The Orange County, FL, Jail Educational And Vocational Programs (Program Focus) FPL33RSD 166820

User Manual: FPL33RSD

Open the PDF directly: View PDF .
Page Count: 16

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

National Institute of Justice

P r o g r a m F o c u s

The Orange County,

Florida, Jail

Educational and

Vocational Programs

2 National Institute of Justice

PROGRAM FOCUS

The Orange County, Florida, Jail

Educational and Vocational Programs

by Peter Finn

State and Federal prisons typically

provide educational courses similar to

those included in these studies. By

The Orange County, Florida, Corrections

Division provides unusually intensive edu-

cational and vocational programs to most

inmates in its 3,300-bed jail. Staffed by 70

fulltime instructors, programs include adult

basic education, preparation for the general

equivalency diploma (GED), vocational

training, life skills development,

psychoeducation groups, and substance

abuse education. Courses are carefully tai-

lored to the short periods of time that jail

inmates are incarcerated and typically run 6

hours a day, 5 days a week.

Educational and vocational programming is

the central component of a package of three

interrelated innovations in the jail designed to

work together to reduce corrections costs,

improve inmate conduct, and lower recidi-

vism. In addition to educational program-

ming, the package includes:

■ Direct supervision in facilities architectur-

ally designed to allow maximum direct con-

Highlights

tact between staff and inmates without physi-

cal barriers.

■ Behavioral incentives in the form of valu-

able privileges inmates earn if they participate

in programming and avoid misconduct.

The Corrections Division finances these inno-

vations from the inmate welfare fund, local

and Federal grants, and State education dis-

bursements to the county school board for

teaching adult basic education.

Evidence—much of it provided by an inde-

pendent national auditing firm—suggests that

the combination of programming, direct su-

pervision, and incentives has reduced staffing

needs, construction costs, and violent inci-

dents, while it has increased inmate educa-

tional levels and job readiness. Another inde-

pendent evaluation found that, as long as 18

months after release, inmates who were housed

6 to 45 days in direct supervision facilities

were less likely to reoffend than inmates who

were housed in these facilities less than 6 days.

I didn’t want to participate in any programs, but that was the only way I could get

out of 33rd Street [the main facility] into one of the buildings that have open spaces,

only two guys to a cell, and good visitation rights. So I wouldn’t have taken MRT

[Moral Reconation Therapy—a substance abuse education program] if I didn’t

have to, but I’m glad I did. I learned about myself: I used to blame drugs as the

source of my problems, but I learned it’s my own attitudes and behavior that’s

responsible. Once you learn that, other things fall into place. Drug classes I had

taken before never did this for me. In the life skills classes, I learned how to write

a resume and present myself at a job interview, like sitting up straight. But you have

to obey the rules in the program facilities if you want to stay. I’ve seen guys get

busted back to 33rd Street because of shouting matches between inmates, for

example. A few come back here again, but then they’re careful to behave, because

the other facility stinks. There’s loud noise that keeps you from sleeping, it’s cold,

and there’s no carpeting, so they like it here much better.

— An inmate in the Orange County jail

contrast, few jails offer these pro-

grams, primarily because they lack

the money and suitable classroom

space, but also because most jail in-

mates remain locked up only briefly.

The Orange County, Florida, Correc-

tions Division overcame these barriers

to providing intensive educational and

vocational programming in its 3,300-

bed jail—the ninth largest in the Na-

tion—after it took over the facility

from the sheriff in 1987. However, as

the inmate’s description above im-

plies, setting up these programs re-

quired dramatic changes in how the

jail was run. In fact, the entire jail now

revolves largely around its educational

and vocational programs—operation-

ally, budgetarily, and architecturally.

Because many inmates have poor

reading skills, few job skills, and

substance abuse problems, they fre-

quently cannot find jobs after they are

released or can find only low-paid or

temporary work. Partly as a result,

they often return to a life of crime.

Conversely, studies have found that

inmates who improve their educational

level during confinement are less likely

to reoffend than are inmates who do

not. To be sure, many of these studies

are inconclusive because they do not

eliminate the possibility that more mo-

tivated inmates —who would have

done better after release even without

the programs—are the ones who im-

prove their basic academic skills. How-

ever, a study of Federal inmates that

attempted to adjust for this selection

bias also found that inmates who par-

ticipated in educational programs were

less likely to reoffend.

Similarly, a

study of Wisconsin inmates concluded

that prison education programs were

cost-effective because they reduced

recidivism or increased the time before

released inmates returned to prison.

Program Focus 3

PROGRAM FOCUS

Specifically, the jail:

■ Offers inmates a wide range of

structured educational and voca-

tional programs (from adult basic edu-

cation to carpentry) that are crafted to

accommodate inmates’ short stays.

■ Provides job readiness and place-

ment services.

■ Offers inmates valuable incentives to

participate in programming—and to

avoid misconduct.

■ Manages most inmates through direct

supervision to contain costs, promote

inmate responsibility, and allow for open

areas that can be used as classrooms.

Each of these features is part of a compre-

hensive corrections strategy that enables

programming to flourish at the same time

Orientation

(Main Facility)

Intake

(Central Booking Facility)

Educational and

Vocational Programs

(Genesis, Horizon, Phoenix,

Whitcomb, and Zenith Facilities)

Work Release

• Intake

• Initial classification

• Release from jail

- Charges dropped

- Bond posted

- Nonfinancial pretrial

release

• Testing for grade level

• Testing for substance

abuse

• Vocational assessment

• Placement decision

Inmate agrees to

programs

• All amenities

• Basic education

• Vocational training

• Life skills programs

• Women’s psycho-

education support groups

• Substance abuse education

• Literacy/English-as-a-

Second-Language (ESL)

program

• Community transition

• Job assistance program

- Job readiness services

- Job placement services

* The following factors make an inmate ineligible for programs:

maximum security classification, a severe mental illness, and

a jail sentence of less than 60 days.

nmate is not

eligible for

programs*

County or DOC

Probation

• Job assistance program

- Job readiness services

- Job placement services

Inmate refuses

programs

Basic Incarceration

(Municipal Justice Building)

• No amenities

• No programs

Inmate has

disciplinary

problems

Inmate has

reduced disciplinary

problems

EX 1 1

Release

• Time served

• Charges dropped

• Bond posted

• Nonfinancial pretrial

release

Basic Housing

(Main Facility)

• Minimal amenities

• No programs

Inmate has

disciplinary

problems

Inmate agrees to

or becomes eligible

for programs

▼

▼▼▼

▼

▲

Exhibit 1. Educational and Vocational Programming Process

that it saves the county money, keeps

inmates occupied and out of trouble, and

(it is hoped) reduces recidivism.

