Classification serves as the basis for both custody and treatment. Prisoners in early penitentiaries were not classified: they were dealt with uniformly rather than individually. Classification grew out of the reformatory movement of the late 1800s. Zebulon Brockway, the founder of the Elmira Reformatory, is sometimes given credit for devising early classification techniques. The idea was to find out what the needs of the individual inmate were, and then to plan a prison program around those needs. When the prisoner had changed ("reformed"), he was to be released on parole. This is the origin of the rehabilitation model. But classification was not generally applied to all inmates until much later: at first it was only for the ones who were believed to be capable of being helped by the programs of the reformatory.

Classification began to be applied to all inmates in progressive prison systems after World War II. The basic idea of classification is carried out in three phases:

Assessment--identification of needs

Programming--matching the inmate to institutional programs

Evaluation--periodic checking to see if progress is being made

Classification is carried out usually at the time the inmate enters the system to begin serving his sentence; he goes to a reception center or a classification center for a few days or few weeks before being assigned to his institution. (For a more detailed discussion of classification in Louisiana, see "Hard Labor: State Custody of Convicted Felons in Louisiana.")

Although classification was in theory intended to promote rehabilitation, it also came to serve the interest of custody or security, by assessing the degree of the inmate's dangerousness: was he an escape risk or a threat to physical safety and order?

An inmate was sent to the right custodial prison, or a prison that had bed space, whether it had any programs that might benefit him or not. There were always fewer programs than there were inmates trying to get into them anyway, so even if the inmate's needs were clearly identified he would probably have to wait to get into them: the process of matching individual inmates to existing programs was very "iffy."

Many question the value of prison treatment programs at all. Treatment never got much money, usually no more than 5% of the budget, maybe 10% in the most expensive and progressive prisons. Custody concerns predominated and determined the institutional philosophy. Treatment was a few hours a week; custody was all the time. Many inmates surely got into treatment programs not because they wanted help but because they saw programs as being tied to parole eligibility (non-alcoholics going through AA so they could be cured of a problem they never had in the first place).

In both medium and maximum security prisons, custody is the most important concern. The chief techniques of custody are segregation and controlled movement of inmates. Specific practices used in custody would include:

1. counts. Everyone has a place to be at any given time. Several counts a day, called in to a control center. All activities stop while the count is going on, until it reconciles.

2. controlled movement. Gates and sallyports. Use of passes to move about. Restriction to certain parts of the prison.

3. searches. From frisks to strip searches to shakedowns of living areas, constant vigilance against any form of contraband.

4. tool and key control. Avoiding inmates using items for weapons and escape attempts.

5. property control. Inmates only allowed prescribed items (and usually no cash money) in their possession.

6. visitor control. Searches, monitoring, no contact visits for high security prisoners.

7. personal monitoring. In more secure prisons, inmates are always supposed to be in the line of sight of a security officer.

8. rules and procedures. Stating what prisoners are allowed to do, and what disciplinary actions will be taken if they violate the rules. Prisoners get "write-ups" that affect their privileges and can affect goodtime.

Security determines the inmate's living quarters, work assignment, recreation, and ability to participate in other activities, including treatment programs. These can be changed over time, as the inmate establishes that he is able (or unable) to live in a particular environment within the prison.

Treatment can be loosely described as any institutional program intended to make the inmate better. Among the general types of prison treatment programs are:

religious activities

self-help groups and "purpose" clubs

group therapy

vocational training

educational programs, from ABE to GED to college-level

individual psychotherapy

medical treatment, including corrective surgery

work assignments

specific therapeutic approaches aimed at target clienteles--sex offenders, alcoholics, drug users, gamblers, wife-beaters, etc.

In Louisiana the Hunt Reception and Diagnostic Center (HRDC) at Hunt Correctional Center performs the classification function for new prison inmates sentenced to hard labor. A similar unit at Wade Correctional Center does the same thing for inmates entering the system in north Louisiana. It is called WRDC. The HRDC and WRDC process three types of inmates:

1. inmates coming into the state system from parish jails.

2. transfers from other state prisons (for re-evaluation).

3. parole violators.

The inmate's stay in HRDC will generally last between two and four weeks, depending on available bed space at other prisons. The classification process itself usually requires six working days.

Six different offices or sections play roles in the classification process:

1. Classification.

2. Assessment and Intervention.

3. Medical.

4. Records.

5. Education.

6. Security.

The Classification Section assigns the new inmate his temporary living quarters and issues him the institutional rules that will apply to him in state custody. Classification also prepares the Admission Summary, a background report which accompanies the inmate when he leaves the HRDC.

