Corrections Community

As a student who is about to graduate, it is interesting to see that their isn't more discussion under forward thinking. Is this the state of affairs that corrections is in right now? I mean as far as the absence of forward thinking or even the discussion on it. My future goals are to work with those who have more experience than I do in corrections to develop and promote evidence based corrections, many of the public who I speak to when learning that I am going to have a career in corrections wonder why I want to be a part of a broken system. Some think it is broken because it is not punitive enough to deter crime, some think it is broken because of the amount of money they have to spend to give someone who has been locked up a so called life of luxury, some feel that the system is broken because it doesn't do enough to rehabilitate offenders so that they can successfully re-enter communities. What is the degree of forward thinking and what is being thought about?

I am a former prison psychologist and currently teach corrections (among other courses) at a small liberal arts university in Missouri. I, too, am dismayed by the lack of forward thinking in the corrections field.  I spent 10 years working behind the walls and saw very little indication that correctional administrators care at all about innovation. Most are consumed with day-to-day issues of facility maintenance and custody/security, resulting in prisons that do very little except incapacitate. Programs geared at changing offender behavior are not well-integrated into the overall operations, which they must be in order to be effectively. Re-integration and rehabilitative programs are poorly understood and quickly dismissed (despite some promising empirical evidence that some things work!). I was frustrated with the pervasive belief that these programs and strategies are 'naive' and put public safety at risk. The reality is that incapacitation and stiffer sentencing laws are short-sighted and ultimately threaten public safety because they have no meaningful, long-term effects on crime.

Part of the problem is that many people on the front-lines in corrections and even top-level administration have little formal schooling in discplines such as public policy analysis and criminology.  Most have no interest in research. Particularly in rural communities, many people who go to work in prisons simply are drawn to these jobs not out of a true vocational or career interest, but because prisons are the local industry and provide job security. Many administrators in the system in which I worked rose up from the ranks of guard or facility managers. Top-level state wide administrators were often political appointees who also lacked the depth and breadth of knowledge required in order for correctional systems to be a part of a truly comprehensive criminal justice system and to support research-based practices.

so - -the challenges to change are many.

First of all I want to tell you how much I appreciate your response and attitude. It gives me hope that a career in corrections for someone like me is going to be worth something. My current mentor is very disillusioned about corrections administration as well and sometimes this discourages me from even taking up the task. What position in corrections etc. do you think would be the best to make the most change concerning policy decisions and innovation? I would like to keep this thread going and see if we can't get more people involved. Pass the word along and so will I.

P.S.

I am currently working on an Honors thesis for my undergrad. It is focusing on the validation and revalidation of prisoner classification. I plan on continuing it after graduation focusing on how to make the process more accurate, yet less time consuming. Tell me what you think.  

The one year I have worked in the field of corrections I have spent in Indiana where I have seen a remarkable amount of innovative thinking. Our Commissioner, J. David Donahue, never tires in his efforts to lead the Department to new levels of efficiency, while improving public safety and offender rehabilitation. There has been too much accomplished by Commissioner Donahue and the incredible DOC staff throughout the State to even begin to touch it here in one post. I would highly recommend a visit to our Department website (www.in.gov/indcorrection) where you can view a significant amount of data, including our informative annual report. I would also recommend our reentry website, http://www.in.gov/indcorrection/reentry/. I think this should be a good start for your look into innovative thinking in modern corrections.

 

I think there's most certainly hope for innovation in corrections, and I will check out the IDOC website recommended in the above post. I think a certain amount of innovation goes in most corrections systems, but much of it is 'under the radar.'  In recent years, there has been little federal or state funding to develop or evaluate new corrections programs or strategies (or replicate promising ones.). Funding for re-entry projects is one exception, and I am a fan of the 'containment model' approach that is being implemented in some places.

The problem of trying to 'sell' politicians, policymakers and administrators on the importance of long-term solutions to crime (versus short-term retributive/incapacitation) is age-old. A great read is "Miracle at Sing Sing" by Ralph Blumenthal. It chronicles Leonard Lawes' long stint as the warden of Sing Sing, but is especially compelling in presenting a history of correctional practices over the late 19th-mid 20th century. Makes you realize there is nothing new under the sun!

As a former Health Care Manager of a major prison facility I can think of many "Forward Thinking" ideas. I have a medical degree and also a business degree so always see things a little different, both from a medical and economic stand point. (Some ideas have been tried already)

I would like to see state prisons run not as "one size fits all" but as facilities that target the  problem/similar group of problems of the offender. Much like say geriatric assisted living facility/nursing home or a prison only for offenders who are sentenced for drugs. I understand the concept for needing to move offenders...ie security always over-rides medical but these types of offenders who are in general population really are a burden on taxpayers and a security threat to the facility. Release Alzheimers offenders when they reach stage II Alzheimers. What do we do to Alzheimers patient in a nursing home? We place them in a locked unit. Correctional cost for offender with Alzheimers to taxpayers is average 100,000. Nursing home placement would be 60,000-70,000 and I am being generous.   

For staff I can think of disbursing information via mini huddles. Obtain the information, make 2 extra copies and gather no more than 3 other staff members. Teach those staff members the information and get them to sign their names on one of the sheets. Designate another staff member to do the same as you and give that staff member the copies you made. They do the same and soon all staff has received the same information. Provide human resources with the signed copies so you have a record of training/policy review.  Much better than sitting out a clip board of info to read and people to sign!! Staff is responsible for their own name to ensure name is on a paper to turn into human resources.

