As corrections twists and turns with the changing tides of technology, medicine, the judiciary and society in general, new tools have been developed, new practices have been implemented and new legal precedents have been set to carry corrections into a new year.  Throughout 2003, The Corrections Connection Network News brought you information about these important issues and developments in the field, with a steady eye on what lies ahead for 2004.

In the first of a two-part feature, we will review some of the topics covered during 2003, highlighting developments in several areas that have made their mark on corrections this year, inlcuding:

National News
Technology
Staff
Security

National News
(Sources: Associated Press, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, CNN, Justice Policy Institute, Miami Herald, New York Times, Reuters, Stop Prisoner Rape, U.S. Newswire)

Death Penalty

Few can forget the Beltway Snipers, John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, who terrified residents in the Washington, D.C.-area with random acts of violence during the fall of 2002.  Nearly a year later, in November of 2003, a Virginia jury recommended that 42-year-old Muhammad be executed for his role in 16 shootings, including 10 deaths, in Maryland, Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana and Washington, D.C.  The jury's decision is not final, however, and Muhammad's ultimate fate will be decided in early 2004 by a Virginia judge.

While Muhammad waits for a judge to decide whether or not he will receive the death penalty, his counterpart, Malvo is currently on trial in Virginia and awaits a jury's recommendation on his sentence.  In January, a judge ruled that Malvo, who was 17-years-old at the time of the shooting spree, could be tried as an adult for the Oct. 14, 2002 slaying of FBI analyst Linda Franklin.  The jury must decide that Malvo was the triggerman in Franklin's death for him to be eligible for the death penalty on one of two capital murder counts. The second capital murder count, which alleges Franklin's death was an act of terrorism, does not require that Malvo be the triggerman.

Supreme Court

The High Court addressed some complex issues impacting corrections this year, including fair trials, sex offender registration, sentencing and prison visitation.

In February, the Supreme Court ruled that a black inmate on death row in Texas deserved a new chance to press his claim that prosecutors stacked his jury with whites and death penalty supporters.  The 8-1 ruling was a rare example of the conservative-leaning court agreeing that this death row inmate may have been treated unfairly at trial.

Shortly after, the High Court took on the issue of sex offender registration.  It ruled that states may put pictures of convicted sex offenders on the Internet without unconstitutionally punishing them twice, a victory for states that use the Web to warn of potential predators in neighborhoods.  In a separate ruling, the court turned back a challenge from offenders who argued they deserved a chance to prove they aren't dangerous to avoid having their picture and address put on the Internet.  The decisions came in the Supreme Court's first review of what are known as Megan's laws -- and have far-reaching implications because most states and the federal government have sex-offender registry laws.

Also, the Supreme Court took a closer look at sentencing laws this year and upheld long sentences meted out under the nation's toughest three-time offender law.  The Court ruled that a prison term of 25 years to life is not too harsh for a thief who shoplifted golf clubs in California, making it his third felony.  The state's three-strikes-and-you're-out law does not necessarily lead to unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment, the court said, even though a relatively minor crime can yield a life term if the criminal has a felony record. 

Prisoners' rights, particularly in regard to visitation, were also up for discussion by the Supreme Court this year.  In a case that posed the question of whether or not inmates have a constitutional right to visits with friends and family, the Court ruled that visitation restriction is not a cruel and unusual confinement condition violating the Eighth Amendment.  Withdrawing visitation privileges for a limited period in order to effect prison discipline is not a dramatic departure from accepted standards for confinement conditions, the Court said.  Nor does the regulation create inhumane prison conditions, deprive inmates of basic necessities or fail to protect their health or safety, or involve the infliction of pain or injury or deliberate indifference to their risk, it added.

In 2004, the Supreme Court will once again face some tough issues.  The Court has decided it will hear a case involving the rights of prisoners at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Also, it will take on the death penalty, reviewing how both trial and appeals courts assure that mistakes aren't made when a defendant's life is on the line.  Revisiting a 2002 ruling, the Court will decide whether to apply retroactively its ruling that juries and not judges must impose death sentences, an issue that could affect hundreds of death row inmates in 10 states.  The high court agreed to hear an appeal by Arizona to clarify the precedent-setting ruling.

Sentencing and Budget Cuts

States grappled with their third straight year of fiscal misery in 2003 and struggled with a cumulative $200 billion in revenue shortfalls.  In light of this, policymakers in 25 states implemented smarter, less costly sentencing and correctional reforms, according to a November report commissioned by Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) and authored by Judith A. Greene.

