AFSCME Information Highway

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

From press release:
Between 2005 and 2006 the number of state and federal prisoners who were HIV-positive decreased 3.1 percent -- from 22,676 to 21,980 inmates, according to a report by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Another BJS report estimated that 44 percent of state inmates and 39 percent of federal inmates reported a current medical problem other than a cold or a virus.

Sixteen states and the federal system reported a decrease in the number of HIV-infected prisoners and 25 states reported an increase from 2005 through 2006. Texas, with 293 more HIV-positive inmates, reported the largest increase. New York with 440 fewer HIV-positive prisoners reported the largest drop.

On December 31, 2006, an estimated 5,977 inmates had confirmed AIDS, up from 5,620 in 2005. Confirmed AIDS cases accounted for more than a quarter of inmates known to be HIV positive.

At yearend 2006 the rate of confirmed AIDS in state and federal prisoners was more than 2½ times higher than in the U.S. population. About 46 in 10,000 prison inmates were estimated to have confirmed AIDS, compared to 17 per 10,000 persons in the general population.

Full Report

Medical Problems of Prisoners

Posted by William at 8:11 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Inspector General, Audit Division, February 2008

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is responsible for confining federal offenders in prisons that are safe, humane, cost-efficient, and secure. As part of these duties, the BOP is responsible for delivering medically necessary health care to inmates in accordance with applicable standards of care.

As of November 29, 2007, the BOP housed 166,794 inmates in 114 BOP institutions at 93 locations.1 During FY 2007, the BOP obligated about $736 million for inmate health care. The BOP provides health care services to inmates primarily through: (1) in-house medical providers employed by the BOP or assigned to the BOP from the Public Health Service, and (2) contracted medical providers who provide either comprehensive care or individual services.

To control the rising cost of health care, since the early 1990s the BOP has implemented initiatives aimed at providing more efficient and effective inmate health care. The BOP's on-going initiatives include assigning most inmates to institutions based on the care level required by the inmate, installing an electronic medical records system that connects institutions, implementing tele-health to provide health care services through video conferencing, and implementing a bill adjudication process to avoid costly errors when validating health care-related invoices. We include a discussion of these cost-cutting initiatives and the effect the initiatives have had on controlling inmate health care costs in the Findings and Recommendations section of this report.

Posted by Info Center at 2:00 PM in Corrections | Health Care | Permalink

Source: Liana Fox, Economic Policy Institute, Snapshot, March 12, 2008

A recent study released by the Pew Center on the States examines the rapid growth of the U.S. prison population, which has tripled over the past 20 years. The United States now holds the distinction of imprisoning more of its own citizens, both in total number and share of the adult population, than any other country in the world. In 2007, the United States had a record-breaking one out of every 100 adults in prison. Policy changes in sentencing and parole revocation, rather than increases in crime, have largely driven the increase in incarceration rates.

Posted by Info Center at 4:43 PM in Corrections | State & Local Finance | Permalink

Source: Jenifer Warren, Pew Center on the States, Public Safety Performance Project, February 25, 2008

From the summary:
One in 100: Behind Bars in America in 2008 details how, for the first time in history, more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison--a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety.

See also:
▪ Work in the States: Sentencing and Corrections in New Jersey
▪ Work in the States: Sentencing and Corrections in Vermont
▪ Work in the States: Sentencing and Corrections in Nevada
▪ Sentencing and Corrections Profile: Nevada

Posted by Info Center at 2:39 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Alison Lawrence, National Conference of State Legislatures, January 2008

From the press release:
State legislatures are concerned about the projected growth in prison populations and accompanying increases in corrections spending. As a result, many state legislatures passed laws in 2007 to expand community corrections, manage probation and parole violators, boost incentives for good behavior, prepare inmates for re-entry, and link released offenders to community support.

A new report released by the National Conference of State Legislatures, in partnership with Pew's Public Safety Performance Project, shows that many state legislatures will continue this action in 2008. The report, State Sentencing and Corrections Legislation 2007 Action, 2008 Outlook, highlights at least a dozen states with task forces or other groups at work on community corrections, evidence-based practices in corrections, and tracking and preventing recidivism.

Posted by Info Center at 10:46 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics brings together data from more than 100 sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States. These data are displayed in over 1,000 tables. The site is updated regularly as new statistics become available. The Sourcebook is supported by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Data tables are organized into six topical sections. Access information of interest by browsing the content lists of these sections, the index, or by searching the website. You will be directed to individual tables displayed separately in Adobe® Acrobat and spreadsheet formats.

