ACA Salutes Our Armed Forces
James A. Gondles, Jr.
Executive Director
American Correctional Association
December 2008, Corrections Today
During this time of war, it is necessary that we
give thanks and recognize our military personnel for their dedication
and bravery. The American Correctional Association has devoted this
issue to our nation's armed forces and the many successes and challenges
they face while working in corrections at home and abroad. I'm proud
that we have been able to focus on military corrections as a theme in
Corrections Today for the third time.
The American armed forces have always been an
important part of the ACA family going back as far as 1870, when we were
known as the American Prison Association. ACA is proud of its
affiliations with U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard
and National Guard. Our Military Corrections Committee has always been
one of our most active committees, and its members attend the
conferences in large numbers every year, sharing their vast experiences
and providing us with wonderful perspectives. We are fortunate that we
have been able to achieve much together and that we have developed so
many excellent relationships with our friends and colleagues in the
armed forces. The relationships and the mutual respect that exists
between those serving in military corrections and those of us in
civilian corrections will help guide us into the future.
There are military corrections facilities across
the country and around the world.
Whether you visit the Disciplinary Barracks in Leavenworth, Kan.,
the Naval Consolidated Brig in Miramar, Calif., or the U.S. Army
Confinement Facility in Manheim, Germany, you'll find some of the most
professional staff and best run facilities in all of corrections. The
commitment to excellence and the desire to perform the duties and
responsibilities of the profession at the highest level are obvious.
Today, nearly all major military correctional institutions are ACA
accredited, and the Army and Navy have achieved 100 percent
accreditation. The Charleston Naval Brig has shown such commitment to
the standards and accreditation process that it has scored 100 percent
on its audit report in six consecutive cycles. The brig has served as a
tremendous example for us all, as have the American armed forces in
general.
Those who serve sacrifice a great deal in order to
make the world safe for democracy and keep us and our allies free from
harm and oppression. The war on terrorism is unlike any other we have
faced. It has and will continue to challenge our resolve and test the
professionalism and training of our troops at every turn.
I am confident that our military will succeed and continue to
make us free, safe and proud.
The enemy we face today is of a new breed; it has
no land, flies no flag and has no embassy. As a consequence, diplomacy
will have limited success, and a formal surrender will likely never
happen. But we will continue to fight - we have the resolve and
commitment necessary to defeat this enemy, and defeat them we will.
Generation after generation, America's armed forces
have shown themselves to be the best trained in the world and have risen
to the challenge on every occasion. We have always relied on them to
defend our freedoms and our way of life, and for that we are most
grateful. Those of us who knew or were part of "the greatest generation"
of World War II will forever remember their sacrifices.
While we in corrections work in a stressful
environment and are constantly dealing with dangerous individuals, it
often pales in comparison to the work of our military personnel. The men
and women of our armed forces are true heroes and they will always have
the support, friendship and partnership of ACA.
A
Comprehensive Assessment Methodology Ensures Community Safety and
Security
By Allan Turner, DPA
Research Professor, Administration of Justice
George Mason University
October
2008, Corrections Today
The message is clear. Correctional administrators
who already have their hands full dealing with day-to-day problems
within their facilities must be concerned not only with what happens
inside the perimeter fence but also with the role their institutions
play in the overall security of their communities. Failure to do so can
put an entire community at risk if a terrorist attack or natural
disaster occurs.
The challenges faced by a correctional
administrator striving to maintain safety and security can seem
overwhelming. The images of prisoners being guarded on a bridge in New
Orleans after hurricane Katrina and news coverage of a CIA report that
al-Qaida considers correctional facilities in the U.S. as potential
targets reinforces the simple truth that any correctional facility is
subject at any time to a terrorist attack or natural disaster. To
complicate matters, a terrorist attack or natural disaster that affects
a correctional facility will also have a cascading impact on the
surrounding community.
