Corrections
Prisons are the new ghetto, filled not only with people of
color, but increasingly by immigrants. The mass
incarceration model does not appear to be leveling out,
and is now reaching unimaginable proportions, levels that
not even the “prison works” proponents would have
deemed or dreamed possible just a decade ago. This new
form of genocide, this civic genocide if you will, is being
realized due to the chronic ambivalence on the part of the
general public. We are, for all intense and purposes,
burying people alive. We have gone beyond just deserts
and have adopted a model of penal harm. It is a national
disgrace.
American overuse of incarceration
 The United States has 4.5% of the world’s
population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners.
 There are currently 2.3 million people incarcerated
in America (in jail or prison).
 This translates to 1 adult in 110 being behind bars
in the U.S.
International Imprisonment
Rates/100,000
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United States – 698
Rwanda - 492
Russia – 470
Brazil - 274
Mexico – 211
Turkey - 198
England/Wales – 148
Australia - 151
Malaysia - 133
Canada – 106
Italy - 100
Austria - 98
South Korea – 97
Switzerland – 87
Denmark - 73
Finland – 58
Japan - 49
The world average is
roughly 160 to 170
Problems with the overuse
of incarceration
 Expensive ($80 billion/year)
 Biased/discriminatory
 Unconstitutional conditions of confinement
 Overcrowding logistics
 Aggravates the crime problem
 Short term (tipping point theory)
 Long term
Incarceration Options
 State Prisons:
 roughly 1,725 state prisons
 roughly 1.4 million inmates
 Federal Prisons:
 102 federal prisons
 54 military prisons
 roughly 215,000 inmates
 Private Prisons:
 roughly 100 private prisons
 135,000 inmates (8.5% of the inmate population)
Prison Demographics
 111,000 females in prisons (7% of the inmate pop.)
 Racial demographics of all prison inmates
 White: 34%
 Black: 39%
 Hispanic: 21%
 Other: 6%
Incarceration options…continued
 City/County Jails:
 3,300 jails
 745,000 inmates on any given day
 12 million formal jail admits/year
 11 day average stay
 costs $150/day to house an inmate in jail
 Juvenile Training Schools:
 2,260 facilities
 roughly 54,000 youth are housed in juvenile facilities
 roughly 10,000 youth are housed in adult facilities
 Mental health facilities
Incarceration Rate/100,000
Prison incarceration rate – 478
Combined prison and jail incarceration rate – 698
(2.3 million behind bars on any given day)
American has 4.5% of the world’s population, and
25% of the world’s incarcerated population
Probation
 Court administered program, in lieu of incarceration
 Behavioral contract, the violation of which could result in
probation being revoked and a prison/jail sentence
imposed
 3.9 million people are currently on probation
 Different levels of supervision and monitoring
methodology:
 Regular
 Intensive
 Electronic
 Home detention
 Halfway house confinement
Parole
 Post prison release mechanism
 Generally administered by the Executive Branch
 Behavioral contract, the violation of which could result in
parole being revoked and being returned to prison
 857,000 people are currently on parole
 Different levels of supervision and monitoring
methodology:
 Regular
 Intensive
 Electronic
 Home detention
 Halfway house confinement
Parole
Parole release decisions are irregularly applied. Several
factors do weigh in, including:
 Institutional behavior
 Crime severity
 Criminal history
 Length of incarceration (usually not eligible until 1/3 of the
maximum sentence has been served)
 Mental state/Mental illness concerns
 Victim input
 Reintegration factors (place to live, family situation,
employment opportunities)
Scope of the Corrections Industry
At present, just under 7 million adults are either in
prison, jail, on probation, or on parole. That
translates to one adult in 35, or roughly 3% of the
American adult population currently under some
form of correctional supervision.
Alternative Sanctions…continued
 Community-based options:
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Pretrial release/pretrial diversion
Street diversion (via problem solving policing)
Halfway houses
Restitution/community service sentences
Drug/alcohol treatment diversion
Mental health diversion
Misc. therapy and counseling programs
Family relations and life skills classes
Educational and voc training and assistance programs
Employment preparation and expectation courses
Employment assistance programs
Intermittent incarceration
Fine schedule/waiverable offense schedule (citations)
Prison/jail furlough
Other Sanctions
 Shaming:
 Car bumper
 Newspaper article
 Sign on front door
 Corporal punishment:
 Chemical/physical castration
 Whipped
 Dismembered
 Capital punishment
Does Anything Work?