Assessment and Intervention is mostly interested in the inmate's mental health. It attempts to determine if he is having any severe mental or behavioral problems. This section uses psychological tests and interviews (focusing on substance abuse and mental health treatment history) to make up a psychosocial history and assess each inmate's current mental state.

The Medical Section compiles a report on the offender's past medical history and current physical health. Several tests, including blood and urine samples, are run, and each inmate is given a complete physical.

The Records Office prepares a file on each inmate. This file includes court papers, the pre-sentence or post-sentence investigation, the Master Record and the Computation Worksheet (copies of which will be given to the inmates), and reports from the other processing sections. This office is particularly important to the inmate in that it establishes release dated for incoming prisoners.

The Education Section determines the new inmate's educational level and identifies any particular educational problems or skills he may have. Each inmate is given a reading test. Inmates with speech and hearing problems or inmates who are candidates for special education are evaluated at length.

The Security Section monitors the inmates's behavior while he is in residence at HRDC. This section's function is not only to keep him securely confined, as would be true of any prison, but also to provide the Classification Section with any information about his behavior and attitude that would be useful in deciding which institution he should be assigned to.

The actual assignment is made by a three member Staffing Committee--the chairman from Classification and members from Education and Assessment and Intervention. This committee reviews all the records, interviews and test results that have been accumulated during the classification process; it then recommends to Corrections Service Headquarters a first and second choice of prisons to which the inmate is eligible to be transferred.

Among the circumstances most important in determining where the inmate will be sent are the following:

1. length of sentence.

2. degree of risk, including both violence and escape.

3. protection considerations (for informants, overt homosexuals, former legal officials, and other inmates with known enemies already in the system).

4. mental and physical health concerns (for inmates who are mentally ill, handicapped, or suffering from AIDS or other serious illnesses).

In general, inmates serving sentences of 20 years to life will be sent to Angola. Inmates serving less than 20 years will go to one of the seven (soon to be eight) medium security prisons. But any hard labor felon may be sent to Angola, regardless of sentence length, especially if he is an habitual offender or if he has practiced disruptive behavior in custody. Inmates can also request assignment to Angola, and some do, mostly because they do not like the environment of the medium security prisons or do not want to associate with certain inmates already in residence at other facilities.

The warden or superintendent as the official in charge of each separate institution. The warden's values, personality, interests and approach create the environment in which the institution's staff and inmates work and live. Principal types of management "styles:"

1. the autocratic style: characteristic of the old-style penitentiaries of the 1800s and early 1900s. Total authority to make the rules and run his prison as he wanted: no legal rights of inmates, no federal courts to satisfy, no employee unions to deal with. Some were benevolent and some were mean-spirited, but most were paternalistic and strong-willed. (The Nathan Arizona attitude: "My way or the highway." Often civic reformers who wanted to make better men out of convicts; the question was how to do it? Often worked at one institution for a very long period of time. The prison was their lasting memorial.

2. the political hack: appointed by the governor as a figurehead; no prior background in prison work. Stayed in the office and didn't interfere in the daily operation of the prison, which was usually run by the Deputy Warden for Security (or Custody). Common in the South and several other states. Came and went with no real impact on the prison.

3. the bureaucratic style: the most common style of today. A career prison official who has worked his way up within the system of one state. Not as powerful or influential as the old warden, because of the development of the Department of Corrections as a central office and policy-making authority. Wardens move around within the system; not associated with any particular institution.

Most wardens today are college-educated administrators who are not expected to go their own way within the state's corrections bureaucracy. Most start in classification or some administrative function, not in security. Less likelihood that a security officer (or guard) will have the background needed to be a contemporary warden.

The main concerns of the prison warden today:

1. secure custody is foremost. The quickest way to get fired is to allow lots of escapes or extensive disorder, as in internal violence or riots.

2. dealing with inmate problems and legal rights, as argued in lawsuits challenging conditions of confinement.

3. dealing with employees, singly and in unions or organizations. Staff cause a lot more trouble than inmates in most institutions.

4. dealing with the corrections bureaucracy within the state.

Often headed by political appointees who may not share the same sense of mission the warden has.

5. dealing with the courts, the legislature and the executive branch; particularly in promoting changes to benefit prison operations.

6. dealing with the media, inmate families, and other outside groups who may be interested in inmate welfare and prison conditions.

7. providing programs to promote change among inmates.

The prison guard as the principal employee of the institution: more security officers than all other employees added together. About 240,000 security officers in state and federal prisons.

How many little boys and girls want to be prison guards when they grow up? Most people getting into the work are attracted by the stability of the work: usually a civil service job with benefits and retirement.

