This brief will examine the concept of step-down or transitional programs, including their goals, different ways in which they can operate, key components of effective programs, and common pitfalls that should be avoided to promote their success.
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Using data from the Survey of Sexual Victimization (SSV), this report features substantiated incidents reported by adult correctional authorities for the 3-year aggregate period of 2016–18.
Every organization struggles with change. Fostering a culture that supports change in a corrections organization can be particularly challenging. Staff require strong leadership, structure, and clear policies and practices that help them succeed at their jobs. When any one of those factors changes, it is not unusual to see reactions ranging from mild anxiety to rigid resistance.
Correctional officers (COs) play a pivotal role within the wider prison system as they are tasked with numerous responsibilities designed to ensure that their respective facilities are operating efficiently. As the front-line bureaucrats of the prison institution (Lipsky, 2010), COs are charged with supervising the activities of inmates, enforcing rules and regulations, affording offenders access to social services, and perhaps most importantly, maintaining order (Crawley, 2004; Kauffmann, 1989). They are also tasked with responding to administrative demands; searching cells for drugs, weapons, and other contraband; and intervening to resolve potentially violent disputes among inmates (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013).
Correctional officers work in dangerous environments that increase their risk of injury. Their rates of nonfatal injuries are among the highest across all occupations (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2016). In recent decades, technology in correctional settings has advanced significantly, and new equipment and devices to improve correctional officer safety have become increasingly prevalent. However, equipment deployment across facilities varies. In addition, little is known about the specific equipment modalities used in different facilities, the effectiveness of this technology, or how correctional officers and other facility personnel perceive safety equipment.
Background: Correctional Officers show signs of adverse health early in their careers. We evaluated the impact of a one-year peer health mentoring program for new officers based on
a Total Worker Health® approach; Conclusions: A continuous peer health mentoring program seemed protective to new officers in reducing burnout and also declines in BMI and hypertension. Short-term physical health markers in younger officers may not be an index of psycho-social effects. A participatory design approach is recommended for a long-term health mentoring program to be both effective and sustainable.
Recruitment and retention has been one of the toughest challenges in corrections historically because of several factors. The most important reason behind this challenge is the fact that an occupation in corrections involves violence and confrontations with incarcerated individuals. Agency culture and environmental factors are directly related to retention and recruitment. Evaluating facility cultures and being mindful of generational differences are key to understanding shrinking corrections workforces. Attracting new people to the profession is difficult and retaining staff is problematic given the average length of time correctional officers staying employed in corrections ranges from less than one year to five years.33 Despite the challenges the field has and continues to face, it’s clear that corrections administrators are using their historical experiences to explore new ways to hire and keep staff. Taking a holistic approach to the hiring and retention process has resulted in dividends that will hopefully have long-term payoffs. Offering a comprehensive staff wellness program helps to promote healthy correctional institution, increases engagement among employees, sets up a healthier and more productive workforce, attracts candidates by adding appeal to job seekers, promotes healthy correctional institutions, and keeps more experienced individuals in the field.
Individuals entering jails and other correctional settings are more likely to have a chronic health condition or infectious disease, resulting in an increased risk to their physical health and well-being while incarcerated. A close look at statistics from local jails demonstrates that, far from being a safe haven from these converging crises, a failure to prioritize implementation of adequate policies and protocols addressing these issues in many local jails are fueling these crises for the individuals inside and everyone in our communities
In 2017, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) partnered in advocating for policy makers to consider what it would take to look “Beyond Beds” in state hospitals as a single solution to all the challenges and instead develop a path toward a robust continuum of accessible, effective psychiatric care. Now, three years later, NASMHPD and SAMHSA highlight the first point of entry into that continuum of care- to prevent and manage crises in a way that offers an immediately accessible, interconnected, effective and just continuum of crisis behavioral health services. By enhancing crisis response, community needs can be met, and lives can be saved with services that reduce suicides and opioid-related deaths, divert individuals from incarceration and unnecessary hospitalization and accurately assess and stabilize and refer individuals with mental health, substance use and other behavioral health challenges. This paper, Crisis Services: Meeting Needs, Saving Lives, furthers the Beyond Beds strategy by describing this vision. By knitting together several bodies of work on crisis services, it sets the stage for the next iteration of a national dialogue for developing and expanding that much needed continuum of quality mental health and substance use care for all who need it, when they need it.
A new study by the RAND Corporation and the University of Denver (DU) analyzed insights from a working group of experts with practical expertise in and knowl-edge of inmate mortality trends.