Corrections Today articles from August 1998

Corrections Today archives from August 1998

The times, they are a-changin'. (legal and legislative issues facing corrections)(Editorial)
August 1, 1998... Bob Dylan sang, "The times, they are a-changin'" more than 30 years ago, and the lyrics still hold true today, especially in the legislative and legal arenas. For years, corrections professionals have watched as laws affecting our profession were...

The law: a help or a hindrance to corrections?(Column)
August 1, 1998... Is the law corrections' friend or foe? It can be both. The Constitution is part of the law to which corrections is subject. While corrections professionals may, at times, disagree with the way in which a court has interpreted and applied the...

Commanding safe streets. (Delaware Dept. of Corrections' director of adult probation and parole Joseph Paesani)
August 1, 1998... The desire to make a difference drew Joseph Paesani into the corrections field 23 years ago. "In that day and age, everyone wanted to change society, he says. So he joined the Delaware Department of Correction (DOC) as a probation and parole...

PLRA: a step in the right direction. (Prison Litigation Reform Act)
August 1, 1998... When asked whether the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) has helped corrections, I inevitably think about one of the inmates serving consecutive life sentences in Pennsylvania. He probably will spend his entire life in a restricted housing...

PLRA is not the answer. (Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996)
August 1, 1998... This country has always prided itself on respecting the principle of equal justice under the law. But lately there is a spirit of spiteful scapegoating in the air, and the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) is a prime example. Its supposed...

The risks juveniles face: housing juveniles in adult institutions is self-destructive and self-defeating.
August 1, 1998... Nearly a century ago, the juvenile justice system was created because children were subjected to unspeakable atrocities in adult jails and returned to society as hardened criminals. As the system developed, it became clear that housing young...

The Prison Litigation Reform Act: in the two years since its enactment, PLRA has had a dramatic impact on inmate litigation.
August 1, 1998... Inmate lawsuits and court intervention have been part of the correctional landscape for as long as most administrators can remember. In 1996, Congress moved aggressively to curtail the traditions of litigation and court oversight with passage of...

We can work it out: settlements are still possible after PLRA. (Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996)
August 1, 1998... On April 26, 1996, President Clinton signed the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA) into law. One of the major targets of PLRA was the continued existence of consent decrees affecting prison conditions, and the passage of PLRA set off an...

Civil disabilities of convicted felons.
August 1, 1998... A State-by-State Survey Finds Considerable Variation Among Jurisdictions You've just been released from prison after serving a sentence for a felony conviction and you have begun to reconstruct your life. You've paid your debt to society. Or...

Reducing inmate litigation: Missouri's Constituent Services Office proves value of communication.
August 1, 1998... Many correctional agencies have functioned traditionally as closed systems, resulting in a self-reliant posture which encourages limited outside interaction - usually only with other law enforcement agencies. This independence has led to weak...

Civil rights of institutionalized persons: CRIPA can be used to eliminate unlawful conditions of confinement in juvenile facilities. (Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act)
August 1, 1998... Through express authority granted to the attorney general, the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) gives the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) the power to bring actions against state or local...

Getting in the ring: the Texas Crime Bill Work Group works exclusively to analyze pending legislation.
August 1, 1998... During the last 10 years, the federal government has taken an increasingly active role in fighting crime and aiding states with the cost of incarcerating offenders, areas that traditionally have been the exclusive domain of state and local...

The privatization debate continues; Tennessee's experience highlights scope of controversy over private prisons.
August 1, 1998... Over the last two decades, Tennessee's correctional system has more than doubled in size and has evolved from a loosely structured department with 11 prisons under federal court order to a system of 20 ACA-accredited prisons no longer under court...

Accreditation: an inside look at accreditation.(Transcript)
August 1, 1998... Editor's note: The following is an edited version of a speech made before the conference of the Correctional Accreditation Managers Association on April 12, 1998. The Author Makes a Case for Improving Prison Management Through Accreditation...

Kids in adult correctional systems: an understanding of adolescent development can aid staff in managing youthful offender populations.
August 1, 1998... In many jurisdictions, legislators and other policy-makers have decided that violent youthful offenders should be placed in adult correctional systems, thinking that this strategy will make neighborhoods safer, programs more effective, and...

It does take a village: a youth violence program in Kincheloe, Mich., galvanizes the community.
August 1, 1998... It seemed to happen overnight. The Air Force base had closed, and the prison industry had moved in, hoping to take advantage of the available buildings and plentiful work force. The town had begun the process of rebuilding and repopulating....

Measuring success: the Washington State Juvenile Rehabilitation Model.
August 1, 1998... Lately, the public's perception of an increasingly violent juvenile offender population has been making its mark on juvenile justice legislation in Washington state, resulting in closer scrutiny of juvenile correctional systems and their...

Unethical staff behavior: good correctional managers can help staff succeed. (part 3)
August 1, 1998... Editor's Note: This is the final installment in a three-part series on the unethical behavior of correctional officers and administrators. The case studies described here are composites of actual situations that have occurred over the years, and...

Ontario's new probation supervision model.
August 1, 1998... Adam Borgida, director of community operations for the Ministry of the Solicitor General and Correctional Services in Ontario, reports that the ministry is attempting to tie service delivery more closely to probation work, which, thus far, has...

Jailhouse Journalism.
August 1, 1998... By James McGrath Morris, McFarland and Company Inc., 1998, pp. 251. With renewed interest in educational and rehabilitative programs, corrections practitioners are seeking to revisit inmate culture issues. In Jailhouse Journalism, author James...