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Correcting Corrections: Missouri's Parallel Universe

NCJ Number
185983
Journal
Offender Employment Report Volume: 1 Issue: 6 Dated: August/September 2000 Pages: 83-95
Author(s)
Dora Schriro
Date Published
2000
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes the Missouri Department of Corrections' attempt to improve correctional outcomes.
Abstract
Prisons are "total institutions"--officials decide when, where, and with whom prisoners will live, work, eat, and play. The Missouri approach to prison management, the Parallel Universe, is premised on the notion that life inside prison should resemble life outside prison and that inmates can acquire values, habits, and skills that will help them become productive, law-abiding citizens. Offenders are engaged full time in activities paralleling those of the outside world, learning that they will be responsible for all the decisions, however important or mundane, that affect their lives. The structure of prison life has been reengineered to require that offenders make decisions and be accountable for them. Their decisions affect employment in prison as well as other conditions of confinement. They also affect employability after release. Because prisoners are prepared for release throughout their confinement, they no longer face an abrupt transition that leaves them ill-equipped for the real world.