"From Alabama to Wisconsin, public officials in 25 states have made major improvements in their sentencing and correctional policies.  Four more states have similar reform proposals under consideration. Seventeen states, including Michigan, Louisiana, Washington, Texas, Kansas and Mississippi have rolled back mandatory minimum sentences or restructured other harsh penalties enacted in preceding years to 'get tough' on low-level or non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses," Greene said.

As governors contemplate cuts to health care, education and social services, data from the National Association of Budget Officers estimate that one in every 14 state general fund dollars is spent on corrections budgets. To curb corrections costs, some states are returning discretion to judges by modifying mandatory sentencing laws and are rethinking the war on drugs to reduce the expense of incarcerating large prison populations.

Prison Rape Elimination Act

In September, President George W. Bush signed into law the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003, marking the first time the U.S. government has ever passed a law to deal with sexual assault behind bars.

The law calls for the gathering of national statistics about the problem; the development of guidelines for states about how to address prisoner rape; the creation of a review panel to hold annual hearings; and the provision of grants to states to combat the problem.

Mayhem in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Department of Correction came under fire in August when defrocked priest John J. Geoghan was murdered in the protective custody wing of the maximum security unit at Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.  He was bound, gagged, strangled, and stomped by a fellow inmate who followed the notorious child molester into his cell while one prison officer was distracted with other prisoners and another officer was temporarily away from the area, according to correctional officer union officials. The fellow inmate, Joseph L. Druce, then jumped from Geoghan's bed onto Geoghan's chest at least twice, the officials said.

Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney appointed an independent commission to investigate the prison system after Geoghan's killing raised questions of inmate abuse, staffing levels and safety issues.

Adding to the department's incessant problems, more than two-dozen state prison inmates filed a lawsuit in October against the Mass. DOC, as well as individual prison officials and officers, claiming they were beaten and assaulted during a "shakedown" at another state correctional facility.

Amidst all of the controversy, the union representing about 5,000 prison officers called for the resignation of Mass. DOC Commissioner Michael T. Maloney, alleging that the state prison system is mismanaged.  According to the union, the number of officers working in the prison system has decreased by 658 since June 2001, including 378 who have retired or resigned without being replaced, and 280 who are on leave because of injuries suffered on the job, according to a statement released by the union.

For the Massachusetts DOC, 2003 ended with Maloney taking a medical leave.  He defended his management of state prisons and told lawmakers that the system is safe.

Technology

As technology evolves, corrections is afforded the opportunity to enhance security procedures and educational offerings to both inmates and staff.  During 2003, several different types of technologies were developed and put into practice.  The results were improved security at correctional facilities, better protection and training for staff and increased monitoring of offenders. 

Mapping Technology

In corrections, a new wave of mapping projects sprouted up across the nation this year with the hope of reaping the same benefits as the crime mapping/geographic information systems (GIS) that law enforcement agencies across the country have used to assist them.
 
"Corrections has lagged behind the police [in mapping] but they are catching up and in some cases, are better positioned to use this technology," said Dan Helms, GIS and Crime Analysis Specialist for the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) - Rocky Mountain. "For example, for police locating crime, cities are dynamic, streets are always changing as is land parcel ownership. On the other hand, with a prison, you know what it looks like and if there are going to be changes [in its layout], you know well ahead of time, so the data is exact [because] you are in a controlled environment. Therefore, corrections is poised to do a better quality of work than the community."

In the NLECTC's Crime Mapping and Analysis Program (CMAP), Helms and other specialists teach representatives from numerous agencies how to take the wealth of names, numbers and other information that fill their databases and turn it into something they can both see and study.

"One of the abilities of GIS is to visualize data spatially and geographically to see it on a map," said Helms. "We help them see the data as it is in the real world. For example, instead of reading 10 addresses and in your head, grasping their relationship to one another, we use GIS technology [to map that]."

Once the information is mapped, practitioners can then analyze the data before them to look at what is happening in their area using a map of their facility, city, county or state. This data can even help them forecast events and where they are likely to occur.

In Colorado, the DOC was working on implementing GIS technology in their day-to-day operations during 2003.  The DOC started three innovative projects that streamline the way they supervise offenders to provide a safer environment in the long run.

