Corrections facilities are an essential entity in the administration of criminal justice. They complete the structure of criminal justice they are facilities such as jails and prisons where the offenders of crimes are held for correction and rehabilitation purposes. However, the number of people being confined in state prisons has increased. It is reported that for the last 50 years the number of prisoners has increased by over 700 percent to reach almost 2million people (McGarry et. al, 2013). There is a problem because the people have served a prison term have a high tendency of recidivism. Therefore the correctional facilities are somehow ineffective in handling the large population of the prisoners, providing their safety and reducing recidivism. The solution towards this shortcoming would entail establishing of community-based correctional programs. This paper will be highlighting the client-oriented services concepts that would be utilized in developing an effective community based correctional programs.
Jails and prisons are expensive entities to maintain. Research shows that the government spends an average of $31,286 as the annual cost per inmate (McGarry et. al, 2013). Considering there are millions of prisoners confined in the correctional facilities, the costs are unmanageable. This is the reason why there is a need to move inmates out of the expensive prisons and jails into community corrections: probation, parole, or pretrial supervision.
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A community-based correctional program would be effective if it is developed and implemented properly. If the program would be adequately resourced and carefully planned it can be used as a cost-effective correctional alternative and help reduce recidivism among the released prisoners. Among the concepts that can be used in developing such a program includes community policing, community education and training, forming mutually beneficial partnerships, and initiating problem-solving partnerships.
Community policing is the initial concept that would help in establishing an effective community-based correction program. It is among the first steps that would help the community to understand the criminal justice administration (Alarid, 2016). It is a concept that would help the community promote neighborhood quality of life and make members of the community vigilant in dealing with issues of crime. Community policing can be integrated by decentralizing police and correctional services to the neighborhoods. It can also be done by empowering residents and having them share responsibility and authority for neighborhoods quality of life. This can be done by creating of units managed by neighborhoods where correctional services can be delivered. For instance, having a local board that deals with correctional services such as probations and punishing offenders would be an effective way of punishing crime offenders.
Training and community educations are the other concept that can improve the community-based correctional program. It is apparent that issue of legal nature difficult to handle; an ordinary Streetman might not be able to determine which punishment would suit specific crimes. Thereof in an effort to make the program effective, there will be a need to educate the community. The criminal justice tasks are complicated and require a wide range of discretion (Cronkhite, 2013). This is why there is a need to educate and train the community. The major reason why the prisoners have a high tendency of recidivism is that the officers who are in correctional facilities are not adequately trained on effective correction strategies. In this sense, the community or the administrators should be taken through extensive training to ensure they understand the process and the available punishment or correctional means available. This would involve legal seminars, requesting those who have college degrees to participate in promoting community-based corrections program (Cronkhite, 2013). The community corrections program should have administrators who understand the standards of the correctional units and the legal discretion.
Additional concepts that can be utilized in making community-based corrections program more effective would involve establishing better partnerships with community members (Ray, et al., 2017). This can be done by building enhanced community supervision partnerships, information sharing partnerships, and problem-solving partnerships. When there is better supervision partnership, the offenders will have minimal chances of violating probation or other punishments that they are needed to follow. In some counties, the supervision has been utilized in reducing the rates of crimes. Information sharing would do by establishing a shared database and regular meetings with correctional officers. These are concepts that would help in making the corrections program more effective.
References
Alarid, L. F. (2016). Community based corrections . Cengage Learning.
Cronkhite, C. L. (2013). Law enforcement and justice administration: Strategies for the 21st century (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Ray, B., Grommon, E., Buchanan, V., Brown, B., & Watson, D. P. (2017). Access to Recovery and recidivism among former prison inmates. International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology , 61 (8), 874-893.
McGarry, P., Shames, A., Yaroni, A., Tamis, K., Subramanian, R., Eisen, L. B., & United States of America. (2013). The potential of community corrections to improve safety and reduce incarceration.
