NCJ Number
78478
Date Published
1979
Length
234 pages
Annotation
This 1980-85 master plan for Montana's correctional system addresses research and evaluation activities, accreditation, problems of overcrowding in men's prisons, expansion of community-based programs, and improved services for juveniles.
Abstract
An overview of the corrections division describes the history, physical characteristics, program objectives, and capacity of the following components: Montana State Prison, Swan River Youth Forest Camp, community services bureau, adult probation and parole bureau, Pine Hills School for boys, Mountain View School for girls, and the bureau of aftercare for juveniles. Methods used by the master plan staff to collect data are summarized, including techniques for projecting future offender populations. The State's correctional policy emphasizes that protection of society in the most cost-effective manner is a primary goal, but that an offender's correctional program should be the least drastic measure consistent with the offender's needs and public safety. The plan proposes that each correctional component begin the accreditation process immediately to achieve the goal of full accreditation by July 1985. The section on adult programs estimates that the numbers of adult males incarcerated between 1980 and 1985 will exceed current program capacities and eventually require 200 extra beds. To alleviate this problem, programs that cut across bureau lines are recommended, including additional community-based prerelease centers, a new forest work camp, and expansion of the work furlough program. The report recommends that the women's incarceration program, divided among four locations, should be consolidated into one facility in a centrally located city. The plan also focuses on systems improvement for the juvenile offender programs, with particular attention to aftercare programs to minimize recidivism. Appendixes contain statistical tables, reports on ethnographic studies of clients and staff in aftercare programs for juveniles and adult probation and parole services, and 29 references.