States should use innovative and evidence-based strategies to trim their prison populations, reduce the likelihood that a released person will return to prison and send fewer people to prison in the first place, the Justice Policy Institute (JPI) said in a recently released report. According to How to Safely Reduce Prison Populations and Support People Returning to Their Communities,  incarceration costs significantly less than parole supervision, and some states are using innovative methods of supervision that are yielding positive results. As spending more time in prison does not equate to more public safety, releasing people early with appropriate supervision can be an effective way of reducing prison populations.

With many states facing budget crises, important decisions are being made about where money will and will not be spent. JPI found that increasing opportunities for parole and improving parole release decisions, improving parole supervision, and ensuring access to support and treatment services are cost-effective means of cutting extraneous spending while maintaining public safety. To read the report, visit www.justicepolicy.org.

The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) has published Conditions of Confinement: Findings From the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement. This bulletin presents findings from the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement about the conditions of confinement for youth in a range of different facilities and programs. Results focus on the structural and operational characteristics of these environments and indicate how youth offenders are distributed across various programs and facilities of different size and complexity. SYRP research provides answers to a number of questions about the characteristics and experiences of youth in custody, including:  

·         How are youth grouped in living units and programs?

·         Which youth are placed together?  

·         What activities are available in each facility?  

·         How accessible are social, emotional and legal supports?

·         What is the quality of the youth-staff relationships?

·         How clear are the facility’s rules?

·         How clear is the facility’s commitment to justice and due process?

·         What methods of control and discipline do staff use?

To read the bulletin, please visit http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov.

The National Institute of Corrections published a roundup of its five most popular documents, training material and articles during the month of May.

1. Thinking for a Change: Integrated Cognitive Behavior Change Program
   The Thinking for a Change (T4C) program teaches offenders how to change their thinking patterns and behavior.
    

2. THINK
   The focus of the Cognitive Interventions Program is to change the criminal behavior of offenders by motivating them to change themselves.
    

3. Motivating Offenders to Change: A Guide for Probation and Parole
   This publication provides probation and parole officers and other correctional professionals with both a solid grounding in the principles behind MI [motivational interviewing] and a practical guide for applying these principles in their everyday dealings with offenders.
    

4. Jail Reentry - Transition “Toolkit” Now Online
   This Web-based learning resource guides local criminal justice agencies and community-based organizations through implementation of the TJC model, in whole or in part.
    

5. State and Federal Prisoners Returning to the Community: Findings from the Bureau of Justice Statistics
   Statistics address: parole/conditional release supervision increasing slowly after decade of rapid growth; characteristics of persons under parole/conditional release supervision changing; parole/conditional release violators linked to rise in prison admissions; parole/conditional release failure rates high; and more.

Visit the NIC Web site at http://nicic.org to download these documents.

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