Rural jails: Problematic inmates, overcrowded cells, and cash-strapped counties

In the United States there were some 1,775 jails with one hundred beds or less, but there had been little empirical examination of these facilities, or the challenges that they confront. This survey of 213 jail administrators from these small facilities found that under-funding, overcrowding, and re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of criminal justice 2007-05, Vol.35 (3), p.251-260
Main Authors: Ruddell, Rick, Mays, G. Larry
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Criminal justice
Crowds
Facilities
Financing
Overcrowding
Prisoners
Prisons
Prisons - Overcrowding
Rural Areas
United States - Rural conditions
United States of America
USA
Violence
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Summary:In the United States there were some 1,775 jails with one hundred beds or less, but there had been little empirical examination of these facilities, or the challenges that they confront. This survey of 213 jail administrators from these small facilities found that under-funding, overcrowding, and retention and recruitment of officers were the most significant challenges. By contrast, suicide and violence were perceived to be less serious problems. The small jails sampled also held relatively high percentages of special needs inmates, and this places further demands on these agencies. These challenges are very similar to problems identified several decades ago, suggesting that few structural or operational changes had been made in rural justice systems. In many places, rural jails acted as a default mechanism for failures in other social, health, or community systems and they become the place that “just can't say no.”
ISSN:0047-2352
1873-6203
DOI:10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2007.03.002