4 Ways to Improve Jail Policies and Procedures

An agency’s policies and procedures are the rules and guidelines developed and adopted by the agency, and are the framework for guiding staff for all major actions, activities, and decisions. Legal rulings are constantly in a state of change. New issues are litigated; existing rulings are clarified, or reinterpreted by the courts.  In this article, I’ll cover four ways to improve jail policies and procedures that will help ensure proper actions and protect yourself and your agency.

1. Keep your Policies and Procedures Current

It is absolutely critical to have current, legally based and defensible, comprehensive policies and procedures to help ensure proper actions and to protect yourself and your agency.

While “historic best practices” (this is the way we have always done things) may appear to justify some administrative policies, the courts may disagree. Anything less subjects the agency to potential legal risk. An agency must ensure it develops or modifies policies and procedures to stay current with the most recent rulings, and ensure the policy or procedure works for your facility.

2. Focus on Concise, Effective Training

Now that you have developed your new policy or procedure, a second issue is training. Criminal Justice practitioners can be a stubborn bunch, preferring stability and the known rather than something new and different.

Staff are much more likely to follow new policies and procedures if they also understand the reasons or justification for the new policy or procedure.  Staff must know what behavior is expected and understand the “why”.

This training does not need to be a lengthy affair – the training can be accomplished during a pre-shift briefing, but there needs to be training on what is expected and why we need to change to conform with latest legal rulings and the new policy.

3. Invest in an Electronic Round Tracking System

Even with proper policies and procedures in place, how do you ensure the policies and procedures are actually being followed?  I had the misfortune of having an employee admit on the stand during federal testimony that not all of the safety and security rounds listed on the hand written logs were actually made. This was quite an unwelcomed surprise and at a most inopportune time.

One way to help ensure proper safety and security rounds are being made is to use an electronic round tracking system that cannot be modified, such as Guard1. The system is simple to use with robust hardware, and the software reporting abilities enables administrators to instantly find exceptions to policy and procedures and address them.

While there are many systems on the market, I found this one a simple, cost effective way to reduce liability and ensure proper safety and security rounds are being made.

4. Ensure Policies and Procedures are Followed with MBWA

Another way to help ensure policies and procedures are being followed is MBWA – Management By walking Around.  Get out of the office and observe your staff working. Are staff behaving as you desire, are policies and procedures being followed, are supervisors doing what they are supposed to do, can processes be streamlined?

I have found by getting out, walking around, and talking to staff, I can learn a lot about what is working, what is not, and about potential problems before they explode.

I have also found if policies and procedures are not being followed, generally one of three things have happened: 1) Staff do not understand why the policy or procedure exists, and what legal change we are complying with – this is a training issue, 2) Staff found a better or more efficient way to accomplish the task.  If this is the case, change the policy or procedure to match the action, or 3) Staff are intentionally disregarding the policy or procedure – this is a discipline issue.

Policies and procedures should also be reviewed and evaluated at least once per year to ensure they are still current and relevant.

Conclusion

To summarize, an agencies policies and procedures are the heart of the operation. Policies and procedures must be current, legally defensible, and work for your facility.

You must ensure staff understand what they are being asked to do, and why, and you need to ensure what you believe is taking place in your facility is actually what is happening. A failure to follow your own agencies policies or procedures is a sure-fire way to end up on the short end in litigation.