"If we can increase the safety of both staff and inmates, then that is a top priority here," said Chuck Noll, Web and GIS Administrator for the DOC.

Noll added that the department currently utilizes a database with over 1,000 fields of information. Implementing mapping technology has allowed the DOC to take that data and visualize it for a number of applications, including risk management, inmate housing, vulnerability assessment and tactical planning

Staff Personal Safety

Personal alarm systems have become a mainstay of corrections officers' regular uniforms, but there were many different types to choose from on the market this year.

"There's a variety of capabilities in terms of location. It depends on what your needs are," said Allan Turner, a former federal warden and Visiting Fellow with the National Institute of Justice's Office of Science and Technology.

Turner said NIJ asked researchers at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) to delve into this area of emerging technology to spell out for practitioners what is on the market and how the technologies really work.

The researchers tried to steer clear of putting one technology company over another, but also wanted to be clear about how each type functions and the strengths and weaknesses of each.

SPAWAR divided the existing off-the-shelf alarm systems into classification types based on the technologies they employ.  The group said a Type One alarm system is a panic button alarm used in many school systems, while a Type Two system includes identification alarms that will identify the officer who is activating the alarm, but will not generally provide the exact location of the person.  Type Three systems give the ID and the location of the person activating the alarm.

"Some of the technologies allow you to have a general idea of location such as in a room, [while] others allow you to have a representation of where in that room. Then, once you go outdoors, that's a different story," said Richard Baker, Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Manager for SPAWAR.

These varying levels of location accuracy depend on a number of variables including the type of technology used by the alarm system and the type of facility it is being used in. Practitioners need to understand not only how these different technologies work, but also weigh them against their needs when choosing the right one for their facility.

Distance Learning

In 2002, corrections departments were just beginning to put money aside to develop online, video and computer-based training courses for staff.  This year, many departments began to provide those courses and plan for future expansion.

"First of all, people are becoming more comfortable with the technology. There are a lot of online opportunities but there aren't a lot inside the fence. [So] they are also becoming more familiar with the programming. I think many sites, given the budgetary issues, are thankful they can [train] by having programs facilitated this way. Even in the best of times teachers can't get around to everybody," said Anne Charles, Program Manager for the Corrections Learning Network (CLN).

In light of its potential, states like Oregon, Oklahoma and Michigan all jumped on board this year and began offering staff training via distance learning.

The Oregon DOC worked with the department's IT professionals and administrators to develop its first computer-based training program for staff.

Oregon, like other departments, wanted to eliminate the excessive overtime costs associated with sending staff to the academy for training for weeks at a time. Instead, the DOC wanted officers to be able to access courses at a computer near their post whenever they have down time on their shift.

Like Oregon, the Oklahoma DOC offers a computer-based learning program to its staff focusing on such topics as inmate rights and responsibilities and staff safety.  It's delivered to staff members primarily on CD and is available through the field training officers in each institution.

"We try to make them short but interesting enough. We have included some video clips and audio, so we're making them more interactive," said Penny Frazier, Administrator of Training for the Okla. DOC.

Michigan DOC training administrators have had great luck in developing computer-based courses for corrections staff, but they say that it took marketing and a business plan to make it happen.

According to Bill Hudson, Administrator for the DOC's Office of Training and Recruitment, it took about a year to work out agreements among the different offices and administrators to launch an online learning platform for employees.

"We looked for top-down support and whether we were going to get the support from the decision-makers. Then we got the stakeholders in line - the technology and training staff together with the people who are working in the field," said Hudson.

Community Corrections

Aside from staff safety and training, technology had a strong impact on community corrections as well in 2003.

"If you take what we really are as community corrections and [drill] down, we are an information system," said Tom Plumlee, Director of Tarrant County's (Texas) Community Supervision and Corrections Department and co-chair of the American Probation and Parole Association's Technology Committee. "We collect, store and disseminate information in all the tasks we perform, such as talking to judges, [community services] and others. Instead of the old days with filing cabinets, with information system [technology], the data is all there and we can pull from our agency and from others to pass that information along to judges and others to give them good information to make good decisions."

Add to this, said Plumlee, the advancement of other technologies such as electronic monitoring (EM) and Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems and the field has a wealth of tools available to it.

In an era of overcrowding and budget deficits, these enhanced monitoring tools have enabled corrections officials who are asked to release offenders early to feel more comfortable with their decisions.

