Word: prisons
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...attack the basic prison problem - isolation from society the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice advocates a drastic shift to "community-based corrections." Two-thirds of all offenders are already being supervised outside the walls, on probation or parole. But probation is still widely regarded as clemency rather than treatment; only one-third of American courts have reasonably adequate probation staffs. Burdened with over 100 cases apiece, plus pre-sentence reports for judges, many probation officers can give offenders only ten or 15 minutes, once or twice a month. To cut average caseloads...
There is no question that probation can be more effective than prison. In one experiment by the California Youth Authority, convicted juvenile delinquents were immediately returned to their homes or foster homes, where parole officers grouped them according to their special characteristics and then provided intensive treatment - tutoring, psychotherapy, occasional confinement. After five years, only 28% of the experimental group had their paroles revoked, compared with 52% of a similar group that was locked up after conviction. By giving 600 more delinquents such treatment, California avoided paying $7,000,000 for a new reformatory. Supervising adult felons on probation costs...
...reduce regimentation, says Criminologist Daniel Gia-ser, no prison should house more than 100 inmates, v 4,000 in many of today's bastilles; small groups of tractable prisoners could live in Y.M.C.A.-type hotels or apartments...
...three months before the judge decides. In California, which leads the U.S. and most of the world in systematic penology, judges give indeterminate sentences, and correction officials then determine the offender's fate according to his well-tested possibilities. In 1966, only 7% of California felons went to prison. Of all state inmates, 20% actually work outside in 80-man forestry crews, saving California millions...
Thus far, most American prison reform has focused on the traumas of release. The pacesetting federal system, which includes a no-wall unit at Seagoville, Texas, has institutionalized the "halfway houses" pioneered by religious groups to shelter ex-convicts seeking jobs. Intensive prerelease training at federal centers has cut some graduates' repeater rate by 15%. Texas boasts a remarkable six-week course at a relaxed center near Houston, where civilian volunteers (bankers, auto salesmen, personnel experts) teach felons how to get loans, buy cars, apply for jobs-things many never knew. Result: a repeater rate of 13.9%, down from...