 Rehabilitating and reintegrating
 Reduce crime via incapacitation:
 Short term
 Long term
 Reduce crime via general deterrence
 Reduce crime via specific deterrence
 Fiscally responsible
Future of Incarceration
 Build more prisons/continue mass
incarceration
 Tear down the prisons that exist
 Build no more prisons:
 Divert to community based alternatives
 Selective incapacitation
 Shorter sentences
 Less intrusive classification
Future of Incarceration…continued
 Build humane facilities:
 Smaller prisons
 Inmate/guard interaction
 Divert to community based alternatives
 Selective incapacitation
 Shorter sentences
 Less intrusive classification
Punishment Perspectives
 Do we send people to prison as punishment or to
receive punishment?
 What is just punishment – a punishment that fits the
crime or the criminal?
 What punishment options will have a good effect upon
individuals in the long run?
 What punishment options will likely be de-
habilitating in the long run?
Why do we Punish?
 To resolve conflict
 To maintain values/social borders
 To get people to stop doing things
 To make ourselves feel better
 To hold people accountable
 To protect society
 To rehabilitate/treat the offender
Why do you punish, as a parent, as a teacher, as a coach,
as a supervisor?
Philosophy of Punishment
 Individually oriented punishment
philosophies (past tense orientation):
 Retribution
 Revenge
 Society-wide oriented punishment
philosophies (present tense orientation):
 Control/order maintenance
 General deterrence
Philosophy of Punishment…continued
Individually oriented treatment philosophy
(future tense orientation):
 Medical rehabilitation
 Mental rehabilitation
 Societal reintegration
More Punishment Perspectives
1. Why do we punish?
2. Should society punish, and why/why not?
3. Which of the punishment theories best fits your
perspective?
4. Which of these philosophies of punishment
would yield a more just society?
5. Is there ever justice in punishment?
6. What philosophy should we use in response to
your misbehaviors?
7. What philosophy should we use in response to
the person who raped your little daughter?
8. Is the answer to questions 6 and 7 the same?
Punishment Perspectives…continued
9. Should punishment be more context based?
10. Should punishment be based on the legally
defined act, the circumstances surrounding the
act, and/or the characteristics of the actor?
11. When should we punish? How soon after the act
should the punishment be meted out?
12. Should we punish for what they did, for what
they might yet do, or some combination thereof?
Recidivism
 Time dimension
 Type of violation:
 Felony/Misdemeanor
 Violent/Non-violent
 Drugs issues
 Type of violator (population sample dimension):
 Maximum security releases vs. Pre-trial
diversion participants
 Career criminal vs. 1st time offender
Recidivism…continued
 Level of intrusion
 Arrested
 Convicted
 Sanction
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Prison (max, med, min)
Jail
Probation
Parole revolked
Halfway house
Other community-based options
Recidivism v. Relative Adjustment
Recidivism – dichotomous negative oriented
justice system reentry measure
Relative Adjustment – multivariate positive
oriented overall societal reentry/relative
adjustment measure
We want those who receive correctional
treatment to not just be NOT re-arrested/reconvicted/re-imprisoned, we want them to
successfully re-enter society as contributing
members, and we should measure this
according
Relative Adjustment
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Time Dimension – if we can lengthen the lag
time between offenses, that is a success
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Measurement Dimension & Orientation
 We use a dichotomous justice system indicator
to measure the impact of our sociopsychological economic correctional
treatment programs (a negative measure)
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We need to use a time-based, multi-variate
social-psychological economic instrument to
measure reentry success (a positive measure)
A Relative Adjustment Scale
 Lose points (and the loss is greater over time) for
 A dirty urine result
 A speeding ticket
 A shoplifting arrest
 Get points for
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living at the same residence for a certain time
keeping your job for a certain time
clean urine tests over a certain time
earning your GED
Correctional Law
 Wolff v McDonnell - inmates have the right to an
institutional disciplinary hearing, written advance notice of
the hearing, to present evidence/witnesses/testify in their
own behalf at the hearing, and a formal ruling is to be
placed in their file
 Morrissey v Brewer - parolees have no right to legal counsel
at parole revocation hearings
 Gagnon v Scarpelli - probationers have the right to an
attorney at probation revocation hearings
Further in the system, the fewer rights available
Correctional Law…continued
Wilson v Seiter - made it more difficult for inmates to
win unconstitutional conditions of confinement cases;
inmates must demonstrate specific unconstitutional
conditions of confinement, and specific intent on the
part of specific prison officials to maintain those
unconstitutional conditions
Micro – Macro
De Jure – De Facto
Legal Reentry Obstacles
(the 2nd prison)
 Bills of attainder – de jure
 Bills of attainder – de facto
 Civic restrictions
 Insurance restrictions
 Educational restrictions
 Occupational license restrictions
 Bonding restrictions
 Government employment restrictions
 Public Housing restrictions
Corrections Reforms
 Prisons/Jails
 Remove from the public sector
 Prison industry
 No forced rehabilitation programming
 Presumptive release date
 Adjust sentences
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Selective incapacitation (divert more to
Community based alternatives)
Shorter sentences
Less intrusive classification
Habitual Offender Law Concerns
 Low offender perceived certainty of apprehension
factor
 Targeting wrong age-based population
demographic
 Poor predictive capability/targets in an ex post
facto context
 Replacement phenomenon
(see Kovandzic, The Impact of Florida’s Habitual
Offender Law, Criminology, February 2001, pp. 170-203.)
