives over 40 percent of all new receptions to the correctional system), and the Metropolitan Special Programs Centre Area 2 (which accommodates a variety of inmate groups and offers a range of therapeutic programs). In July 2014, these centres were operating at a level of between 4.5 to 71 percent over their design capacity. Details: Sydney: Inspector of Custodial Services, 2015. 77p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 15, 2016 at: http://www.custodialinspector.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Full%20House%20-%20Final%20report%20April%202015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Australia URL: http://www.custodialinspector.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/Full%20House%20-%20Final%20report%20April%202015.pdf Shelf Number: 138247 Keywords: InmatesPrison OvercrowdingPrisonersPrisons |
Author: Manitoba Office of the Auditor General Title: Managing the Province's Adult Offenders Summary: The Department of Justice manages approximately 10,000 adult offenders. About 24% are in provincial correctional centres; the other 76% are supervised in the community. We examined how adequately the Department managed adult correctional centre capacity, adult offenders in the community, adult rehabilitation programs, and related public performance reporting. We found that the Department's management of its adult correctional centre capacity was inadequate for its long-term needs. Although it had increased capacity by 52% since 2008, overcrowding in centres was on-going; offender population forecasts were not always reliable; there was no comprehensive long-term capital plan to address either the forecast bed shortfall or the deterioration in aging correctional centre infrastructure; and initiatives to help reduce bed demand required greater attention. There were also problems in managing adult offenders in the community. While the Department had a number of policies in this area, we found that offenders were not always adequately supervised; their rehabilitation plans needed improvement; supervisors were not regularly reviewing staff's work to ensure it complied with standards; and management had reduced offender supervision standards in 3 regions to resolve workload issues. In addition, there were gaps in planning and monitoring adult rehabilitation programs, and limited public information provided on how well the Department was managing its adult offenders. Taken together, these issues affected the Department's contribution to public safety and reduced the likelihood of successful offender rehabilitation. Details: Winnipeg, MB: Office of the Auditor General, 2014. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 21, 2016 at: http://www.oag.mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Chapter-6-Managing-the-Provinces-Adult-Offenders-Web.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Canada URL: http://www.oag.mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Chapter-6-Managing-the-Provinces-Adult-Offenders-Web.pdf Shelf Number: 138359 Keywords: Adult OffendersCommunity CorrectionsCorrectional AdministrationInmatesOffender SupervisionPrisonersPrisonsRehabilitation Programs |
Author: Broderick, Roisin Title: Ethnic Minority and Foreign National Prisoner Survey 2014 Summary: This thematic Bulletin presents the key findings of the Ethnic Minority & Foreign National Prisoners Survey 2014. The survey which was undertaken over the summer of 2014 in each of the 15 Scottish prisons involved all ethnic minority and foreign national prisoners. An ethnic minority survey has been carried out since 2004 and the survey was extended to include foreign national prisoners in 2007. A total of 192 ethnic minority and foreign national prisoners from 26 countries participated in the survey with an overall response rate of 51%. This is a drop from the 2012 response rate of 59%. The 192 responses comprised: - Male 85%, Female 15%; - Average age 36 years; - Convicted 67%; - Remand 33%. Methodology Working in association with Race Relation Managers within each prison, all prisoners identified as belonging to an Ethnic Minority or Foreign National group were visited and asked if they wished to complete a questionnaire. Questionnaires were available in a number of languages - English, Polish, Punjabi, Lithuanian, Russian, Romanian and Vietnamese. As questionnaires were not available in all languages, prisoners had the opportunity to use the services of an interpreter or alternatively, access to the help of a fellow prisoner who could help them complete the questionnaire. The questions in the survey reflect some key elements of the SPS equality and diversity agenda covering issues such as access to interpreters, mental health, food, relationships with other prisoners and staff. Ethnic minority & foreign national prisoner location Although there are ethnic minority and foreign national prisoners in all SPS establishment the majority of respondents were held in Barlinnie, Edinburgh, Glenochil and Perth. Custodial History Generally, the views of ethnic minority and foreign national prisoners with regard to many aspects of prison life, e.g. relationships, atmosphere, cleanliness, visits etc. are, with minor exceptions, very similar to other prisoners. However, when compared to other prisoners, there was a substantial difference in the number of ethnic minority and foreign national prisoners with no previous experience of prison. Ethnic minority and foreign national prisoners were more likely to report "never" having served a prison sentence (66%) or being on remand (53%) compared to other groups of prisoners (31% and 27% respectively). Details: Edinburgh: Scottish Prison Service, 2015. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 23, 2016 at: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3527.aspx Year: 2015 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.sps.gov.uk/Corporate/Publications/Publication-3527.aspx Shelf Number: 138388 Keywords: Foreign InmatesInmatesMinoritiesPrisonersPrisons |
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 InstitutionsInmatesPrisonersPrisons |
Author: Pew Charitable Trusts Title: The Punishment Rate: New metric evaluates prison use relative to reported crime Summary: Researchers, policymakers, and the public rely on a variety of statistics to measure how society punishes crime. Among the most common is the imprisonment rate - the number of people in prison per 100,000 residents. This metric allows for comparisons of prison use over time and across jurisdictions and is widely seen as a proxy for punishment. States with high imprisonment rates, for example, are considered more punitive than those with low rates. A more nuanced assessment of punishment than the ratio of inmates to residents is that of inmates to crime - what The Pew Charitable Trusts calls the "punishment rate." This new metric gauges the size of the prison population relative to the frequency and severity of crime reported in each jurisdiction, putting the imprisonment rate in a broader context. Using the punishment rate to examine the U.S. criminal justice system, Pew found that all states became more punitive from 1983 to 2013, even though they varied widely in the amount of punishment they imposed. The analysis also shows that the nation as a whole has become more punitive than the imprisonment rate alone indicates. Details: Philadelphia: Pew Charitable Trusts, 2016. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Brief: Accessed March 24, 2016 at: http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2016/03/the_punishment_rate.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2016/03/the_punishment_rate.pdf Shelf Number: 138410 Keywords: InmatesPrisonersPunishmentSentencing |
