NCJ Number
189653
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 63 Issue: 4 Dated: July 2001 Pages: 100-103
Date Published
July 2001
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes the regime and programs of the Colorado State Penitentiary (CSP), which was designed and developed in 1990 to provide centralized management of the most violent and disruptive offenders in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Abstract
The incapacitation provided by CSP continues to provide inmate programs and staff contact that encourage productive and socially acceptable behavior changes. The facility has an austere environment; and, except for very few inmates, is not meant for long-term confinement. It is intended to provide enough time to allow for significant changes in inmate behavior. The list of program offerings has expanded from basic education classes to programs that involve consideration of inmate value systems that drive behavior. Some examples are anger management, victim sensitization, prison life skills, inmate gangs, and cognitive restructuring in which inmates consider how their thinking governs behavior and how choices they make determine success in the world. The amount of inmate privileges and programs is up to the inmates. If they follow rules, cooperate with staff, and participate in reasonable program assignments, they are allowed to progress to higher privilege levels. If they continue to be disruptive and uncooperative, they do not progress upward through the system to a better quality of prison life. Should an inmate's behavior present a sufficient risk level and all other efforts have failed, staff are trained to use force to establish control and safety. It is significant that previously violent and disruptive inmates who return to the general inmate population from CSP do not repeat the behavior that brought them to CSP for at least 2 years.