How the System Works

The principal steps in the jail’s pro-

gramming operations, beginning with

intake, are presented in a flowchart in

exhibit 1, “Educational and Vocational

Programming Process.” The levels of

supervision and amenities in each type

of facility are shown in exhibit 2,

“Quality of Life in Jail Facilities.”

Orientation: Testing,

Assessment, and

Placement

After leaving the central booking facil-

ity, inmates spend 5 days of orientation

in the main facility of the jail complex,

where they take the Test of Adult Basic

Education (TABE) to determine their

grade level, the Substance Abuse/Life

Circumstances Evaluation (SALCE) to

determine whether they have a sub-

stance abuse problem, and a vocational

needs and interests assessment to iden-

tify suitable job options after release.

After testing, inmates meet individu-

ally with an assessment staff member

who explains the course offerings and

the strong incentives for participating.

Depending on the inmate’s program

preference and classification status, as

well as available space, the inmate

transfers to one of four facilities that

offer the desired courses—along with

relatively congenial living conditions:

■ Genesis: a one-story, 220-bed facil-

ity for men.

4 National Institute of Justice

PROGRAM FOCUS

■ Horizon: a three-story, 768-bed

coeducational facility.

■ Phoenix: a one-story, 288-bed facility

for men attached to a vocational school.

■ Whitcomb: a one-story, 199-bed

facility for women.

Mark Holmes, who supervises the jail’s

programs, explains, “The main facility

holds inmates who are not expected to

remain in the jail for more than 60

days, who are severely mentally ill, or

who have a maximum security classifi-

cation, together with eligible inmates

who refuse to participate in a program.”

Inmates who test below a fourth-grade

level are housed in Zenith, a special

literacy or English-as-a-Second-

Language (ESL) dormitory in the main

facility that offers the same amenities

and privileges as the four program fa-

cilities. As soon as they raise their test

scores, these inmates may move to one

of the four program facilities. (See the

aerial photo of the Orange County Jail.)

Program Offerings

The Orange County jail offers five

types of courses: (1) basic education,

(2) vocational training, and (3) life

skills development, each of which

involves 6 hours of classes, 5 days a

week; (4) women’s psychoeducation

support groups, which meet daily for

about 2 hours; and (5) substance abuse

education classes, which meet for 90

minutes on alternating days (see “Prin-

cipal Education Programs Offered in

the Jail”).

Inmates may join any course in prog-

ress if space is available. Nevertheless,

Holmes reports, “There may be de-

lays.” After orientation, if there is a

The Orange

County Jail offers

educational and

vocational

programs housed

in specially

designed facilities.

waiting list for inmates to enroll in the

program of their choice, the classifica-

tion officer must assign them to an-

other program that has an opening.

FPO

Furthermore, while the Phoenix facil-

ity holds 288 beds, there are only 200

vocational slots. Administrators added

a GED program and substance abuse

Direct

Supervision ✓

Air

Conditioning ✓

Non-dormitory

Living ✓

Coed Option ✓

Contact Visits ✓

Television ✓

Additional

Gain Time ✓

Secure Personal

Lockers ✓

Newspapers ✓

Library Services ✓

Visits and

Telephone Use ✓✓ Limited ✓ Limited

Recreation

Activities ✓✓ Limited ✓ Limited

Commissary

Privileges ✓✓ Limited ✓ Limited

Educational

and Vocational

Programs Basic

(Genesis, Horizon, Basic Incarceration

Amenities/ Phoenix, Whitcomb, Housing (Municipal Justice

Privileges and Zenith Facilities) (Main Facility) Building)

Exhibit 2. Quality of Life in Jail Facilities

Main Facility

Horizon Facility

Genesis (not visible)

Phoenix

Housing Classrooms

Whitcomb Facility

Administration Bldg.

Program Focus 5

PROGRAM FOCUS

education to the facility’s offerings to

occupy inmates until a vocational slot

opens up. Despite these shortcomings,

few inmates experience delays or

downtime.

Job Assistance Programs

The jail has two prerelease job assis-

tance programs. The first program,

staffed by four full-time corrections

employees, helps inmates search for

work and monitors the job perfor-

mance of the 15 percent of former

inmates who are placed on county

probation. The second program,

staffed by two job developers from

Mid-Florida Technical School, helps

inmates enrolled in Phoenix vocational

courses find employment and ad-

dresses their medical, housing, and

transportation needs.

Job developers report that it can be

difficult to motivate released inmates

to continue their education, look for

work, or remain employed. One job

developer estimated that “as many as

three-quarters of inmates placed in

jobs while in work release or on pro-

bation quit after criminal justice super-

vision ends.” Even the most motivated

An instructor helps inmates prepare for their

general equivalency diploma (GED) exam.

Basic education. All four program facili-

ties—Genesis, Horizon, Phoenix, and

Whitcomb—offer adult basic education

(ABE) and general equivalency diploma

(GED) preparation. Whitcomb also offers

remedial reading instruction. Basic literacy

and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)

courses are available in the main facility.

Vocational training. In the Phoenix facility,

male and female inmates attend classes in

auto maintenance, desktop publishing, car-

pentry, culinary arts, warehousing, electrical

wiring, and other occupations and trades 6

hours a day. Every vocational course devotes

time to resume writing, mock job interviews,

and other job readiness skills.

Life skills programs. Available in three of

the program facilities, life skills courses ad-

dress employability skills, job search tech-

niques, money management, and parenting

and relationship skills. The courses are self-

paced, and the sequence of topics is flexible.

Women’s psychoeducational support

groups. Under the supervision of a professor

of social work, master’s-level interns from

the University of Central Florida conduct 5

weeks of 90-minute small group sessions

two to three times a week in the Horizon

facility. One-on-one counseling to promote

Principal Education Programs Offered

In the Jail

self-esteem, sober living, anger management,

and basic life skills is also offered.

Substance abuse education. Inmates in all

four program facilities whose Substance

Abuse/Life Circumstances Evaluation

(SALCE) indicates they have an alcohol or

other drug problem must enroll in Moral

Reconation Therapy (MRT), a nontraditional

psychoeducational course for use with sub-

stance abusers, batterers, and other individu-

als with “resistant” personalities. Through a

series of 16 structured tasks and workbook

exercises, MRT seeks to reeducate these

individuals behaviorally and socially and

raise their level of moral reasoning. MRT

changes the way individuals act by changing

the way they think.

inmates often face debilitating ob-

stacles to continuing their education or

remaining on the job, ranging from not

being able to afford the necessary

housing, child care, or transportation,

to lacking the education and job skills

to qualify for anything other than

minimum-wage jobs.

