istrator who is responsible for the various custodial and casework staff components and for their organization into a coordinated team. Under this system, the program administrator is responsible for and can participate actively in classification and disciplinary processes. The unit organization allows much greater flow of communication between inmates and staff and to and from the more accessible program administrator. The accessibility of this administrator to both staff and inmates is one of the most important facets of the program unit concept. A second type of evolution observed in the correctional institution sub-system relates to the change in the manner of controlling inmates. Initially, control of inmates was maintained mainly by force of external con rols: The use of armed towers and cat-walks with armed officers. The correctional officer maintained control by the use of a night-stick and the authority of his uniform and badge. We have learned, both in and out of penal institutions, that authority and discipline can be more effectively maintained, and at less cost, with effective supervisory techniques, with resort to threats of external force used only rarely. The next step in this evolution was the recognition that inmates as individuals and as groups had much ability to exert control over themselves, and that this ability of self-control could be developed. In order to achieve most effectively the progression from external to internal controls on the part of the inmates, a well-trained, unified and consistent staff is essential. Sociological studies have indicated clearly that one of the major difficulties in the traditional prison organization was the ability of inmates to manipulate staff by playing one organizational unit against another." This elementary principle is the same one used by children, who can be successful in playing one parent against the other. Emotionally healthy children come from homes where the parents work together and are flexible but consistent in their guidance of the children. This is also, therefore, the basis for the need for a unified staff team approach to work more consistently toward the basic mutual goals. In summary, the program unit provides for a unified correctional team, which eliminates many of the opposing objectives of security and treatment. It also provides the framework for division of large, unwieldly, overpopulated institutions into more manageably-sized units. The objective of the program unit is, therefore, to create an organization with a high level of efficiency and effectiveness in: 1. Overall security. 2. Development of more comprehensive and evaluating information about inmates and communicating this to the proper authorities. 3. Establishment and maintenance of good inmate moraleto give all who desire it, a realistic sense of security in the pursuit of their rehabilitation programs and rejection of the inmate culture. 4. Improving programs in rehabilitation involving both changes in attitude and behavior and the development of appropriate skills for employment. 5. Utilizing inmate manpower to meet critical production requirements both in institutional operations and in industries. The improved organization structure and operational plan also can result in improved staff morale with motivation to be understanding toward and helpful to inmates. It can bring about improved staff teamwork, particularly among positions operating at the inmate level. There can be achieved greater stability of assignments, housing and staff-inmate relationships. DETENTION CENTER The present Jail and police precinct lock-ups should be replaced by a detention center, centrally located to service the police and courts. The present Jail facility and police precinct lock-ups are antiquated in their physical plant as well as in their functions and programs. The present police precinct lock-ups are inadequate and involve the police in a function which is not a proper concern for law enforcement. Precinct facilities do not have adequate space for family visitation or for interviewing rooms for probation officers and attorneys. The Jail is overcrowded and filled with indigents. Dormitories containing 350 men are poorly supervised. Counseling services are practically non-existent, and while the Jail is in close proximity to D.C. General Hospital there is no arrangement for handling of severely disturbed inmates. The physical plant, constructed in 1873, is run down with obsolete, often-repaired, defective locking systems. The Jail is understaffed in both its professional and custodial force. Staff shortages have resulted in serious limitation of programs.2 28 It can be said with assurance that weaknesses in security and supervision in correctional institutions can be poor economy. Inmates exploit these weaknesses to the disadvantage of all. For example, if an officer position is "borrowed" from a housing unit to cover an essential security post during movement periods, the time the unit is left unsupervised is when predatory inmates assault or extort from weak inmates. If this happens, almost no amount of job training or counseling can overcome the contempt, bitterness, and/or frustration in the mind of the aggressor or victim. The experience demonstrates that justice is no more than the "right" of raw power. An institution, in order to become a treatment facility, first must become a secure place to live. No one yet has constructed a good jail. This is an area that needs bold innovative planning. Construction should come only after thorough planning, involving multiple agency representation and professional consultation. Those who will be the multiple users of this facility should be represented, not only those presently concerned but those whose programs might need to be accommodated in this facility. Emphasis in designing the facility should be on making it secure where security emphasis is needed, while providing a minimum of restraints or appearance of restraints where possible. Space should be planned to assure accommodations for a highly diversified program which would allow correctional and other auxiliary services to have access, working space and maximum freedom of movement without compromise of security. Diagnostic and Outpatient Clinic The ultimate utilization of the Diagnostic and Outpatient Clinic provides some support for locating this facility in a place clearly separate from the Detention Center. While the diagnostic service represents the most immediate need, this is also a logical base of operations for outpatient services. As a clinic, however, location in the Detention Center has the undesirable effect of "labeling" all who enter for service as persons in trouble with the law. It is difficult on this basis to effectuate plans for including outpatient counseling of the family-adults and children-of probationers and parolees. Also, competent psychiatrists, psychologists and other clinical specialists do not long find satisfaction in a purely diagnostic operation. Rather, this is usually an acceptable part of their specialty only when coupled with an opportunity to provide treatment. The outpatient clinic aspect is partially justified for this reason, as well as the more important reason that the service is needed. On the other hand, the case for having this near or with the Detention Center is that it does simplify the movement of inmates to and from the diagnostic unit. RESEARCH AND EVALUATION A major research and evaluation program should be established in the Department of Correctional Services for the purpose of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of all components of the correctional process. Adequate professional staff and supportive resources are needed to carry on and expand the existing basic administrative statistical service of the Department of Corrections, in particular to include movement and performance data on probationers and parolees, and on the decisions of the Parole Board with respect to terms, paroles granted and deferred, and parole violation dispositions. Base expectancy or predictive tools regarding the performance or risks of various types of offenders are needed in order to make better sentencing and parole decisions without increasing the risk to society. Program evaluation research is needed to understand what we are doing, to assess the relative successes of the various programs, and to identify the variables which most influence outcomes; much more information is needed about offender typology. All new treatment and control programs should have an evaluative research design feature whereby accomplishments can systematically be appraised and ineffective programs can be terminated and resources reallocated to more promising techniques. This service is the crucial element of a modern information system, in which administrators and researchers review and assess the effectiveness of regular operations. . . . An information system is an apparatus for the regular collection of recurring data on all major elements of the agency's operating system; the interpretation of these data in accordance with prearranged norms and criteria; and the dissemination of the interpreted data to administrative and operating personnel who need the information for the purpose of reviewing the past and planning the future.29 The research function has been elevated to divisional level in the proposed reorganizational plan in order to provide emphasis and relative independence and to make it possible to attract highly competent people to head this Division. The research plan should include an aggressive program for obtaining funds from foundations and other research-supporting agencies. The Research Division's overall competence would be a major factor in achieving such support. The research strategy should be one of evaluation of existing organization, its processes, and outcome in terms of the system's effect or influence on the offender's behavior while in the institution and subsequently. Research results should be reflected continuously in modification of operations by program managers. Perhaps as significant as the specific findings of the personnel of the Research Division will be the research carried out by the line program staff who will, with the advice and assistance of the professional researchers, conduct measurement studies as an on-going activity in their own activities or functions. For example, in the security institutions, custodial managers may find many ways to greater efficiency by their own studies of: (1) When and where do disciplinary infractions occur? (2) What information about inmates is developed, who keeps it, is it any good, is it used? (3) Which inmates get the best jobs and housing assignments? (4) What is the racial composition of the work crews, training classes, housing areas? The answers to questions of this specificity have led to surprising discoveries and improvements in deployment of staff and in overcoming the negative influences of the inmate culture and value system where these are unknowingly supported by traditional institutional procedures. Automatic data processing is a powerful tool for improving correctional management. We do not propose immediate acquisition of such equipment, but merely assignment of responsibility to the Research Division to develop a plan for the design of a system. There are good possibilities for obtaining developmental grants in this field. The studies now underway in several States, and those of the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice may in the very near future point the way more clearly and provide new stimulus for development of the overall information system. In the immediate future, we may expect great stress to be placed on the need for even broader scientific technology, such as electronic devices and applications in information storage and retrieval, over the continuum of the entire system of criminal justice. In particular, crime and arrest statistics, and offender characteristics in such detail as necessary to become a criminal career history are needed for better understanding and planning. It would be appropriate, in view of the importance of the work to be done in this field, to plan to allocate at least five percent of the total corrections budget to the research effort in the foreseeable future. PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT AND TRAINING The personnel management and training program should be substantially strengthened and diversified. This recommendation is concerned with (1) Developing fully competent staff in all services of the Department, (2) applying effective means to enable the employee to provide all of the services for which he is paid, (3) to encourage his individual effort for self-development, (4) to prepare him as a more versatile worker, able to fulfill a variety of assignments and (5) to prepare him for advancement. These things in combination result in better performance of the organization through skilled, motivated and resourceful personnel. Existing programs have merit; they simply do not apply to all personnel, do not go far enough. For example, parole officers should be able to recognize the symptoms of narcotics use so that a parolee suspected of addiction may be detained for medical examination. The |