Decade of Improvement for Our Sick Jails

• NCJ Number: 80480
• Journal: Federal Probation Volume: 45 Issue: 3 Dated: (September 1981) Pages: 45-48
• Author(s): P Katsampes; T C Neil
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 4 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Activities of the National Institute of Corrections which have helped to improve jail conditions throughout the country over the last decade are described, with attention to the help provided the South Carolina jail system in the area of correctional reform.

Abstract

Jail facilities and services have improved over the last decade largely due to the willingness of courts to hear constitutional rights suits brought by inmates and initiatives provided from within the correctional system itself. Significant leadership in jail improvements has been provided by the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Corrections Jail Center in Boulder, Colo. The Jail Center focuses on providing training, technical assistance, and information delivery for the benefit of jail systems. Joint programming between the Jail Center and State organizations has enabled jail managers to upgrade their jail systems. In the area of training, the Center has focused on jail managers, sheriffs, trainers, and county commissioners. Training topics have included jail management and operations, new facilities planning, jail classification, and jail standards and State inspectors. Direct assistance to jail systems has proven to be the most effective method for producing change. The Center responded to 1,032 requests for assistance during fiscal 1978, 1979, and 1980. The National Institute of Corrections has established a National Information Center for Corrections, with a major function of the Center being the delivery of materials on request to jail administrators. One example of how the National Institute of Corrections has helped jail systems involves South Carolina, where a grant provided technical assistance to 30 of the 150 detention facilities, management training for 30 supervisors, and the development and implementation of inservice training packages. Suggestions for future efforts to improve jail systems are presented.