Many guards have tended to be rural white males, because state prisons have usually been located in rural areas away from cities; prison inmates have tended to be minorities from urban areas, which often promotes cultural conflict within the institution. Many guards in the past worked nights or evenings in prison so they could work at other jobs, especially farming, in the daytime.

Prison guards still predominantly male (80%+), though more opportunities for women in recent years. Guard work is often seen as "the best job available" for people going into it. A lot of people get into it for a short time and then get out when a better job comes along: very high turnover rates (20% to 50%) in many states, high absenteeism rates on the job. The prison is a difficult environment to work in; many who would like to stay can't take it: dealing with inmates, the rules and procedures, shift work, boring and disagreeable assignments. Many guards are involved in illegal activities, particularly bringing in contraband, that cause them to be fired and sometimes criminally charged.

Many different jobs for security officers:

1. living quarters. Most contact with inmates.

2. the yard. Supervising idle time and recreation.

3. work sites.

4. gates, sally ports and control points.

5. visiting.

6. dining halls, libraries, education and vocational training, hospital, mental health.

7. towers and walls. Often the dullest and most tedious.

8. escorts and transports. Accompanying prisoners to hospitals, courts and other outside functions.

9. training, personnel, internal affairs and administration.

Should security officers only be interested in security, or should they be counselors and problem-solvers also? American prison officers are generally taught to be authority figures, not friends and counselors; not involved in the treatment or rehabilitation of inmates, setting up conflict with those who are.

Increasing role of unions and other organizations representing the interests of security officers; pay, benefits, working conditions.

In general unions can organize but not strike: sick-outs fairly common job actions.

The predominant role of Deputy Warden for Security: in charge of the largest labor force within the walls. Most influential in the day-to-day operation of the institution. Usually a career security officer who is not in a position to qualify for a warden's job.

The prison guard vs. the correctional officer: what's the role difference?

Who goes to prison, and what happens to them once they get there?

Profile of adult prison inmates today:

Gender: 94% male, 6% female

Age: 67% under 35

Race/Ethnicity: 33% white, 48% black, 17% Hispanic

Marital Status: 55% never married, 18% married

Education: 34% high school graduates

Employment(at arrest): 33% not employed, 55% working full-time

Income(at arrest): 52% earning less than $10,000 per year

Crimes: 30% drug trafficking and possession, 15% robbery, 12% burglary, 11% murder, 8% assault

Prior Record: 18% none, 11% juvenile only, 36% adult only, 35% both juvenile and adult prior convictions

Drug Abuse: 54% claimed under influence of drugs or alcohol or both at time of offense; 62% regular drug users.

Basic profile: young man, prior record of confinement, undereducated and underemployed, unattached, with a history of abusing drugs and alcohol.

Classification: the basis of custody and treatment in the prison system. For new inmates, creates prison records, evaluates security needs, medical and psychological tests, education needs.

Basic decisions to be made with the new inmate:

institution to be assigned to.

living quarters.

job assignments.

treatment--education, job training, counselling.

Very different living environments according to level of security:

supermax--perpetual lockdown, no work.

maximum--very high security.

medium--dormitory life.

minimum--dorms and rooms.

open--community centers.

The concept of the prison at a "total institution:" assuming that custody can totally control the lives of the inmates--procedures, rules, discipline, punishment. In opposition to the official world is the "inmate subculture," which represents the values of the inmates. "Prisonization:" Donald Clemmer's term for the adaptation of the inmate to the prison subculture; easier for previously institutionalized inmates than new, inexperienced younger inmates.

The inmate code: a set of informal rules ("Don't be a rat." "Do your own time." "Don't be a snitch."), roles ("right guy," "rat," "tough," "merchant," "gorilla"), structures and beliefs that defined the old prison subculture. Not as strong today, due to the breakdown of the old social structure. Prison inmates today are more violent, more racially divided (in some prisons), more gang-oriented, and more institutionalized than earlier inmates.

Other influences on prison life: overcrowding; asexual prison life (little use of conjugal visiting or coed prisons; sex not permitted in prison); legal rights of inmates; improved living environment, including better medical care for inmates; more access to outside world; higher quality security; more professional treatment services available; longer prison terms for violent and repeat offenders.

How do offenders get out of prison?

Parole. Through the action of a parole board. In 41 states.

Discretionary release from confinement to community supervision, after serving some minimum eligibility period in prison. Most common release method (40%).

Mandatory release. "Good-time" release date: sentence less time off for good behavior. Generally released under parole supervision. About 30% of releases.

Emergency release. In states where prison overcrowding is a continuing problem, prisons may have authority to release short-time inmates when population caps are reached.

