CJ FINAL

What is Community Corrections?

essentially an alternative to incarceration.

Probation:

Alternative to incarceration whereas the individual remains out of jail or prison and in the community. They are subject to conditions and supervision of the probation authority.

 Parole:

Early release from prison, with conditions attached and under the supervision of a parole agency.

Discretionary

Early release based on the paroling authority’s assessment of eligibility (i.e., the parole board). Inmates released through the parole board will typically be required to follow individualized or special conditions. This release is being used less in Louisiana and across the US. Some states have abolished their parole boards in favor of discretionary release.

Mandatory (good time)

Early release after a period specified by law (i.e., release on good time). A deciding body, such as the parole board, does not decide whether the inmate should be released or not; they are simply released. Inmates released typically don’t receive individualized or special parole conditions; they merely have to follow the general conditions set by their state. It is the most common form of parole release today.

Why Alternatives to Incarceration? Cost

If we were to sentence everyone on probation to prison instead, it would be unsustainable.

The average cost of incarcerating an inmate = $31,000; the average price of community corrections = $2,000.

Why Alternatives to Incarceration? Rehabilitation

Offenders remain in the community, which has a greater rehabilitative effect than prison. More ties to family, employment, and other social networks. More access to treatment and counseling options

Intermediate Sanctions:

Between Community Supervision and Custody. Form of punishment between freedom and prison.

Intensive Supervision Probation and Parole: Goals

To conserve scarce prison space and money that would otherwise be spent on incarceration; and to keep offenders from committing crimes in the community while they are involved in the program. While imposing an "intermediate" punishment less severe than prison, but more severe than routine probation.

Intensive Supervision Probation and Parole: Success

No impact on recidivism rates

House Arrest

Individual is restricted to their home. Usually monitored electronically. Only effective when combined with other supervision and treatment.

Shock Probation and Incarceration

Individual is confined to jail or prison for a short time. It’s hoped that the short stay will deter future criminal activity. More research needed to verify effectiveness.

Boot Camps

Short institutional sentence aimed at young, nonviolent offendersEvaluations show that boot camps alone have no impact on recidivism. However, new studies show that when boot camps are combined with vocational training, treatment, and other rehabilitative services, boot camps are better than regular incarceration.

Elements needed for effective  alternatives to incarceration

Must incapacitate enough so that it is possible to interfere with their lives and activities to make committing a new offense extremely difficult. It must be unpleasant enough to deter offenders from wanting to commit new crimes. It must provide real and credible protection for the community. Nearly a 1/3 third who exit probation or parole annually fail to successfully complete their supervision for a wide range of reasons, such as committing new crimes, violating the rules, and absconding.

Probation and parole success is measured by recidivism:

whether a probationer or parolee violates their supervision and/or is rearrested.

Probationers

Within three years, 43% of state felons on probation were rearrested for a felony. Probationers tend to fare better than parolees.

Parolers

In 2000, less than half of parolees completed their supervision successfully. 2 out of 3 (67%) parolees are rearrested within 3 years after release.

Two things worth noting for parolees

When someone is on parole, it’s highly likely they previously violated probation first and then were incarcerated. (Remember: most people are sentenced to probation.).

 An individual’s past failures on community supervision can usually predict their future success on probation and parole. A first-time probationer or parolee is more likely to succeed than a probationer or parolee who has a history of probation and parole revocations.

What do Community Corrections Officers Do? Supervision

The central role of a P&P officer is to supervise probationers and parolees. Supervision is essentially the same for both populations; however, officers should be attentive to special conditions, such as restitution (the requirement to repay a victim financially) and other requirements such as attending substance abuse classes, sex offender treatment, and mental health counseling. Officer caseloads tend to average around 130, but it’s not uncommon for officers to have caseloads up to 150.

What do Community Corrections Officers Do? Investigation

Probation officers are sometimes required to complete Presentence Investigations to assist the court with sentencing, and Pre-Parole Investigations to assist parole boards with their release decisions. Both reports are similar: they provide information on the individual’s criminal history, risk level, and past performance under correctional supervision (if applicable). Officers are also expected to interview victims, law enforcement, and others for their input on appropriate sentence or whether the individual should be released on parole.

Risk:

Match the level of service to the offender's risk to re-offend.

Responsivity:

Tailoring the intervention to the learning style, motivation, abilities and strengths of the offender

Needs:

Assess criminogenic needs and target them in treatment.

Risk and needs are usually determined by

a validated risk-needs assessment.

A good risk/needs assessment will provide us with a risk score,

and that risk score will generate supervision level.