Make prisons "green" self sustaining by the offenders them selves. This saves the state taxpayers MONIES!!!

Prison facilites must make an annual contribution to Homeless Shelter, Anmial Shelter, or social service (pick one) meaning what ever the offenders save by making prison "green", what ever prisoners save by becoming healthy and the dietary budget has monies left over then a certian amount goes to that social service.  This allows for community pride, allows for offenders to vote on what social service they want to donate to. It can even be what the offenders made, sold from offenders store, or produced with the profit from that. You see where I am going my point is they are getting involved in their community.

I think there are no replies as people are busy. Working in corrections is physically and mentally taxing. When you try to change to make a better enviroment for offenders or staff there are so many layers you must go through. Most are union and changes take time. Human nature shows that when people get comfortable in their position they do not want to rock the boat and forward thinking means rocking the boat and to most....extra work. Ensure there is no extra work involved unless mandatroy and rock the boat you work in correction your not suppose to get comfortable!

 I think that your ideas are valid about how we should treat offenders. Especially as it sounds like you want to move corrections more in the direction of using a medical model. I am currently working on a project on objective prisoner classification, appropriatly and effeciently classifying prisoners can be achieved by ensuring the system used to classify them is valid would do much to move the cause you are supporting forward. In particular the differential treatment of offenders, this a staffing and professional dillemma. However I am not optimistic about offenders ideas of social responsibility and don't see how prisoners would be able to make monetary contributions to orginizations. I guess I am interested in more explanation on how that would help the prison economy seeing as it is not the prisoners who determine the way the budget is used and they are not the primary source of the funding, the amount of funding is only determined by the bed space and inmate population.

I  am always encouraged by any foward thinking in corrections and agree whole heartedly that it just requires a desire and a littel extra effort, both are severly lacking.

Rob 

I suppose I am biased in regards towards a medical model as I feel most offenders have some sort of medical issues (I place mental health in that catagory). As far as monies generated by offenders it would not be much but I feel it would be enough to teach them some sort of civic duty-a connection to the community. Not all offenders are going to buy into the "game" we have to lead by example and show offenders what normal is so they learn or at least observe.

To some extent the offenders do impact the budget. When health services started a weight loss program several things happened

1. Special dietary requests reduced (offenders taught how to eat a balanced diet)

2. Less sick call visits (offenders started to get healther less low back pain, flip side we had increase in strains)

3. Medical staff went out to units to conduct sick call less over head and increase communication so less grievances (can you see me smile as I do level II)

4 Dietary budget decreased as there was less waste, better offender food choices.

I can go on to include other departments so you see how simple changes can impact the budget. 

Good luck on your project. I like to call your project evidenced based classification and this is what we should be doing. Place the offender in a facility that according to evidenced based research is best for the safety of the community first, then what is best for DOC, then what is best for the offender in that order. If only we had those specalized facilities, those DOC's, the offenders will always be there. 

no i dont think you sound biased. your opinion for it is just a good understanding of the subject. the offenders are a menace to the society. and they should be dealt with strict punishments. there is no other way to treat them JWP ----------------- Comprehensive resources for those looking for recovery from addiction. http://www.addictionrecovery.net

If you're still investigating validated risk assessment tools, I hope you've uncovered the work being done out of Wisconsin. They have validated use of a risk assessment tool that uses a modeling method that matches the risk characteristics of the subject being assessed with ten offenders that "look the most like" the subject. Then it creates a modeled risk based on known outcomes and modeled needs based on similar offenders' needs/. The technology is similar to those used with voice for speaker identification and verification. What's most compelling about the Wisconsin efforts is that the tool models needs as well as risks and has the ability to do "What if" scenarios. You can see how "fixing" a need will impact risk. I hope this helps!

Government tends to be more reactive than proactive, I believe. Corrections is no different. There is plenty of "forward thinking", "committees", and "reports"... But very little proactive effort to head problems off at the pass. I am reaching the end of my career, and I can tell you that bureaucracy is the enemy of innovation. Those who are vocal about being proactive despite the organizational apathy are kept from promotion. Those who are silent or are for the status quo are rewarded with promotion on the career ladder. But it is a complicated mess to "reinvent" government, because those at the forefront of such efforts are generally politicians with cost-containment agendas rather than those who are sincerely interested in meeting future challenges. Eric

I believe his name was Lewis Lawes, not Leonard? And I think he wrote his own book entitled "Twenty Tousand Years in Sing Sing." I have it, but I don't have access to my library right now. The lack of "forward thinking" is a very old issue. In fact, when you read Lawes, Beaumont & Toqueville, Bentham and the rest it becomes obvious that most theories of crime and rehabilitation are little more than modifications of old theories. It would be helpful if these methods had more success to show, and less a sense of entitlement on the part of the inmates who participate. No doubt many of these programs have produced some shining successes. I've witnessed them myself. And as prison management tools they have great value. But until they show promise that can be sold to the taxpaying public they are doomed to take a backseat to incapacitation which has demonstrated success.

Although it is true that incapacitation has seen the most success,even that will become limited succuss as overcrowding becomes even more of an issue and then society needs to choose wisely who it will incapacitate and who it will try to reintegrate back into the general population. I have focused a lot recently on using accurate classification of prisoners to facilitate forward thinking on this issue. Especially whle working toward more eveidence based practices. I don't think it is a bad thing to build on existing theories, as long as the focus is on the use of existing theories applied to modern correctional, law enforcement and court issues.