Commutation. Through use of the governor's clemency power, and usually through the action of a state pardon board, the prison inmate's sentence can be shortened to time served.

Discharge. Outright full-term release. No supervision.

Escape. Less than 1% nationally.

Death. In states with natural life sentences, a growing number.

Other release options:

furloughs--weekend passes, special visits; return to custody.

work release--from either jails or prisons.

pre-release--in the prison or in the community; a short-term program to prepare the offender for release back into the community.

halfway houses--for parolees, inmates on work release, violators, or a stricter form of probation. Non-secure community facilities.

shock parole ("intensive incarceration")--boot camp. Used in the majority of the states. A short-term, military-style program generally used with younger, first-time offenders.

Parole remains the oldest and most frequently used option. Used since mid-1800s. Tied to indeterminate sentence and rehabilitation. Parole boards today are more likely to be staffed by professionals and use some risk assessment or prediction guidelines. Inmates release on parole are subject to supervision of parole officer (who in 34 states is also a probation officer). Subject to return to confinement for law or technical violations. Parolees generally supervised more strictly than probationers. Parole hearing required as part of revocation. Levels of parole supervision vary widely from one state to another: the more intensive the supervision, the more technical violators are likely to be returned.

Problems of ex-convicts:

loss of legal standing, including certain rights of citizenship. Can be restored by pardon process.

employment stigma. Harder to get public employment and some occupational licenses in many states.

economic disadvantage. Lacking education and job training to pursue non-criminal vocations.

relations with family members and former friends. Not supposed to associate with undesirables.

resumption of drug and alcohol abuse habits.

recidivism. About 40 to 60% of prison inmates return to prison for a new crime. Younger, chronic property and drug offenders with a drug or alcohol problem have highest recidivism rates.

Community corrections. Problems with definition: taking place in the community, or focusing on the community, or some combination of confinement and release time? Disintegrating lines between prisons (institutions) and the community.

Traditional community corrections:

probation

work release--jails or prisons

parole

furloughs--weekend passes, special visits

"New" community corrections (1970s and 1980s): the "reintegration era:"

Release on recognizance--supervised pre-trial release

Diversion--pre-conviction treatment

Community service orders--vice and white-collar crimes

Restitution--compensation to victim

Split sentence (shock probation)--confinement followed by probation

Intermittent confinement--weekends in jail

House arrest

Electronic monitoring

Pre-release--in the institution or in the community

Halfway houses--upon release or as a condition of probation

Shock parole--boot camp programs for several months, followed by intensive parole.

Potential of community corrections:

cheaper than institutions

more normal environment

responsibility placed on offender

effects of institution reduced

"least restrictive alternative"--less trouble

Problems with community corrections:

public apathy or hostility to location

small, narrowly focused programs--not matching mulitple needs of offenders

shabby facilities in rundown neighborhoods

high absconding and failure rates

difficult to evaluate effectiveness--lack of rehabilitative success

greater expense if rehabilitative services provided

"widening the net"--bringing in new offenders for more intrusive control

instability and lack of acceptance within the system

"Civil death:" loss of legal standing under common law upon felony conviction.

"Hands off:" court doctrine of non-interference in prison operations.

Federal courts beginning to expand prisoner rights in the 1960s.

Important suits concerning statewide prison systems:

Holt v. Sarver (1970)--Arkansas system

Williams v. McKeithen (1975)--Louisiana (read Hayes Williams article in TWIS-3)

Ruiz v. Estelle (1976)--Texas system

Estelle v. Gamble--prison medical care

Inmates sue state prisons for damages under 42 U.S.C. 1983, which makes state and local officials liable in federal courts for civil rights violations. Many thousands of such suits filed in federal courts each year; 2% are settled favorably to the inmates, 1% go to trial. Very few result in large financial judgments.

Many state prisons under court order because of prison conditions--individual prisons or entire systems. Louisiana example:

Judge Frank Polozola

consent decree

court master

reporting requirements/contempt powers

Major areas of expanded prisoner legal rights:

First Amendment

disciplinary due process

medical care

access to courts

Why do prisoners file so many worthless lawsuits?

messing with the system: chronic complainers

nothing else to do

no other way to resolve disputes

ineffective grievance process

states turning to ombudsmen and mediators

Federal courts backing off from expanding prisoners' rights further in recent years; number of inmate lawsuits has doubled in the past decade, roughly keeping pace with the increase in prison population.

Legal rights of ex-offenders:

Loss of rights upon conviction.

What rights are lost?

How do you get those rights back? Louisiana's automatic first-offender pardon process.

What are the consequences of being an ex-con?

Clearing your record through expungement.