“We are trying very hard to solve these

problems,” Mark Holmes reports. “For

example, two county social workers are

now operating in the jail trying to ad-

dress inmates’ social needs upon re-

lease; case managers are starting to talk

about potential problems related to

release at the beginning of an inmate’s

confinement; and we have arranged for

a local homeless shelter that normally

closes at 9 p.m. to accept inmates at

any time of the night if they arrive with

a copy of a special admissions form

that we developed with the shelter.”

What Is So Special

About the Program-

ming Innovations?

As noted above, the Orange County

Corrections Division educational/

vocational effort is much more than

just an impressive array of program

offerings. Several other features are

A life skills instructor videotapes a mock job

interview with an inmate.

6 National Institute of Justice

PROGRAM FOCUS

indispensable to the programs’

achievements: incentives for participa-

tion, direct supervision, active support

by corrections officers, cooperation

from schools, and programs tailored to

short jail stays.

Incentives

Although inmates may refuse to join

any of the jail’s programs, administra-

tors have created powerful incentives

for participating. According to Gillian

Hobbs, assistant manager of the Com-

munity Corrections Department, “Less

than 5 percent of inmates refuse to

join. We have an excellent balance of

positive incentives for desired behav-

ior and negative consequences for

inappropriate behavior. Offering pro-

grams without these incentives would

have little effect because participation

would be minimal.”

■ Positive incentives. Sentenced in-

mates in Florida earn 5 days of gain

time (reduction in sentence) every

month if they follow the rules, and

pretrial inmates have 5 days a month

credited to any jail sentence they are

given if convicted. However, inmates

in program facilities earn an additional

6 days of gain time every month, for a

total of 11 days. While inmates can also

earn the additional 6 days as trusties in

the main facility, many find the work

boring. As one inmate observed, “You

work 9 hours a day for free [as a trusty]

and gain nothing. Here [in a program

facility], you get to go to classes—you

get something out of the system.”

■ Negative consequences. Inmates

who refuse to participate remain in the

main jail facility where—unlike in the

four program facilities—they are de-

nied contact visits and television, have

fewer visits and less use of the tele-

phone, are permitted recreation only 3

hours a week, and are limited to buy-

ing only personal hygiene items at the

commissary. Inmates in the main facil-

ity are housed in uncarpeted dormito-

ries without secure personal lockers

and with a relatively high noise level.

Every inmate becomes intimately, if

briefly, familiar with these spartan

conditions during orientation.

Once transferred to a program facility,

inmates can be sent back to the main

facility at any time for misconduct

ranging from shouting matches to

chronic class tardiness. One instructor

reported, “After an officer woke an

absent student, the inmate went up to

the teacher and snarled, ‘Don’t go wak-

ing me up again!’ The teacher had the

jail send the inmate back to the main

facility the same day.” Administrators

can also ship inmates in the main facil-

ity who misbehave to the downtown

jail, which offers even fewer privi-

leges—and no air conditioning.

According to Don Bjoring, manager of

Community Corrections, “Probably 10

to 30 percent of inmates in program

facilities get bounced back to basic

housing. But classification officers in the

main facility routinely ask all inmates

who have not broken any rules during

the previous 2 weeks if they want to

return to a program facility. Most in-

mates ask—some even beg—to return.”

One inmate explained, “Guys think

they can take it there [in the main fa-

cility], but they learn it’s awful. It’s

macho to say you don’t care [about

conditions there], but it’s eight men in

a four-person cell with no privacy or

space for yourself.”

“Ironically,” Mark Holmes points out,

“it would be impossible for the educa-

tion programs to continue if every

inmate were motivated to participate.

The jail could not sustain its old-style

main facility, which we need as an

incentive for inmates to participate in

programs and avoid misconduct.”

Direct Supervision

Programming also could not thrive

without direct supervision in the four

program facilities. Direct supervision

is an inmate management system that

combines three main features:

■ An architectural design that per-

mits direct contact between staff and

inmates without physical barriers (bars,

A direct supervision common area with carpeting

and upholstered chairs does triple duty as a

television viewing area, classroom, and place to

socialize, all within easy observation of a

corrections officer sitting at her desk checking her

computer records.

glass, doors) and uses standard com-

mercial furniture, plumbing fixtures,

and security hardware. Typically,

buildings have two or more “pods,”

each consisting of two-person cells that

open onto a large all-purpose open area

that serves as both a classroom and a

dayroom. One or two corrections offic-

ers staff a desk within each pod and

Program Focus 7

PROGRAM FOCUS

An inmate practices basic carpentry skills in the

Phoenix facility vocational program.

circulate as needed. Inmates are free

during the day to go back and forth

from their cells to the common area.

■ Behavioral incentives that moti-

vate inmates to participate in pro-

grams and follow all rules. Direct

supervision helps officers quickly

apply the incentives previously de-

scribed, because constant contact with

inmates enables them to observe brew-

ing misconduct very easily.

■ A behavior-based classification

system that places inmates in

the least restrictive possible jail

environment based on their obeying

the rules and participating in

programs. This contrasts with assign-

ing inmates to minimum, medium, and

maximum security areas based exclu-

sively on the seriousness of the crime

they have committed (or been charged

with). Case managers and classifica-

tion officers monitor inmates’ progress

with face-to-face meetings. They log

class attendance, infractions, and other

pertinent information into a computer

database that all staff share so that any

inmate who breaks the rules is reas-

signed swiftly to the main facility.

Programming, incentives, and direct

supervision are all indispensable for

the Orange County approach to work.

For example, direct supervision may

lead to increased disturbances unless

inmates are kept busy—something that

6 hours of programs a day takes care

of and the facilities’ architecture

makes possible. However, incentives

motivate most inmates to participate in

programming, which in turn keeps

them busy.

Do inmates who may feel coerced into

participating in educational and voca-

tional programs learn anything? Sev-

eral inmates think so, reporting that,

while they would not have participated

if it were not for the incentives, they

were glad they did. As one inmate

said, “Guys are angry when they get

here [in the jail], so they don’t want to

take programs, but the classes turn out

to be interesting and valuable. So it’s

good they force you to take them.

When you come in, you’re not think-

ing about programs, but then you start

working them and you learn from

them.” There is also clinical evidence

that individuals subject to compulsory

drug abuse treatment have reduced

criminal recidivism rates.

Finally,

regardless of their motivation, hun-

dreds of inmates in the Orange County

jail have earned their general equiva-

lency diploma (GED).