To be aware of newly added material see this page.

Posted by Info Center at 9:44 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

From press release:
This report presents the number of persons on probation and parole at yearend 2006, by State, and compares the national totals to counts for yearend 1995 and 2000 through 2005. The report provides State-level probation and parole supervision rates at yearend 2006 and the percentage change in each population during the year. It presents probation and parole entries and exits, by State, and it provides national and State-level data on parole revocations. The Bulletin also includes a national description of the race, gender, and offense composition of these populations.
Highlights include the following:
• The number of adult men and women in the United States who were being supervised on probation or parole at the end of 2006 reached 5,035,225. In 2006 the combined probation and parole populations grew by 1.8% or 87,852 persons.
• More than 8 in 10 offenders under community supervision were on probation at yearend 2006. During 2006 the probation population grew by 1.7% which represented an increase of 70,266 probationers.
• At yearend 2006 a total of 798,202 adult men and women were on parole or mandatory conditional release following a prison term. The population grew by 17,586 parolees during the year or 2.3%.

Full report (PDF; 243 KB)

Posted by Info Center at 2:28 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: U.S. Department of Justice/Office of Justice Programs

Our communications with prison facility personnel had one message in common: they are always on the lookout for homemade weapons and for materials that can be made into weapons. Our results provide guidance for identifying materials and/or objects that should be redesigned so they cannot be modified to inflict injury. In particular, objects such as razors and padlocks that are issued to inmates or purchased from the commissary deserve special attention because prisons have some control over the design and choice of such items. Further research such as that being conducted at the Applied Physics Laboratory should prove useful in eliminating materials that can be modified into weapons.

Full report (PDF; 1.2 MB)

Posted by Info Center at 2:22 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics

From press release:
The U.S. adult correctional population -- incarcerated or in the community -- reached 7.2 million men and women, an increase of 159,500 during the year, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today in a new report. About 3.2 percent of the U.S. adult population, or 1 in every 31 adults, was in the nation's prisons or jails or on probation or parole at the end of 2006.

The number of men and women who were being supervised on probation or parole in the United States at year-end 2006 reached 5 million for the first time, an increase of 87,852 (or 1.8 percent) during the year. A separate study found that on December 31, 2006, there were 1,570,861 inmates under state and federal jurisdiction, an increase of 42,932 (or 2.8 percent) in 2006.

Prisoners in 2006

Full Report (PDF; 306 KB)

Posted by Info Center at 2:00 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Urban Institute

This report summarizes findings from a process and impact evaluation of two of Florida's Faith- and Character-based Institutions (FCBIs). The FCBI model is designed to rehabilitate adult prisoners by offering a vast array of faith and self betterment programs that are delivered by community volunteers. The UI research team gathered and analyzed data from: (1) one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with facility administrators, correctional officers, program staff, chaplains, and volunteers; (2) focus groups with inmates housed in the FCBIs; (3) administrative data on FCBI and general population inmates; (4) official documents; and (5) telephone and email communications with state corrections officials.

Full report

Posted by Info Center at 9:20 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Brenda V. Smith and Jaime M. Yarussi, National Institute of Corrections, American University Washington College of Law Project on Addressing Prison Rape

This handbook is based on training we have conducted on staff sexual misconduct over the past eight years, and the feedback and comments that we have received from correctional professionals who have attended those trainings and implemented changes in their system to prevent sexual abuse of individuals under custodial supervision.

This publication is a critical step in reaching out to rank-and-file correctional staff in order to address the code of silence that surrounds staff sexual misconduct with offenders. We hope that it will deepen the dialogue between line staff, administrators, community leaders, and criminal justice advocates about strategies to eliminate staff sexual misconduct with individuals under custodial supervision.

This handbook aims to educate correctional professionals at all levels on:
• why correctional staff and administrators need to be concerned about staff sexual misconduct with offenders
• how agency culture and the workplace environment influence staff sexual misconduct
• the tools that will help identify and address staff sexual misconduct
• the consequences of staff sexual misconduct with offenders
• the investigative process that should follow an allegation of staff sexual misconduct
• how correctional staff members can keep the workplace safe

Posted by Info Center at 3:59 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Jeffrey A. Butts, and John Roman, Urban Institute, September 26, 2007

From the abstract:
Reclaiming Futures (RF) is an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) that seeks to improve outcomes for drug-involved youth in the juvenile justice system. The Urban Institute and Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago conducted biannual surveys in each of the ten communities participating in the initiative (December 2003 to June 2006) measuring the quality of juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment systems in each community. Positive and significant changes were reported in all ten communities. In several communities, most quality indicators measured by the evaluation improved significantly during the course of the initiative.