An individual’s supervision level determines how often a P&P must contact them. An example would be: Low

One office visit each quarter

An individual’s supervision level determines how often a P&P must contact them. An example would be: Medium

A personal contact or office visit each month

MediumAn individual’s supervision level determines how often a P&P must contact them. An example would be: High

Two personal contacts a month

Technical Violations:

Minor violations, such as: drug use, missing appointments, violating curfew, not obtaining employment

Absconding:

Essentially “escaping” probation/parole supervision. When an individual can’t be found by their officer. Usually results in an arrest warrant.

Substantive Violation:

When an individual is arrested for a new charge while under supervision. Felonies are treated more severely than misdemeanors. Individuals are usually detained by their officer until the charges are resolved, and if they are convicted on the new offense, their supervision will also be revoked.

Administrative Sanctions:

Usually for technical violations. Can include: warnings, treatment requirements, curfews, house arrest, and short jail stays

Revocation hearing:

A hearing to determine whether probation or parole will be revoked. If probation, the sentencing judge will decide. If parole, it will be up to the parole board.

(IMPORTANT: Probationer’s violations are dealt with by the sentencing judge/court;

Parolees must answer to the Parole Board)

Technical Violation:

In probation or parole when one violates certain conditions that must be obeyed to remain out of prison, such as violating curfew, using drugs or alcohol, or not maintaining a job. 

Substantive Violation:

An allegation that one was arrested for a new criminal offense while serving probation. 

Shock Probation/Parole:

A situation in which individuals are sentenced to jail or prison for a brief period to give them a taste of the shock of incarceration, and it is hoped that this will turn them into more law-abiding citizens. 

Revocation:

The courts revoke probation or parole status for the purpose of returning an offender to prison, usually for not following the conditions of probation or parole, or for committing a new offense. 

Restorative Justice:

The view that crime affects the entire community, which must be healed and made whole again through the offender's remorse, community services, restitution to the victim, and other such activities. 

Probation Officer:

one who supervises the activities of persons on probation. 

Probation:

an alternative to incarceration in which the convict remains out of jail or prison and in the community and thus on the job, with family, and so on, while subject to conditions and supervision of the probation authority. 

Parole Officer:

one who supervises those who are on parole. 

Intermediate Sanctions:

A scheme whereby one is sentenced for a flexible period so as to be released when rehabilitated or when the opportunity for rehabilitation is presented. 

Intensive Supervision Probation and Parole:

Post-release supervision that usually includes much closer and stricter supervision, more contact with offenders, more frequent drug tests, and other such measures. 

Home arrest/ home confinement:

detention of offenders in their own homes, compliance is often monitored electronically. 

Halfway House:

A community center or home staffed by professionals or volunteers designed to provide counseling to ex-prisoners as they transfer from prison to the community. 

Electronic Monitoring:

The use of electronic devices (bracelets or anklets) to emit signals when a convicted offender, usually on house arrest, leaves the designated area where they are to remain. 

Day Reporting Center:

A structured corrections program requiring offenders to check in at a community site on a regular basis for supervision, sanctions, and services. 

Community Corrections:

Probation, parole, and a variety of other measures that offer convicted offenders an alternative to incarceration. 

Caseload:

the number of cases awaiting disposition by a court, or the number of active cases or clients maintained by a probation or parole officer. 

Boot Camp:

A short-term jail or prison program that puts offenders through rigorous programs and mental regimen designed to instill discipline and respect for authority. 

Alternatives to Incarceration:

A sentence imposed by a judge other than incarceration, such as probation, parole, shock probation, or house arrest. 

What are Corrections? 

Prison bars? Orange jumpsuits? Barbed wire? Prison guards? If you thought of any of these, you’re not necessarily wrong. But it isn’t the entire system of corrections. Corrections are also when someone has to pay a misdemeanor fine, check in with their probation & parole officer, or spend time in a court-ordered rehabilitation center.

Corrections are the

punishment, supervision, and treatment of individuals suspected of criminal or delinquent offenses and the various legal and extralegal entities involved in carrying out that function.

Corrections have two main components: 

Custody and community supervision. Far more people are sentenced to community supervision than to custody. 

Prisons

Detention facilities are operated by the state or federal government, and are used to house individuals convicted of crimes and serving a year or more. 

Jails

They are used to house people short-term. These include people who were arrested and waiting to bond out, people being held for other jurisdictions, probation and parole violators, are people sentenced to less than a year's custody (Mostly misdemeanors). 

The majority of people held in jails are

legally innocent (pretrial).

Jails

Most people in jail are not convicted and are legally innocent

Jails are the gateway to the corrections system. People go to jail before being placed on probation or sentenced to State or Federal Prison

State Prisons

Most incarcerated people are held in state prisons

The majority of people in state prisons are being held for violent crimes.

The average length of stay (average time spent) in state prison is 2.6 years. 