Active Support by

Corrections Officers

Conflict between security officers and

program staff in corrections facilities

is a classic problem. Corrections of-

ficers claim that programs get in their

way and compromise security, while

program staff complain that officers

cavalierly yank inmates out of class

and interrupt instruction with counts,

searches, and lockdowns. However,

most officers in the Orange County

jail’s four program facilities cooperate

with the programs because they be-

lieve they experience fewer assaults

and lawsuits than do officers in the

main facility. Some officers report

they enjoy seeing inmates learning

rather than playing basketball or

watching television all day. One fe-

male officer said, “I’m proud to see

women learning how to change a car’s

oil and filter.” When instructors leave

for semester break, some officers tell

them, “Hurry back!” Most officers

support the programs with actions as

well as words:

■ When instructors report an absent

student, officers immediately wake up

the inmate and escort him or her to

class. Officers often circulate through

classroom areas to stop inappropriate

behavior, such as an inmate putting his

feet on the desk or dozing during

class. They also help new teachers

write up incident reports.

■ Corrections officers saw how well

Genesis—the jail’s first direct supervi-

sion facility—was working out. When

construction began on the Horizon

facility, the jail director was swamped

with requests for transfers from offic-

ers in the main facility’s basic housing

units. Conversely, when the county

8 National Institute of Justice

PROGRAM FOCUS

Corrections Division was considering

turning Genesis into an all-female

facility, its male officers began fight-

ing the plan because they hated the

idea of being transferred back to tradi-

tional housing.

■ According to one inmate, “Officers

care about you here in Horizon. Every

day, one officer who knows I have

epilepsy asks me if I’m OK. When I

needed to call my parents badly one

day, another officer let me use the

office phone.”

■ A lieutenant in the main building

asked that programming be expanded

to the basic housing units—as an in-

mate management tool. Ironically, it is

program staff who have to resist these

requests.

Officers who work in the main facility

must cooperate with the innovations

because they need to observe and record

the positive and negative inmate conduct

to determine whether inmates are eli-

gible for transfer to a program facility.

Main facility officers also need to avoid

the temptation to transfer inmates to

program facilities simply to reduce over-

crowding or to get rid of inmates who

are a nuisance or who continually pester

them to be transferred.

Cooperation From

Schools

The jail’s educational innovations

would not have been possible without

close collaboration with the Orange

County Public School Board, which

runs the county’s adult literacy and

technical education programs. The

State of Florida, which funds these

efforts, requires counties to provide

free basic education to disadvantaged

adult residents. Every year the head of

the county school system recommends

to the school board’s advisory council

that eliminating illiteracy among in-

mates and providing them with voca-

tional education be made a high priority

in deciding how to allocate services

among competing educational needs in

the county. As a result, one-quarter of

the total adult education system budget

for Mid-Florida Technical is allocated

to providing instruction in the Orange

County jail. An assistant director of the

Orange County Technical Education

Centers serves as the jail’s full-time,

onsite “principal,” supervising 70 full-

time instructors.

Most instructors like working in the

jail—indeed, many prefer it to regular

teaching because they have more con-

trol over discipline. According to one

teacher, “If you kick someone out of

class [in regular schools], even if the

student gets suspended he’s back in

class a few days later. But if you re-

move someone here [in the jail], they

go back to the main facility for at least

2 weeks and then, if they do come

back to the program facility, they are

never placed with the same teacher.”

Programs Tailored to

Short Jail Stays

Jail and school administrators have

implemented several strategies to help

ensure that inmates are offered the maxi-

mum possible amount of useful educa-

tional benefits before they are released.

Focus on core competencies. The jail

focuses first and foremost on providing

inmates with basic reading skills. For

example, the vocational programs de-

vote time to raising inmates’ TABE

scores to give them the academic

skills, like math, needed for jobs in the

trades. Similarly, while there is a gener-

ally accepted order regarding which

skills should be taught first, second, and

so on in life skills classes, instructors

teach the skills they feel are most critical

first—for example, stress management

and coping with anger—in case inmates

are released before the course ends.

Self-paced course work. In most of

the jail’s courses, inmates can work at

their own pace, either on a computer

or in a workbook, or by means of

independent study monitored by the

instructor. As a result, quick or moti-

vated learners are not held back by

slower or less energetic students.

Intensive course work. Most courses

involve 6 hours of classes a day, 5 days

a week. As a result, although the typical

inmate assigned to a direct supervision

facility remains in jail for about 60

days, even this short stay enables them

to attend over 250 hours of classes

before release. Each inmate in Phoenix,

which typically houses inmates for a

shorter, 45-day period, attends an aver-

age of 192 hours of vocational classes

before release—the equivalent of

nearly five 40-hour weeks.

Identification of “early exit” points.

Because of the shorter average stay of

Phoenix inmates, jail and school ad-

Women inmates in the Horizon facility life skills

course use computers to pursue topics of interest at

their own pace, such as job search techniques and

money management strategies.

Program Focus 9

PROGRAM FOCUS

ministrators try to identify technical

skills in local demand that Phoenix

instructors can teach in a short period

of time. School administrators then

restructure their standard 9-week vo-

cational courses (the number of weeks

required for State reimbursement) to

focus initially on quickly learned

skills. For example, instructors altered

the automobile repair course to focus

on the quickly taught skills of changing

oil and filters after a local automobile

repair chain reported these were the

skills it needed most.

After release, interested Phoenix in-

mates can transfer easily into Mid-

Florida Technical School’s Post-

secondary Technical School to com-

plete their education or to enter an

apprenticeship program. This is be-

cause the Phoenix facility’s vocational

offerings duplicate the school’s curricu-

lum and because inmates participating

in Phoenix courses are already offi-

cially enrolled in the school. Further-

more, under Florida guidelines, ex-

offenders can obtain tuition waivers or

financial assistance if they continue

their education at the technical school.

Short-term substance abuse counseling.

Most inmates are released too quickly to

attend traditional substance abuse counsel-

ing groups. As a result, every program

facility provides a self-paced substance

abuse education course, Moral Reconation

Therapy (MRT) (see “Principal Education

Programs Offered in the Jail” on page 5

for an explanation of MRT).

Does It Work?

The combination of programming and

direct supervision has achieved a num-

ber of noteworthy milestones.

■ Staff reductions. The four program

facilities have a much higher inmate-to-

security-staff ratio (5.6:1) than either

the main facility (3.2:1) or comparable

nearby jails (3.2:1 to 3.8:1).

■ Operating cost reductions. Ac-

cording to an independent evaluation

by a national accounting firm, the daily

operating cost per inmate in the Orange

County jail is lower than at four other

Florida jails of comparable size:

Orange County $60.40

Broward County $66.68

Dade County $71.87

Palm Beach County $74.95

Comparing costs with those of the next

most inexpensive county (Broward)

shows that the daily savings per inmate to

Orange County of $6.28 add up to a sig-

nificant amount when multiplied by

3,300 inmates over 365 days—

$7,564,260 (see “Program Funding

Sources and Major Costs”).

