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Direct Supervision

Imagine a jail in which:

Ø      The staff, not the inmates, control the facility.

Ø      Inmates are directly and continuously supervised.

Ø      Open Communications is maintained between staff and inmates.

Ø      Inmates are advised about behavioral expectations and rules of the facility.

Ø      Rewards and punishments are structured to ensure compliant inmate behavior.

Ø      Inmates are treated in a manner that is constitutional, equitable and fair.

Imagine now that this jail can actually be safer for staff and, at the same time, less expensive to build and maintain. Finally, imagine a facility where you can leave your eight or twelve hour shift and, at the end, leave not with a splitting headache but with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction that you have successfully managed an operation.

            All of the above may sound too good to be true, but there is a style of jail management that aims to create just such an environment and, from all reports, actually produces these lofty results. That style is called direct supervision.

Most jails in the United States have been built in the traditional linear/intermittent surveillance style. These facilities typically contain single or multiple occupancy cells aligned in corridors. Staff members are separated from inmates by long rows of bars or shatterproof glazing. Continuous supervision of inmates in these facilities is generally impossible either because staff workstations are located far from inmates or because the cellblocks are not designed to permit continuous observation. Security is maintained through the use of heavy metal doors, bars, and sophisticated alarms and, perhaps most important, by keeping staff out of the way of inmates.

            An honest assessment of the traditional linear facility would result in the conclusion that assaults, rapes, gangs, suicides, and vandalism cannot be prevented by simply putting inmates behind bars, In Fact, the structure of the facility might even contribute to the propensity for such incidents to occur. After all, aside from the few minutes each half hour that the officer is making rounds of cellblocks, it’s actually the inmates who are in charge of those areas.

The direct supervision facility

By contrast, direct supervision jails are based on a completely different set of assumptions about the best ways to control negative inmate behavior. The primary assumption is that the jail staff, not the inmates, should control the living areas. The architecture of these facilities is based on the rule that officers must continuously and directly supervise inmates in order to prevent negative behavior. Housing units are staffed around the clock by officers who remain in direct physical contact with inmates.

Instead of the traditional linear architectural style, inmates are generally divided into groups as large as 64 and housed in single or double cells set around a dayroom area. Within that day area, the officer has a workstation – an open desk, from which he or she can easily observe, supervise, move around and interact with inmates. In addition stainless steel combination toilet/lavatory facilities are typically replaced with separate china facilities; open – front grill cell doors are replaced with wood or metal solid doors with observation windows; and the stainless steel benches and picnic tables are replaced heavy wood tables, couches, and lightweight plastic chairs. Direct supervision housing units are typically described as resembling college dormitories.

Direct supervision jails are designed around the notion that safety and security are best achieved through the efforts of well trained, confident officers maintaining total control over inmates through continuous supervision, not by relying on restrictive architecture and sophisticated security devices.