Designing a Corrections Continuum for Female Offenders - One State's Experience

• NCJ Number: 94309
• Journal: Prison Journal Volume: 64 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring/Summer 1984) Pages: 120-128
• Author(s): E T DeCostanzo; J Valente
• Date Published: 1984
• Length: 9 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Presented at the 1982 Conference of Southern States Correctional Association, Biloxi, Mississippi and at the 112th Congress of the American Correctional Association, Toronto, Canada, 1982

Annotation

In the late 1970's, Georgia developed a service delivery plan for female offenders based on the theme of economic independence for women. Planners recognized that because different inmates required different services, they had to set up a delivery system based on a continuum.

Abstract

Planning began with workshop discussions around the State. The emphasis was placed on the need of female inmates to reach self-sufficiency as a means of leading productive lives once released into society. Planners isolated the target population: the typical female offender in the State is a 30-year-old with few years of education, undeveloped work skills, and a single head of household with one or more children. Planners arrayed correctional options along a line from least to most restrictive (street probation to prison) and then through four postprison stages to the least restrictive option, parole. These alternatives could be combined in an endless pattern to meet inmates' diverse needs. The design also allowed for movement a half-step at a time rather than in leaps mandated by the three-option old system -- probation, prison, parole. Fifteen components of the delivery system were devised, and a system of administrative supports created to ensure implementation. A staff training module was developed to ensure staff had the proper skills for working with female inmates, and the computer data base was refined to capture accurate profiles of women inmates. Several of the 15 options have been implemented to date. The option of using probation officers trained in dealing with women's issues to serve female clients now operates in 5 judicial circuits, serving 326 women. Another option -- sending female probationers to male diversion centers (as an alternative to prison) -- has been offered successfully since 1980. A diversion center and community residential centers for women have also been successful. One reference is listed.