Corrections professionals in our nation are dedicated to ensuring that offenders who are placed in our charge are effectively supervised in safe, secure and humane environments. They work to instill in offenders a sense of responsibility and the ability to become law-abiding, productive members of society. Corrections professionals perform in a very challenging and, sometimes, adversarial environment, providing for the care and treatment of individuals who are being held against their will and are often uncooperative, dangerous and agitated. The profession has taken the lead, over the past 30 years, in developing and implementing a process to ensure that correctional facilities meet nationally recognized guidelines and practices for the safe and effective operation of correctional facilities. This process, while it cannot prevent all isolated instances of abuse, does put in place the policies and procedures that will result in a safe environment for correctional employees, the community, and offenders.

Abuses can occur in correctional facilities that lack transparency and accountability. By transparency, we mean openness in allowing the public, volunteer organizations and others into our nation's correctional facilities. We believe the best measures to prevent abuse are (1) training for staff at all levels of operations — line, supervisory and command; (2) communication among all staff levels; (3) transparency or openness; and (4) satisfactory working conditions with adequate wages and benefits for correctional staff. Our profession believes that what makes a facility function properly is a clear understanding of rules by both staff and offenders, clear lines of authority, supervision, and accountability for staff and offenders.

Excerpted from a written statement submitted to the Commission