Virtually every aspect of a jail’s
operations—including the ability to fulfill its mission—ultimately depends
on the availability of qualified staff. As a result, it is not surprising to
find that, regardless of jail size or location, its workforce has been
identified as the priority issue of sheriffs and jail administrators
throughout the country. According to those who lead and manage jails,
recruiting, retaining, and developing employees are more critical challenges
than almost any other issue.
In response to this concern, the Center for Innovative Public Policies, Inc.
(CIPP) has been awarded a Cooperative Agreement from the U. S. Dept. of
Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
effective October 1, 2007 to work with jail leaders to identify promising
practices to address jail workforce issues.
The following will be among the project’s
primary implementation strategies:
-
Assemble a national advisory group of
sheriffs and jail administrators to guide and assist with project
activities;
-
Conduct a comprehensive literature
review of promising recruitment, retention, and succession planning
strategies used by jails, prisons, and other public as well as private
sector organizations; and
-
Collect real-time information via
surveys and follow-up interviews with both recently-employed jail
personnel and those with five or more years of experience.
These strategies will result in a
user-friendly workbook-style toolkit designed to enhance the ability of
sheriffs and jail administrators to effectively recruit and retain qualified
employees, as well as proactively develop the internal leadership succession
plans necessary to meet 21st century jail challenges.
Project Status as of
September 21, 2008:
The draft of the “toolkit” is
completed, and will be presented to the National Advisory Panel in early
October. The final document will be completed by the end of December 2008.
In the interim, anyone having questions about the content and
recommendations of the “toolkit” may direct comments to Susan McCampbell @
cippinc@aol.com .
The first-ever national survey
of jail administrators and line staff has been completed. Almost 600 jail
administrators and 2,100 line staff provided their experiences and
recommendations to improve recruitment and retention.
The survey results are available by clicking here:
The “toolkit” includes a
helpful annotated bibliography pointing those who are interested materials
who can help address workforce issues.
For more information about the
project results, contact Susan McCampbell at
cippinc@aol.com .
For more helpful information see:
Jeanne B. Stinchcomb and Susan W.
McCampbell (2008), Jail Leaders Speak: Current and Future Challenges to
Jail Operations and Administration: A Summary Report to the Bureau of
Justice Assistance, Center for Innovative Public Policies, Inc., Naples,
Florida. http://www.cipp.org/pdf/FocusGroupReport.pdf
Jeanne B. Stinchcomb, Susan W. McCampbell, Elizabeth P. Layman, FutureForce: A Guide to Building the 21st Century Community Corrections
Workplace, U. S. Department of Justice, National Institute of
Corrections. http://nicic.org/Downloads/PDF/Library/021799.pdf
Susan W. McCampbell and Paula N. Rubin, “Effectively Managing a
Multi-Generational Workforce in Corrections: A Training Curriculum”,
National Institute of Corrections, March 2004.
http://www.nicic.org/Library/019950
For more project information, or to contribute a promising practice for
recruitment, retention, succession planning and/or leadership development,
contact Susan McCampbell @ cippinc@aol.com
