Chapter 3

Jails

Jails and OtherShort-Term Facilities

• Locally controlled and funded

• Designed for security, function

• Categories of inmates

• Methods of release

• Cost issues and controlling them

• Suicide prevention

Jails

• Designed to hold persons accused of crime

• Usually controlled by county, city agencies

• Holding facilities: short-term, 48 hours, little capacity for food, medical care

• Transient populations

• Release to community

• Transfer to prison

Jail Capacity and Crowding

Jail Costs to Local Governments1983 - 1999

Jail Design

• Architecture: the key to cheap control• Sallyport: entry area for police cars• Booking area: equipped to collect personal

data, fingerprints, mugshots, blood alcohol, perform searches

• Bullpen or Tank: holding cell for newly arrived prisoners being processed, often holds intoxicated persons

Punitive Segregation

• Solitary confinement for disciplinary reasons

• Inmates are assaultive, have tried to escape, or have otherwise threatened the security of the facility

• Hearing required for this type of punishment

Administrative orProtective Segregation

• Suicidal, mentally ill and disruptive inmates• Those who may be harmed if placed in

the general population of the jail(e.g., informants)

• Persons awaiting disciplinary hearings can be placed in administrative segregation if they are a threat to themselves, others, or the order of the facility

General Population

• Cell blocks or podular units

• Organized by dangerousness, escape risk

• Some only separate felons from misdemeanants

• A few jails have separate areas for juveniles

• Must not be able to see, hear, or otherwise contact adult inmates

Trustees

• Have demonstrated they will not escape, steal or harm others

• Greater freedom to move about facility

• Responsible for most routine chores

• May also work at other government facilities in jurisdiction

Stockades

• House convicted misdemeanants

• Work programs, such as highway cleanup crews operate from these facilities

• Work release programs likely to be placed here also

• Administered as part of jail but located in less urban area

Jail Administration

• Usually operated by sheriffs, other police officials who know little of corrections

• Funded by county or city governments• Must compete with roads, schools and

similar projects for funding• Few employees have civil service protection• DO’s poorly paid and trained,

leads to high turnover• Political appointments common

(spoils system)

Jail Populations

1) Pretrial detention(felons and misdemeanants)

2) Dumping ground for social misfits(mentally ill, alcoholics, homeless)

3) Local penal institution(convicted misdemeanants)

4) Hold convicted felons awaiting sentencing or transportation to prison

Jail Experience

• Disintegration – life, job, and so on

• Disorientation – sense of time

• Degradation – rituals/procedures, delousing

• Good preparation for underclass life

Race and the Jail Rate1985–2001

Insert Race and Jail Rate, Excel chart

Growth of Jail Populations

• War on drugs

• Especially minorities

• Nuisance crimes predominate

• Lack of alternatives for homeless, mentally ill

Methods of Release from Jail

• Bail

• Release on recognizance

• Conditional release programs

Bail

• Cash surety, other material (home title) to assure return for trial

• Usually arranged through a bondsman who takes a percentage as his/her fee

• Example: $5000 bond, pay 12% or $600

• Bondsmen have standing “credit” arrangement with courts

Release on Recognizance

• Also known as “personal recognizance”• Court releases defendant on her/his

promise to appear for hearings• Decision based on:

1. Estimate of dangerousness, recidivism2. Solidity of ties to community

• An attempt to avoid economic discrimination innate to bail

Conditional Release Programs

• Operated by jail or probation personnel

• Imposes supervision, conditions on release

• Common conditions:– Urinalysis– Electronic monitoring– Weekly reporting

Alternatives to Jail

• Diversion: Transfer of case to other, non–C.J., agency

• Day Fines: Based on severity of offense and offender’s average daily earnings

• Intermittent Sentencing: Evenings or weekends in jail, release for job

• Drug Courts: Treatment and urinalysis results monitored weekly by judge

Mentally Ill Inmates

• Deinstitutionalization of 1970s forced by rulings that required clear and convincing evidence of immediate dangerousness to hold mentally ill without consent

• Motivated by past abuses of involuntary commitment and potential for community care at reduced costs

• Community treatment facilities never funded

Criminalization of Mental Illness

• Jails have replaced mental hospitals as places for confining the mentally ill

• Disorderly conduct, trespassing, panhandling, and other minor crimes

• No other convenient place to hold them

• Identification of mental disorders among felons also increasing

Jail Suicides

• Second to natural causes in jail deaths

• Major source of liability

• Highest risk is at time of arrest when least is known of offender

• Intoxicated first offenders at greatest risk

• Rare among recidivists

Risk Factors

1) Open threats of suicide

2) History of suicide attempts

3) Intoxication, especially drunkenness

4) Serious mental/emotional disturbances

5) Expressions of deep depression and hopelessness or hostility

“New Generation” Jails

• Podular construction increasingly popular

• Direct supervision places officers in same area as inmates – Quick intervention prevents violence,

property damage– Safer for inmates and staff

Cutting Jail Costs

• Privatization– Subcontracting specific services, – Use of inmate labor – Privatization of alternatives to jails– Contracting for private jail operation

• Leasing space from other jurisdictions• Fee‑for‑services

– Medical– Educational– Room and board