Author: New South Wales. Parliament. Legislative Council. Standing Committee on Law and Justice Title: Security classification and management of inmates sentenced to life imprisonment Summary: In July 2015 it became publicly known that some inmates sentenced to life imprisonment had been reclassified to a medium or minimum security level. This became a prominent matter in the media following an outcry from the public and victims' families. The Commissioner of Corrective Services subsequently reclassified these inmates from their lower security classifications to maximum security. This inquiry was established soon afterwards to consider how lifers should be classified and whether they should have access to rehabilitation programs. Summary of recommendations Recommendation 1 32 That the NSW Government amend the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Regulation 2014 to establish a separate classification for inmates sentenced to life imprisonment with little or no prospect of release from custody that is based on the risk they pose to the community, preserves the good order of correctional facilities and ensures the safe and effective management of the inmates. Recommendation 2 32 That Corrective Services NSW develop and action a comprehensive communication strategy to educate the public on the operation of the New South Wales correctional system. Recommendation 3 44 That the NSW Department of Justice consider merging the victims registers of the Mental Health Review Tribunal, Juvenile Justice and Corrective Services NSW. Recommendation 4 45 That Corrective Services NSW trial an opt-out Victims Register for victims of inmates sentenced to life imprisonment. Recommendation 5 45 That, as part of the opt-out system at recommendation 4, Corrective Services NSW establish a policy whereby the Victims Register conduct a one-off follow up of victims of inmates sentenced to life imprisonment who have opted-out of the register to ask if the victim would like to reconsider joining the register, and that victims be informed of this policy when they initially make the decision to opt-out. Recommendation 6 49 That Corrective Services NSW establish a policy whereby, as soon as possible following sentencing, the Victims Register provide an information package to victims of inmates sentenced to life imprisonment and offer to telephone or meet with them to explain the correctional system, custodial management practices and the day-to-day life of an inmate and that it consider doing this in the presence of a counsellor. Recommendation 7 49 That Corrective Services NSW develop, in consultation with victim support groups and the Commissioner of Victims Rights, a form to be provided to victims of inmates sentenced to life imprisonment following sentencing that includes a list of matters that victims can nominate to receive updates about, and that this form also be made available to current victims of inmates sentenced to life imprisonment. Recommendation 8 55 That the NSW Government amend the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Regulation 2014 to state that, in cases where the Commissioner for Corrective Services does not adopt the recommendations of the Serious Offenders Review Council, reasons as to why the recommendations were not adopted must be provided. Recommendation 9 62 That the NSW Government consider measures to improve the capacity of the prison system to adequately house, manage and care for aged and frail inmates, including to establish designated units and areas in more correctional centres in New South Wales. Details: Sydney: NSW Parliament, 2016. 94p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 11, 2016 at: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/344106974ffada7bca257f8a0082b906/$FILE/Final%20Report%20-%20Security%20classification%20and%20management%20of%20inmates%20sentenced%20to%20life%20imprisonment.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Australia URL: http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/committee.nsf/0/344106974ffada7bca257f8a0082b906/$FILE/Final%20Report%20-%20Security%20classification%20and%20management%20of%20inmates%20sentenced%20to%20life%20imprisonment.pdf Shelf Number: 138627 Keywords: Inmate ClassificationInmatesLife ImprisonmentLife SentenceLifersPrisoners |
Author: Power, Jenelle Title: Staff Perspectives on Working with Aboriginal Offenders who Self-Injure: What Works, What Doesn't, and the Role of Culture Summary: What it means Staff who work with Aboriginal offenders who engage in non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) recommend that intervening or interventions should focus on establishing positive relationships with offenders and addressing their underlying issues, not simply their self-injury. Culturally-specific interventions should be considered for Aboriginal offenders who have not had success with mainstream treatment. What we found Two interrelated themes were evident in all of the interviews and focus groups: (1) the recommendation that interventions should treat the whole person, not just the NSSI; and (2) the importance of establishing positive therapeutic relationships with the offenders is fundamental to NSSI treatment. Responding in a supportive and direct way to an individual's NSSI was identified as an effective method of intervention that also contributes to the establishment of a positive therapeutic alliance. As one participant noted, "[it is most important that offenders know] somebody cares and that spending that time with somebody and building those relationships has another huge impact". Most participants reported that a team approach is an effective strategy for working with offenders who engage in NSSI. The differences between Aboriginal and mainstream culture is important to consider when working with Aboriginal offenders. Many Aboriginal offenders have complicated backgrounds that influence their behaviour and their sense of identity that must be taken into consideration. Culturally-based interventions, such as participating in ceremonies and working with Elders, may be particularly helpful for this population. Most approaches that foster supportive and compassionate relationships, however, are likely to be helpful with all offenders who engage in NSSI, and may be particularly important for those who have not had success with mainstream treatment. Why we did this study NSSI (any type of deliberately self-inflicted harm or disfigurement that is undertaken without suicidal intent) is one of the most distressing behaviours that mental health professionals deal with, yet there is limited research regarding how staff can effectively interact with offenders to promote better outcomes. Given the number of Aboriginal offenders in CSC and the uniqueness of Aboriginal culture, more information is needed on how to best serve these offenders and examine what role their culture plays in designing effective interventions. What we did Fourteen staff members working with Aboriginal offenders in CSC correctional institutions and the community participated in focus groups or one-on-one interviews. The following topics were discussed: 1) experience working with Aboriginal offenders and offenders who self-injure; 2) challenges that arise when working with these groups; 3) treatment of self-injury; and 4) the role of culture in self-injury desistence. All interviews and focus groups were recorded and transcribed verbatim. A phenomenological approach was used to analyze the transcripts. Responses were classified into themes and categories to illustrate the structure or commonalities of experiences described by participants. Details: Ottawa: Correctional Service of Canada, 2014. 1p.(summary), 33p. To obtain a PDF version of the full report, or for other inquiries, please e-mail the Research Branch Source: Internet Resource: Research Report R-317: Accessed April 23, 2016 at: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/005/008/092/r317-eng.pdf Year: 2014 Country: Canada URL: http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/005/008/092/r317-eng.pdf Shelf Number: 138796 Keywords: Aboriginal OffendersCorrectional StaffInmatesMental Health TreatmentSelf-Injury |