Since Sept. 11, Department of Home-land Security
officials have stressed the development and application of comprehensive
risk assessment methodologies to help protect the nation's communities
from all hazards, including terrorism and natural disaster. This
approach has been driven by the fact that no community can protect
everything. Therefore, Homeland Security officials must use a thorough
means to identify communities' critical infrastructures and key
resources and decide how best to protect those assets.
Comprehensive assessment methodologies generally
consist of the following five steps: The first is a threat assessment,
which examines a community; identifies critical facilities,
infrastructures and events; and identifies threat groups and the
likelihood that a specific target will be subject to terrorist or
hostile criminal attack. Second is a risk assessment or prioritization
tool, which includes a criticality assessment to determine the overall
impact of a terrorist attack on a given target and the community.
Additional matrices to further analyze the target from the perspective
of the potential threat element are the next step. Fourth is a community
priority assessment plan to determine the order of priority for critical
facilities, infrastructure and events. And last is a vulnerability
assessment, which is a critical on-site physical examination and
thorough inspection of a facility. This process is broader in scope than
the correctional vulnerability assessment methodology developed by
Sandia National Laboratories that is currently used by several
correctional agencies. In fact, Sandia's correctional vulnerability
assessment process would mostly fall into step five of the Homeland
Security methodology.
In communities where a correctional facility is
present, that facility will appear near the top of the critical
facilities prioritized during the assessment. If a correctional facility
must be evacuated, law enforcement resources will have to be deployed to
help guard prisoners because they may try to exploit an emergency
situation to either escape or commit new crimes. Also, if a jail is
lost, there is no adequate place to house new criminals in the
community. Gang members or domestic and international terrorists make
the facilities where they are housed potential targets for an attack
that could facilitate an escape attempt or create a diversion for a more
devastating attack.
A 2005 report, Assessing and Managing the Terrorist
Threat, prepared for the Bureau of Justice Assistance by the
International Association of Chiefs of Police stated that for today's
law enforcement executive, the capacity to assess and manage risk is
imperative. Unfortunately, as the report points out, the experience and
skill to assess and manage risk is limited in most law enforcement
agencies - and this includes corrections.
There are several effective risk-assessment methodologies currently used
by Homeland Security agencies throughout the U.S. Regardless of size,
correctional agencies should become familiar with these methods and
explore ways to develop the skills to use one or more of them to assess
and manage risk. The BJA report cited above is a good place to start.
Don't Be Fooled
By Charles J. Kehoe, ACSW, CCE
Consultant, Group 4 Securicor
ACA Past President
August 2008, Corrections Today
Difficult economic times during the first half of
2008 may have caused a decline in state and local revenue that resulted
in some local, state and private correctional agencies freezing
positions and reducing their budgets and work forces. The 2004 ACA work
force report A 21st Century Workforce for America's Correctional Profession,
by Workforce Associates Inc., showed that the retention of correctional
officers and other correctional employees improved when unemployment was
on the rise. This makes sense when you consider that when jobs are
difficult to find, an employee will stay in his or her current position
rather than risk an uncertain future in a new job. While any improvement
in the retention of workers is welcomed, the facts continue to show that
a decline in the turnover rates of correctional employees in most states
is only a temporary reprieve.
In a recent article on MarketWatch. com,
'Job-Market Worries? Not for Very Long,' Marshall Loeb pointed out that
the work force will continue to shrink as baby boomers retire in great
numbers. Much of Loeb's article also reviews the recently publ-ished book by Deloitte LLP human relations
specialist W. Stanton Smith. In Decoding Generational Differences, Smith
points out that between 2003 and 2008, an estimated 24 million baby
boomers will leave the work force - and most will be from managerial,
administrative and executive level positions. Generation Xers, being a
smaller pool of available workers, will not completely fill the void in
the active work force that has resulted from the retirements of the baby
boomers. Loeb states, 'The pool of available workers among those age 25
to 44 will have decreased by 7 percent from the level of 2003, resulting
in a significant labor shortage.' It is interesting to note that the
decline in this age group
was mentioned in the 2004 ACA report. Smith also confirms the serious
shortage, 'In fact, every year for the next 30 years, there will be
fewer young people to replace retiring workers. The worker shortages
will continue into the future, as average annual growth of the work
force is projected to hover at around 1 percent through 2015.' Thus,
while some may see a decline in the turnover rates as encouraging news
and believe the worst is behind us, Smith and other authors continue to
sound the alarm.
