Overview of Prisons and Jails in the U.S.

Prisons

A state or federal confinement facility that has custodial authority over adults sentenced to confinement.

Decarceration

The process or policy of reducing people in prisons, jails, and other confinement facilities.

Evidence-based corrections

The application of social scientific techniques to the study of everyday corrections procedures to increase effectiveness and enhance the efficient use of available resources.

Prison capacity

The size of the correctional population an institution can effectively hold.

Rated capacity

The number of inmates a prison can handle according to the judgment of experts.

Operational capacity

The number of inmates a prison can effectively accommodate based on management considerations.

Design capacity

The number of inmates a prison was intended to hold when it was built or modified.

Selective incapacitation

A policy that seeks to protect society by incarcerating individuals deemed to be the most dangerous.

Collective incapacitation

A strategy imprisoning almost all serious offenders; it is still found in jurisdictions that rely largely on predetermined/fixed sentences for specified offenses and argued to be expensive and unnecessary.

Maximum-security institutions

High level of security, architecturally designed to prevent escape and contain disturbances and have armed patrol and intense electronic surveillance.

Medium-security institutions

Medium-level security, prisoners are generally permitted more available programs and freedom to associate with one another and facilities under less supervision.

Minimum-security institutions

Low level of security, dormitory-like settings, free to walk the yard and access most prison facilities and programs.

Classification system

A system used by prison administrators to assign inmates to custody levels based on offense history, assessed dangerousness, perceived risk of escape, and other factors.

Jails

A confinement facility administered by an agency of local government intended for adults or juveniles, which hold people detained pending adjudication or committed after adjudication.

Justice-involved women

Women who are charged with or adjudicated for law violations; although women make up only around 13% of the country's jail population, they are the largest growth group in jails nationwide.

Direct-supervision jails

A temporary confinement facility eliminating many traditional barriers between inmates and corrections staff.

Regional jails

Jails built and run using the combined resources of various local jurisdictions.

Privatization

The movement towards the wider use of private prisons.

Private prisons

A correctional institution operated by a private firm on behalf of local, state, or federal government.

security levels

(1) administrative maximum (ADMAX),(2) high security, (3) medium security, (4) low security, and (5) minimum security.

when was the first federal bureau of prison created?

May 14, 1930

year first federal prison bureau opened for women

1927

First state to establish probation officers

Massachusetts in 1878; Missouri in 1897

typical prison system today

High security facility for high risk offender
One or more medium security institutions for offenders who are not at high risk
One separate institution for adult women
One or two institutions for under 25
One or two specialized mental hospital type security prisons for prisoners with mental illness
One or two more open type institutions for low risk nonviolent inmates
Missouri has 21 facilities for men and 2 for women