NCJ Number
102079
Journal
Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Volume: 478 Dated: (March 1985) Pages: 47-57
Date Published
1985
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This article describes how to determine a jail's capacity and average daily population, outlines the causes of jail crowding, and suggests solutions.
Abstract
A jail's capacity is determined by occupancy (number of inmates per confinement unit), inmates' mobility (number of hours confined to quarters), and density (square footage of living space). A jail's average daily population is indicated by length of stay and the number of admissions. Local factors that affect the jail population include arrest practices, prosecutorial detention policies, public defenders' pretrial procedures, probation and parole handling of presentence reports and rearrests, judicial decisionmaking, and policies of the sheriff and jail administrator. State-level factors that influence jail population include legislation that determines who is housed in local jails and for how long, appellate court's promulgation of speedy trial rules, executive policies, and policies of the State corrections department. Solutions to jail crowding require the establishment of task forces composed of appropriate State and local officials, which will examine the causes of jail overcrowding and recommend a policy to guide all involved decisionmakers in decisionmaking that will give appropriate priority to keeping the jail population within capacity. 10 footnotes.