On average, state prisoners complete around 46 percent of their sentence before being released on parole. 

95 percent of people sentenced to prison are eventually released.

Federal Prison

The majority of people held in Federal prisons are for drug crimes.

The average length of stay (average time spent) in federal prison is 3 years. 

Inmates in federal prison serve 88 percent of their sentence. They are not released to parole, because there is no parole in the federal system.

 The Corrections Boom: 1980-2008

Between 1980 and 2008, the American corrections system grew exponentially. The prison population grew by 400%, and probation and parole populations grew by 225%. In 2008, there were 7.3 million people under some type of correctional supervision.

Many people attribute this growth to the “tough on crime era” of the 80s and 90s, in response to the so-called crack epidemic and a rise in violent crime.  During this time, mandatory minimums and harsh sentencing rules like the “three strikes law” were passed. The “war on drugs” has also been credited with driving more nonviolent individuals into prison with lengthy sentences.

Corrections Populations Decline: 2008-2015

Beginning in 2008, corrections populations began a steady decline.

Even here in Louisiana, long known as the “Prison Capital of the World,” has seen a steady decline in corrections populations. In fact, last year Oklahoma overtook Louisiana as the state with the highest incarceration rate.

However, the corrections population in the US is still high, and remains the highest among developed nations. Roughly 1 in 37 US adult residents are under some type of correctional supervision.

What caused this decline? Cost

Financial: The annual cost of housing an inmate in prison is around $31k a year. In 2010, approximately $80 billion was spent on corrections in the US.

Human: Incarceration enacts a human cost to communities, families, and individuals, in the form of stigmatization, loss of income, social disruption, and increases in crime.

In response, states have moved to increase parole eligibility and alternatives to incarceration

What caused this decline? Ineffective Practices

Studies over time show that the rise in incarceration had little to no impact on crime rates. Some researchers argue that high rates of incarceration may increase crime overall.

In response, states have moved towards “smart on crime” strategies, including reduced penalties for nonviolent crimes, reduced prison sentences, and restricting or ending laws passed during the tough-on-crime era.

They have also moved to improving reentry for inmates returning to the community, including the restoration of voting rights, access to public assistance, and employment training and referrals.

What caused this decline? Public Sentiment

The general public is now more supportive of lenient sentencing and decriminalizing certain offenses, such as marijuana use and possession. Support for capital punishment is also waning and executions are becoming less common.

Classification is the

Ongoing process of collecting and evaluating information about each inmate to determine the inmate's risk and need for appropriate confinement, treatment, programs, and employment assignment, whether in a facility or the community.

Risk Influence:

The following factors are considered when deciding how an inmate in jail and/or prison should be classified:

1. The inmate's escape profile

2. severity and violence of the current offense;

3. history of violence;

4. length of sentence;

5. presence of pending charges, detainers, or both;

6. discipline history; and

7. Security risk group membership.

Inmates are classified by:

Conviction offense, age, gender, gang affiliation, motivational level, and history of institutional adjustment.

External Classification

This classification will decide which type of facility the inmate will be housed in.

Minimum Security

Low risk

First-timers, white-collar criminals

Can wear own clothing, but routine is regimented

Medium Security

Looks like a traditional style prison, with razor wire and guard towers.

Inmates live in a dormitory style housing

Most prisons, including Louisiana, usually include varied security levels within prisons.

 Maximum Security

Focused more on incapacitation than treatment and rehabilitation

Prisoners are separated from one another.

Usually has lower incidents of violence and abuse.

In most states and prisons, max is the highest level

Supermax

Extreme isolation

Usually for extremely dangerous individuals, but also escape risks

Can cause a decline in mental health

Over 40 Supermax prisons in the US

ADX Florence in Colorado

Internal Classification

This type of classification will decide which unit a person is housed in within a prison.

Examples include: Disciplinary segregation, protective custody, mental health, and/or medical units.

Internal classification is important to ensure sexual predators are not housed with potential victims, gang members are kept away from rivals and potential recruits, and victims or victim’s families are separated from the perpetrator.

What do we use jails for? Pretrial Incarceration

The primary function of a jail is to temporarily hold individuals awaiting trial who are: a) too dangerous to be released; or b) pose a risk of flight.

Purpose of Jails—Other functions include:

House probation, parole, and bail-bond violators

Detain individuals sentenced to misdemeanor or short-term felony imprisonment

Hold mentally ill persons pending transfer to an appropriate facility.

Temporarily hold inmates while they await extradition to another state/country

Who staffs the jail?

Most jails are managed and operated by the county/parish Sheriff’s Office. (Prisons, however, are operated by the state or federal government.)

