NCJ Number
102173
Date Published
1985
Length
55 pages
Annotation
This overview of U.S. jails addresses inmate characteristics, costs, jail conditions, legal issues, jail crowding, female inmates, juveniles in adult jails, public inebriates and drunk drivers in jails, inmate suicides, private jails, alternatives to jails, and solutions to jail problems.
Abstract
In defining a jail, the booklet distinguishes it from a prison and a lockup. Data on jail inmate characteristics indicate the typical inmate is young, poor, undereducated, and from a minority group. A review of jail costs focuses on construction, financing, and operating costs; national jail costs; and alternative forms of financing jail costs. A discussion of jail conditions considers the physical plant, sanitation, safety, inmate needs and services, and staffing. The use of standards to improve jail conditions is also considered. A review of legal issues pertaining to jails addresses inmates' rights, medical care, personal searches, inmate safety, equal access, and litigation. The problem of jail crowding is analyzed, followed by summaries of ways to reduce jail crowding. The booklet suggests ways to deal with programs for female inmates, inmate suicides, offenders jailed for drunkenness, and jail suicides. Other issues discussed are the jail operation by private companies, jail alternatives, and ways criminal justice professionals and the community can resolve jail problems.