Corrections Reforms
Prisons/Jails:
 Remove from the public sector
 Prison industry
 No forced rehabilitation programming
 Presumptive release date
 Adjust sentences
 Selective incapacitation (divert more to
Community based alternatives)
 Shorter sentences
 Less intrusive classification
Corrections Reforms…Prison/Jails continued
 Expand furlough programs:
Work release
 Study release
 Family furloughs
 Community furloughs
 Graduated release programming
 Parole people faster
 Increase voc training/education programs
 Hold seminars on family relations, employment
preparation/expectations and
general life skills
 Ramp up reentry programs
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Reentry Challenges
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
8.
Civic restrictions
Insurance restrictions
Educational restrictions
Occupational license restrictions
Bonding restrictions
Government employment restrictions
Public Housing restrictions
Limited access to adequate health care
Family stabilization issues
Collateral Consequences of Imprisonment
 Attenuated community acceptance/social stigmatization
 Curtailed employment/economic opportunities
 Political alienation
 De-stabilization of the family and impaired development of
children
 Diminished mental and physical health
 Homelessness
Reentry Strategies
 Front end options – drug/alcohol/mental health
centers, halfway-in houses, intensive probation with
an employment focus, volunteers in probation, more
use of day fines, community courts, intermittent
incarceration/weekend confinement, pre-trial
diversion, pre-trial release programs, bail hostels, one
strike “hug-a-thug”.
 Back end options – early parole, halfway-out houses,
tax incentives to hire ex-offenders, removal of the de
facto bills of attainder (restricting occupational
licensing, government employment, housing
assistance, etc), employment assistance programs (be
employment focused), volunteers in parole.
Reentry Strategies…continued
 Custodial options – re-classify more to
minimum security, more work release, study
release, family furlough, extended furlough,
pre-release programs, encourage prison visits,
vocational training and education programs,
employment preparation and expectation
courses, seminars on family relations,
interpersonal relations, and life skills.
Long Run Strategies
 Develop a Less Punitive Correctional Model
 Less reliance on prisons
 Shorter sentences
 Minimize classification level (Scuba analogy, Social
distance)
 Develop a More Effective Correctional Model
 Scientific criminology
 Political criminology
 Overcome the Lingering Cultural Orientation of Attainder
(Singapore Yellow Ribbon Project)
Singapore Yellow Ribbon Program Goals
 Create awareness of giving a second chance to exoffenders.
 Generate acceptance of ex-offenders and their
families into the community.
 Inspire community action to support the
rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-offenders.
Yellow Ribbon Activities
1. Ex-offenders are recognize as being crime and drug free at an annual award
ceremony.
2. Public concerts are held regularly, where top-run celebrities perform with exoffenders.
3. Job fairs, specifically designed for ex-offenders, are held regularly.
4. High level conferences on corrections and re-integration are regularly convened.
5. Docu-dramas featuring inspiring success stories of ex-offenders are televised.
6. Hundreds of thousands of yellow ribbons have been distributed to citizens of
Singapore who wear them in public as a visual representation of their support
for this program and for ex-offender reintegration.
Perhaps most important element of all is the fact that the program has the active
support of prominent corporate and political leaders. They frequently make public
appearance and public statements supporting the Yellow Ribbon initiative.