Sheriff’s deputies are typically assigned to be jailers. Some jurisdictions require that all new deputies first work in the jail before being assigned to patrol.

They may also hire “jailers” for the specific purpose of working in the jail.

Sheriff’s deputies or jailers are not usually trained to the same level as corrections officers in prisons.

The corrections pie:

Fewer people than in state prisons, but more than in federal prisons.

The majority of people in jail are legally innocent (They are awaiting trial).

40 percent have been convicted (short sentence, awaiting transfer to the Department of Corrections (DOC) or the Bureau of Prisons (BOP)).

All of these people may be housed together (innocent with convicted).

Unlike prisons, jails typically experience high rates of inmate turnover. People are released, and new inmates are booked. The average length of stay (LOS), or how long people can expect to spend in jail, was 25 days in the US.

General criticisms of jails in the U.S: Growth Dynamic

Research has shown that when jurisdictions build bigger jails, they tend to get filled with more people (if you build, they will come).

A few reasons why this may happen—Growth Dynamics:

Sheriff’s Depts.  rely on the funding received from housing state and federal prisoners.

If there is limited space to house inmates, the justice system may feel greater pressure to only house the most serious cases. Without space limitations, jurisdictions won’t have this pressure.

Negative impacts: Just 3 days count

Research shows that just 3 days in jail can cause people to lose their jobs, worsen family problems, increase health risks, and increase recidivism.

Negative impacts—Lack of programming:

Because jails are designed for shorter stays, they are not as equipped as prisons in providing programming, such as GED classes, and mental health and substance abuse treatment. However, many jails (especially in LA) use jails frequently to house state and federal prisoners for longer terms. These prisoners do not have access to services that may assist them with reentry.

Overcrowding

It can cause chaos in jails, which can be dangerous for both staff and inmates alike.

It’s more important to consider the jail growth dynamic before thinking about building a bigger jail. In many cases, jurisdictions can safely reduce their jail populations by moving sentenced state and federal prisoners to their respective facilities more quickly, using alternatives to incarceration, and allowing more people to be released without financial bail.

Mentally Ill in Jail

Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s, 96 percent of all psychiatric hospitals shut down.

In return, most people are now arrested and put in jail instead of being hospitalized.

Most of these crimes are non-serious: loitering, disturbing the peace, breaking, theft.

The largest de facto mental health facilities in the nation are the Cook County and Los Angeles County jails.

Most jails are ill-equipped to deal with mentally ill inmates. Jails must separate the mentally ill and provide adequate treatment.

Suicide:

More than half of all jail inmates suffer from some form of mental illness. It is the leading cause of death in jail (heart disease second). Rates are higher in jails than in prisons

Classification:

an incarcerated person’s security and treatment plan based on one's security, social, vocational, psychological, and educational needs like incarcerated. 

Jail:

a facility that holds persons who have been arrested for crimes and are awaiting trial, persons who have been convicted for misdemeanors and are serving a sentence (up to a year) in jail, federal offenders, and others. 

New Generation/ Direct supervised Jail:

a jail that, by its architecture and design, eliminates many of the traditional features of a jail, allowing staff members greater interaction and control. 

Prison:

a state or federal facility that houses incarcerated persons, typically convicted of felonies, usually for a year. 

Prison Industries:

Use of incarcerated persons in person and jails to produce food or provide services for a public agency or private corporation. 

Privatization:

The operation of existing prison facilities or the building and operation of new facilities by for-profit companies. 

State Prison:

a correctional facility that houses persons convicted of felonies or crimes at the state level. 

Super Max Prison:

a penal institution that, for security purposes, affords incarcerated persons very few, if any, amenities and a great amount of isolation. 

Warden:

The chief administrator of a federal penitentiary or state prison. 

Booking

Fingerprinted and photographed

Prosecutor is sent an offense report. 

Note in Louisiana, DA’s have 60 days from arrest to accept or refuse a felony case if the defendant is in custody. 

Initial Appearance: 

Defendant is advised of rights

Probable Cause for arrest is determined

Bail is set

Attorney usually not present. 

Preliminary Hearing: 

Probable cause for the matter to go to trial. 

Additional evidence is given. 

Defendant may waive this hearing. 

Grand Jury: 

Half of all states use this

The prosecutors put forth a case, let's the jury decide whether there is Probable Cause or not. 

Prosecutors may bring in witnesses to testify. 

Defendant is not present. 

Votes True bill or No true bill. 

True bill results in indictment.

Arraignment: 

Defendant enters a formal plea of guilty, not guilty, or no contest. 

No contest is pleading guilty for the purpose of avoiding trial, but cannot be held civilly liable. Not admitting guilt. 

If not guilty, the matter will go to trial. 

Will likely plead not guilty for the purpose of negotiating a plea deal.