In January 2003, when the Bureau of Justice
Assistance (BJA) awarded a grant to ACA to develop a strategic plan for
the correctional work force, BJA and ACA anticipated some of the
upcoming challenges for correctional agencies. That plan has moved
forward as ACA has launched several initiatives to
address the work force challenge. In addition, BJA has funded other work
force projects in com-munity corrections and adult local detention.
Currently, the Center for Innovative Public Policies is coordinating a
BJA-funded project that is examining the challenges of recruiting and
retaining qualified jail personnel. The end product of this grant will
be a 'toolkit' for sheriffs and administrators of adult local detention
facilities that can be used when developing strategies for recruitment,
retention, succession planning and leadership development.
In the second phase of the ACA work force project, also funded by
BJA, ACA targeted positions in correctional health care, mental
health and correctional education to understand recruitment and
retention challenges. ACA also opened the Center for the Correctional
Work Force of the Future to coordinate work force activities. In
addition, through ACA's close affiliation with Edward Barlow Jr.,
president of Creating the Future Inc., four specific strategies have
been identified to address recruitment and retention challenges. The
first is to extend the orklife of older, soon-to-retire workers or to
identify newly retired workers from other occupations and careers. The
second is to attract younger workers; the third is to reduce turnover by
improving the correctional workplace environment; and the fourth is to
'develop a bench' of future correctional leaders. These strategies can
best be accomplished by making corrections an attractive career. The
simple truth is that corrections will not help offenders without a
highly qualified, well-trained, respected work force that finds the
challenges of correc-tional work rewarding.
Lannette Linthicum, M.D., CCHP-A, FACP
Director, Health Services Division
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
June 2008, Corrections Today
Congratulations to the 16 corrections professionals
honored as this year's 'Best in the Business.' I would like to commend
all of them for their unwavering commitment to excellence. There are
many unsung heroes and heroines in corrections. Every day they enter the
nation's prisons, jails, and juvenile and community corrections
facilities to operate, manage and oversee the daily activities of
approximately 2 million incarcerated adults and youths.
Training is an integral component to operating
correctional facilities and systems. In addition, corrections
professionals must maintain a 'security consciousness' at all times as
they carry out their routine duties. This security consciousness is
rooted in the primary common mission that all corrections professionals
share: to ensure and maintain public safety. A secondary mission is to
prepare incarcerated adults and youths for reentry into their
communities. The success of these missions is highly dependent upon the
professionalism of the correctional staff. Webster's New World College
Dictionary defines a professional as 'one with assured competence in a
field.' The keys to ensuring staff competence are education, training
and experience. Correctional administrators must mandate continuous
professional development activities in order to perpetuate the
competencies of their staff. Only then can success at the facility or
system level be achieved. It requires a multidisciplinary, professional
staff working together in an atmosphere of cooperation and mutual
respect. The individuals profiled in this edition are exemplary role
models of correctional professionalism.
Along with recognizing these individuals, this
issue also addresses the challenges faced by correctional health care
professionals. Offenders are disproportionately burdened by disease,
especially infectious/communicable diseases such as HIV, AIDS,
tuberculosis, hepatitis, syphilis and many sexually transmitted
infections. Correctional medicine has established systems to identify,
screen, treat and educate offenders on prevention measures. These
efforts maintain public safety and health by reducing the disease burden
and/or the behaviors resulting in disease transmission upon offenders'
reentry into the community. Security operations and health care staff
must continue to work cooperatively in caring for the offender
population. This is necessary because of the unique challenges in
practicing medicine 'behind the walls.'