In Florida, GPS is just one of two primary technologies the DOC uses to monitor offenders on community supervision. In addition to using GPS with around 560 individuals, the DOC oversees another 900 or so using electronic monitoring through radio frequency (RF).

"RF does exactly what we wanted it to do - tell us where [offenders] are coming and going - but once they leave their residence, they can move around with a certain amount of anonymity, just by wearing long pants," said Murray Brooks, Chief of the DOC's Bureau of Transition Services.  "[GPS] is more expensive, but we were looking to provide more accountability. While they still wear an anklet, they carry what looks like a lunch pail around and it tells the satellite where they are [at all times]."

Both technologies, added Brooks, serve as a constant reminder to inmates, that someone is looking over them.

As technologies continue to improve in the future, so will corrections' ability to monitor offenders on probation and parole.

Real-Time Data Sharing

Information-sharing was a hot topic this year, one that may have far-reaching benefits for not only corrections, but all law enforcement agencies.  The Pegasus Program, an initiative of the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA), was designed with this information-sharing in mind.  It provides much needed real-time data sharing at the local law enforcement level and helps to close the current communication gaps.

"We [law enforcement] put our information into these federal databases," said Tommy Ferrell, of Adams County, Miss. and Immediate Past President of the NSA.  "But then the databases are so regulated that only limited information can be added and much of that data cannot be accessed later by law enforcement - so we end up with nationwide intelligence gaps among the first responders."

Pegasus, which is funded by the NSA through the Pegasus Research Foundation, utilizes commercially available technologies and federally established sharing standards. Through the immediacy and ubiquity of the Internet, the program ensures compatibility with existing databases and unlimited expansion for future data at the rural, urban, state and federal information sharing levels.

The goal of Pegasus is to effectively support local law enforcement databases and connectivity to promote homeland security, which is driven by local law enforcement and front line responders. "We have all these modern databases and information obtained by local law enforcement and sheriffs' offices, but we are unable to disseminate it," said Ferrell.  "If the technology is here to share it across systems, why shouldn't we do it."

In 2003, the pilot Pegasus Program began working successfully inside four rural sheriffs' offices in Adams County, Miss.; Fairfield County, S.C.; Marshall County, Iowa and Newbury County, S.C.

On the heels of a successful proof of concept, Congress funded the expansion of the Pegasus Program to link up to 220 additional sheriffs offices across the country.  "This funding is a great first step in addressing the needs of the infrastructure," said Colwell.

"Looking beyond sheriffs, the Pegasus footprint has a tremendous potential," said Ferrell, "but we need to crawl before we can walk."

Staff

Working daily in the correctional environment can have both physical and emotional effects on corrections staff.   Whether a correctional employee is experiencing the dangers of working in the field or the stress of working inside a facility, a career in corrections will undoubtedly take its toll on an officer.  Many agencies this year addressed this issue by providing staff with the training and support they need to succeed on the job.

Field Officer Safety

As society changes, so do the risks that probation and parole officers face when they are out in the field.  And, as more and more probation and community corrections agencies are asking officers to go into neighborhoods to meet with offenders on both an announced and unannounced basis, the hazards increase.

According to Robert Thornton, corrections and law enforcement training consultant and chair of the American Parole and Probation Association's Health and Safety Committee, an agency first needs to think about the specific dangers that its officers would face based on job requirements and the region they work in.

Some things for agencies to consider, Thornton noted, are looking at the safety risks involved, training on the techniques for safe visits, providing skills training and providing equipment training.

In Indiana, corrections officials determined that officers needed a more intensive training experience to fully prepare them for survival in the face of a dangerous incident over the last year, and, the New York City Probation Department has been in the process of training close to 1,000 employees in a new set of techniques to keep them safe.

"It's a constant learning process. Even after they receive the skills it has to be consistently revisited. Adults learn from spaced repetition, otherwise they lose the skill," Thornton said.

Sexual Misconduct

Correctional facilities are inevitably vulnerable to sexual misconduct within their walls.  But, corrections departments can combat this type of misconduct by putting procedures and policies in place that will help to deter staff members from engaging in such behavior in their institutions.

According to Lara Stemple, Executive Director for the inmate advocacy organization Stop Prisoner Rape, some jails are taking serious steps to further educate officers and inmates and address a code of silence that can sometimes cover up the bad acts of a few officers.

