NCJ Number
76166
Date Published
1977
Length
180 pages
Annotation
This report describes projects for community and support service to local jails funded by the Wisconsin Council on Criminal Justice during 1975 and 1976, and describes the degree to which each project fulfilled its goals and objectives.
Abstract
The projects funded by the program achieved their goals and objectives to varying degrees. Probation and parole revocations declined by about 5 percent over a 3-year period, while the goal for this activity was a 10 to 15 percent reduction; the projects made progress relative to the rest of the State in reducing State institution commitments; although they did not reach their overall goal of reducing commitments by 10 percent over 3 years. While the goal was to reduce county jail incarcerations by 10 to 15 percent over 3 years, this number increased during the evaluation period. Individual projects charged with specific community and support services exceeded their objectives in the areas of evaluation and classification screening, health, employment and education counseling, formal and informal recreation services, psychological counseling, and staff inservice training. The projects failed to use National Advisory Commission Standards as a guide for civilian jail staff in any instance. A survey of the attitudes of jail staff indicated no differences between civilian staff and sworn law officer staff. The respondents felt their jobs were important and underrecognized. They generally agreed that jails should be used as detention and not correctional facilities, and felt that custodial staff should not be expected to participate in rehabilitation functions such as counseling. Detailed project information is provided and tabular data is included. Appendixes include forms and the jail staff survey instrument.