Author: Nese, Annamaria Title: Cooperation, Punishment and Organized Crime: A Lab-in-the Field Experiment in Southern Italy Summary: This paper reports the results of an experimental investigation which allows a deeper insight into the nature of social preferences amongst organized criminals and how these differ from "ordinary" criminals on the one hand and from the non-criminal population in the same geographical area on the other. We provide experimental evidence on cooperation and response to sanctions by running Prisoner's Dilemma and Third Party Punishment games on three different pools of subjects; students, 'Ordinary Criminals' and Camorristi (Neapolitan 'Mafiosi'). The latter two groups being recruited from within prisons. We are thus able to separately identify 'Prison' and 'Camorra' effects. Camorra prisoners show a high degree of cooperativeness and a strong tendency to punish, as well as a clear rejection of the imposition of external rules even at significant cost to themselves. In contrast, ordinary criminals behave in a much more opportunistic fashion, displaying lower levels of cooperation and, in the game with Third Party punishment, punishing less as well as tending to punish cooperation (almost as much) as defection. Our econometric analyses further enriches the analysis demonstrating inter alia that individuals' locus of control and reciprocity are associated with quite different and opposing behaviours amongst different participant types; a strong sense of self-determination and reciprocity both imply a higher propensity to cooperate and to punish for both students and Camorra inmates, but quite the opposite for ordinary criminals, further reinforcing the contrast between the behaviour of ordinary criminals and the strong internal mores of Camorra clans. Details: Bonn: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), 2016. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: IZA Discussion Paper No. 9901: Accessed April 27, 2016 at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp9901.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Italy URL: http://ftp.iza.org/dp9901.pdf Shelf Number: 138823 Keywords: Economics of CrimeInmatesMafiaOrganized CrimePrisonersPunishment |
Author: Revold, Mathias Killengreen Title: Innsattes levekar 2014 (Prison inmates' living conditions 2014) Summary: This report on living conditions among inmates in Norwegian prisons is based on a survey conducted in the autumn of 2014. The report describes their lives before prison and to some extent their lives while incarcerated and their plans after they are released. A control group from the general population, with similar demographic characteristics, was made from Statistics Norway's other surveys. Most of the inmates are men, and the majority are younger than 40 years. Seven out of ten people surveyed were non-immigrants, but inmates with deportation orders and inmates held on remand were excluded from the sample. These groups have a high percentage of immigrants and the proportion of immigrants in the total prison population may be higher. The inmates had to a greater extent than the reference group been living alone and to a lesser extent been living in relationships with children before they were incarcerated. The proportion that are divorced or separated is higher than in comparable groups. 46 percent were serving their first sentence and 54 percent had served previous prison sentences. Many inmates had experienced a difficult childhood. 32 percent had little money compared to others or were among the poorest in the neighborhood. A large percentage had negative experiences in childhood. For example, 40 percent were abused while growing up, 38 percent lived with someone who had alcohol or drug problems and 41 percent have had family members in prison. Inmates who have served previous sentences and younger inmates had consistently experienced more of these negative childhood experiences than other inmates. The living conditions of the inmates before prison is consistently worse than in comparable groups of the general population. 68 percent lived in a dwelling they owned or rented, compared to 98 percent among comparable groups. 28 percent lived in cramped quarters, which is a much higher proportion than in the reference group. Education and employment levels are also markedly lower. 66 percent have secondary or lower as their highest education, and only 36 percent were employed when the were incarcerated. In the reference group, the proportions are respectively 24 and 82 percent. The share who had economic problems was also higher among inmates. The proportion with poor health was higher among inmates than in the reference group. It is also more common to have various symptoms of physical and mental disorders. One in five inmates consider their health as poor or very poor, and a majority has a long-term illness or disorder. Older inmates score worse on all health indicator compared to younger inmates. Inmates had been the subjected to violence and intimidation in the year before incarceration to a much greater extent than comparable groups in the population. A majority of inmates had used drugs in the year before they were inprisoned. This is a higher level of drug use than we find in the reference group, and the difference is particularly evident in the proportion who used hard drugs. There is less of a clear difference in the proportion who drink alcohol, but it is more common among inmates become intoxicated often. The majority of inmates have friends or family they can talk to and help them with problems, but the proportion without such close contacts is higher than in the reference group. Four out of ten do not have someone they can talk to in prison and a similar proportion have not been visited in the last three months. The inmates also exhibit less confidence that others can be trusted and that most people will treat them decently. Overall, we find that the vast majority of inmates have problems with their living conditions in one or more areas. We find the largest proportion with multiple problems among inmates under 40 years, inmates on short sentences and inmates who have served previous prison sentences. 18 percent of inmates think there is a quite small or small possibility that they will not commit new crimes after their release. Details: Oslo: Statistics Norway, 2015. 80p. Publication is in Norwegian only. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 2, 2016 at: https://www.ssb.no/en/sosiale-forhold-og-kriminalitet/artikler-og-publikasjoner/_attachment/244272?_ts=150b8c1bce0 Year: 2015 Country: Norway URL: https://www.ssb.no/en/sosiale-forhold-og-kriminalitet/artikler-og-publikasjoner/_attachment/244272?_ts=150b8c1bce0 Shelf Number: 138884 Keywords: InmatesPrisonersPrisons |
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 InstitutionsInmatesPrisonersPrisons |