■ Construction cost savings. The aver-

age per-bed construction cost of the jail’s

indirect supervision facilities was nearly

$50,000 (1996 dollars), while the average

cost for the four direct supervision facili-

ties was just over $30,000. Based on

these figures, the independent accounting

firm concluded that if all the jail’s direct

supervision housing had been built as

indirect supervision beds, it would have

cost the county approximately $28 mil-

lion more (1996 dollars)(see “Are the

Reduced Jail Costs Due to Cost Shifting

or to Real Savings?”).

■ Use-of-force reductions. The num-

ber of incidents requiring the use of

force (for example, takedowns) de-

clined from 3.59 per 100 inmates in

1987, the year before programming and

direct supervision were introduced, to

2.02 in 1989, the year after their intro-

duction, to 1.30 in 1995. Although

about half of all inmates are housed in

direct supervision facilities, only 45—

8.4 percent—of the 533 uses of force in

1995 occurred in these four facilities.

■ Low rates of violence. A study by

the University of Central Florida

Inmate Welfare Fund: $394,000 a Year*

■ $199,000 for student registration fees.

■ $15,000 for school expenses such as

student workbooks.

■ $180,000 for substance abuse educa-

tion instruction.

County School Board Funding (via State

Funding): $3.6 Million a Year

■ Salaries of 70 instructors.

■ Purchase of half of vocational equip-

ment for Phoenix facility.

■ Two full-time staff for the Test of Adult

Basic Education (TABE).

■ Two full-time job developers.

Program Funding Sources and Major Costs

* Inmate welfare funds come primarily from a surcharge that jails place on collect calls inmates

make to their families and from profits realized when jails purchase commissary goods at

discount but charge inmates the prevailing retail price. In effect, because most inmates have no

savings or income of their own, their families provide the money that supports the fund. Some

inmate advocates have questioned the way correctional facilities use these funds, but few critics

are likely to object to spending the money on educational and vocational courses for inmates.

U.S. Department of Education Grant,

1994–1996: $241,580 a Year

■ Two life skills instructors and a pro-

gram coordinator for Horizon facility.

■ Computers and curriculum software for

life skills program in Horizon facility.

University of Central Florida: $30,000

matching grant to supervise women’s

psychoeducation groups

Volunteers: Instructors, community

members, chaplains, and corrections of-

ficers volunteer their time to plan and

teach a special course for juvenile inmates

who test at a 12th-grade reading level.

10 National Institute of Justice

PROGRAM FOCUS

found that direct supervision units had

much lower rates of suicide, inmate

injury, staff injury, fighting, use of

force, and disciplinary reports in 1995

than did the basic housing units.

For

example, the average use-of-force rate

in direct supervision areas was 3.2

compared with nearly 30 in regular

housing. The rates for death, homicide,

and suicide per 1,000 inmates in 1995

were also lower in the entire Orange

County jail than for other similar size

jails (jails with a rated capacity above

2,000) in Florida, in the southeastern

United States, and nationally.

■ Educational improvement. More

than 4,200 inmates attended at least

some education classes in 1995; 15

percent of these inmates completed the

life skills course, 3 percent the

women’s psychoeducation groups, and

1 percent substance abuse education.

Fourteen percent earned their GED.

Eighty-four percent of inmates who

took the GED test in the jail earned

their diploma, compared with 70 per-

cent of test takers in the county as a

whole. Women in Horizon’s psycho-

education groups were significantly

less depressed and anxious after com-

pleting the course compared with

women inmates waiting to enroll in the

groups. The groups’ supervisor said

that several officers have told her that

members become much more manage-

able after a few sessions. In fact, during

the 12 months after the introduction of

the psychoeducation groups and the life

skills programs, Horizon experienced a

20 percent reduction in the number of

female inmates—94 versus 121—sent

back to the main facility for discipline

problems, compared with the previous

12-month period.

Recidivism. Finally, on the critical mea-

sure of whether the programs reduce

recidivism, the University of Central

Florida study found promising results.

The researchers compared postrelease

bookings (that is, rearrests) into the Or-

ange County jail among 600 inmates

transferred into direct supervision units.

They divided the inmates into 3 groups

of 200 each according to the amount of

time spent in direct supervision:

Group 1 Least time in direct

supervision. 167 of these

inmates spent no time in

direct supervision housing.

The remaining 33 spent 0 to

5 days in direct supervision

housing before being

returned to regular housing

or released.

Group 2 Moderate time in direct

supervision. All 200 of these

inmates spent from 6 to 45

days (the average was 23 days)

in a direct supervision facility.

Group 3 Most time in direct

supervision. All 200 of

these inmates spent 46 days

or more (the average was

102 days) in a direct

supervision facility.

As shown in “Program Funding Sources

and Major Costs,” the State of Florida

provides the Orange County Jail with $3.6

million, principally for 70 full-time in-

structors. The inmate welfare fund pays

for the instructors who teach the jail’s

substance abuse education program. The

question might therefore be asked, have

the innovations actually reduced the costs

of running the jail or have they simply

shifted the cost to the State and to the

inmates (or their families)? The answer is,

some of both.

Jail administrators readily acknowledge

that for direct supervision to work, in-

mates need to be kept busy, and it is the

programming—paid for largely by the

State and, to a much lesser extent, by the

inmate welfare fund—that prevents in-

mate idleness. Without the programming,

the jail would have to hire additional cor-

rections officers to handle the disciplinary

problems idleness might create. In this

sense, the jail has reduced corrections

costs to Orange County by taking advan-

tage of available State and inmate funds to

provide the programs that avoid the need

for additional security staff.

However, the innovations also make it

less costly to run the jail irrespective of

State and inmate support. An independent

Are the Reduced Jail Costs Due to Cost

Shifting or to Real Savings?

evaluation of the jail’s costs conducted in

1996 by a national accounting firm found

that, if the same number of inmates who

are housed in the jail’s direct supervision

facilities were housed in indirect supervi-

sion facilities, it would cost the county

approximately $9.5 million more each

year. Yet the State and inmate contribu-

tions to providing programming total less

than $4 million. This suggests that the jail

saves $5.5 million a year in staffing costs

that cannot be attributed to cost shifting

but instead reflect the advantages of direct

supervision coupled with incentives and

educational programming. As jail admin-

istrators point out, the instructors are not

in the jail on the evening and night shifts,

on weekends and holidays, and during

semester breaks.

Furthermore, to the extent that dollars have

been shifted from the State and the inmate

welfare fund to pay for providing educa-

tional programs, the money from these

sources has not come from increased taxes

to the public or increased fees to inmates.

