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Jail administration is the business of identifying and managing a multitude of risks. Almost every decision an admin- istrator makes - from personnel decisions and inmate housing assignments to the provision of medical and mental health care services - is designed to reduce the risks associated with housing a potentially volatile, high-risk population. Administrators must be aware of these risks and employ all available tools to minimize the potential for negative outcomes.
The following information will help jail administrators identify the risks in their institutions and develop strategies to manage them. Taken from the Kentucky Association of County Officials' Jail Risk Management Manual, these strategies will reduce the likelihood of successful litigation against them or their governments. They will also help administrators establish and achieve the goals of their organizational mission by providing a framework for implementing a mission-based management system and suggesting outcomes consistent with current standards for professional correctional administration.
The Organizational Mission
It is critical that administrators develop a clear mission statement for their facility from which measurable goals can be established. A simple, general mission statement has historically been "to provide for the care and custody of those incarcerated." Care refers to health care needs of inmates that are met through medical and mental health services. Custody has historically been described by such terms as "a secure facility," "the supervision of inmates" and the general "conditions of confinement" relating to safety and sanitation. While these terms generally outline the administrator's duty, they do not convey the organization's mission in a way that can produce measurable outcomes.
Mission-Based Management
Under a mission-based management approach, the mission statement is further defined to produce the basis for measurable goals. In this case, a more specific mission statement might be, "to incarcerate offenders in a manner that protects the public and institutional safety while providing a legal standard of care, and to provide programs intended to reduce the likelihood of reincarceration." The organization's goals would be to:
* Ensure the public's safety;
* Ensure the institution's safety;
* Provide a legal standard of care; and
* Provide programs intended to reduce the likelihood of reincarceration.
This more detailed mission statement refers to care and uses the legal standard as a baseline to be provided to...