Author: Rovner, Laura Title: Dignity and the Eighth Amendment: A New Approach to Challenging Solitary Confinement Summary: The use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails has come under increasing scrutiny. Over the past few months, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy all but invited constitutional challenges to the use of solitary confinement, while President Obama asked, "Do we really think it makes sense to lock so many people alone in tiny cells for 23 hours a day for months, sometime for years at a time?" Even some of the most notorious prisons and jails, including California's Pelican Bay State Prison and New York's Rikers Island, are reforming their use of solitary confinement because of successful litigation and public outcry. Rovner suggests that in light of these developments and "the Supreme Court's increasing reliance on human dignity as a substantive value underlying and animating constitutional rights," there is a strong case to make that long-term solitary confinement violates the constitutional right to freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. Details: Washington, DC: American Constitution Society for Law and Policy, 2015. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Issue Brief: Accessed May 6, 2016 at: Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: Shelf Number: 138961 Keywords: Conditions of ConfinementCruel and Unusual PunishmentInmatesMental HealthPunishmentSolitary Confinement |
Author: Carson, E. Ann Title: Aging of the State Prison Population, 1993-2013 Summary: Discusses factors that have contributed to the growing number of older offenders in state prison, and examines changes in the sex, race, current offense, and sentencing characteristics of these offenders over time. It also describes how more prison admissions and longer lengths of stay contribute to the aging of the prison population and result in the growing numbers of offenders who are "aging in" to the older age cohorts. Data are from the Bureau of Justice Statistics' National Corrections Reporting Program, National Prisoner Statistics program, and Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities (1991 and 2004) and from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program. Highlights: The number of prisoners age 55 or older sentenced to more than 1 year in state prison increased 400% between 1993 and 2013, from 26,300 (3% of the total state prison population) in 1993 to 131,500 (10% of the total population) in 2013. The imprisonment rate for prisoners age 55 or older sentenced to more than 1 year in state prison increased from 49 per 100,000 U.S. residents of the same age in 1993 to 154 per 100,000 in 2013. Between 1993 and 2013, more than 65% of prisoners age 55 or older were serving time in state prison for violent offenses, compared to a maximum of 58% for other age groups sentenced for violent offenses. At yearend 1993, 2003, and 2013, at least 27% of state prisoners age 55 or older were sentenced for sexual assault, including rape. More than four times as many prisoners age 55 or older were admitted to state prisons in 2013 (25,700) than in 1993 (6,300). Press Release Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2016. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 19, 2016 at: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/aspp9313.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/aspp9313.pdf Shelf Number: 139353 Keywords: Elderly InmatesElderly OffendersInmatesPrison PopulationPrisoners |
Author: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Evaluation and Inspections Division Title: Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons' Untimely Releases of Inmates Summary: Following news reports that the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) had confined an inmate for 13 months past his correct release date, the Department of Justice (Department) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated an examination of the BOP's process for ensuring federal inmates are released on their correct release dates and the incidences of releases before or after the correct release date due to staff error between 2009 and 2014. We found that of the 461,966 inmate releases between 2009 and 2014, the BOP categorized 157 as untimely due to staff error. We also learned that the BOP classifies a far greater number - 4,183 - as untimely for other reasons. According to the BOP, the vast majority of non-staff error "untimely" releases were due to situations that are beyond its control, such as amended sentences that result in shorter sentences than the time an inmate had already served. Also, data and information we reviewed indicates that other entities inside and outside the Department may sometimes contribute to untimely releases. Although BOP officials told us that it was highly unlikely that staff error on the part of a Department entity contributed to any of the 4,183 cases, they could not rule out the possibility and we found that the BOP does not always have complete information about the circumstances of untimely releases to which other entities contribute. We therefore concluded that the Department should work with all relevant entities, both within and outside the Department, to review the full range of possible reasons for untimely releases and how to address those that are in any way preventable. With regard to the 157 untimely releases that BOP categorized as due to staff error, 152 were late releases and 5 were early releases. We found that three of the late releases and three of the early releases involved an error resulting in more than 1 year of over- or under-served time by the inmate. Table 1 displays the number of days of over- or under-served time for the 157 untimely releases. While the 157 untimely releases due to staff error was rare compared to the 461,966 releases by BOP during the 6-year period of our review (an error rate of 0.03 percent), the consequences of an untimely release can be extraordinarily serious. Late releases from prison deprive inmates of their liberty, while early releases can put communities at risk if the inmates are dangerous. Early releases also can harm an inmate and the inmate's family, particularly if the inmate's efforts to gain employment and reestablish ties with the community are interrupted by a re-arrest for the purpose of completing the sentence. Late releases also are costly: in addition to BOP costs associated with the unauthorized period of incarceration, there is the potential for significant compensatory judgments to those inmates who suffered an unconstitutional deprivation of their liberty. For the 152 late releases, we estimated the total cost to the BOP, exclusive of litigation and settlement costs, to be approximately $669,814. In addition, between 2009 and 2015, the Department settled four lawsuits by inmates alleging untimely release, one for $90,000; another for $120,000; another for $295,000; and the fourth for $175,000. This does not include additional costs the Department incurred as a result of these cases, such as salary costs expended to handle the lawsuits. Additionally, untimely releases, whether early or late, contravene judicial sentencing orders, yet the BOP does not have in place a process to consider whether to notify the sentencing court of an untimely release. We found that, for late releases, the BOP notifies the relevant U.S. Probation office but does not separately notify the sentencing court or the U.S. Attorney's Office that handled the case. For early releases, we found that BOP policy requires Wardens to notify "the appropriate Judicial Official(s)" when an inmate who is deemed to be a threat to the community is released early and when any inmate is released more than 30 days early. Despite this policy, we found no such notifications occurred for the four untimely early releases of 30 days or more that we reviewed. We found that 127 of the 157 untimely releases due to staff error were the result of errors made at BOP's Designation and Sentence Computation Center (DSCC). (The DSCC performs the vast majority of sentence computations the BOP uses to determine an inmate's release date.) The other 30 untimely releases were the result of staff errors at non-DSCC entities, such as BOP institutions, BOP Residential Reentry Management field offices, Residential Reentry Centers (previously known as Community Corrections Centers), and private contract prisons. Prior to 2005, when