I would like to briefly highlight two of the most
pressing challenges facing correctional medicine today. First, there is
a nationwide shortage of nurses, which has significantly impacted
correctional medicine. As a result, health-trained security personnel
are integral to ensuring continuity of care. In jails, these
health-trained security personnel assist with receiving and screening.
They are trained in taking a medical history, making observations and
determining appropriate disposition of an offender based on responses to
questions and observations. They may also assist with medication
delivery at times when there are no medical staff on site by providing
offenders with access to medication, which the offenders
self-administer. Health-trained security staff document this on a log
and keep track of the pill count.
The second major challenge in correctional medicine
is the escalating cost of health care. For prisons, this is related to
the 'graying' of the offender population. Some jurisdictions have seen
exponential growth in their geriatric offender populations due to
changes in sentencing laws and the baby boomer effect. Many of these
offenders age 55 and older have physiologic ages that are at least 10
years older than their chronologic ages, which has placed tremendous
pressure on correctional health care budgets. Many elderly offenders
require skilled nursing care, sheltered housing, chronic specialty care,
and assistive devices such as canes, walkers, hearing aids, prosthetics
and dentures. In the foreseeable future, the management of geriatric
offenders will result in the greatest operational challenge for all
correctional staff.
Despite the many challenges faced by those working
in the corrections field, the professionals honored in this issue have
remained focused and committed. Congratulations once again to them and
their families. As the corrections profession strives toward continuous
quality improvement and best practices, staff must work side by side in
a multidisciplinary team approach to ensure that the nation's
correctional systems are humane, safe and meet the legal standards set
forth by the Constitution.
Partnerships Benefit Corrections
By James A. Gondles, Jr.,
CAE
Executive Director
American Correctional Association
April 2008, Corrections Today
The poet John Donne once wrote, 'No man is an
island.' This is true today for individuals as well as for
organizations. More can be accomplished by working in partnership than
by working alone. In other words, adult and juvenile correctional
agencies can achieve more by partnering with other sectors of the
criminal justice system, educational institutions, nonprofit
organizations and private entities. Partnerships have become an integral
part of the daily operations of jails, prisons and community corrections
agencies. These partnerships can have financial and public safety
benefits and can enhance the types of services provided to offenders.
ACA's Public Correctional Policy on Justice System
Partnerships states, 'Correctional practitioners and other service
providers should make every effort to collaborate with one another, law
enforcement and the courts in ways that will improve the overall
criminal and juvenile justice systems. This results in enhanced
protection of the public, efficiency in handling offenders and
long-range cost-effectiveness.' Entities sharing a common purpose or
problem can develop new approaches that benefit all.
One of the authors in this issue, Gary Hinzman,
states in his article beginning on page 46, '... shared power is more
powerful than working in a vacuum.' Successful partnerships build
relationships and draw upon the strengths of everyone involved.
Different perspectives, skills and experiences bring various ideas and
solutions to the table for the good of all parties.
Nonprofit and other organizations can provide many
services inside facilities as well as in the community to aid in the
successful reentry of offenders. Faith-based organizations; boys and
girls clubs; and drug treatment, mental health, education and job
training providers are just a few examples of the partners with which
corrections can collaborate.
Partnerships or ventures with the private sector
can provide services for offenders, such as health care, and food
operations to institutions. This can save money and enable correctional
agencies to remain focused on their core mission of rehabilitation and
safety. Private-sector partnerships can also provide reentry services
and job opportunities to ex-offenders upon their release.
Partnerships within corrections, such as those
between management and employee groups, focus on the safety of staff and
the equality of benefits and wages afforded to staff. These coalitions
can focus decision-makers' attention on correctional issues, leading to
increased funding and greater awareness among politicians.
Partnering is an ongoing process. Correctional
agencies should periodically evaluate their partnerships to determine if
they are successful and to identify areas in need of improvement. Many
collaborations once considered unconventional have now become common
criminal justice practices, including specialty courts, restorative
justice and community policing.
