Treatment in Jails and Prisons

Corrections Overview

In modern society it is common to refer to jails and prisons interchangeably. The media may report that a person "spent five years in jail for a crime he did not commit," or that a "prisoner" escaped from the county jail work program. Although these types of statements are common, they are technically incorrect and they serve to blur the distinctions between prisons and jails. The structural and operational distinctions between these very different institutions must be understood before an accurate discussion of treatment programs in these respective institutions can occur.

Jails are typically county- or city-level institutions. They tend to be small (although there are exceptions to this rule), and they hold inmates who have been sentenced to serve time in the jail as well as inmates who are considered unsentenced. Unsentenced inmates may be in the jail for a number of reasons. They may be there after they have been arrested while they are awaiting trial or an appearance before a judge. They may be awaiting sentencing after the trial has occurred, or they may be awaiting the posting of their bail so they can return home until their trial date.

Sentenced inmates are usually sent to the jail for misdemeanor crimes or for low-level felonies. This is because virtually all jails in the United States are limited in the time they can hold an inmate. Jails are limited to sentences of 1 year or less, which eliminates from the jail those persons who are sentenced to middle- and high-level felonies that receive sentences in excess of 1 year. Inmates can only serve more than a year in jail if they are being held without bail while a case is being prepared against them, or if a judge sentences them to multiple sentences of 1 year or less which must be served consecutively. Jails are usually operated by the county sheriff and are staffed by deputy sheriffs, who are typically sworn officers who have completed training at a law enforcement academy and who are also able to serve as street-level officers.

In contrast, prisons are operated by state or federal governments, and they are larger institutions. Prisons typically hold more serious offenders (persons guilty of middle- to high-level felonies) and hold them for longer periods of time. Prisons are operated by correctional officers, who typically have not completed a police officer type of training academy but rather have completed a correctional officer training program that has prepared them to work as officers in a correctional institution.

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