American Prisons and Jails - Volume 5, Supplemental Report - Adult Pre-release Facilities

• NCJ Number: 75756
• Author(s): W DeJong
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 136 pages
• Grant Number(s): J-LEAA-018-77
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice
• Corporate Author: Abt Associates, Inc
• Sale Source: Superintendent of Documents, GPO; National Institute of Justice/
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This segment of a nationwide survey of adult correctional facilities examined the conditions and costs of community-based prerelease centers, those correctional facilities that hold their residents for less than 24 hours per day.

Abstract

The survey encompassed all prerelease centers having sentenced residents under Federal or State jurisdiction in 1978, including both publicly and privately operated facilities. Specifically, the study determined how much space was available to house the residents assigned to these facilities by applying a uniform, minimum standard of 60 square feet per person. It also investigated numbers of staff available in both service and custodial capacities and the costs of operating the facilities. Data were obtained from 402 prerelease centers; telephone followup calls were made after the survey instruments were returned. Results indicated that one-third of all residents were provided with less space than required under the 60-square-foot minimum; only 45 percent of the residents lived in units that met both density and privacy standards (only one or two residents per unit). Moreover, only 47 percent of the surveyed facilities, housing just 23 percent of all residents, met the standard calling for facilities to house no more than 20 residents. In addition, prerelease facilities in the South were less likely to meet standards related to density and privacy than facilities in other parts of the country. The most common use of residents for work at the facilities was for clerical and maintenance work; 153 facilities indicated that they had no full-time guards or correctional officers, and only one-fourth of the prerelease centers indicated they used volunteers in any capacity. Total operating expenses for fiscal year 1977 were reported by 327 of the 402 surveyed facilities. These cost figures ranged from $7,200 to nearly $3 million, with a median of $164,124. The median per diem cost per resident was estimated at nearly $19. The South reported the lowest average costs per person served, while the highest figures were cited by Federal facilities and those in the Northeast. Tabular data, chapter notes, and graphs are provided. The appendixes present the survey instrument and additional data.