The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) stands every day with those who staff our nation’s jails, prisons, parole and probation agencies, pre-trial programs, and local community justice councils. During National Correctional Workers Week, we make a special effort to honor the courage, resilience, and integrity of those who protect and serve in corrections.
On Tuesday morning May 6, NIC staff will join our Federal Bureau of Prisons colleagues in a solemn procession to the National Law Enforcement Officers’ Memorial just blocks from NIC's DC office to pay tribute to correctional staff who have given their lives for our country and profession over the years, and whose names are inscribed on the memorial walls.
Since our founding over fifty years ago, NIC has held sacred its mission as the sole federal agency to serve correctional agencies and correctional professionals by providing training, technical assistance, information resources, and policy development. Our national workforce of over 50 staff members – most of whom have decades of experience in corrections -- is located across 15 states and is committed to equipping current and future generations of correctional professionals with the skills, training, and knowledge to keep operations safe, orderly, crime-free, and rehabilitative, and to ensure the good health and well-being of those who work in facilities and those who are confined therein.
The current challenges and changes in our field are immense:
- Drones are delivering significant quantities of contraband to institutions;
- Exposure to a new class of powerful opiates such as Fentanyl threatens the health and lives of correctional staff;
- The prevalence and seriousness of mental health and substance use of those incarcerated and those under community supervision have increased;
- Jail and state correctional populations have grown more complex as institutions take on larger roles in immigration detention and with problem-solving courts;
- Gangs, security threat groups, and international cartels pose graver risks to correctional professionals and operations; and,
- Many correctional operations are running short-staffed, resulting in punishing mandatory overtime.
As daunting as the problems are, new technologies, practices, research, and knowledge are at the ready:
- New cellular phone jamming and location and drone “defeat” systems are being employed in prisons and jails as legislation and technology advances;
- GPS monitoring systems and remote drug detection are now used by most probation and parole supervision agencies;
- Medicated Assisted Treatment and utilization of psychiatric telehealth have improved behavioral health services;
- Data science is improving risk assessment instruments, providing real time dashboards and assisting agents in focusing on high risk offenders;
- Evidence-based programs to reduce recidivism are well-identified and being delivered creatively in person, by tablet, and through hybrid instructional pedagogies;
- Reentry services are delivered and coordinated with community partners; and,
- Some correctional systems have increased hiring through recruitment practices that highlight corrections as a critical and noble profession (mission-driven hiring).
We are proud to partner with federal, state, and local government agencies, correctional associations, community organizations, and experts in the field in delivering our services.
Please visit us at https://nicic.gov where agencies can submit technical assistance requests through an online and expedited process, and where correctional professionals can take asynchronous and carefully curated online classes on hundreds of correctional topics, as well as explore upcoming in-person/virtual/hybrid cohort-based training.
During this 41st remembrance of National Correctional Workers Week, we renew our pledge to serve the many correctional workers – the officers, nurses, teachers, dietary workers, researchers, and so many more — who form the backbone of our correctional system.
Thank you for keeping our country strong and secure and for opening opportunities for those ready for change.
Please let us know how we can help and serve you.
Sincerely,
Stefan LoBuglio, EdD
Director
National Institute of Corrections
