NCJ Number
91605
Date Published
1981
Length
103 pages
Annotation
Recommendations in this master plan for 1980-85 advocate New York State's prison population density; improving inmate services with regard to disciplinary policies, opportunities to enhance employability, and special treatment programs; improving the work environment for staff; and reorganizing management.
Abstract
The report reviews traumas experienced by the correctional system in the 1970's, responses to these events, and the structure of the master planning process. Following a statement of mission, the plan addresses general improvements in the system, such as seeking alternatives to incarceration, acquiring space to accommodate expanding prison populations, and advocating programs to better prepare inmates for community reentry. The section on inmate services describes the inmate population, as well as a system for placing and tracking that population. It also discusses the need to disseminate the inmate rule book and consistently apply disciplinary procedures, programs that offer real opportunities for skill development, prerelease services, special programs for disabled inmates that remove them from the general population, and priority needs for women inmates. Recommendations on essential services focus on the health delivery system. To improve staff services, the plan suggests affirmative action strategies, development of a total training package for all employees, competency and psychological testing of potential candidates, evaluation procedures, and a career development program. Finally, the report advocates revising categories of service delivery and reorganizing the Department along functional lines to better achieve the plan's objectives. Priorities for 1981-82 are identified. The appendixes present dissenting opinions on the master plan, a list of planning workshops participants, statistics on inmates and staff for 1970-79 and correctional facilities changes, and inmate population projections. Photographs, tables, and charts are supplied.