Correctional Facilities

Assignment 2: Improving Corrections Facilities
Due Week 6 and worth 200 points

Go to the Department of Corrections’ website for your state, and research two of your state’s correctional facilities. Next, use the Internet and Strayer University Online Library (https://research.strayer.edu) to research the budgetary constraints that correctional officials must adhere to in order to operate correctional facilities.

Write a 3-to 5-page paper in which you: 

• Identify and discuss at least two diversion programs and determine whether the diversion programs are only beneficial to offenders charged with misdemeanors and non-violent felonies or whether they are also beneficial to offenders charged with felonies and violent crimes. Discuss whether or not the two correctional facilities that you researched would benefit from diversion programs. Provide a rationale for your response.  
• Discuss the pros and cons of privatized correctional facilities and discuss whether or not privatized correctional facilities are better alternatives for reaching the goal of preparing inmates for reentry into society. Support your position with one example from within the last three years to support your position of the better correctional facility alternative.   
• Correctional officials are tasked with maintaining public safety with reduced resources while maintaining effective operations. The targets of cost reductions typically include the following:  staffing, inmate medical and mental health services, and inmate/offender supervision. With this in mind, recommend a cost reduction strategy to reduce cost while maintaining public safety and effective operations (i.e. targeted reductions, business practice changes, the use of new technology, reduction in inmate population, or community supervision). Provide a rationale for your response.  
• Use at least four peer-reviewed sources. Note: Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify as quality resources.  

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements: 

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides. 
• This course requires that citations and references follow the Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The format is different than others Strayer University courses. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details. 
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the professor's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.