the BOP consolidated sentence computation functions in the DSCC, individual BOP facilities across the country had performed sentence computation. The BOP transitioned sentence computations to the DSCC in order to consolidate BOP sentence computation functions, reduce costs, and ensure consistent application of laws and BOP policies. This change also helped reduce the number of untimely releases caused by staff error. Based on BOP data, we determined that during the 6-year period from 1999 and 2004 there were approximately 344 untimely releases due to staff error (around 0.1 percent of all releases) compared to 157 (around 0.03 percent of all releases) between 2009 and 2014. We concluded that the most common sentence computation errors resulted from incorrect application of jail credit, incorrect determinations of primary jurisdiction between federal and state custody, and errors relating to concurrent versus consecutive sentences for defendants with multiple unexpired incarceration sentences. We also found that poor communication with outside entities - including local jails, courthouses, state departments of corrections, Native American reservations, the U.S. Marshals Service, and others - resulted in DSCC staff not obtaining complete and accurate sentencing information or interpreting sentencing information incorrectly, leading to untimely releases. The BOP has several processes in place to prevent untimely release. One is to conduct a final release audit 12 months prior to an inmate's scheduled release date to discover and correct any errors and to have the ability to account for any reduced sentence time. However, we found that in some cases 12 months is not early enough to discover and correct the error and prevent the untimely release. Specifically, 14 of the 19 errors discovered by final release audits might not have resulted in untimely releases had the audits occurred 18 months before the inmate's scheduled release date. Had the final release audit occurred 24 months prior to the release date, an additional 4 of the 19 errors might have been discovered in time to prevent the untimely release. Therefore, we recommend that BOP explore and implement additional sentence calculation processing or auditing strategies, taking into account that conducting final release audits only 12 months before an inmate's projected release date has led to preventable untimely releases. We also noted that the DSCC holds education events that bring together officials from the DSCC as well as outside the BOP (including U.S. District Court Judges, Federal Public Defenders, and U.S. Probation Office staff) to inform them about topics relating to DSCC operations, such as sentence computations. In our judgment, these events could help prevent untimely releases if the BOP included factors that can affect its ability to release inmates on time, including showing attendees how conflicting information can lead to incorrect sentence computations. This report contains three case studies profiling inmate releases that were more than 1 year late. The report also makes seven recommendations for the BOP to help reduce untimely releases due to staff error. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 2016. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Evaluation and Inspections Division 16-03 : Accessed September 23, 2016 at: https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/e1603.pdf Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/e1603.pdf Shelf Number: 146051 Keywords: Federal Bureau of PrisonsInmatesPrisoner Release |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: Summary: Since Egypt's military removed President Mohamed Morsy from office in 2013, the authorities have engaged in one of the widest arrest campaigns in the country's modern history, imprisoning tens of thousands. Most of the Muslim Brotherhood's top leadership, alongside alleged members of the Islamic State as well as non-Islamist critics of the government, are serving prison sentences in a maximum security facility known as Scorpion, part of the Tora prison complex in southern Cairo. "We Are in Tombs" documents conditions inside Scorpion, which since it was built in 1993 has served as the central detention facility for those deemed the most dangerous enemies of the state. What occurs inside lies hidden behind a wall of secrecy kept in place by the Interior Ministry, which oversees all aspects of Egypt's internal security, from arrest to investigation to imprisonment. Based on interviews with 20 relatives of inmates, two lawyers, and a former prisoner, as well as the review of medical documents, the report details how prison officials, under the authority of the Interior Ministry, subject inmates to cruel and inhuman treatment that in some cases probably amounts to torture, including severe beatings, prolonged confinement in cramped "discipline" cells, and interference in medical care that in some cases may have led to serious complications and even death. Inmates are locked away with prolonged bans on any access to relatives or lawyers, all in violation of international standards for the treatment of prisoners. The report calls on the Egyptian government to improve conditions in Scorpion, invite international detention monitors to visit, and prosecute officials with command responsibility if they are found to have committed abuses. Details: New York: HRW, 2016. 89p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 13, 2016 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/egypt0916_web_4.pdf Year: 2016 Country: Egypt URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/egypt0916_web_4.pdf Shelf Number: 145445 Keywords: Human Rights AbusesInmatesPrisonersPrisons |
Author: Yenkong, Pangmashi E.N. Title: Prisoners in-justice: Prisoners' encounters with the criminal justice system in Cameroon Summary: Imprisonment is the ultimate sanction of the state in nearly all countries, and its use in the developing world has risen considerably in recent years. The prison occupies a central place in the politics of crime control and has become a normal social destination for growing numbers of citizens. More than 9.25 million people today are held in penal institutions throughout the world mostly as pre-trial detainees or as sentenced prisoners. Africa now has one of the highest pre-trial detainees comprising of 45 per cent per 100,000. Overcrowding and under resourced are one of Africa's most pressing problems. African states such as Cameroon comprise one of Africa's most overcrowded prisons. Cameroon's prisons face a host of challenges, including deficits of good governance, funding and other resources. Two thirds of the entire prisoners in Cameroon are yet to be tried. The Bamenda Central prison comprises of one of the 72 prisons scattered around the national territory with an average prison population of 575 inmates. Cameroon is party to a number of International human rights treaties including the Convention against Torture and other cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). The Cameroonian government has also made considerable efforts recently to promote the rule of law in the country. This includes constitutional and legislative guarantees for fair judicial processes. Nonetheless, upon examination of the Bamenda Central prison, several common themes of human rights abuses emerges including the failure to protect the rights of accused persons, overcrowding and abusive prison conditions, and the unfulfilled mandate of rehabilitation. Throughout the country, as a result of the social and economic inequities that plagues the Cameroonian society, the difference between the rich and the poor continues to increase. A majority of the population remains unable to have access to the Criminal Justice system. The poor are far more likely than the