Finally, irrespective of any reductions in

the costs of operating the jail, the county

has saved millions of dollars in construc-

tion costs by not having to build and

furnish more expensive indirect supervi-

sion facilities.

Program Focus 11

PROGRAM FOCUS

The researchers used time in direct

supervision housing as a proxy for

program participation because, for

most of their stay in these facilities,

inmates were required to participate in

at least one program.

The researchers followed the inmates

for a minimum of 18 months after

release. Although the recidivism rates

of groups 1 and 3 did not differ sig-

nificantly, ex-offenders in group 2 had

statistically significant fewer bookings

than did ex-offenders in either group 1

or group 3 (see exhibit 3). Statistical

tests suggested that longer jail terms

reduced recidivism only if the offender

spent at least a moderate amount of

time in a direct supervision facility.

The number of days in custody

significantly predicted the number of

postrelease bookings only among in-

mates who remained at least 6 days in

direct supervision housing. The re-

searchers have not yet determined why

a moderate amount of programming

(6–45 days) had a greater effect on

recidivism than did longer periods (46

or more days).

How the Program

Developed

The stage was set for innovation at the

Orange County Corrections Division in

1987 when, in an unusual move, the

sheriff decided to turn the jail over to

the county (see “The County Commis-

sioners Play a Crucial Role”). After

taking over the jail, the county board

commissioned a study that predicted

that by 1998 the jail population would

increase from 3,300 to 5,000–6,000. To

accommodate the increase would have

required $50 million in new construc-

tion costs, with needed additional staff-

ing raising the price tag still higher.

The commissioners hired Tom Allison

in February 1987 to head the new cor-

rections division precisely because he

convinced them that he could run the

The County

Commissioners Play

A Crucial Role

The chair of the seven-member Board of

Orange County Commissioners, not a sher-

iff as in most jurisdictions, runs the local

correctional system. The board has sup-

ported the jail’s innovations largely for

four reasons:

■ Costs. The combination of program-

ming, direct supervision, and State fund-

ing for instructors, along with a decline in

jail population, has kept county correc-

tions costs relatively low. (See the section

“Does It Work?” on page 9).

■ Security. Escapes have not increased

since programming and direct supervision

were instituted, and they are no more fre-

quent than at other nearby jails. Equally

important, no escapee has attacked any tour-

ists visiting the county’s numerous theme

parks—a major source of county revenue.

■ Get-tough approach to criminals.

According to Howard Tipton, the deputy

county administrator, politicians who tour

the jail always ask, “How do you survive

politically doing this—providing inmates

with such pleasant living conditions?”

Tipton’s answer: “This isn’t a liberal ini-

tiative; we balance punishment and treat-

ment.” In fact, Tom Allison, the former

Corrections Division director, removed

exercise weights from the entire jail, elimi-

nated television, basketball, and cards from

basic housing units in the main facility,

and expanded the institution’s work crews.

Furthermore, the county introduced medi-

cal copayments. Tipton adds, “The treat-

ment inmates receive is directly related to

their conduct: the better they behave, the

better they are treated.”

■ Potential for reducing recidivism.

The commissioners directed that jail ad-

ministrators arrange for independent

evaluations to determine whether direct

supervision and programming have

achieved their promised potential for re-

ducing recidivism, thereby decreasing

criminal justice system costs.

Exhibit 3. Recidivism by Time Spent in Direct Supervision

Direct Supervision Time Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

(0–5 days) (6–45 days) (46 or more days)

Total number of postrelease

bookings* 379 248 289

Recidivism: Average

number of postrelease

bookings per inmate** 1.9 1.24 1.45

Reduction in recidivism

compared to group 1 NA 34.7% 23.7%

____________________

*Subjects released before July 30, 1995, were tracked for 18 months after release.

** Some subjects were rearrested many times, some only once, and some not at all.

12 National Institute of Justice

PROGRAM FOCUS

jail cost effectively (see “The Correc-

tions Division Director Was the Driv-

ing Force”). Allison proposed to use

the money available in the county’s

capital budget to experiment with con-

structing a small direct supervision

facility. Its proposed built-in class-

rooms for educational programs would

make it possible to both manage in-

mates and reduce staffing costs. In

July 1988, Genesis opened. After wit-

nessing the success of Genesis, the

commissioners approved Allison’s

request to construct the other three

direct supervision buildings.

From the beginning, Allison worked to

persuade the county school board that

inmates should receive priority treat-

ment because State statutes required

the board to provide adult basic educa-

tion services to disadvantaged adults.

The board had been offering classes in

the jail for 23 years when Allison was

appointed, but those classes made up

less than 5 percent of its adult educa-

tion activity. Furthermore, its pro-

grams were designed primarily to keep

inmates occupied. Allison argued suc-

cessfully that the only way to keep

inmates from returning to jail is to

“send them out different people from

when they came in.” This reasoning

helped persuade the school board advi-

sory council (composed largely of

private-sector business people) and the

director of one of its technical educa-

tion centers to shift more school board

resources to the jail.

Setting up the programs and learning to

live with direct supervision generated

considerable conflict among everyone

involved. Because no officers volun-

teered to staff Genesis, the building was

staffed forcibly on the basis of senior-

ity. Some officers quit rather than

switch. Instructors raised union issues

to oppose the use of dayrooms in the

jail as classroom space. Until the incen-

tive system was developed, many in-

mates who chose Genesis either did not

appreciate the living conditions or, if

they did, still broke the rules.

Over time, a team focus evolved in

which each group became less self-

centered and had less of a need to be in

control. This transformation occurred

because Tom Allison employed a judi-

cious mix of reasoning, exhortation,

training, and compulsion. In addition,

he brought in a small group of consult-

ants to promote team building. Perhaps

most important, the innovations proved

their value as a management tool for

corrections staff, as an educational

priority for school board officials and

instructors, and as an improvement in

living conditions for most inmates.

Can Other Counties

Set Up Similar

Programs?

Replicating Orange County’s accom-

plishments will require considerable

effort. However, the payoffs are likely

to be equally rewarding. The follow-

ing conditions appear to be the mini-

mum requirements for achieving what

this jail has done:

■ Strong support from the top.

Fearing negative media coverage,

most sheriffs, as elected officials, tend

to focus on avoiding potential inci-

dents such as escapes or violence and

shy away from the political risks in-

volved in radical change. As a result,

jurisdictions in which the sheriff runs

the jail may need a strong mayor, chief

judicial officer, or other key official to

support the changes—and to share the

heat when problems arise.

