Corrections_Today_Summer_2025_Vol.87_No.2

Resolutions and Policies

Editor’s Note: The following public correctional policies printed below were reviewed by the Resolutions and Policies Committee and then approved for adoption by the ACA Board of Governors and Delegate Assembly at the 2025 Winter Conference in Orlando, FL. PUBLIC CORRECTIONAL POLICY ON GENDER RESPONSIVE SERVICES 1984-1 Introduction: Women and girls require gender appropriate responses to their risks and needs within the correctional system. Research demonstrates that gender responsive approaches are more effective when meeting correctional goals. Policy Statement: The principle of gender responsiveness recog nizes physical, psychological, behavioral, social and cultural differences between girls, women and men, and how those differences are reflected in policies and practices. Women and girls must receive a full range of services that promotes pro social learning and addresses the specific needs of this population. Correctional agencies should:

D. Ensure all staff, including contract em ployees and volunteers working with girls and women, are carefully screened and provided specific training in order to ef fectively provide services; E. Provide a full range of integrated, age- and developmentally-appropriate, gender responsive programs and services that address substance use treatment, trauma, physical and mental health to include prenatal care, relationships, parenting, spirituality, economic self-sufficiency, re entry, education, workforce development and legal issues; F. Facilitate programming and activities which strengthen family relationships, especially for children; G. Encourage and support a full range of alternatives to incarceration, including pre- and post-trial diversion, probation, restitution, community residential and parole/aftercare services; and H. Provide access to a full range of work and other programs designed to expand economic self-sufficiency. This Public Correctional Policy was unanimously ratified by the American Correctional Association Delegate Assembly at the 114 th Congress of Correction in San Antonio, TX on August 23, 1984. It was last reviewed and reaffirmed at the Winter Conference in Orlando, FL on January 14, 2025. PUBLIC CORRECTIONAL POLICY ON PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS IN CORRECTIONS 1985-7 Introduction: Historically, correctional programs have been operated by public agencies, but there is ongo ing use of public-nonprofit and/or for for-profit

2025 WINTER CONFERENCE A. Ensure all policies, programs and prac tices are gender responsive including assessment tools, classification, and con ditions of confinement;

B. Implement humane, relevant security policies and practices such as proper nutrition, clothing, personal property, grooming, hygiene supplies, exercise, and recreation/wellness programs; C. Provide both human and financial resources to create a system-wide ap proach to the provision of adult/juvenile gender responsive services that create a safe, nondiscriminatory, and supportive environment;

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