By: Joe Robbins, Product Implementation Specialist, equivant Corrections
The fundamental goal of every corrections facility is to maintain a safe and secure environment for staff, inmates, and visitors. An accurate inmate classification program serves as the foundation for accomplishing these goals. But classification doesn’t end when housing is sorted; classification, instead, should underpin every operational decision in a facility. Below are the ways in which classification touches every aspect of how a jail functions.
- Policy: With equivant Correction’s practitioner- and court-tested classification solution, Decision Tree, there are simple, but distinct, security levels to help guide all decisions and influence policy around housing, transportation, programming, discipline, and medical and mental health decisions.
- Practice: Most facilities have strict policies about how classification needs to touch every part of the inmate’s incarceration experience. But putting policy into practice is a different story. Ask yourself the following questions: Can you easily identify classification sublevels visually in your facility? Are multiple programming options offered (like GED classes) to allow for different classification levels to attend? Are decision makers in classification, programming, medical and mental health, transportation, and discipline meeting regularly to talk about current classification status and any reclassifications? Translating policy into practice—and making it easy—keeps inmates and staff safe.
- Resource Allocation: Beyond attaining a safe and streamlined facility, classification software can generate incredibly important information for facilities. Data can tell you if your population is trending towards a more maximum- or minimum-security facility. This information can inform facility expansion needs when you experience overcrowding. For example, investing in minimum-security dormitory-style additions when your population is trending towards maximum security can be a very costly mistake.
From visitation and privileges to work assignments, program placements, and more, inmate classification is the thread that connects everything in a jail. Not only is correct classification essential to maintaining order and safety, but should also be dictating policies, practices, and resource allocation decisions. For more information on how your facility can translate policies into practices and achieve a safer, more streamlined jail, please contact us.
