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Alternative Incarceration: An Inevitable Response to Institutional Overcrowding

NCJ Number
139811
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 56 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1992) Pages: 12-18
Author(s)
R J Koehler; C Lindner
Date Published
1992
Length
7 pages
Annotation
The concept of alternative corrections programs is illustrated by the Supervised Detention Program, a community- based program for detainees, in this review of the prospects of using alternative corrections programs, in addition to alternative to incarceration programs, as a means to reduce overcrowding in correctional institutions.
Abstract
The creation of a network of alternative incarceration programs offers several advantages: freeing institutional bed space, reducing costs, improving treatment services, and lessening the physical and psychological consequences of incarceration. Generally, alternative incarceration programs fall into two programmatic models: residential treatment centers and day reporting center programs. Participants in the Supervised Detention Program live in their own homes but remain under the supervision and legal control of a corrections agency. They are physically removed from prison but their inmate status continues. The fact that alternative incarceration programs are controlled and supervised by corrections departments checks the drain on scarce probation resources and creates the opportunity to increase the quality of probation services provided to the low-risk probationer. 33 references