AACA is also a partner with corrections. The
education and training we offer provide staff with the tools necessary
to be successful in their jobs. Our various publications focus on all
areas of adult and juvenile corrections, including professional
development, research and offender programs. ACA's standards and
accreditation program works with correctional agencies to promote and
evaluate best practices and measure performance. The Healthcare
Professional Interest Section brings together security and treatment
professionals to discuss specific workplace challenges, including
prevention and treatment strategies, that can foster innovative ideas
and solutions to important issues in correctional health and security
operations.
Also in this issue is information on ACA's election
for officers and other governing bodies. Please take the time to vote in
ACA's election and have a say in who will lead your association in the
coming years. The full slate of candidates along with their bios and
photos begins on page 76. Additionally, a ballot and return envelope are
included with the magazine. Please fill it out and mail to us by June 15
to ensure that your vote counts. You can also vote online at
https://www.esc-vote.com/aca2008 . I wish the best of luck to all
the candidates and extend my heartfelt appreciation to them for their
willingness to stand for election.
It's Time --
Strengthening Partnerships Throughout the Juvenile Justice System
By Dianne L.
Gadow
Administrator
Arizona
Department of Juvenile Corrections
February 2008, Corrections Today
It's time for juvenile justice leaders to build
smarter and stronger alliances and improve marketing efforts that will
enable us to strengthen the integration of our youths into the "real"
community.
The
U.S.
has a fascinating history of juvenile justice evolvement. In the early
1900s, a court system was established specifically for juveniles,
separating them from adult determinations. In the
1970s, there were controversies surrounding the effectiveness of
juvenile correctional institutions and questions about whether treatment
focused on changing youths' behaviors worked. Today we talk about
cognitive-behavioral approaches, social skill development, education and
community transition for youths.
In the 1980s, staff in housing units on training
school grounds felt like pioneers, developing what they considered to be
effective programming. Today, foundation-funded research has enabled us
to develop evidence-based programs -- blueprints with identified best
practices. Efforts to establish programs developed to serve youths
abound within individual states.
In the early 1990s, the "super predator" movement
burst into society, and the response was to get tough on crime with
aggressive implementations to deter the rising influence of gang
activities. Tougher sentencing laws were initiated and courts began
sentencing juveniles as transfers to the adult correctional system.
Federal legislation began having greater impact on juvenile institutions
and detention processes, particularly in education, medical/mental
health services, conditions of confinement and juvenile rights.
The juvenile justice system now faces many of the
same issues but, this time, with different sets of expectations.
Legislative and community mandates effect tangible levels of
accountability for outcomes. Our focus is on developing a sustained,
competitive, implicitly competent work force. As we encounter youths
with significant mental health and special education issues, there is a
thrust to change the culture of juvenile justice organizations to
respond to safety and security issues, provide defined programs for
youths, and comply with federal and state laws (e.g., the Americans with
Disabilities Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and
the Civil Rights of Institution-alized Persons Act).
We know what we need; we just need to do it. As
leaders, we must develop partnerships within the juvenile justice system
that are fully supported through, and integrated with, community
services. These partnerships must embrace presentence programs,
probation, detention, institutions, contracted services, parole and
aftercare programs, and the courts.
Theodore Roosevelt said, "The most important single
ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with
people." There is strength in alliances that positively impact our
population. These partnerships identify where we can have a more
meaningful effect on our association with state and local government.
The future depends upon developing agreements with all systems integral
to our offender population throughout every state. This should be the
new "norm" in how we do business.
We need to market our vision, projects and
partnership building. We should build and improve through marketing --
sharing successful best practices with each other. It will assure local
and federal communities that we have reputable accountability and
positive outcomes.
John Foster Dulles, secretary of state under Dwight Eisenhower, said,
"The measure of success is not whether you have a tough problem to deal
with, but whether it is the same problem you had last year." We need not
have issues repeated state by state. We need not improve our own
juvenile offender culture simply within our own community. We need to be
proactive, pre-emptive, ready and responsive -- together, continuing to
lead in forging community alliances. It's time.