rich to be arrested, if arrested charged, if charged convicted, and if convicted sentenced to prison. Hence the criminal justice has a model: the rich get richer and the poor get prison. At the time when it seems essential to comprehend what the prison is and how accused people get there, research into the criminal justice system lacks scholarship dearth. There has been a decline in academic interest, coupled with low levels of government research funding; and the failure to adequately address sensitive issues plaguing the criminal justice system. To date, the majority of research in prison has focused primarily on common areas of enquiry in prison and prison programs notably administration in prison, prison programs and prison welfare services. Prisoners have become less enthusiastic research areas as no study has been addressed relating to inmate's perception of justice. The central problematic in this research is how the prisoners view their situation in prison and how they see themselves with regard to the justice system in Cameroon. My main aim of this research was to engage in a dialogue with prisoners through interviews to be able to understand their agency in the prison and how that informs their perception of justice. Providing a space for these perspectives and experiences within the criminal justice system positions this thesis within a larger dialogue with human rights discourses, analysis of the prison, relationships of power and informal justice systems. Given these practical and theoretical interests, I discovered that I could only conduct such a study employing qualitative research methods skills. My methodology was guided by principles of participatory action research. In this context, I was actively involved with prisoners and families. I immersed my self in their prison culture and became part of a number of activities carried out by prisoners. I interacted with more than two hundred prisoners, and had extensive interviews with ninety-seven prisoners over an extended period of seven months. I wrote their lives prior to imprisonment, during and after prison. My primary goal was to relay their interviews using their words. I equally carried out a participant observation of the criminal justice agencies. I decided to employ a feedback to the outside community by building a bridge between prisoners to their respective families whom I considered as vital actors in the lives of inmates. Details: Leiden: Leiden University, African Studies Centre, 2011. 112p. Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed October 13, 2016 at: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/18563/ASC-075287668-3175-01.pdf?sequence=2 Year: 2011 Country: Cameroon URL: https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/18563/ASC-075287668-3175-01.pdf?sequence=2 Shelf Number: 144936 Keywords: Criminal Justice SystemInmatesPre-trial DetaineesPrisonersPrisons |
Author: Noonan, Margaret E. Title: Mortality in Local Jails, 2000-2014 - Statistical Tables Summary: Describes national and state-level data on inmate deaths that occurred in local jails from 2000 to 2014 and includes a preliminary count of inmate deaths in local jails in 2015. Mortality data include the number of deaths and mortality rates by year, cause of death, selected decedent characteristics, and the state where the death occurred. Data are from BJS's Deaths in Custody Reporting Program, which was initiated under the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-297). Highlights: Heart disease was the second leading cause of death in local jails, accounting for 23% of deaths between 2000 and 2014. The suicide rate in local jails in 2014 was 50 per 100,000 local jail inmates. This is the highest suicide rate observed in local jails since 2000. More than a third (425 of 1,053 deaths, or 40%) of inmate deaths occurred within the first 7 days of admission. More than a third of inmates who died of homicide (137 of 327) were being held for a violent offense in 2014. Almost half (47%) of suicides occurred in general housing within jails between 2000 and 2014. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2016. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 21, 2016 at: http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5865 Year: 2016 Country: United States URL: http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=5865 Shelf Number: 146006 Keywords: Deaths in CustodyHealth CareInmatesJail InmatesJailsSuicide |
Author: Brazil Ministry of Justice Title: Levantamento Nacional DE INFORMAÇÕES PENITENCIÁRIAS Inoopen - December 2014 (National Survey of Information Penitentiary INFOPEN - December 2014) Summary: Provides statistics and information on prisons and prisoners in Brazil. Details: Ministry of Justice, 2014. 80p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 20, 2017 at: http://www.justica.gov.br/seus-direitos/politica-penal/documentos/infopen_dez14.pdf (in Portuguese) Year: 2014 Country: Brazil URL: http://www.justica.gov.br/seus-direitos/politica-penal/documentos/infopen_dez14.pdf Shelf Number: 144511 Keywords: InmatesPrisonersPrisons |
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 InstitutionsInmatesPrisonersPrisons |
Author: Halloran, Nick Title: The NSW Prison Population Simulation Model: A policy analysis tool Summary: Aim: To describe a simulation model of the NSW prison system and demonstrate its utility as a tool for examining the effects of changes to the criminal justice system that influence the number of prisoners in custody Method: The model consists of four states (bail, remand, custody and parole) and a set of parameters governing flows into and out of those states as well as lengths of stay in each state. Data for the model were sourced from police, court and correctional databases. Results: The prison system is extremely sensitive to changes in the percentage of persons refused bail. A one percentage point change in the percentage of persons refused bail by a court increases the remand population by 7.66 per cent, the sentenced prisoner population by 6.03 per cent and the parole population by 6.15 per cent. Conclusion: It is feasible to build a simple model of the prison system which is easy to maintain but nonetheless useful in analysing the likely consequences of changes in arrest, bail and sentencing policy. Details: Sydney: NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, 2017. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice Number 203; Accessed May 10, 2017 at: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/CJB/Report-2017-NSW-Prison-Population-Simulation-Model-CJB203.pdf Year: 2017 Country: Australia URL: http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/CJB/Report-2017-NSW-Prison-Population-Simulation-Model-CJB203.pdf Shelf Number: 145396 Keywords: BailCriminal Justice PolicyCriminal Justice SystemsInmatesParolePrison Population |
