In correctional facilities, inmate custody and control is of the utmost importance, as this function is about the secure housing of inmates, the maintenance of a controlled and safe institutional facility and the safety of the facility for both inmates and staff. A variety of different methods are used in different combinations by different correctional institutions in an attempt to maintain inmate custody and control.
Maintenance of inmate custody and control often begins with the design of a correctional facility. While using the build environment for control is relatively inflexible in existing structures, new facilities can be designed with inmate custody and control and staff and inmate safety in mind. In this regard, considerations in building planning include work safety, fire prevention, locking systems and the secure storage and control of firearms and other dangerous materials away from the inmate confinement area (Waldron et al, 2009, p.381).
The inmate intake process, with careful inmate screening and classification is very important. Careful screening and testing is necessary to prevent the introduction of drugs, weapons and infections disease to the correctional facility. While harsh treatment has traditionally been utilized during the intake process to establish control over inmates, this is becoming less common (Waldron et al, 2009, 381). Upon entry to a facility, inmates are typically classified according to their risk, or how dangerous the inmate is to him or herself and other inmates, and needs, or measurements of any physiological or psychological requirements for well-being, and can be housed or otherwise placed best based on their risk and needs. Developing specific strategies for individual inmates based on these factors helps to maintain inmate custody and control and encourages inmate well-being. An effective classification system is objective and straightforward and offers reliability, validity and equitability (NICIC, p.3). Regularly and formally reassessing and reclassifying inmate risk and needs, conveying expectations to inmates clearly, in written form and in the correct languages, and offering clear incentives to meeting expectations and punishments for failing to meet expectations encourages well-being and safety.
Staff training in inmate supervision and interaction is another important aspect of inmate custody and control. According to the NICIC, staff interaction with inmates has “a clear purpose: to obtain positive inmate behavior, namely, compliance with ail rules to achieve the goals of the behavior management plan.” To this purpose, it is important that staff members in a correctional facility possess or are trained in effective problem-solving and decision-making skills, clear communication skills that include listening and providing direction and the ability to treat others fairly and encourage positive behavior. It is also important for the well-being of staff and inmates that staff have training in the use of force. Occasionally, the use of force or disciplinary procedures are necessary to maintain control of inmates and proper staff training helps to ensure that staff members do not use force unnecessarily or use excessive force and otherwise make wise decisions. These actions could range from verbal warnings and withholding privileges to physical force, which may be necessary when a staff member must defend themselves or another officer or inmate, if an inmate refuses to obey facility rules or to prevent a crime or escape.
Correctional facility administration and administration and inmate leadership are applied or managed in different ways and greatly affect inmates and staff in the facility. Successful executives or wardens that exhibit leadership or effectively govern the facility minimize violence and ensure that inmates are provided services. According to Carlson et al (2009), flexibility, responsiveness and pragmatism are important in an administrator. Carlson et al asserts that “successful prison and jail administrators know from experience that they operate in the context of multiple and competing public objectivesever-shifting legislative priorities, [and] small to sweeping judicial interventions”
Gang control in correctional facilities is important, as “it is clearthat gangs have a significant, negative impact on prison life. Inmates cite gang formation as one of the reasons for the increased turmoil within prisons (Reid 2011).”
The appropriate handling of inmate complaints or problems, or having appropriate grievance procedures in place, is important to identify and correct real problems in a correctional facility and ensure inmate and staff well-being. States or counties typically have specific grievance procedures in place that are standard within a given jurisdiction. In order to be effective, a grievance procedure could, for example, entail encouraging the inmate to address the problem informally, acknowledgement by staff in the form of signatures that the inmate is expressing a problem or concern, requests or petitions in writing and evidence provided. Prompt action by or response from the facility or administrators responsible for addressing grievances, in the least, allows a prisoner to feel as though their grievance has been duly heard.
A correctional facility can encourage a humane institution by training staff to interact respectively and clearly with inmates and providing inmates, whenever possible, with structured activities like educational or vocational training programs, games, sports, exercise, tournaments and discussion groups. When a correctional facility creates and manages these structural activities, it is working to ensure that activities inmates are partaking in are contributing to broad facility and community goals and behavioral management goals.
Through the various methods discussed, ranging from building design to staff training, a correctional facility can work to effectively maintain custody and control of inmates.
References
Carlson, P. & Garrett, J. (2008). Prison and jail administration: Practice and theory (2nd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Cole, G.F. & Smith, C.E. (2008). Criminal justice in America (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education.
Reid, S.T. (2011). Criminal justice essentials (9th ed.).Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections. (2009) Inmate behavior management: The key to a safe and secure jail. Washington, DC: National Institute of Corrections.
Waldron, R., Quarles, C. McElreath, D., Waldron, M., & Milstein, D. (2009). The criminal justice system: An introduction (5th ed.). Tulsa, OK: K&M Publishers, Inc.
