Jails

The TJC Initiative seeks to improve public safety and to enhance the success of individuals returning to the community from local jails through implementation of an innovative, evidence-informed transition models in four key areas: collaborative structures, evidence-based targeted interventions, data and self-evaluation, and sustainability mechanisms and capacity-building.

During Phase 1 (2008-2011), the national TJC team tested the TJC model in six learning communities: Davidson County, TN; Denver, CO; Douglas County, KS; Kent County, MI; La Crosse County, WI; and Orange County, CA.

During Phase 2 (2012-2015), six additional learning sites joined the TJC Initiative.

The purpose of Veterans Treatment Courts is to offer vets with a substance use problem and/or diagnosis of a mental health issue an opportunity to avail themselves of treatment-oriented justice. Based on anecdotal evidence and an increasing accretion of data from the field-in many of the projects funded by the National Institute of Corrections and the Bureau of Justice Assistance-these courts appear to be achieving their goal. They are helping worthy individuals find a degree of redemption while paying their debt to society. They are restoring family relationships, strengthening communities, cutting rates of recidivism and, hence, making communities safer.

But what of those veterans who are incarcerated, serving a sentence, or awaiting trial or other resolution of the charges against them?

This video is an excellent introduction to the use of podular direct supervision. Topics discussed include: the three types of jails in the United States-linear intermittent surveillance, podular remote surveillance, and podular direct supervision; the eight key principles of direct supervision; seven key direct supervision strategies; the housing unit officer; and education and activities.

"Podular direct supervision is a proven, viable, and economical alternative to more traditional methods." Scott County Jail is highlighted in this program.

This guide “presents six key elements that, in combination, will help jails reduce a wide array of negative, destructive, and dangerous inmate behavior” (p. v). These elements are: assessing risk and needs; assigning inmates to housing; meeting inmates’ basic needs; defining and conveying expectations for inmate behavior; supervising inmates; and keeping inmates productively occupied.