School Essay: NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

Leslie K. Penny

Module 1 Research Assignment 1

Chancellor University

Abstract

The following essay explains briefly the New York State Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS).  Included are the Department Mission, vision, mission statement, goals, values and policies.  A brief explanation of the number of individuals detained in custody and the number of individuals involved in parole.  Lastly, some statistics are provided that show the current model, crime control model, is providing beneficial results. 

NYS Department of Corrections and Community Supervision

            What would our country be without corrections?  I imagine Kurt Russell's movie, Escape from L.A., where convicts are sent to an isolated area to do what they will with one another and their island of exclusion.  Interesting concept.  The state I reside in, New York, is part of the Big four correctional systems which also includes Florida, California, and Texas.  The following essay describes briefly New York's Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.  Including the states correctional goals, problems in achieving those goals, steps that are being taken to improve the system and which correctional model that is in current use. 

            New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision explains their vision statement is to "enhance public safety by having incarcerated persons return home under supportive supervision less likely to revert to criminal behavior" (The Departmental Mission).  Along with a vision is the mission statement, "to improve public safety by providing a continuity of appropriate treatment services in safe and secure facilities where offenders' needs are addressed and they are prepared for release, followed by supportive services under community supervision to facilitate a successful completion of their sentence" (The Departmental Mission).

            The New York Department of Corrections website goes on to list the goals they hope to achieve in their mission:

·       Create and maintain an atmosphere where both offenders and staff feel secure.

·       Develop and implement positive individualized treatment plans for each offender that includes post release reentry plans.

·       Teach offenders the need for discipline and respect, and the importance of a mature understanding of a work ethic.

·       Establish a needs/risk approach to treatment and community supervision to ensure a continuity of services.

·       Assist all staff by providing the training and tolls needed to perform their duties while enhancing their skills.

·       Offer career development opportunities for all staff (The Departmental Mission).

           

            To help with their vision, mission statement, and goals, NY department of corrections enlists values in their people such as to operate with ethical behavior; to recognize the value of each person; to protect human dignity; to offer leadership and support to all; and to offer respect and structure at all times (The Departmental Mission).  Their policies are to "offer opportunities for offenders to improve their skills, and to receive individual treatment services, based on their ability and willingness to participate" as well as to "provide appropriate medical and psychiatric services necessary to those requiring such treatment so each offender can maximize his/her own rehabilitation" (The Departmental Mission).  Another policy is to make available a level of community supervision that is based on the needs and behaviors of those released and to create a structured environment that cultivates respect by means of communication and structure (The Departmental Mission).

            DOCCS (Dept of Corrections and Community Supervision), is accountable for the confinement and rehabilitation of roughly 57,700 persons under custody that are held at 60 state facilities and 36,500 parolees overseen throughout seven regional offices (The Departmental Mission).  It is interesting to know that New York is only one of two states "that prosecutes all 16-17 year olds charged with a crime in the adult criminal justice system, regardless of the severity of their alleged crime" which is an estimated 45,000 teens (Raise the Age).

            The Commissioner heads DOCCS and "is responsible for the overall management and operation of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to ensure the care, custody, and treatment of individuals sentenced to state prison; as well as those offenders who are under parole supervision" (Handbook ).  The DOCCS assigns each offender with an Offender Rehabilitation Coordinator to ensure the main purpose of the guidance and counseling programs are facilitated properly.  This program is used "to assist offenders in adjusting to facility life and to establish a foundation for successful re-integration into the community upon release from custody" (Handbook ). 

            Among the many programs that DOCCS incorporates into their correctional goals, one that stands out the most is their Transitional Services that helps offenders in attaining a successful transition back into the community that corrections works hard to protect

 (Handbook ). 

·       Phase 1- Introductory Phase- is designed to assist offenders to begin planning for their transition to the community.

·       Phase II- Thinking for a Change/Moving On- Thinking for a Change is for make offenders and Moving On for female offenders consists of lessons designed to provide offenders with the cognitive and behavior changing tools necessary to lead to successful and crime-free lives.

·       Phase III- The Transitional Phase- is designed to assist offenders in their final preparation for release to the community.  Offenders will be placed in Phase III within 120 days of an approved release date.

·       Aggression Replacement Training (ART)- is designed to assist offenders in identifying and controlling their aggressive behavior.

·       Offender Program Associate (IPA)- The purpose of the IPA program is to provide meaningful work assignments for offenders with advanced education and training, and to assist staff in providing program services to offenders in each facility.

·       Network- is a voluntary, therapeutic program that uses a hierarchical process to assist offenders in learning cooperative work and leadership skills while demonstrating responsible behaviors.

·       Community Lifestyles- is an open ended residential therapeutic program.  It provides a structured dormitory program that supports the essential correctional goals of order and safety (Handbook ). 

           

            To conclude, according to statistics, parolees are committing fewer serious crimes with the current correctional model they follow, the crime control model (Statistics, 2010).  During the Fiscal Year 2009-10, "the Division of Parole made substantial progress in its mission to promote public safety and successfully transition releases back to the community- as evidenced by the fact that the percentage of releases returned to prison for new felony convictions is at its lowest point since the early 1990's" (Statistics, 2010).  Those stats can either mean corrections is progressing in a positive light or it was just a good year for low crime.  Time will tell. 

Works Cited

Handbook . (n.d.). Retrieved 07 06, 2013, from DOCCS: http://www.doccs.ny.gov/FamilyGuide/FamilyHandbook.html#unde

Raise the Age. (n.d.). Retrieved 07 06, 2013, from Correctional Association of New York: http://www.correctionalassociation.org/campaigns/raise-the-age

Satistics. (2010). Retrieved 07 06, 2013, from NYS Dept of Correctioms and Community Supervision: https://www.parole.ny.gov/

The Departmental Mission. (n.d.). Retrieved 07 06, 2013, from Department of Corrections and Community Supervision: http://www.doccs.ny.gov/mission.html