Another essential component of the Or-

ange County story is the leadership of a

determined director of corrections. Tom

Allison, appointed in 1987 and director

until 1997, was committed from the start

to providing inmates with programs that

would give them both improved self-

esteem and marketable reading and voca-

tional skills as the only realistic course for

preventing recidivism. However, Direc-

tor Allison was determined to provide

these skills as part of a package of innova-

tions that would include direct supervi-

sion, behavioral incentives, and a behav-

ior-based classification system.

Allison knew that the innovations had to

reduce corrections costs if he hoped to

gain support from both the county com-

missioners and the public for inmate pro-

grams. As a result, rather than focusing on

the programs’ benefits to inmates or the

program’s future and uncertain impact on

recidivism, he emphasized that the changes

The Corrections Division Director Was the

Driving Force

would reduce construction and staffing

costs to the county. Allison also believed

the innovations could be successful in the

long run only by delegating a great deal of

control to midlevel managers and line

staff. For example, he gave officers in

program facilities the authority to transfer

inmates who engage in misconduct to the

main facility. Inmates can only appeal this

decision to the facility shift supervisor,

who usually sides with the officers. He

encouraged senior managers to set up plan-

ning, accountability, and consistency

teams, made up of line staff, to overcome

their own difficulties. According to

Allison, “One person can’t sell change

within a jail; everyone has to take the

initiative.” Reflecting this delegation of

authority, Howard Tipton, the deputy

county administrator, reported approv-

ingly, “Tom doesn’t know what’s going

on in the jail today [1996], but that’s OK;

we pay him for what’s going to go on

tomorrow and the next day.”

Program Focus 13

PROGRAM FOCUS

■ Leadership skills. Jurisdictions

need a sheriff or corrections director

with the vision, determination, and

management and public relations skills

to make the innovations work and to

see them through the tough times they

will encounter. The sheriff or director

in turn needs the authority to pick

qualified managers from inside or

outside the corrections department to

implement the changes.

■ Constructing or retrofitting facili-

ties. Orange County was fortunate in

having a large capital budget at its

disposal combined with the need to

expand bed space. As a result, it could

move immediately into constructing

direct supervision facilities with built-

in classrooms. Jurisdictions not in

these circumstances will need to retro-

fit their existing jail buildings or pur-

chase or lease suitable structures.

■ A comprehensive package of in-

novations. Programming needs to be

integrated into a comprehensive pack-

age that includes direct supervision,

delegation of considerable decision-

making to the manager and line level,

collaboration with local schools

(which may be more difficult than in

Orange County if the State does not

mandate that public educators serve

the disadvantaged), and tapping into

every possible source of funding.

■ No overcrowding. The jail cannot

be so overcrowded that there is no bed

space in the old-style part of the jail to

which inmates who break the rules in

program facilities can be transferred.

Another key to success is to begin

small. Orange County began by con-

structing the 220-bed Genesis facility

as a test case for the innovations. Even

if a jail has only one building and

funds are not available to construct a

direct supervision structure, it may be

possible to retrofit one section of the

existing facility to test the innovations.

Some jails have already introduced

some of the major features of the Or-

ange County package of innovations.

Several have developed extensive edu-

cational programs for inmates. With

nine full-time instructors and more than

200 volunteers, the Safer Foundation’s

PACE Institute in Chicago has pro-

vided GED, pre-GED, and literacy

services to over 15,000 inmates in the

Cook County Jail since the 1970s.

The National Institute of Corrections

and the American Jail Association

have each identified more than 100

facilities in more than 24 States that

have implemented direct supervision.

In some cases, as in Larimer County,

Colorado, sheriffs have retrofitted

existing podular remote facilities by

leaving doors open or removing them

and placing corrections officers in the

housing units.

The National Institute of Corrections

has identified at least 16 additional

facilities that have been converted to

direct supervision. Still other counties

have built new direct supervision fa-

cilities. A few jails, including facilities

in San Francisco and Contra Costa

Counties, California; Broward County,

Florida; and Larimer County, Colo-

rado, have combined direct supervi-

sion with formal programs (see

“Sources for Further Information”).

Finally, Orange County has shown

that the benefits of educational pro-

gramming and direct supervision can

be substantial—more than enough to

offset the work involved in imple-

menting the innovations: reductions in

staff, operating costs, and inmate vio-

lence and improvements in inmate

education and employability. If juris-

dictions need to construct or obtain

additional bed space, they can save

considerable money by building or

leasing facilities that can accommo-

date programming and direct supervi-

sion. Finally, the innovations may

reduce recidivism—perhaps the most

important payoff of all.

Notes

1. Anderson, D.B., R.E. Schumacker, and S.L.

Anderson, “Releasee Characteristics and

Parole,” Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 17

(1991):133–145; Berk, R.A., K.J. Lenihan,

and P.H. Rossi, “Crime and Poverty: Some

Experimental Evidence from Ex-Offenders,”

American Sociological Review 45 (1980):766–

786; Freeman, R.B., “Crime and Unemploy-

ment,” in Crime and Public Policy, ed. James

Q. Wilson, San Francisco: ICS Press,

1983:89–106.

2. Harer, M.D., “Recidivism Among Federal

Prison Releasees in 1987: A Preliminary

Report.” Unpublished paper, Washington

D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal

Bureau of Prisons, Office of Research and

Evaluation, March 1994.

3. Piehl, A.M., “Learning While Doing Time,”

Unpublished paper, Cambridge, Massachu-

setts: Harvard University, John F. Kennedy

School of Government, April 1994.

4. Leukefeld, C.G., and F.M. Tims, eds.,

Compulsory Treatment of Drug Abuse:

Research and Clinical Practice, NIDA

Research Monograph 86, Rockville, Mary-

land: U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse,

1988; Anglin, M.D., and H.Yih-Ing, “Treat-

ment of Drug Abuse,” in Drugs and Crime,

ed. Tonry, M., and J.Q. Wilson, Chicago:

14 National Institute of Justice

PROGRAM FOCUS

The Orange County Corrections Divi-

sion distributes a narrative and videotape of

the programs at its Horizon facility, as well

as literature describing the jail innovations.

