Corrections - An Introduction

Corrections in the U.S.: The Rehabilitation Movement Begins

Corrections in the U.S.

  • The First Correctional Congress held in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1870

  • Speakers presented new and progressive ideas in corrections

  • Created the Declaration of Principles

  • Emphasis on reformation of prisoners

  • Use of marks system

  • Use of indeterminate sentences instead of fixed sentences

The Reformatory Model at Elmira—Zebulon Brockway, superintendent (1876)

  • Focus on rehabilitation

    • Indeterminate sentencing

    • Payment of inmates for work

    • Supervision of inmates in the community

    • Behavior modification

    • Development of parole

  • The Medical Model of Rehabilitation

    • Criminality is a sickness that can be sured through psychological intervention

Prison Population and Prison Violence

Prison Population

  • From 1995 to 2008, the incarcerated population experienced significant growth

  • Peaked at 2.3 million imprisoned in 2008

  • At year-end 2022, the U.S. prison population was 1,230,100

  • Mass incarceration has resulted in nationwide overcrowding

  • Rates vary significantly between states

  • Crime rates and sentencing policies affect imprisoned population

Prison Violence

  • Ranges from verbal abuse to physical assaults

  • Prison environment contributes to violence as prisoners direct their hostilities and frustrations toward others and/or themselves

  • Types of disturbances:

    • Violent—Intimidation, assault, sabotaging utilities, burning or destroying property, riots

    • Nonviolent—hunger strikes, work stoppages, voluntary lockdowns, sick-ins, etc.

Development of Modern Management

  • Bureaucratization of Corrections Post-WWII

    • Federal Bureau of Prisons (1930)

    • State department of corrections

  • Evidence-based Programs

    • Analysis of programs using scientifically approved methods

    • Designed to discover which programs are effective, in what setting, and what frequency

  • Technology used in community and institutional corrections

    • Electronic monitoring (EM)

    • Technocorrections—using technology rather than personnel to monitor prison populations

  • Privatization

Punishment—Why?

  • Punishing law violators provides beneficial consequences

  • Punishment is deserved (just desserts)

  • Punishment expresses public outrage (retribution)

  • Punishment teaches a lesson

  • Punishment helps maintain the government, the social structure, and society

Goals and Philosophy of Punishment

  • General Deterrent Effect

    • Punishing one offender discourages others from committing similar acts

    • To be effective, people must believe that if they violate the law, they will almost certainly be caught, convicted, and punished

  • Specific Deterrence

    • Offender will decide against repeat offending after experiencing punishment for that offense

  • Incapacitation

    • Isolating offender to protect society

    • Adoption of tough sentencing habitual offender, and “three strikes” laws

  • Selective incapacitation

    • Identifying high-rate offenders and providing for their long-term incarceration

    • Difficult to discern who will commit future crimes and produces false positives

  • Rehabilitation

    • Providing offender with services and programs that assist in changing character, attitudes, or behaviors that contribute to criminal propensities

    • Based on being able to predict the future needs of offenders, not the gravity of current offense

    • Use of evidence-based programs

    • Analysis of programs to discover what works with various offenders

  • Retribution/Just Desserts

    • Punishment is justified if and only if it is deserved because of a past crime

    • Unfair to deprive liberty as a consequence of committing a criminal act for any other reason than that the act they engaged in deserves to be punished

    • Retrospective rather than perspective

  • Restorative Justice

    • Making amends to the victim or society for the harm resulting from a criminal offense

    • Designed to reintegrate criminal offender into the community

  • Equity/Restitution

    • Offenders must pay back their victims for their loss. the system for costs related to processing their cases, and society for the disruption caused by the crime

The Purpose and Function of the Corrections System Today

  • Institution that serves to execute consequences for people convicted by the courts of violating the law

    • Protects public

    • Reduces fear of crime

    • Permits offenders to reform

  • Used for punishment, treatment, and rehabilitation of offenders

    • End goal is their successful return to society as law-abiding citizens

Agencies of the Criminal Justice System

  • Civil and criminal justice costs federal, state, and local governments almost $300 billion per year

  • The justice system employs nearly 3 million people in 18,000 law enforcement agencies, 17,000 courts, 8,000 prosecutorial agencies, 1,200 correctional institutions, and 3,500 probation and parole departments

  • Almost 6 million people are on some form of correctional supervision

    • Seven out of ten of those supervised are in the community

    • Three out of ten are incarcerated in prisons or jails

Actual and Social Costs of Incarceration

Actual Costs

  • Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) reports an average annual cost of $36,300 per inmate

    • This includes:

      • Staffing

      • Healthcare

      • Facility operations

      • Programming

  • State Systems Costs vary dramatically by state:

    • Lowest: Arkansas ($23,000), Mississippi, Louisiana—$65,000 per inmate annually

    • Highest: Massachusetts ($307,000), New York, California

  • Factors influencing cost:

    • Staffing ratios and salaries (60-70% of total cost)

    • Healthcare (10-20% of cost), especially for aging or chronically ill populations

    • Facility operations, programming, and infrastructure upkeep

Social Costs

  • Significant impact on urban neighborhoods

  • Families of prisoners

  • More than 5 million children have experienced the incarceration of a parent

  • Shame, stigma, and loss of financial and psychological support

  • Disproportionate impact on Black population

  • For every dollar in corrections costs incarceration generates an additional ten dollars in social costs

  • More than half if the costs are borne by families, children, and community members who have committed no crime

Incarceration versus Community Sanction (2024 numbers

Incarceration Sanction

  • Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) reports an average annual cost of $36,300 per inmate

  • State System Costs vary dramatically by state:

    • Lowest: Arkansas ($23,000), Mississippi, Louisiana—$65,000

    • Highest: Massachusetts ($307,000), New York, California

Community Sanction

  • Probation costs about 1/20th of incarceration

  • Incarceration is about nine times more expensive than probation in the U.S.

    • Probation—$1,230/yr

    • Parole—$2,750/yr

    • Incarceration—$29,000/yr

Corrections in the Criminal Justice System

  • The criminal justice system is the only body with the power to try and punish offenders

    • Law enforcement apprehends

    • Courts adjudicate and sanction offenders

    • Corrections system monitor and confine

  • The formal criminal justice process:

    • Takes offenders through decision points from arrest through eventual reentry to society

    • Ky decisions to retain or discharge

    • Relatively few cases processed through the entire formal system

    • Many released before trial for procedural errors or evidence problems

Criminal Justice System

  1. Police

    1. Arrest

    2. Booking

    3. Release or Detained

      1. Released on Recognizance (RoR)

      2. Released on Bond (Bail)

      3. Detained in Jail

  2. Courts

    1. Arraignment

      1. Judge determines

        1. Charges dismissed (released

        2. Remain on RoR

        3. Begin/remain on Bond

        4. Detained in jail

      2. Trial

        1. Not Guilty (released)

        2. Found/Plead Guilty (Punishment)

          1. Incarceration

          2. Probation

          3. Halfway House

          4. Community Service

          5. Treatment Programs

          6. Restitution Programs

  3. Corrections

    1. Placed in custody

    2. Prison

    3. Parole evaluation

      1. Released on parole (assigned to Parole Officer)

        1. Parole violation = Release from Parole (incarceration)

      2. Release (no further supervision, unless classified as a sexual offender)

Emerging Professionalism

  • Staff Training and Developement

  • American Correctional Association (ACA) Commission in Accreditation training standards

  • National Institute of Corrections (NIC)

  • Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA)

  • Implementing Gender and Racial Integration

  • Emphasis on Ethics and Integrity