Jails need highly skilled, highly motivated staff who perceive that they have career opportunities. If the educational enterprise is to provide such personnel, academia must move into the mainstream of traditional corrections and police training. Both government (especially at the county level) and higher education must understand the milieu of the jail and the potential that jail staff have for enhancing the stability of society and progress in understanding human behavior. Jails and academia must establish a partnership that is larger than criminal justice; it must include a range of disciplines such as political science, psychology, and business administration and management. Further, the community, not just community programs, must be included in jail operations and in classes that jail staff attend. These objectives may be obtained through the model of teaching hospitals. The use of intergovernmental agreements between sheriffs and jail administrators on one hand and local colleges on the other is an effective way to ensure provision of quality academic programming for jail staffs. Moreover, the resources of the academic providers may be tapped to assist in the training effort within the jail. The curricula would include criminal justice courses, business and administration courses, business and technology courses, and political science, as well as other courses that are required for a standard bachelor of arts or bachelor of science degree or more advanced degrees. This article describes an example of such an effort with the Cook County Sheriff's Department (Illinois), Governors State University, and the Triton College Education Partnership. 6 references