NCJ Number
124099
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 52 Issue: 3 Dated: (June 1990) Pages: 84,86
Date Published
1990
Length
2 pages
Annotation
Building additional beds temporarily relieves prison crowding, but in the long run, more permanent alternatives to incarceration need to be considered, developed, and carried out.
Abstract
The Ministry of Correctional Services in Ontario is experimenting with such alternatives, one of which is to change the institutional classification process to make better use of Ontario's correctional halfway house system. An objective needs assessment instrument was developed and administered to evaluate inmates who were subsequently placed in halfway houses. Called the Level of Supervision Inventory (LSI), it checks inmates for 54 items ranging from criminal history to drug abuse. In the first of two studies, a year in which the LSI was used in two detention centers was compared with the previous pre-LSI year. Results indicated that more inmates with longer sentences were placed in the halfway houses. The average length of stay increased from 39.5 days to 82.3 days, yet the success rate in these halfway houses was 91.7 percent. In the second study, a third jail was added which did not use the LSI; it showed a 16.4 placement rate, while the detention centers that used the LSI placed 51.2 percent. Thus, the use of objective classification procedures such as halfway houses would help to relieve prison crowding. 4 references.