Rampant sexual abuse by guards at women’s prisons in California. An inmate suicide that went unnoticed for 18 hours in Washington state. Multiple jail breaks in Pennsylvania. Prisons and jails across are overcrowded and understaffed, jeopardizing the safety of inmates, correctional officers and surrounding communities. As state legislatures convene, many lawmakers are focusing on a key criminal justice issue for prisons and jails: more oversight. Accountability for correctional facilities is decentralized and inconsistent. While some states, counties and municipalities have independent oversight bodies, many rely on internal mechanisms or lack formal systems altogether, says Michele Deitch of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, which runs the National Resource Center for Correctional Oversight.
Experts predict that correctional oversight will take center stage in this year’s legislative sessions, driven by mounting scrutiny of worsening prison and jail conditions and the growing adoption of independent oversight bodies. President Biden last year signed a law creating an independent ombudsman to investigate complaints from the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ 122 facilities. The law mandates inspections of all federal facilities. “Legislators have become much more aware of what they don’t know and how much of a closed system this is,” Deitch said. “They’re totally reliant on the corrections officials to tell them what’s going on inside." Some correctional officials argue that adding another layer of oversight won’t solve their fundamental problem.
“We know the root causes of our current conditions: We have too many inmates and too few correctional officers,” said Michael Resnick, the prisons commissioner for Philadelphia. At least 16 states — both red and blue — considered 31 correctional oversight bills during last year’s legislative sessions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Only Maryland and Virginia approved legislation to create ombudsman offices to monitor their state prisons.
Comments