Posted by Info Center at 12:46 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics, annually since 1980

Bureau of Justice Statistics - Expenditure and Employment Statistics: "Since 1980, these data have been extracted from the Census Bureau's Annual Government Finance Survey and Annual Survey of Public Employment. This series includes national and State-by-State estimates of government expenditures and employment for the following justice categories: police protection, all judicial (including prosecution, courts, and public defense), and corrections. Federal data for the same categories are also included, as are data for the largest local governments (counties with populations of 500,000 or more and cities with populations of 300,000 or more). The unit of analysis in the CJEE is the government. For example, the corrections employment reported for any particular State represents the total of all correctional personnel employed by that State regardless of which prison, probation office, or other corrections agency employ them. Annually since 1980."
See also:
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data

Posted by Info Center at 4:54 PM in Corrections | Law Enforcement | Statistics | Permalink

Source: Gail Elias, U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections, NIC Accession Number 021826, July 2007

This National Institute of Corrections manual provides guidance on how information affects policy decision making. Topics include good management; data collection; how to locate and capture information; analyzing, interpreting, and sharing information; and getting the most from your information system.

Posted by Info Center at 2:49 PM in Corrections | Law Enforcement | Permalink

Source: Roy Walmsley, International Centre for Prison Studies, Kings College London

Key Points:
● More than 9.25 million people are held in penal institutions throughout the world, mostly as pre-trial detainees (remand prisoners) or as sentenced prisoners. Almost half of these are in the United States (2.19m), China (1.55m plus pre- trial detainees and prisoners in ‘administrative detention’) or Russia (0.87m).
● The United States has the highest prison population rate in the world, some 738 per 100,000 of the national population, followed by Russia (611), St Kitts & Nevis (547), U.S. Virgin Is. (521), Turkmenistan (c.489), Belize (487), Cuba (c.487), Palau (478), British Virgin Is. (464), Bermuda (463), Bahamas (462), Cayman Is. (453), American Samoa (446), Belarus (426) and Dominica (419).
● However, more than three fifths of countries (61%) have rates below 150 per 100,000. (The rate in England and Wales - 148 per 100,000 of the national population - is above the mid-point in the World List.)
● Prison population rates vary considerably between different regions of the world, and between different parts of the same continent.
See also:
The International Centre for Prison Studies
A Human Rights Approach to Prison Management
World Female Prison Population List 2006

Posted by Info Center at 2:08 PM in Corrections | Statistics | Permalink

Source: Corrections Compendium, Vol. 32 no. 3, May/June 2007

In a similar survey Corrections Compendium conducted early in 2004, 43 percent of the respondents in U.S. correctional systems noted that they experienced problems in recruiting qualified candidates for correctional officer positions. The current survey indicated that little has changed. Forty-four U.S. correctional systems and four Canadian systems responded to the survey, with 44 percent of them experiencing problems in recruitment. … The systems were asked to state the wage range paid to their correctional officers at entry level, after the first year of service, and for captains or their equivalent. The minimum starting wage in New Jersey is $45,549. Wages at the top of the entry level category were reported by Wisconsin as $50,759, Colorado as $52,368 and Nevada as $53,390.

Posted by Info Center at 11:08 AM in Compensation | Corrections | Permalink

Source: William J. Sabol, Todd D. Minton, and Paige M. Harrison, Bureau of Justice Statistics NCJ 217675, June 2007

Press release
Presents data on prison and jail inmates collected from National Prisoner Statistics counts and the Annual Survey of Jails, 2006. This annual report provides the number of inmates and the overall incarceration rate per 100,000 residents for each State and the Federal system. It offers trends since 2000 and percentage changes in prison populations since midyear and yearend 2005. The midyear report presents the number of prison inmates held in private facilities, the number of prisoners under 18 years of age held by State correctional authorities, and the number of noncitizen prisoners. It includes total numbers for prison and jail inmates by gender, race, and Hispanic origin as well as counts of jail inmates by conviction status and confinement status. The report also provides findings on rated capacity of local jails, percent of capacity occupied, and capacity added.

Highlights include the following:

• On June 30, 2006, an estimated 4.8% of black men were in prison or jail, compared to 1.9% of Hispanic men and 0.7% of white men.

• For the 12 months ending June 30, 2006, State systems reported a larger increase than the Federal system in the number of inmates housed in private prisons.

