NCJ Number
79996
Date Published
1981
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This annual report of the Missouri Joint Committee on Correctional Institutions and Problems details the committee's work in the previous year, presents the status of corrections in general and of each of the State's correctional facilities, and offers recommendations for improving the State's correctional system.
Abstract
The State's major corrections challenge is prison overcrowding. Even though the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center will be opened at Pacific, Mo., in July 1981, the prison population is expected to exceed design capacity by 872 inmates on that date. The Missouri State Prison is under a Federal court order to reduce that institution's population to 2,000 inmates. This goal will be met by shifting inmates to other institutions. Lawsuits have been filed alleging poor conditions at the Missouri Training Center for Men and the Renz Correctional Center. Recommended goals include the construction of another correctional facility, development of a facility for inmates with psychological problems, improvement of the current female facility and the building of a new facility, expansion of the prison industries program, establishment of a program for sexual offenders, and establishment of a new diagnostic facility. The statutory mandate for the committee's work is explained, followed by brief descriptions of the physical facilities and programs of each State correctional institution. Probation and parole and the division of youth services are also discussed. Criminal law changes during the 80th State general assembly are described.