Long Run Strategies…Again
 Develop a Less Punitive Correctional Model
 Less reliance on prisons
 Shorter sentences
 Minimize classification levels
(Scuba analogy, Social distance)
 Develop a More Effective Correctional Model
 Scientific criminology
 Political criminology
 Overcome the Lingering Cultural Orientation of Attainder
(Singapore Yellow Ribbon Project)
Corrections Reforms…continued
 Prisons/Jails
 Ramp up reentry programs
 Democratic prisons
 Release older inmates
 Tax incentives to hire ex-offenders
 Be employment focused
 Allow more prison visits
 Move to a “full service” rehabilitation prison model
Overall, there is a need to get the prison population down, to
impact less negatively on the individuals while they are there, and
help them to become successfully reintegrated within their family
units, their communities and the workforce, once they leave the
prison setting. We can do this by:
 Short-term/Medium term
 Front end options
 Back end options
 Custodial options
 Long term
 Develop a Less Punitive Correctional Model
 Develop a More Effective Correctional Model
 Overcome the Lingering Cultural Orientation of
Attainder
Parole Reforms
 Expand pre-parole furlough programs
 Grant parole earlier
 Volunteers in parole
 Eliminate the technical violations
 Mandatory residential reentry center participation
(halfway-out houses)
 Reduce parole officer caseload size:
 Social service focused officer to some
 Custody oriented officer to others (intensive/electronic)
Probation Reforms
 Increase the use of probation (vs. prison)
 Great use of volunteers
 Reduce PO caseload size:
 Social service focused officer to some
 Custody oriented officer to others (intensive/electronic)
 Reduce supervision of low-risk offenders
Greater Use of Community-Based Options
(generally minimize the level of intrusion into the system)
 Pretrial release/pretrial diversion (including drug
courts)
 Street diversion (via problem solving policing)
 Community courts (victim/offender mediation)
 Probation
 Halfway houses
 Restitution/community service sentences
 Drug/alcohol treatment diversion
 Mental health diversion
Greater Use of Community-Based Options
…continued
 Misc. therapy and counseling programs
 Intermittent incarceration
 Family relations and life skills class
 Educational and voc training and assistance
programs
 Employment preparation and expectation courses
 Employment assistance programs
 Expanded fine schedule/waiverable offense
schedule (citations)
 Prison/jail furlough programs
Bio-Criminology Options
Crime can be reduced by:
1. Balancing out the hormones and enzymes produced by the
body (serotonin, dopamine, melatonin, testosterone,
estrogen, MAOA, CSF/serum albumin,
phenethylamine/MAO-B, oxytocin).
2. Removing the excessive caustic externally absorbed
components (lead, mercury, cadmium, PCBs, manganese,
nicotine in the prenatal period).
3. Balancing/increasing the intake of healthy substances
(dietary adjustments with a focus on healthy nutrition,
general vitamin therapy and particularly zinc, iron,
chromium, omega 3 and 6, DHA, protein in the prenatal
period).
Bio-Criminology Options…continued
4. Utilizing a nurturing environment to overcome the
latent/genetic-based vulnerabilities, including the use of
genetic screening to identify those with the highest levels of
vulnerability.
5. Being alert to/compensating for insufficient brain
development/brain abnormalities.
6. Miscellaneous Bio-criminology proposals – galvonic skin
implants, anti-adrenaline injections, castration (physical and
chemical), pink rooms
In sum, crime can be reduced by altering the bio-chemical
makeup of the body.
Future of Corrections?
The real need, is a change of communal attitude, for we
are far too harsh and are only making the crime situation
worse. We need to be willing to have:
 Less reliance on prisons
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Send fewer to prisons
Shorter sentences
Minimized classification
 Greater use of alternative sanctions
 Minimize the ex-con stigma/ostracizing
 Legally
 Socially
Footnote Points and Concluding Comments
Problems:
 We have surplus laborers with limited legitimate
market skills, limited academic skills, poor health,
insufficient housing situations; the underclass.
 They gravitate, as likely did their parents, to the
illegitimate markets as they have no chance of functioning
within the legitimate markets (anomie).
 They inevitably get caught by justice officials and are
thrust into the downward spiraling justice vortex.
 Justice system processing accentuates the situation,
pushing folks into the justice vortex where the
negative forces and factors in their lives become even
further compounded/aggravated and problematic;
few are ever able to escape.
Footnote Points and Concluding Comments
Solutions:
 Provide middle class economic opportunities as the base
(nutrition and disease analogy).
 There is more to solving the crime problem than
aggregate gainful employment (need to utilize other
crime preventative and curative options), but that is
where you start because gainful employment reduces the
aggregate crime vulnerability/susceptibility factor, and
then you build on that base from person to person as
unique individual situations present themselves.
 If a gainful employment base is not in place, there is
virtually no chance for longitudinal rehabilitative
success.
Singapore’s Yellow Ribbon
Project
http://www.yellowribbon.org.sg/