"One problem we see for those who report [misconduct] is the problem of retaliation. In the same way we heard about it in police departments with the code of silence, we hear a lot of the same reports about corrections officers. Officers will try to protect one another rather than follow proper procedure," said Stemple.

To prevent this, Stemple said that agencies should provide ways for inmates to report misconduct to objective parties rather than to fellow officers or even the offending officer himself - if he is a supervisor.

The leadership of an agency or jail can often correct some of these problems by showing that they take the issue seriously and by making cultural changes, said Stemple.

On-the-Job Stress

By its nature, the job of the correctional officer is intense. COs interface daily with a criminal element in a way that few others do. And the stressful parts of the job may be intensifying further as agencies are forced to eliminate jobs and make other operational cuts that affect both the employee and the inmate.

These changes in correctional systems nationwide mean that administrators need to be even more vigilant to provide support and services for those officers who need it.

"When we ask people to work in an environment as difficult and challenging as corrections day after day, we as managers have an obligation to provide them with support and with channels to handle the inevitable stress," said A.T. Wall, Director of the Rhode Island DOC.

Wall, whose stress unit provides corrections officers 24-hour access to peer volunteers, counseling and employee assistance referrals, said that it is vital for a DOC to invest in this kind of service for its employees and simultaneously be on the look out for those in trouble.

"It's essential for managers and supervisors to keep an eye on the people who work for them, to know them, observe their habits, listen to what they say and pay attention to any indications that their lives are changing in significant ways," he said.

Wall added that the importance placed on investing in training for an officer should carry through to helping them when the job or other factors in their lives begin to take a toll on their performance and health.

"If we can save them so they can continue to be productive and successful employees we've shown we care about our people and saved the state money," he said.

When promoting wellness among officer staff, departments need to consider a range of opportunities for accessing services.  Right off the bat, supervisors should be trained to recognize the warning signs of stress among staff. Then, agencies need to decide when they will provide access to stress programs for officers.

A credible stress program should include joint ownership between management and labor and the people who staff the program should have credibility with the officers.  The programs must have a reputation for confidentiality and trust, be accessible to all staff and their families, have access to clinical resources for cases that require professional assistance at anytime and consider involvement of peers with professional support and direction.

Future Leadership

As times change and the world of corrections adjusts to the impacts of legislative mandates, budget shortfalls, increasing populations and other factors, the importance of strong leadership is paramount to running an effective agency. To ensure that leadership is resilient now and in the future, more correctional systems are investing in training and developing current employees to step forward and face a new set of challenges.

"If you look at the world we live in, the work setting is all about change. If you are a service professional, your environment is one of constant, perpetual and relentless change. So then, our leaders have got to be skilled change agents, so we need to give them the strategies [to do this]," said Nancy Campbell, a former Division Director for Community Corrections in Colorado and Washington State.

Helping employees to develop skills to become future leaders has become a priority in many corrections departments, including Oklahoma and Kentucky.

"In Oklahoma and a lot of other states, corrections suffered for years [budget-wise] while our population exploded," said J'me Overstreet, Administrator of Leadership Development for the Oklahoma DOC. "But we had to look at developing leadership because if we don't, we won't have people to take the place of leaders who leave - there is no succession plan. We'll wake up one day and nobody will be ready [for leadership roles] and there will be huge voids."

The Kentucky DOC had similar concerns, so the agency's Division of Corrections Training developed a program to encourage younger employees to start thinking about their future and where they could fit in among the agency's leadership.

"The reason for creating training like this in corrections was the same reason a program of this nature is needed in other government agencies. Baby Boomers are peaking out at the end of their career and we need to develop the next generation of leadership for our agency," said Michael King, Director of the Division of Corrections Training for the Kentucky DOC.

Security

Security has always been a main priority for corrections.  With advanced technologies and new policies and procedures, corrections has more at its disposal to make facilities safe for staff and inmates.  And, as security evolves, so do security threats such as terrorism and medical emergencies.  These present new challenges to corrections, many of which were faced during 2003.

Terrorism

The threat of terrorism and the potential that any facility, be it government or civilian, could be a target has raised emergency preparedness and response to a new level.

"Traditional special operations [teams] are very well trained. They have a good feel for what they are supposed to do but the terrorist component is an unknown. We have to learn from other events and start to train our people to deal with those," said William Sturgeon who runs the Institute for Adult Education and Training and who has recently trained corrections teams on terrorism threats.

