Revalidating External Prison Classification Systems: The Experience of Ten States and Model for Classification Reform

摘要

Objective prison external classification systems that decide which facility an inmate should be housed in are well-established in virtually every state correctional system. Despite considerable progress in the area of classification, many systems are under significant pressure to review and update their institutional classification systems in response to changes and pressures associated with truth-in-sentencing and three-strikes-and-you're-out laws, tremendous growth and diversity of the correctional populations, overcrowding, and public sentiment against programs and services. As systems have become overcrowded with diverse populations, they have faced fiscal and public pressures to remove or substantially reduce offender access to institutional jobs, education, and treatment programs. These pressures have undermined the integrity of classification systems that were designed to encourage and reward inmates' participation in work or treatment programs. These combined pressures have also diminished the power of classification items to predict an inmate's threat to the safety and security of the institution.