Prison Bed-Space Requirements, 1982-1986 - An Assessment in Response to HR 1016

• NCJ Number: 90338
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 133 pages
• Corporate Author: Oklahoma Dept of Corrections
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

After projecting the prison bed-space needs over the next 5 years for Oklahoma and examining various options to deal with the anticipated prison overcrowding, this report presents recommendations to the legislature that focus on new prison construction and alternatives to imprisonment.

Abstract

To project the prison bed-space needs, a previously developed model of prison population change was used. This model reflects the dynamic relationship which average time served and reception rate have with prison population level. Both a low and high projection were made, based respectively on low and high estimates of the model parameters. With low parameter estimates, the model projects an increase in population pressure to 5,650 by the end of 1986 and continued increase to 5,950 by the end of 1990. The high estimate shows pressure increasing to 6,500 by the end of 1986 and continued increase to over 6,900 by the end of 1990. According to the low projection, there will be a deficit of nearly 850 prison beds by the end of 1986; this projection is more likely to be too low than too high. The recommendations offered are for actions to be taken to create flexibility in the State's prison system so that the projected number of offenders can be handled without relying on a massive building program. It is recommended that the State construct three 400-bed medium-security prisons and one 400-bed minimum-security prison in fiscal 1983 or obtain existing facilities equivalent to these. Conventional concrete and masonry buildings rather than preengineered buildings should be used for the new prisons. Recommendations for alternatives to imprisonment are in the areas of county corrections expansion, felony-limit modification for property crimes, mandatory community supervision, parole process efficiency, and alternatives to incarceration for drinking drivers. The appendixes present the detailed reports, including tabular data, from the study. Forty-one references are provided.