A National Picture of Prison Downsizing Strategies

Abstract

Many states faced fiscal pressures on their corrections budgets as the country entered a deep recession in 2008. A 2011 survey by the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) asked corrections officials in all 50 states about changes in correctional facilities, focusing on closures, new facilities, and altering existing facilities as a response to budget pressures. States employed a combination of these strategies. Between fiscal year (FY) 2007–2008 and FY 2011–2012, 148 facilities were closed, 29 new facilities were opened, and 23 states added 22,740 beds to existing facilities, resulting in about a 19,000 net bed reduction overall. Closures did not necessarily appear to be related to fiscal pressures or always related to reductions in the prison population. Despite the Great Recession, correctional funding is still a large part of state expenses and many states’ correctional populations continue to grow.     

Suicide prevention training outside the mental health service system: evaluation of a state-wide program in Australia for rehabilitation and disability staff in the field of traumatic brain injury

The training needs of staff working in mainstream (i.e., noncrisis) health settings with client groups that have moderate levels of suicide risk have not been extensively addressed. An initiative to train rehabilitation and disability staff working in the field of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is described. A program was adapted from a generic state health department training program, and disseminated by means of established training networks within the brain injury field. Program efficacy was evaluated as the training was provided across the state of Victoria in a series of 1-day workshops. Participants (n = 86) completed two evaluation measures designed for this purpose (objective knowledge test, self-rating of knowledge and skills) on three occasions (pre- and postworkshop, 6-month follow-up). Compared to a control group of rehabilitation and disability workers who did not receive the training (n = 27), the workshop participants made significant gains in objective knowledge and reported skills, and maintained these gains at the 6-month follow-up. The Suicide Interview Response Inventory-2 (Neimeyer & Pfeiffer, 1994) was administered to a subgroup of participants as a validating measure, and correlated significantly with scores from the objective knowledge test. This process may provide a template for developing more fine-grained suicide prevention strategies among other health-related at-risk groups.     

IR Teaching Reloaded: Using Films and Simulations in the Teaching of International Relations

This article reflects some experiences in teaching International Relations (IR) by using films to supplement the use of simulations and role play scenarios. The authors have used simulations and role play scenarios in order to teach complex issues and theories, and to engage the interest of students. By using films to supplement the use of simulations in classrooms, it is suggested that students become more active in their own learning. A number of ways in which simulations and role play can be used in teaching are established here alongside an array of films that can be shown to students to complement such teaching approaches. The use of films to teach IR theory is also listed. It is concluded that the use of simulations, role play, and films in teaching IR can aid student learning especially in terms of IR theory.     

Evaluation of shooting distance by AFM and FTIR/ATR analysis of GSR

The techniques of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Fourier transform infrared attenuated total reflectance (FTIR/ATR) spectroscopy are applied to the analysis of gun-shot residue (GSR) to test their ability to determine shooting distance and discrimination of the powder manufacturers. AFM is a nondestructive technique that is capable of characterizing the shapes and size distributions of GSR particles with resolution down to less than a nanometer. This may be useful for estimation of the shooting distance. Our AFM images of GSR show that the size distribution of the particles is inversely proportional to the shooting distance. Discrimination of powder manufacturers is tested by FTIR/ATR investigation of GSR. Identifying the specific compounds in the GSR by FTIR/ATR was not possible because it is a mixture of the debris of several compounds that compose the residue. However, it is shown that the GSR from different cartridges has characteristic FTIR/ATR bands that may be useful in differentiating the powder manufacturers. It appears promising that the development of AFM and FTIR/ATR databases for various powder manufacturers may be useful in analysis and identification of GSR.     

The Detention of Juvenile Status Offenders

The author is now director of Milieu Therapy, Lakeside Children's Center, Milwaukee, WI. This article was written while the author was Professor of Economics, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO.     

Racial differences in violence and self-esteem among prison inmates

Recent scholarship in social psychology suggests that individuals with an elevated sense of self-esteem may respond aggressively or violently when this heightened egoism is threatened. The present study explores differences in self-esteem, aggression, and violent behavior among a sample of 644 male state prison inmates. The results indicated that Black inmates expressed higher levels of self-esteem than White inmates. Although Blacks and Whites did not differ on a psychological measure of aggressive personality, Black prisoners reported more violent behavior than Whites. Moreover, high self-esteem predicted violent behavior inside prison, but only for Whites. This finding suggests that the relationship between high self-esteem and violence may be race-specific.