Corrections_Today_November_December_2021_Vol.83_No.6

Policies and Resolutions

Editor’s Note: The following resolutions and public correctional policies printed below were reviewed by the Resolutions and Policies Committee, amended and then approved for adoption by the ACA Board of Governors and Delegate Assembly at the 2021 151 st ACA Congress of Correc- tion in Nashville, Tennessee. PUBLIC CORRECTIONAL POLICY ON BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION 1985-9 ensuring the safe and orderly operation of cor- rectional facilities and programs. To achieve this goal correctional staff must recognize and identify potential disruptive behavior and respond to such resistance in a manner that considers the level of intervention to ensure the orderly operation of programs and the facility. Correctional staff are trained and provided skills to intervene to such Correctional staff are trained and prepared to settle conflicts or prevent disruptive actions by applying measures to either dissuade another party from a particular course of action or to physically intervene as necessary. Behavioral intervention is used to deescalate situations, to facilitate safety, control disruption and maintain orderly operations. Correctional agencies shall establish and main- tain policies and procedures that: A. Ensure that the deployment of resources is adequate and appropriate to intervene in the instance of disruption. B. Identify behavioral intervention as an alternative to physical response and that specifies conditions under which each is permitted. C. Provide specialized training in behavioral intervention. Design training that will as- sist in anticipating conflict, confrontation and/or violence and that will ensure the Introduction: Correctional agencies are responsible for disruptive behavior. Policy Statement:

least restrictive behavioral intervention. Staff training shall ensure competency in behavioral intervention and in the use of methods, equipment and alternatives to any verbal or physical response. D. Whenever possible, prior to behavioral inter- vention, staff consider mental health status, gender, age, physical health and physical conditions. Conditions such as pregnancy, respiratory ailments, advanced age, debili- tating diseases, acute psychotic state are considered when determining response. E. Assign reporting responsibilities of in- terventions in use and/ or used during a disruptive situation. F. Require documentation, administrative review, investigation and any remedial ac- tion after interventions in excess of verbal intervention. G. Ensure behavioral intervention prohibits the use of physical restraints on pregnant females unless medically ordered by a qualified physician. H. Restraint techniques that cause or could cause partial or complete impairment of respiratory exchange (positional asphyxia) such as the hogtie position or certain re- straints on the neck or those that cause or could cause partial or complete paralysis are prohibited. This Public Correctional Policy was unanimous- ly ratified by the American Correctional Association Delegate Assembly at the Winter Conference in Or- lando, FL on January 18, 1985. It was reviewed and reaffirmed at the 2020 Winter Conference in San Diego, CA on January 11, 2020. It was reviewed and reaffirmed by the American Correctional As - sociation Delegate Assembly at the Congress of Correction in Nashville, TN on August 15, 2021.

→

Corrections Today November/December 2021 — 55