The brief was prepared as background information for the State legislative council's special committee on community correctional programs, which is responsible for recommending modifications in such programs. Information on sentencing and on the prison system is presented in early sections. Specific topics include classification and prison assignment, population trends, types of offenses committed, and temporary release. A section on probation and parole discusses granting procedures, the classification of probationers and parolees, supervision, revocation of probation and parole, and population trends. Data tables are concerned with such subjects as the location, security level, capacity, and population of the State's correctional institutions, camps, and residential centers; and the average daily population figures for adult prisons and probation and parole. Appendixes provide information on criteria for security classifications, types of offenses committed, parole criteria, and risk and need scales for classifying probationers and paroles.