Correctional Agencies
Introduction
Employment has become one of the main concerns for inmates who have completed their terms and are returning home from prison. Inmates who are released from prisons are becoming useful and productive to the modern community life; previously most inmates are not employed before they are imprisoned. Prisons successfully evolutes from institutional life to community based supervision depending on the pre- reentry programs that inmates complete prior to their parole. When they are in prison they are engaged with training in different courses and vocational programs depending on the term of imprisonment and ones interest of the course.
It is essential for inmates to be assisted indecision making when it comes to training, education and employment. The various courses taught include carpentry, electronics, auto-body, culinary, welding, automotive technology, HVAC, office systems technology, upholstery, horticulture programming and diesel technology. In addition they are trained how to search for jobs, job survival skills to increase opportunities for inmates to be and remain employed after their release. Moreover there are some websites that links employers with inmates prior to their release for employment opportunities (Reginald A., 2004).
Abstract
A successful transition is regarded as a mission and the correction agency should build infrastructure and capacity to support the mission to become an effective transition. Effective transition requires collaboration within the prison parole, human service agency and community supervision agency. This plan is dedicated to most inmates and their families who are affected by the criminal justice system who volunteer to help in implementing innovative processes of youth reentry. Community networks, public agencies and youth organizations work jointly as reentry support team and plan to enable inmates to create a successful transition in the community. The reentry support team provides complete case management surrounding issues concerned with mental illness, family reunification, health, income management and housing (Reginald A., 2004). Being the director the main goal is to; establish transition centers in prison to work strongly with general inmates in their during term or in their release and facilitate the transfer of inmates from the department of correctional rehabilitation to the community. The mission of the reentry support issue is to enhance collaboration between community stake holders and a distinguished array of advocates and youths to test, develop and implement inclusive network of reentry services that help the inmates released from the prison to effectively incorporate into the community (Reginald A., 2004).
Staff employed
Recruitment of staff members is done to establish standard training in designed programs, in order to provide skilled instructors to influence and mentor the inmates. The Correctional service will then train the instructor (staff) in the themes they will be needed to teach.
The staff employed will enhance development of vision of an ultimate transition lead to states as the prison administrative plan to improve practices and policies that affect offenders as they move from prison to the community. The policy teams articulates support for cooperation across the relevant agencies to achieve vision, facilitate and advocate for changes in procedures, policies and practices to employ that vision. The staff should develop modern information technology system that eases accessibility of information about inmates.
The staff creates a steering committee and plays the role of identifying gaps in the current practices; documenting modern transition practices; monitoring improvement and overseeing work groups that prepare for assessment reforms. These staff members play a role in protecting the public from harm by previous inmate. The state does this by the use of assessment tools from the commissioner to identify inmate’s criminogenic requirements and link the inmates to interventions that alter their requirements increasing their odds of achieving after release. The Division of Human Services gives support to the Division of Offender Rehabilitative Services, Division of Adult Institutions and the Division of parole and Probation. This Division of Human Services is responsible for recruiting a miscellaneous professional work force, sustaining that qualified work force, advancing the work environment in the communication between management, the staff and the employees. The duty of the Planning Section is to assist staff find reasonable solutions to problems encountering the department so they can develop services. This section ease problem-solving, process-improvement, customer satisfaction ,strategic planning, flowcharting processes and value statements, mission and gives management in the progressiveness of vision, objectives and outcomes, objective measures and outcome measures, action plans and meeting management training programs.
Assessment from the commissioner
Empirical based assessment instruments are used to identify the inmate’s dynamic and static risk factors during their admission to prison. This instrument are recently validated and standardized to population offender to whom they are being applied.
Dynamic factors are the ones that can change through proper involvement by the inmates for instance, thinking errors, lack of job skills and substance abuse problems, while static factors cannot change for instance, number of preceding convictions and the age of the first conviction.
The above case factors are intervened and determine the programs starting period for the affected inmate. The case plans are revised periodically and should describe deeply the interventions and conditions that apply through the phases. Assessment is done by the commissioner who reviews videotapes of delivered sessions. During the assessment the commissioner will declare support to communicate effectively to the director’s agencies and develop future priorities for the correctional systems over the following ten years.
Emerging and driving forces. There are three main outcomes that when put together advance the above mission. They include; the first outcome: Creation and sustaining of a coordinated and effective correctional system focused on successful transition, detention and integration (United States. Dept., 2010).
