NCJ Number
102269
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 48 Issue: 6 Dated: (August 1986) Pages: 114,116,118-120
Date Published
1986
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Future plans for corrections expansion should use a systems approach to develop a variety of programs and facilities to address varied offender needs.
Abstract
Corrections practitioners must pioneer in the development of alternatives to incarceration. Many persons who are now imprisoned or jailed should be diverted into community service and restitution programs. Provision should be made for offender inpatient and outpatient drug and alcohol programs. Mentally ill offenders can be housed in appropriate alternative facilities, and inmates should be sent to facilities designed to meet their particular needs in accordance with security risk; e.g., drunk-driving offenders could be sent to work-training centers, which would be minimum security facilities that blend community service, custody, and education. Residents would pay room and board. New and existing jails should be designed to provide areas equipped and staffed to meet special offender needs. Corrections must continue requests for staffing studies so as to upgrade the number, quality, and pay of corrections personnel. Corrections officials should mount public education campaigns designed to acquaint the public with existing problems and proposed solutions. In the course of governmental budget preparation, corrections administrators should explain corrections problems, including consequences likely to follow if these problems are not addressed.