Gaining support from politicians and the legislature is a tough job for most corrections officials. With inmate populations rising and costs climbing too, corrections has become a larger part of state and local budgets - but these additional expenditures are not always welcomed warmly.

As a result, corrections administrators need to devise strategies fro gaining support to ultimately get the programs and funding their institutions need.

"Politicians have very specific issues they want to work on. It takes more to work with these officials. [Often] if it doesn't help them be re-elected, they are not interested in working with you," said Reginald Wilkinson, Director for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

With issues such as re-entry, aging offenders, inmate health care needs and others, corrections needs as much support from legislators and the public as it can get.

Wilkinson described some of the strategies he employs at the recent American Correctional Association summer conference in Baltimore.

Changing Attitudes and Partners

Wilkinson suggested that corrections professionals think outside the box when seeking partnerships and support. Some examples he gave to the audience at the ACA conference included working with the state's Department of Aging to assist with an aging inmate population or accessing faith-based services in conjunction with re-entry efforts for offenders.

"I'd be remiss if I didn't make use of that free resource. Could [they] do some training [for you]? Absolutely," he said.

And, when thinking about support for inmate services and programs, Wilkinson mentioned working with local businesses to determine which would be willing to work with and hire qualified ex-offenders.

"We pay attention to that and we are helping to provide them with qualified persons. And, we don't get many complaints," he said.

Beyond this, Ohio DRC has worked with universities to provide access to information about he inmate population for research and studies. Some of them have come together with the DRC to put on a major research conference every year and, in exchange, the DRC allows those institutions access to database information.

"If we had the attitude that it's just for us, then it might not work very well," he said.

Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service has had some success with obtaining support politically for new programs.

One area of support is in relation to preparing offenders for release. Cameron said that the prison service has opened link centers in the community to provide drug treatment and other services after a prisoner is released.

Another recent collaboration involves local police departments. According to Cameron, the corrections and police departments have come together to provide transportation of offenders to court, then prison.

"That has been a major success," Cameron said.

Cameron also shared that the some of the system's major changes of late have come about as a result of working with community partners. The changes that have resulted from collaborations include improved health care for offenders.

"I have asked 'What would you want for prison conditions if it was your son or daughter [inside]'," Cameron said.

Cameron said a list of health care and re-entry goals for offenders was developed and among those goals are the following: leave prison healthy, stabilize substance abuse, have accommodations upon release, be more employable than when they entered, maintain a relationship with a family member, have the ability to live independently, and not a risk to the public.

Wilkinson added that in the process of establishing these relationships it is important to be clear about what your agency can obtain from alliances.

"Make sure the collaboration is value-added. If it isn't, then you might be spinning your wheels," he said.

Marketing a Message

Another strategy for building goodwill about the efforts of corrections agencies is to market positive messages about successes a facility or agency has achieved.

Wilkinson suggests comparing at programs with research and evaluation in mind and then sharing positive information with the public and legislators.

"We have to be able to measure it. We have to show legislators and show our bosses. Successes are important and need to be marketed along the way," he said.

Corrections officials in Denver have been able to re-entry for female offenders by involving the local community in their plans and the success has been visible.

Building Re-Entry into a Prison

When the cornerstone of a new facility is preparing offenders for release, then community involvement in the planning is a must.

According to Joan Shoemaker, Warden of the Denver Complex, in Colorado, the concept of the facility was conceived with specific programming for female offenders in mind and giving them the tools they would need to succeed after release, such as a GED, computer skills and maintaining links to family. Shoemaker also spoke at the ACA summer conference about the Denver complex and the experience of bringing it on line.

"Because it's in the Denver metropolitan area, there were a variety of groups that worked with the facility. One of the concepts is once a year we have a job fair [for offenders]," said Shoemaker. "We have employers, community agencies, service organizations, offender advocacy groups all come in and spend the afternoon with us."

The fair allows offenders to speak with employers from the community to learn about what employment options they may have after release.

Another way the facility has been able to involve the community in the offender programming is by specifically assigning community integration to a staff member.

Shoemaker said that unlike other facilities, this staff person's only job is to find and make links within the community for offenders.

"We linked with advocacy groups [and] we know service agencies that corrections was used to dealing with and because of that we were able to link with people who were interested," she said. "It took a lot of time and effort and using some of the linkages that were existing. Those kinds of links we had as a beginning point."

In addition, facility leaders were lucky enough to have the backing of a group of female legislators who were interested in providing parity of services for female offenders as the number of women in prison grows.

"As a state corrections facility we rely on the legislature to understand what our needs are and work with us, so having that support in the legislature was critical to designing and building the facility," said Shoemaker.

These kinds of collaborations and support from those outside of corrections can make a world of difference for those who run prisons. And, says Wilkinson, they are worth pursuing for the right reasons.

"You can't think you will save the world with these alliances. [It's about] what you are trying to achieve," he said.