The second outcome; Ensures that the inmates released from the prison to the community are connected to a well developed network of positive friends, family and community for support.
The third outcome ensures that support from the correctional system supports successful completion of the inmate’s integration into the community and reentry plan.
Strategy
Correction managers and innovative policy makers are associating with forces to advance in correctional system, transparency, performance and accountability. Below are strategies, emerging and driving forces that can be implemented to strengthen prison operation, tame spiraling prison cost and cut crime. As the director one must understand the prison agency mission correctively; this includes reevaluation the agencies mission to include focus and reduce recidivism alongside other vital objectives. One should develop performance measures that matters since better information brings better outcomes, and thus uniform performance measures that standardizes the performance measures. As the director one will make use of modern technology to track performance and adjust of management practices. In addition, Corrections infrastructure matters should be build to for population that requires more intensive services.
The director should focusing people on performance for instance holding managers to be responsible by encouraging and providing incentive facility performances, and reduce inmate’s recidivism rates. Correctional officers are being compensated and career strategies developed to enhance money saving in the long run. Also finding non financial methods to improve the staff’s morale to work and quality of life to reduce turn over and boost performance. Develop partnerships that will help reduce on medical cost for instance dealing with public universities hospital to give quality control oversight and provide cost effective medical services. Moreover develop leaders that will manage and motivate staff during their high stress prison environment
There is increase of population of offenders and the prison houses are lacking space to contain more offender .The commissioner correctional system has a large security prison that is almost being completed. This prison institution will contain approximately 1000 male in mates transferred from around the state. The inmates admitted in this prison will be short term imprisonment (Darin & Marion R., 2010).
Traditional correctional programs
The traditional correctional programs that had the potential to reduce recidivism is involved with developing programs which are aimed at the offender’s characteristics related to criminal behaviors for instance treatment of sex offenders, family violence initiatives, living skills programs and substance abuse programs. The programs are delivered when the inmate is in prison while others continue to be offered even after the inmate has been released. The intervention programs both influence attitudes and behavior indirectly by communicating information or change behavior directly. The intervention programs are as described below. Sex offender treatment; several sex offender programs are offered in variety of institutions. They range from intensive to intermediate to low intensity programs. The latter are programs relapse prevention offered in minimum security institutions and train offenders for their coming release by teaching them to understand the factors that led to their crime as well as helping them to develop skills to manage the above factors.
Substance abuse; several programs are available; however there are two main nationally developed programs. The 1st is the Offender Substance Abuse Pre-Release Program which consists of 26 sessions, each three hours long, and should be given in an institutional setting. It is anticipated for the second program, known as Choices, which is liberated in the community. This second program has five six-hour sessions pursued in weekly maintenance sessions for three months. The two programs are perceived by the Service to be suitable for offenders with reasonable basic abuse problems. Moreover there are some programs that are locally developed in the several institutions, based on distinctive philosophies of substance abuse treatment.
Living skills; the living skills plan has of a series of programs, the key factor of which is known as Cognitive Skills. This is a five-year-old program implemented to change the anti-social thinking that brought about offenders to criminal behavior. This program includes a 36 two-hour sessions. There also is an emotional and Anger Management program element, which has modernly been developed to train offenders to control high-risk anger position. Family violence; the service has given priority to the new developing programs that deals with the issue of family violence. Spiritual/ Religious Programming; this section facilitates religious practices in having faith and encouraging spiritual development of the offenders. The department chaplain coordinates religious programming, offer spiritual support and counseling as well as recruiting and supervising religious volunteers.
Conclusion
A variety of prison-based treatment programs, mostly restorative communities, have shown promise in reducing recidivism and substance use, it is clear that the quick and poorly planned execution of correctional management programs places the above programs at risk of being less successful than the programs after which they were made.
References
Darin, C., & Marion R., K. (2010, December). Improving the effectiveness of juvenile justice programs; a
new perspective on evidence-based practice. Retrieved from http://forumfyi.org/files/ImprovingEffectivenessofJuvenileJusticePrograms.pdf
Reginald A., W. (2004, July). The association of state correctional administrator’s reentry best
practices: directors’ perspectives. Retrieved from http://www.asca.net/system/assets/attachments/891/Reentry_Best_Practices_Publication.pdf
United States. Dept. , U. S. (2010). Annual report of the attorney general of the United States. America: the University of Michigan.