According to Sturgeon, corrections agencies have new responsibilities now and need to think about emergency response differently.

"Basically we have been so successful in developing corrections emergency response teams that it could hurt us in trying to expand those plans because we have to incorporate different tactics," he said.

Some agencies are just beginning their investigation into terrorist event responses while others have included such events as a part of their emergency planning for years.  New Jersey and Nebraska have both identified terrorism as a main concern.

"The N.J. DOC has always had plans in place to respond to outside interventions and the possible removal of a person by an outside group, but the awareness of terrorist-related activities has raised response to a new level," said Mark Salaga, Director of Custody Operations for the N.J. DOC.

Staff there have begun to train in a more universal command structure so that - in the event of an emergency - all the players understand who is in charge and what they are supposed to do.

Salaga said that officers are now working with the Law Incident Command System to be more consistent with what other law enforcement agencies use.

"[The system] is a way to talk to command structures and set up and respond to an event so everyone is talking the same language. It is something the State of New Jersey is moving forward with to utilize with first responders," Salaga said. "It's a management system. It's a formal system of terms and assignments."

In Nebraska, the DOC is also taking a closer look at its emergency response strategy, although the department has included the possibility of terrorist events in its plans for a decade.

According to Richard Cruickshank, warden of the Nebraska Correctional Youth Facility and a member of the state's counter terrorism task force, the DOC is now considering some specific terrorist threats that could hit the nearby community or the facilities themselves.

As a part of the planning process, DOC officials are meeting with other state agencies to create a coordinated response to these emergencies. Cruickshank said that the DOC is working with these agencies under FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] and the state's homeland defense program.

"We've been meeting for over two and a half years to look at this from a state level response and discuss what the DOC needs from other agencies and what support it can provide. That's important when you realize the impact a terrorist event can have," said Cruickshank.

On the training side, staff are also learning to re-think their responses to events and incidents based on potential terrorist threats. Staff receive this training in stand-alone blocks, as part of specialist team training, in-service training and pre-service training.

"What we have to do is retrain. Just as community responders have had to do, we have had to train our responders to think a different way, to be able to respond to any event and identify if it is a potential terrorist threat," Cruickshank said.

Security Threat Groups

Most correctional agencies have in place a management strategy for monitoring and identifying members of security threat groups and over the last decade they have made strides in separating them from the general population. But what agencies must also be cognizant of is that STGs and STG monitoring is cyclical.

A recent survey commissioned by the National Major Gang Task Force confirms a number of ongoing trends related to STGs and gangs including that both prison and jails still see significant numbers of STG members among their populations - despite their efforts to separate them.

Some of this may be due to the movement of gang members from the prison to the street then back into the system again as jail or prison inmates.

"One thing on a national perspective that is interesting is that because of the targeted task forces that have been put together, a high percentage of gang members have ended up in the federal and state systems. [And] now they are coming back to the streets and are moving out into the streets [after their sentences are over]," said Frank Marcell, Jail Intelligence Supervisor for the Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff's Office and a board member of the National Major Gang Task Force (NMGTF).

According to Marcell, the driving force behind most gang activity on the street is drugs. And eventually, gang members - some of whom have already been incarcerated -- will be arrested and likely end up in a jail awaiting trial. It is this type of situation that Marcell said jails need to be better prepared for.

These offenders will try to take control of a jail and may even seek out others to work on their behalf.

Marcell said these veteran gang members have learned a great deal about how to rule in an incarcerated setting and can cause bigger problems than the non-gang affiliated offender.

Because of this trend, Marcell said there is a greater need among correctional officers in jails to be trained in how to identify these gang members and how to manage them.

In Minnesota, the DOC is seeing an increase in established 'White Power' STGs and a trend towards single race membership after a period of mixed race groups. In addition, American Indian Street gangs have become active in the community, which has translated to the prison environment.

"Often times crimes committed on the streets or incidents in the DOC reflect each other," said Don Rothstein, Deputy Director of Intelligence, Office of Special Investigations for the Minnesota DOC. These are trends that his intelligence unit is monitoring.

In Texas, STG coordinators, investigators and officers use a special database of information that helps the TDCJ track gang members throughout the system. The database stores information on the STG members such as where they are housed, tattoos, people who have visited them, nicknames, affiliations with street gangs and other information that can also be queried.

