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Correctional Center on Reserve Gives Natives Control of Their Community

NCJ Number
133715
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 53 Issue: 7 Dated: (December 1991) Pages: 86-89
Author(s)
I L Hepher
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The Kainai Community Correctional Center (KCCC), located on the Blood Indian Reserve in Alberta, Canada, combines aspects of a minimum security work release facility with a community corrections program. The facility is staffed entirely by natives, and all inmates are natives.
Abstract
The center is a cooperative venture between the Alberta Solicitor General's Department and the Blood Tribe Band. The two native managers are responsible to the Kainai Community Corrections Society, the members of which are appointed by the tribe's elected leaders. The Society acts as an intermediary between the KCCC and the tribe's local government. The staff's native heritage facilitates communication and trust, while the facility's central location on the reserve make it difficult for offenders to mislead their supervisors about their activities. Facility programs are geared to integrate incarcerated offenders into the community. Tribal elders have an important role in the KCCC program. They provide individual and group counseling, offer traditional leadership, and help assess and classify community corrections clients. State officials, KCCC staff, and the tribal elders feel that the experiment is working by returning responsibility to the reserve to deal with its problems in its own ways.