Corrections_Today_November_December_2023_Vol.85_No.6

Policies

F. Provide appropriate training regarding environmental responsibility and cost effective, sustainability-oriented practices. For offenders, training may include general environmental literacy and preparation for future jobs in building retrofit or alternative energy industries such as solar, wind, or geothermal installation, operation, and main tenance. Programming may also include work with natural environments, including gardens and animal care, where appropriate. For staff, facilities should seek ways to share information on the importance of energy, water, and resource conservation to aid in their workplace’s efficient and cost-effective operation. Training should facilitate staff and offenders working together as stakehold ers in key facility sustainability initiatives, resulting in a more cooperative work and living environment. G. Provide organizational strategies that al low time and opportunity for staff to focus on environmental and resource efficiency issues. H. Utilize a system to monitor water, elec tricity, natural gas, fuel usage, cost data, waste stream volumes, disposal costs, and revenue generation.

safety, and the maintenance of social order. Cor rectional programs and facilities are a costly and limited resource; the most restrictive are gener ally the most expensive. Therefore, using these resources wisely and economically is good public policy. Policy Statement: The sanctions and controls imposed by courts and administered by corrections should be the least restrictive, consistent with public and indi vidual safety and the maintenance of social order. Selection of the least restrictive sanctions and punishments in specific cases inherently requires balancing several important objectives — personal dignity, fiscal responsibility, effective correctional operations, the victim’s interest, and the crime’s severity. To meet these objectives, correctional agencies should: A. Advocate to all branches of government and the public at large, the development and appropriate use of a wide range of sanctions, punishments, programs, and facilities; B. Recommend the use of the least restric tive appropriate dispositions in judicial decisions; C. Classify persons under correctional juris diction to the least restrictive appropriate programs/facilities; and D. Employ only the level of regulation and control necessary for the safe and effi cient operation of programs, services, and facilities. This Public Correctional Policy was unanimously rati fied by the American Correctional Association Delegate Assembly at the Winter Conference in Denver on January 12, 1984. It was last reviewed and affirmed at the 153 rd Con gress of Correction in Philadelphia, PA on August 13, 2023.

153 RD CONGRESS OF CORRECTION This Public Correctional Policy was unanimously rati fied by the American Correctional Association Delegate Assembly at the 141 st Congress of Correction. It was last reviewed and affirmed at the 153 rd Congress of Correction in Philadelphia, PA on August 13, 2023.

PUBLIC CORRECTIONAL POLICY ON THE USE OF APPROPRIATE SANCTIONS AND CONTROLS 1984-7 Introduction: In developing, selecting, and administering sanctions and punishments, decision-makers must balance concerns for individual dignity, public

38 — November/December 2023 Corrections Today