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Message from the Director
National Dialogue on Corrections
There’s a real need for meaningful dialogue about corrections in this country, and you proved it by your support and record setting attendance at the NIC Virtual Conference on Reentry.
On June 12, 2013, the National Institute of Corrections held its first ever national virtual conference on reentry. Just one week before the conference, over 1,000 people from colleges and universities, parole and probation offices, correctional facilities, and partner criminal justice agencies had signed up to be part of the event. From the families of incarcerated loved ones to citizens attending who simply wanted to learn more about corrections, the conference was an event that was open to everyone, and people from all parts of the country participated. By the day of the conference, over 2,500 people had signed up to participate. As of today, the conference site has received nearly 6,000 hits from participants viewing a presentation or participating in an online discussion.
By almost all accounts, the conference was very successful. It was not without its trials, however. At any given time, there were hundreds of people in both live and recorded conference sessions. At one point, so many people were online at once that our vendor’s software crashed. Lines dropped, video stopped, and in an historical moment, more people had come online to view the keynote address of our guest speaker Edward Latessa than we had ever imagined. We regret the inconvenience that this incident may have caused; however, you helped us understand that there’s a real need and desire from you for more information, more dialogue, and more participation with corrections stakeholders.
The purpose of the conference was to provide you with information and the ability to network across local boundaries. We achieved that purpose with your help, and it is our goal to continue the dialogue we began at the virtual conference.
Reaching out to stakeholders is an integral part of the culture here at NIC. Many of you are part of our network meetings, classroom and online training events, satellite/internet broadcasts, and now virtual conferences. In the months ahead, NIC will be creating even more opportunities for an even broader and more diverse stakeholder audience. Please be on the lookout for more ways that you can connect with NIC and begin or continue the dialogue about corrections that you’ve shown us you’re waiting for.
And if you attended the conference and were able to make a connection, please share your story with us. Simply visit our homepage at www.nicic.gov and click the Share a Success Story tab. We’d like to hear from you.
Robert M. Brown, Jr.
Acting Director
Report to the Nation, FY12
What has the National Institute of Corrections been up to? It’s likely more than you realize. Though a very small agency, NIC has consistently provided training, information, and technical assistance to federal, state, local, and tribal agencies and jurisdictions nationwide.
In the latest edition of the Report to the Nation you’ll read about real-world examples of how NIC’s work has made a difference in the last fiscal year. Sections in the report called “Snapshots” give you an inside look at how the everyday operations of the agency have led to broad-scale improvements in specific areas of the country and in major topic areas. Other sections of the report highlight the nation’s progress on key initiatives, like the Prison Rape Elimination Act, Evidence-Based Decision Making, and Offender Workforce Development.
Whether you’re a long-time partner with NIC or just visiting for the first time, the annual Report to the Nation is ideal for staying in touch and getting to know more about the programs we offer and the communities we serve.
Learn more about the National Institute of Corrections by clicking the About Us tab on the agency homepage at www.nicic.gov.
NIC Facilitates Development of Collaborative Principles for Parole and DOCs
In May 2010, the National Institute of Corrections partnered with the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) and the Association of Paroling Authorities International (APAI) to examine how the groups could work together to address areas where their missions overlap. Both ASCA and APAI share mutual interests in advances in legislation, technology, and organizational performance that can influence corrections outcomes in state criminal justice systems. To facilitate the partnership, NIC supported two meetings where the groups could convene to discuss their roles and issues.
A formalized collection of actionable principles came out of the meeting. They are principles that paroling authorities and departments of correction can use to foster multi-level collaboration. The 10 principles outline action steps and encourage both national- and state-level involvement in collaborative system planning by association executive committee members, state departments of correction, state paroling authorities, agency heads, middle managers, frontline staff, and information technology specialists. (See below for a list of the ten principles.) Following the development of the principles, NIC sponsored a planning meeting for the development of a Combined Network Symposium.
The symposium, which is a collaborative effort between the NIC Community Services and Prisons Divisions, is being planned for 2014. Primary goals of the symposium are to bring together current NIC networks and membership organizations to work on common issues and challenges and to help them understand and appreciate the unique roles and purposes of each. Workshops presented at the symposium will be based on the collaborative principles developed by ASCA and APAI.
Those who wish to participate in the symposium will be required to attend as a team comprising the state paroling authority chair and head of the state department of correction. More information about dates and how to apply will be made available on the website in 2014.
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Collaborative Principles for Parole Boards and Departments of Correction
- Recognize that, as partners in criminal justice, we have the same mission, and our roles, while different, aim to compliment and support common goals.
- Commit to open, honest, regular face-to-face communication, modeling the collaborative ideals that we support.
- Share technology, data, records, and related information in the spirit of collaboration, efficiency, and support of the achievement of common goals.
- Coordinate the use of risk assessments, what they assess, and what information they provide and draw upon the success of evidence-based practices in applying the information to improve all aspects of decision making that leads to measurable outcomes.
- Agree on common performance measures that gauge quality and capability and standardized measures of effectiveness.
- Initiate reentry planning at intake, recognizing that most offenders complete some form of release and reentry process regardless of their crime or sentence length.
- Work with partners in criminal justice to clarify and promote awareness of roles and responsibilities, not only to make current boundaries clear, but also to explore possibilities for collaboration while accomplishing common goals.
- Encourage that all decisionmaking be based on a continuum of options relative to offender profiles, local capabilities, and the interest of public safety.
- Develop and adopt a periodic review mechanism for measuring our joint collaborative efforts.
- Establish a mechanism for developing and adopting general, core competencies applicable to both Department of Corrections and Releasing Authorities, that are necessary for effective agency functions.
Announcing Gender Responsive News for Women and Girls
A recent article released by the Center for American Progress titled “The Top 5 Facts About Women in Our Criminal Justice System” notes that more than 200,000 women in the United States are incarcerated, which accounts for a more than 800% increase in the incarcerated population of women over the last 30 years. As this and other evidence supports the need for providing stakeholders with more access to more research and more information about female offenders, NIC has developed an e-newsletter to facilitate the sharing of information with a broader array of audiences with an interest in the field.
The e-newsletter, titled Gender-Responsive News for Women and Girls, is an e-mail supplement to the Gender-Responsive Strategies for Women Offenders research bulletin series published by the National Institute of Corrections. Items from the e-newsletter will include updates on events, training, and research summaries focusing on gender, mental health, medical needs, and legal issues affecting female offenders in the criminal justice system.
To sign up for Gender-Responsive News for Women and Girls, simply update your subscriber preferences at www.nicic.gov/go/newsletter. Both e-mail and mobile text alerts are available.
New Learning Center Updates
The NIC Learning Center is available to correctional professionals who work in executive management, middle management, firstline supervision, offender programming, or training/staff development. Through the NIC Learning Center, you may enroll directly in classroom events, virtual instructor-led training (VILT), and e-courses. Over the past several months, the Learning Center has been updated to improve user experience and enhance available training options.
New updates to the NIC Learning Center include the addition of over 200 new e-courses to the Learning Center catalog, covering such topics as computer skills, management, and safety and wellness. Users of the NIC Learning Center will also find recent updates to the site, such as improved user navigation and a more modern design.
Also available is the Frontline Learning Center, an existing component of the Learning Center that is open to correctional officers, detention officers, probation and parole officers, reentry specialists, correctional health professionals, and other correctional line staff. Nearly 100 e-courses are available in the Frontline Learning Center on a variety of topics, including communication, corrections, and personal development.
To register for the NIC Learning Center and experience NIC training for yourself, visit nic.learn.com.
Corrections E-Books
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