Description of Planning for Colorado Department of Corrections

• NCJ Number: 87406
• Author(s): M D Smith
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 10 pages
• Corporate Author: Office of Research and Evaluation
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Document number 80-5

Annotation

Following a general description of the Colorado Department of Corrections, the department's approach to planning is detailed, and examples of plans are provided.

Abstract

The Colorado Department of Corrections is an independent State agency that includes the Executive Director's Office, a Division of Adult Services, and a Division of Correctional Industries. The mission of the department is to provide humane facilities and programs which ensure public safety and the safety of staff and inmates. Currently, there is no overall corrections planner for the department. Planning is done by each of the division directors and delegated staff, although the department does have a facilities planning officer attached to the Office of the Executive Director to coordinate and plan construction projects. A Five-Year Corrections Plan was published in 1978. The plan is intended to help the department structure its management, administrative, and operational procedures around the development of a comprehensive correctional system. The plan emphasizes that the effectiveness of various programs is to be determined by the extent to which they limit criminal activities in the State. In addition to the Five-Year Plan, each of the department's divisions prepares its own annual budget, which defines anticipated program costs, personnel requirements, and operating costs. The input from each of the divisions is compiled into an annual department budget request. Other plans that have been recently produced or that will be prepared in the future are (1) the Automated Data Processing Plan for 1979-81, which is the continuation of an extensive planning effort intended to provide for more sophisticated automated data processing systems for corrections; (2) the Transitional Task Force Plan, which provides guidance for the transition of inmates from the old maximum security prison in Canon City into the new maximum security unit and the new close security unit; and (3) a plan of action for remedying problems identified in an inmate class action suit that addressed conditions in the maximum security facility at Canon City. Data on each corrections facility are provided in an attachment.