Author: Fair, Helen Title: Peer relations: Review of learning from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Prison Reform Fellowships - Part IV Summary: This Briefing is concerned with the broad theme of 'connections'. Its particular focus is on interventions visited by the Churchill Fellows which aim to harness the power of peer relations towards positive goals. - This report looks at the importance of positive peer relations at all stages of the criminal justice programme, specifically: - Peer relations as a tool to support desistance and diversion - Promoting positive peer relations in prison - Peer support on release from prison - Research has long documented the enormous influence of peer pressure - whether positive or negative - on offending behaviour. Positive peer pressure is utilised in work with young fathers and programmes which help to develop youth leadership, while work to reduce gang violence aims to counteract the negative effects of peer pressure. - In England and Wales, the growing use and benefits of peer support across the prison estate have been recognised by inspectors. Mentoring roles encompass the provision of emotional support, advising, and facilitating self-help or learning. - Examples of peer support programmes visited by Fellows include a programme run by ex-prisoners in the US which encourages the peer-led and grassroots education of prisoners; the use of drama to promote positive behaviour in prison in South Africa; and a programme in the US which uses life sentence prisoners as 'social mentors' to help new prisoners to adapt to prison life. - The importance of peer support for those leaving prison and re-entering the community is widely recognised, and is increasingly viewed by the UK government as a key means of ensuring continuity of support for those released from prison. - Examples of such 'through the gate' support was seen in Finland, where former prisoners work with those being released from prison to help them access the services they need to resettle back into the community, and in the US through the Delancey Street Foundation, which is entirely staffed by people who have been through the prison system, and teaches marketable skills to recently released prisoners. Details: London: Prison Reform Trust, 2017. 14p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 1, 2017 at: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/WCMT/peer_relations_FINAL.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/WCMT/peer_relations_FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 146485 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsInmatesPeer RelationsPeer SupportPrisoner ReentryPrisoner RehabilitationPrisonersVolunteers in Criminal Justice |
Author: Duwe, Grant Title: The Use and Impact of Correctional Programming for Inmates on Pre- and Post-Release Outcomes Summary: State and federal prisons have long provided programming to inmates during their confinement. Institutional programming encompasses a broad array of services and interventions, including substance abuse treatment, educational programming, and sex offender treatment. The objective of providing prisoners with programming is to improve their behavior, both before and after release from prison. Indeed, institutional programming is often intended to not only enhance public safety by lowering recidivism, but also to promote greater safety within prisons by reducing misconduct. Although U.S. correctional systems typically offer some programming opportunities within prisons, research suggests many prisoners do not participate in programming while incarcerated (Lynch & Sabol, 2001). This paper reviews the available evidence on the impact of institutional programming on pre- and post-release outcomes for prisoners. Given the wide variety of institutional interventions provided to inmates in state and federal prisons, this paper focuses on programming that: (1) is known to be provided to prisoners, (2) has been evaluated, and (3) addresses the main criminogenic needs, or dynamic risk factors, that existing research has identified. This paper, therefore, examines the empirical evidence on educational programming, employment programming, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), chemical dependency (CD) and sex offender treatment, social support programming, mental health interventions, domestic violence programming, and prisoner re-entry programs. In addition to reviewing the evidence on the effects of these interventions on pre- and post-release outcomes, this paper identifies several broad conclusions that can be drawn about the effectiveness of institutional programming, discusses gaps in the literature, and proposes a number of directions for future research. Details: Washington, DC: U.S. National Institute of Justice, 2017. 41p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 1, 2017 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250476.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250476.pdf Shelf Number: 147487 Keywords: Correctional ProgramsInmatesPrisonersRehabilitation |
Author: Roodman, David Title: The impacts of incarceration on crime Summary: When it comes to locking people up, the United States is a world champion. In 1970, 196,000 people resided in American prisons, and another 161,000 in jails, which worked out to 174 inmates per 100,000 people. In 2015, 1.53 million people languished in US prisons and 728,000 in jails, or 673 per 100,000. Only North Korea, among major nations, may surpass the US in this regard. Such statistics are almost always invoked and graphed when initiating discussions of criminal justice reform. Figure 1 and Figure 2 depict them afresh with photographs taken at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. That fortress-like complex is now a museum, a window onto a criminal justice reform movement of some two centuries ago that sought to replace corporal punishment with solitary confinement, which was seen as humane and rehabilitative. The Open Philanthropy Project has joined a latter-day criminal justice reform movement. It too is motivated by the belief that something is wrong with the state's use of punishment to combat crime. Something is wrong, in other words, with those pictures. Higher incarceration rates and longer sentences, along with the "war on drugs," have imposed great costs on taxpayers, as well as on inmates, their families, and their communities. Yet even though the 59% per-capita rise in incarceration between 1990 and 2010 accompanied a 42% drop in FBI-tracked "index crimes," researchers agree that putting more people behind bars added modestly, at most, to the fall in crime. Yet even if rising incarceration has not been a major factor behind falling crime, it might still have been a factor - and enough so that it ought to give pause to those pushing to reverse the rise. This report works to check that possibility, by reviewing empirical research on the impacts of incarceration on crime. It asks whether decarceration should be expected to increase or decrease crime. With the Open Philanthropy Project making grants for criminal justice reform, this review of the research is an act of due diligence. Any discussion of the impacts of incarceration should specify the alternative: incarceration as opposed to what? This review focuses mainly on studies that compare incarceration to ordinary freedom or traditional supervised released (probation and parole), as distinct from alternatives such as in-patient drug treatment and restorative justice conferences. Those options may offer promise, and deserve more research and evidence reviews. Nevertheless, as a practical matter, if incarceration falls substantially in this country, ordinary and traditional supervised release will probably emerge as the main alternatives. That appears to have been the case in trend-setting California after decarceration reforms in 2011 and 2014. Thus this review remains highly relevant to likely policy choices. For manageability, this review restricts it to "high-credibility" studies: ones that exploit randomized experiments, or else "quasi-experiments" that arise incidentally from the machinations of the criminal justice system and ideally produce evidence nearly as compelling as experiments do. Further, in distilling generalizations and performing cost-benefit analysis, the review relies more heavily on the eight studies that I could replicate by accessing the underlying data and computer code. Replication and subsequent reanalysis of these eight revealed significant econometric concerns in seven and led to major reinterpretations of four. That experience led to an unexpected conclusion about the conduct of social science generally. For it raised doubts about the rest of the high-credibility studies included in this review, the ones that could not be so closely examined. It forced me to conclude that even the best studies on incarceration and crime are less reliable than they appear. And, like a car whose brakes fail once, this raises questions about the reliability of published social science generally. To put that more constructively, the scrutiny that research undergoes to appear in social science journals falls short of the optimum for policymaking. Perhaps the gap needs to be filled outside the normal academic research process, such as through reviews like this one. Details: San Francisco: Open Philanthropy Project, 2017. 142p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 27, 2017 at: http://blog.givewell.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/The-impacts-of-incarceration-on-crime-10.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://blog.givewell.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/The-impacts-of-incarceration-on-crime-10.pdf Shelf Number: 147466 Keywords: Alternatives to IncarcerationCosts of Criminal JusticeCriminal Justice ReformInmatesMass IncarcerationPrison PopulationPrisoners |
