NCJ Number
140060
Editor(s)
G L Mays
Date Published
1991
Length
89 pages
Annotation
Lack of research on jail issues has hampered the efforts of local governments to improve their jail systems and plan for future needs, and this compilation of position papers presents varied perspectives on jail research that may be relevant to local jails.
Abstract
Local jails have been neglected over the years, particularly with respect to funding, physical facilities, and research. The current focus of interest and concern among jail scholars, practitioners, and policymakers is on legal, operational, and administrative problems of jails. Inadequate facilities and confinement conditions are endemic to jails as institutions. More contemporary problems include overcrowding, special inmate populations, personnel needs, and legal issues. In order to develop a research agenda for jails in the 1990's, the National Institute of Corrections sponsored a 1990 conference. Each session featured papers by jail researchers and an opportunity for specific comment and feedback from jail administrators as to research relevancy, specific jail needs and issues related to the topic, and the priority of jail needs. Conference participants specifically examined the gap between research and practice, the use of applied social science research, drug use in jails, jail assaults, jail litigation, human resource development, and computer simulation applications in jail research. The jail research agenda proposed for the 1990's concerns jail population issues, jail architecture and operations, special jail populations, and legal issues in jails. References