NCJ Number
126751
Date Published
1990
Length
237 pages
Annotation
This master plan update of the Maine Department of Corrections considers the viability of recommendations remaining from the previous 5-year master plan and revises them to meet the Department's growing population and additional needs. A discussion of issues affecting the Department's institutions, programs and services, operations, facilities, and probation and parole programs stresses that prison overcrowding is its overriding concern.
Abstract
Four options to reduce overcrowding are recommended: the establishment of three diversion and two day centers, an expansion of Intensive Supervision, and transfer of all offenders with less than one year left to serve to county jails. The greatest need for beds lies in the areas of maximum security and minimum security/community programs. The master plan supports a proposed bond issue, the expansion of new community programs to probationers, a growth in programs for inmates, and sentencing reform. Other issue areas in which recommendations are made include, inter alia, human resources, employee incentives, staff development and training, and needs of special inmate populations. The master plan discusses contractual community programs; the Division of Probation and Parole; institutional programs including mental health, substance abuse, and sex offender services; and educational, industrial, and recreational programs. Institutional security and support at Maine correctional facilities is a final topic of the master plan. 4 appendixes