Author: Howard League for Penal Reform Title: Out of Control: Punishment in Prison Summary: Research by the Howard League for Penal Reform reveals that prisons are routinely and increasingly resorting to draconian punishments in a counter-productive attempt to regain control. It shows that almost 290,000 additional days of imprisonment were handed down to prisoners during 2016 - a 75 per cent rise in only two years - as jails have been brought to breaking point by overcrowding and staff shortages. The Howard League has calculated that the additional days imposed in 2016 alone will cost the taxpayer about $27million. This report reveals how disciplinary hearings, known as adjudications, are used overly and inappropriately, with even minor infractions such as disobedience and disrespect being punished with additional days of imprisonment. The report calls on England and Wales to follow the example set by Scotland, where the use of additional days of imprisonment was scrapped about 10 years ago. Officials and governors in Scotland could find no evidence that abolishing the use of additional days had a negative impact on behaviour, and Scottish prisons have become safer since the change was made. Scrapping the imposition of additional days of imprisonment in England and Wales would stop a vicious cycle. Punishments pile more pressure on the prison population and worsen overcrowding, which in turn creates conditions for drug abuse, violence and other types of misbehaviour. Details: London: The Howard League, 2017. 6p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 14, 2018 at: https://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Out-of-control.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United Kingdom URL: https://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Out-of-control.pdf Shelf Number: 149129 Keywords: Inmate DisciplineInmatesPrison AdministrationPrison ConditionsPrisoners |
Author: Flower, Shawn M. Title: District of Columbia Custodial Population Study: Seeking Alignment between Evidence Based Practices and Jail Based Reentry Services Summary: The District of Columbia Custodial Population Study was commissioned by the District of Columbia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) pursuant to a request from the DC Council. The purpose of this project is to gain a better understanding of how justice involved individuals flow into and out of District of Columbia correctional facilities. Critical to this study is our ability to comprehensively describe the population of both District of Columbia Department of Corrections (DOC) and Federal Bureau of Prison (FBOP) inmates returning to the District of Columbia. Our goal is to understand their challenges, and to anticipate how best to serve these individuals to successfully return to the community. The study overall incorporates analysis of administrative data as well as discussions with key stakeholders - including public safety leadership, staff, and custodial service providers, as well as inmates and their families, in order to inform a comprehensive strategy to generate long-term successful outcomes. This report combines the efforts of the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) and The Moss Group, Inc. (TMG) to describe the custodial population including demographics, current offense, past offense history, and length of stay in the facility. JRSA conducted the quantitative analysis for this project, using data provided by the DOC, Pretrial Services Agency (PSA) and the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH). The study sample consisted of 8,840 individuals in custody or admitted to custody DOC from October 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015 (FY2015). We also conducted an analysis of a release cohort from the FBOP). The FBOP data consisted of 2,108 individuals with a release address to the District of Columbia in FY2015. The quantitative analysis is detailed in the first two chapters of this report. Chapter I Stock and Flow focuses on the custodial population analysis - or stock and flow - which comprehensively describes the flow of criminal justice involved individuals into and out of DOC in order to explain variations in custody populations. In addition to the Stock and Flow analysis, JRSA analyzed data provided by DBH to look at the circumstances and needs of individuals housed in DOC (Chapter II Services Analysis). The qualitative portion of the report was conducted by The Moss Group, Inc. TMG conducted focus groups and stakeholder interviews among inmates, DOC and other agency staff and community stakeholders; their findings are provided in Chapter III Service and Programs Interviews. Recommendations based on the overall findings of this study and informed by the literature review conclude this report. Details: Washington, DC: Justice Research and Statistics Association; The Moss Group, Inc., 2017. 214p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 8, 2018 at: http://jrsa.org/pubs/reports/jrsa-dc-custodial-pop-study-9-2017.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: http://jrsa.org/pubs/reports/jrsa-dc-custodial-pop-study-9-2017.pdf Shelf Number: 149401 Keywords: Evidence-Based Practices InmatesJail Inmates Prisoner Reentry Prisoners |
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 InstitutionsInmatesPrison OvercrowdingPrisonersPrisons |
Author: Rabuy, Bernadette Title: Prisons of Poverty: Uncovering the Pre-Incarceration Incomes of the Imprisoned Summary: Correctional experts of all political persuasions have long understood that releasing incarcerated people to the streets without job training, an education, or money is the perfect formula for recidivism and re-incarceration. While the fact that people released from prison have difficulties finding employment is well-documented, there is much less information on the role that poverty and opportunity play in who ends up behind bars in the first place. Using an underutilized data set from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this report provides hard numbers on the low incomes of incarcerated men and women from before they were locked up. Details: Northampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative, 2015. 11p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 16, 2019 at: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/income.html Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://csgjusticecenter.org/corrections/publications/uncovering-the-pre-incarceration-incomes-of-individuals-in-the-justice-system/ Shelf Number: 154223 Keywords: IncarcerationInmatesPovertyPrisonersPrisonsRecidivismSocioeconomic Status and Crime |