This information is also shared with local law enforcement.

Also in Texas, another STG has presented itself: inmates with potential ties to terrorism.  With the help if the FBI, TDCJ identified inmates who may have connections to terrorist groups and the department monitors those individuals.

Sharing information with other law enforcement agencies helped Texas to implement this program and is important to other agencies as well.

"Information sharing is crucial to counter-terrorism," said Salaga.  "When you start to put together with other issues what [you may] see as an insignificant little event, situation or issue, that's when you start to see a picture of terrorism as well as other criminal activities," he added.  "You see more with 100 [pairs of] eyes than you do with one."

The Arizona DOC agrees.

"It's very important that information is being shared," said Nolan Thompson, Special Investigations Manager and Homeland Security Coordinator for the Arizona DOC.  "Prior to 9/11, all of your different agencies, [like] the CIA, FBI, Border Patrol, and Secret Service, had their own information and were working on their own thing."

Now, Thompson pointed out, information sharing has become widespread among agencies.

Medical Emergencies

While numerous correctional agencies are putting plans in place to keep their facilities secure in times of emergency, they are simultaneously working to ensure that both staff and inmates remain healthy as well. Because a medical emergency has the potential to diminish one of corrections' greatest response assets - staff members - making sure mechanisms are in place is crucial.

"Custody and medical staff need to sit down to think up responses for natural and manmade disasters and medical illnesses [before they happen] - that means everything from hostage taking to a food-borne illness," said R. Scott Chavez, Vice President of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC).  "With [planning a response to] terrorism, for example, [agencies] are starting to understand that the medical response has to be [in conjunction] with the custody [response]."

One aspect of these planning sessions that is essential, added Chavez, is the issue of defining authority in certain situations. If it is a health care emergency that strikes a facility, medical staff may want to take the lead in response as opposed to custody staff, which is a paradigm shift from traditional corrections management.

The inclusion of public health in emergency preparation for corrections is important not only because the prison or jail is part of the community, said Chavez, but also because disease or bioterrorism doesn't know the difference between an inmate, a staff member or any other citizen.

The international SARS outbreak, which began in China, was a particular concern for corrections this year and demonstrated the importance of cooperation between corrections and public health officials.  McHenry County (Ill.) was proactive in taking steps to prevent SARS from causing a medical emergency in its jail.

"In early March, I'd been hearing and reading about different descriptions of SARS and what it was doing, so I decided that we should be proactive [in our prevention efforts]," said Tom Svoboda, Chief of Corrections for the sheriff's department. "We got together with the county department of health and [the jail's] medical staff and had a conference call with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and asked them about the disease and our areas of concern."

From this call, the county decided to screen all incoming Chinese detainees through a questionnaire that asks about their travels and potential symptoms. In addition, the county purchased and distributed masks to staff and informed them all about the county's approach to preventing the disease.

Svoboda credits a good relationship with the county health department with aiding the jail in creating its prevention plans. By sharing information and resources with the sheriff's office, the two agencies worked together to keep SARS out of the jail and avoid a potential health care disaster.

While not as visible as cases of SARS, the threat of smallpox was another concern for correctional agencies, given the heightened awareness towards terrorism in the United States. Numerous corrections departments worked with local and state jurisdictions to see how corrections personnel - both security and medical - would be used in an event like a smallpox outbreak or other bioterrorist attack.

"The role of corrections is to be defined by the institution and by the state and local health [officials] as to where they fit in - we haven't defined it yet," said Dr. Raymond A. Strikas, Director of Smallpox Preparedness and Response Activity for the CDC.

While this position will likely vary by location and resources, Strikas said that there are steps prisons and jails can take to be proactive if smallpox is introduced in their community. By working on these mechanisms now and including them in their disaster plans, when the time comes they will be ready.

Training is available in many ways by the CDC who has a comprehensive website about the disease as well as an extensive webcast on smallpox preparedness. Strikas recommends these avenues as well as a number of other educational seminars and publications for correctional health care professionals to utilize.

"An institution's disaster plan is only as good as the people prepared for it," said Chavez. "Does that mean you train over and over again? Yes. You need to have a well-executed disaster plan."

Next week on The Corrections Connection Network News, we will continue our reflection on the past year, looking at Legal Issues, Healthcare, Partnerships and Re-Entry.

Resources

To read the full stories and news items from the past year, go to our archives section and search by topic or keyword.