Community Correctional Centers

• NCJ Number: 73480
• Author(s): R M Carter; R C Cushman; F P Trapp
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 236 pages
• Grant Number(s): 77-NI-99-0065
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: American Justice Institute
• Sale Source: Superintendent of Documents, GPO; National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Program Description (Model)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Program Models

Annotation

For correctional practitioners and criminal justice program developers, this report suggests three basic program models on community correctional centers and describes generally how the correctional center should be operated, regardless of program model type.

Abstract

Following observation that the community correctional center is rooted philosophically, organizationally, and pragmatically in the larger systems of criminal justice and corrections, the report briefly describes the justice system while focusing on its philosophical legacy of revenge, restraint, and reform. It then turns to a discussion of reintegration, a logical successor to rehabilitation and a companion to resocialization. In view of these historical and philosophical origins, which are said to cause much of the conflict and divisiveness in criminal justice today, three organizational approaches for community correctional centers are set forth. The first is modeled after the Des Moines community corrections program and its six replications. This program serves as a sentencing alternative to jail, provides services to pretrial detainees, generates information for use by local courts in sentencing decisions, and supervises offenders on probation in the community. The work release/prerelease center in Montgomery County, Md. is described as the second option. It is markedly different from the Des Moines program, for it focuses primarily on sentenced offenders and represents a fusion of the halfway house and work release ideas. Finally, the following three private community correctional centers are examined as a third option: the Mahoning Residential Treatment Center in Youngstown, Ohio; the Talbert House in Cincinnati; and the Magdala Foundation Center in St. Louis. Details on the setting, services, goals administration, and operations are provided for each center. The report then presents a series of guidelines for the operation and management of a community correctional center regardless of model type. It offers specific guidance on issues related to planning, administration, personnel, programs, facilities, support services, and evaluation. Tables, organizational charts, chapter footnotes, and an annotated bibliography with 36 citations are provided. (Author abstract modified)