NCJ Number
90158
Date Published
1977
Length
105 pages
Annotation
This report analyzes the coordination, fiscal adequacy, and management practices of the Alabama Department of Corrections as a whole and of its individual departments, based on staff interviews and onsite visits.
Abstract
It recommends that incarceration be employed only for the most dangerous offenders and that sentences be minimized. Community-based alternatives should be expanded and discretionary decisionmaking limited. Efficient budgeting methods, such as zero-based budgeting and/or planning, programming, and budgeting systems, should be used, and a strategy of management by objectives should be adopted. The department should include five major divisions: program services; institutions, planning, and research; technical services; and agri-industry. Further breakdowns for each division are delineated. A long-term goal should be the consolidation of the administration of the prisons, work release, and probation and parole services within a single unified department. Under this scheme, the Board of Pardons and Paroles would function only as a parole decisionmaking body, with no administrative authority over service delivery to offenders. Graphs, flow charts, and organizational charts are supplied. Phased implementation strategies are described and illustrated. Over 100 references are supplied.