Staff also give guided tours of program

facilities and classrooms. Contact:

Mark S. Holmes

Senior Unit Supervisor

Programs Unit

Community Corrections Department

Orange County Corrections Division

P.O. Box 4970

Orlando, FL 32802–4970

Telephone: 407–836–3375

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the

principal research, evaluation, and develop-

ment agency of the U.S. Department of Jus-

tice. For information about the NIJ’s efforts in

corrections, program development, and cor-

porate partnership development, contact:

Marilyn C. Moses

Program Manager

National Institute of Justice

810 Seventh Street, N.W., Seventh Floor

Washington, DC 20531

Telephone: 202–514–6205

Fax: 202–307–6256

The National Institute of Justice established

the National Criminal Justice Reference

Service (NCJRS) in 1972 to serve as a

national and international clearinghouse for

the exchange of criminal justice informa-

tion. For more information about topical

searches, bibliographies, custom searches,

and other available services, contact:

NCJRS

P.O. Box 6000

Rockville, MD 20849–6000

Telephone: 800–851–3420 (8:30 a.m. to

7 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday)

For specific criminal justice questions or

requests via Internet, e-mail:

askncjrs@ncjrs.org

The Office of Correctional Education

(OCE) within the U.S. Department of Edu-

cation was created by Congress in 1991 to

provide technical assistance, grant funding,

and research data to the corrections and

correctional education fields. To speak with

Sources for Further Information

a program specialist or be placed on OCE’s

mailing list to receive grant announcements,

OCE’s quarterly newsletter, and other pub-

lications, contact:

Office of Correctional Education

U.S. Department of Education

600 Independence Avenue S.W.

MES 4529

Washington, DC 20202–7242

Telephone: 202–205–5621

Fax: 202–401–2615

World Wide Web site: http://

www.ed.gov/offices/OVAE/OCE

The National Institute of Corrections Jails

Division offers free technical assistance on

inmate programming and direct supervision

and a 30-hour jails orientation workshop on

direct supervision. Ask for the publications,

NIC Jails Division: A National Resource for

Local Jails and the NIC Service Plan for the

current year. The institute also offers a Podular

Direct Supervision Jails Information Packet

and a videotape for sheriffs, county commis-

sioners, jail planners, and line staff that high-

lights the basic concepts of direct supervi-

sion. Contact:

NIC Information Center

1860 Industrial Circle, Suite A

Longmont, CO 80501

Telephone: 800–877–1461

Fax: 303–682–0558

The National Institute of Corrections’ Office

of Correctional Job Training and Place-

ment (OCJTP) was created in March 1995 to

■ Cooperate with and coordinate the efforts

of other Federal agencies in the areas of job

training and placement.

■ Collect and disseminate information on

offender job training and placement programs,

accomplishments, and employment outcomes.

■ Provide training to develop staff compe-

tencies in working with offenders and ex-

offenders.

■ Provide technical assistance to State and

local training and employment agencies.

For more information, contact:

John Moore

Coordinator

Office of Correctional Job Training and

Placement

National Institute of Corrections

320 First Street N.W.

Washington, DC 20534

Telephone: 800–995–6423 ext. 147 or

202–307–3361 ext. 147

The American Jail Association (AJA)

provides regional training seminars, onsite

technical assistance, and training materials

related to inmate programming, direct su-

pervision, and other corrections topics for a

modest fee. The Association also sponsors

an Annual Training Conference & Jail Expo.

The Association’s magazine, American

Jails, includes articles on jail innovations,

such as “Direct Supervision: A Systems

Approach to Jail Management,” Spring

1989, pages 67–71. Contact:

Stephen J. Ingley

Executive Director

American Jail Association

2053 Day Road, Suite 100

Hagerstown, MD 21740–9795

Telephone: 301–790–3930

Fax: 301–790–2941

e-mail: aja@corrections.com

World Wide Web site: http://

www.corrections.com/aja

The Correctional Education Association

(CEA) is affiliated with the American Cor-

rectional Association as an international

professional organization serving educa-

tion program needs within the field of cor-

rections. Membership includes teachers, li-

brarians, counselors, and other education

professionals. Members receive a quarterly

journal and newsletter, an annual directory,

and a yearbook. Annual conferences are

held in each of CEA’s nine regions and

many of its State chapters. One of the re-

gions hosts an international conference with

workshops on successful instructional strat-

egies. Contact:

Alice Tracey

Assistant Director

Correctional Education Association

4380 Forbes Boulevard

Lanham, MD 20706

Telephone: 301–918–1915

Fax: 301–918–1846

Program Focus 15

PROGRAM FOCUS

The National Institute of Justice is a compo-

nent of the Office of Justice Programs, which

also includes the Bureau of Justice Assistance,

the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Office of

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention,

and the Office for Victims of Crime.

NCJ 166820 December 1997

All photos courtesy of Michael Davies,

Orange County, Florida, Corrections

Division.

On the cover: A vocational instructor

in the Phoenix facility shows an in-

mate in the automotive repair course

how to mount a tire.

This document was written by Peter Finn,

senior research associate at Abt Associ-

ates Inc. The findings and conclusions of

the research reported here are those of the

author and do not necessarily reflect the

official position or policies of the U.S.

Department of Justice.

About This Study

University of Chicago Press, 1990:393–460;

Falkin, G.P., H.K. Wexler, and D.S. Lipton,

“Drug Treatment in State Prisons,” in Treating

Drug Problems, Vol 2, ed. Gerstein, D.R., and

H.J. Harwood, Washington, D.C.: National

Academy Press, 1992:89–131.

5. The auditors found that per-inmate costs in

the Orange County jail were higher than

those of two other Florida jails. However,

one of the other jails, in Hillsborough

County, had at least one overcrowded

facility; it arguably costs less per inmate to

operate an overcrowded than an at-capacity

facility, because the number of corrections

staff and fixed costs remain constant no

matter how many inmates are housed. The

other jail, in Duval County, had only 694

staff compared with 864 in Palm Beach,

1,259 in Broward County, 2,349 in Metro

Dade, and 1,436 in Orange County.

6. McCarthy, B., R. Surrette, and B.

Applegate, Orange County Corrections Jail

Evaluation Project: Outcome Analysis,

Orlando, Florida: University of Florida,

Department of Criminal Justice and Legal

Studies, April 1997.

7. Although inmates were not randomly

assigned to the three groups, they did not differ

significantly in race, classification level, age,

education, or number of bookings before

release. Groups 2 and 3, however, included

larger percentages of females than did group 1.

In addition, as the length of program participa-

tion increased, both the proportion of inmates

who had been convicted (as opposed to

awaiting trial) and the average number of days

in custody increased. As a result, differences in

gender, conviction status, or days in custody,

rather than programming or direct supervision,

may explain differences in recidivism. The

recidivism data would be more valid if further

analysis of the data could control for previous

criminal history and offense seriousness, either

of which may relate to length of jail stay and

later risk of recidivism (more serious offenders

get longer sentences and are more likely to be

rearrested).

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

National Institute of Justice

Washington, DC 20531

Official Business

Penalty for Private Use $300

BULK RATE

POSTAGE & FEES PAID

DOJ/NIJ

Permit No. G–91

The Orange County, FL, Jail Educational And Vocational Programs (Program Focus) FPL33RSD 166820

Navigation menu

Versions of this User Manual:

Views

Navigation