• Between July 1, 2005 and June 30, 2006, the number of persons held in local jails increased 2.5% to reach 766,010 inmates, the lowest growth since the 1.6% increase in mid-year 2001.

Posted by Info Center at 5:30 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Christopher J. Mumola, Bureau of Justice Statistics Data Brief, NCJ 216340, January 2007

From press release:
The nation's state prison officials reported that 12,129 inmates died while in custody from 2001 through 2004, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. The deaths over this four-year period constituted an annual mortality rate of 250 deaths per 100,000 inmates, which was 19 percent lower than the adult mortality rate in the U.S. general population. Overall, 89 percent of all state prisoner deaths were attributed to medical conditions and 8 percent were due to suicide or homicide. The remainder of deaths were due to alcohol/drug intoxication or accidental injury (1 percent each). A definitive cause of death could not be determined for an additional 1 percent. Two-thirds of inmate deaths from medical conditions involved a problem that was present at the time of admission to prison.

Posted by Info Center at 12:49 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Julian Ford and Robert L. Trestman, and Fred Osher, Jack E. Scott, Henry J. Steadman, and Pamela Clark Robbins, National Institute of Justice, NCJ 216152, May 2007

This National Institute of Justice report provides information on two projects designed to create and validate mental health screening instruments that corrections staff can use during intake. Included in the report are questionnaires that accurately identify inmates who require mental health interventions.

Posted by Info Center at 5:25 PM in Corrections | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: Alan Greenblatt, Governing, Vol. 20 no. 6, March 2007

Overcrowding and soaring corrections costs are pushing prison reform to the top of states’ policy agendas.

A couple of years ago, the state of California did something surprising. It changed the name of its Department of Corrections, tacking on the words “and Rehabilitation” to the agency’s title. It was a small step — the modification wasn’t accompanied by any sudden surge in funding for rehabilitation programs. But it was symbolically important nonetheless. Thirty years ago, the state officially recast the department’s mission from rehabilitation to incarceration and punishment. Since then, the idea of rehabilitating prisoners has been a much lower priority than locking up more of them. Now, with the state’s prisons bursting at the bars, that may be about to change.

Posted by Info Center at 11:34 AM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Joyca Fogg, Charles J. Kehoe, and Timothy O. Kestner, Corrections Today, Vol. 69 no. 1, February 2007

If projections come true, more workers will reach retirement age with fewer younger workers to take their place. One option will be to see older workers as a resource. Many in this age group want to continue to work, but would like less stress, flexible hours, the feeling of making a difference and enjoyment from performing the work. Boredom, nothing to look forward to and no feeling of self-worth drive many boomers back into the workplace.

Posted by Info Center at 4:21 PM in Corrections | Permalink

Source: Sarah Steverman and Tara Lubin, State Legislatures, Vol. 33 no. 4, April 2007
(subscription required)

Diverting people with mental illnesses out of prison takes commitment from the community along with adequate funding.

Community mental health care can be costly, but it is far cheaper for states than incarceration. It costs around $26 a day to treat someone in a community mental health program, but it can cost more than $65 a day to keep them in jail. And states can tap federal resources to help pay for community mental health services. The vast majority of prison costs, however, falls on the state.

Posted by Info Center at 12:28 PM in Corrections | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: Sarah Hammond, State Legislatures, Vol. 33 no. 4, April 2007
(subscription required)

Treating mental illness in young people can keep them from a future of crime and delinquency.

Without treatment, these young people continue in delinquency and often become adult criminals. The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that more than three-quarters of the mentally ill offenders in jail had prior offenses. Effective assessment and comprehensive responses to court-involved juveniles with mental health needs is necessary to help break this cycle and provide for healthier young people who are less likely to commit crimes, Cocozza says.

Posted by Info Center at 12:26 PM in Corrections | Mental Health | Permalink

Source: Donna Lyons, State Legislatures, Vol. 33 no. 4, April 2007
(subscription required)

Jailing offenders with mental illness serves no one, but new policies are bringing about needed changes.

The deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill in the 1960s was designed to care for those with acute mental health needs in the community instead of in state-run asylums. But the movement to be more compassionate and cost-effective in treating those with mental illness has had a down side. In the generation since many state mental hospitals closed and treatment approaches shifted to the community, many people with serious mental illnesses have failed to get the treatment they need. For some, that means homelessness and crime, and advocates now decry what they call the “criminalization of the mentally ill.”

Posted by Info Center at 12:23 PM in Corrections | Mental Health | Permalink