JAILS

Jails are most often run by local governments and/or sheriffs.

Jails hold individuals who are awaiting trial or are serving short sentences. In Florida, inmates sentenced to serve 364 days or less, serve that time in jail.

Jails have a short average length of stay. Some admissions are for a few hours. Other pre-trial detainees are held for several years awaiting their trial. For that reason, the “average length of stay” data is skewed.

Jails must be able to accommodate all arrestees from those charged with misdemeanors to violent criminal offenders. For that reason, most jails are designed as maximum custody facilities.

Jails must provide all ranges of medical and mental health services, and be able to handle any medical emergency. It is estimated that 12% to 18% of jail admissions in the United States are individuals with acute or chronic mental illness.

Jails operate work release programs, boot camps, and other specialized services. They try to address education needs, substance abuse needs, and vocational needs while managing inmate behavior. Inmate idleness contributes to management problems.

Jails try to link departing inmates with services in their local communities such as veterans’ programs, AIDS/HIV counseling and treatment, and mental health counseling.

There are approximately 3,600 jails in the United States. The Broward Sheriff’s Office currently maintains three major facilities: the North Broward Detention Center, the Main Jail and the Division of Community Corrections. The number of beds in the entire system currently is 3,730. The average daily population is 4,300. When the new Joseph V. Conte facility opens, 1,024 beds will be added.

The BSO jail system is the 13th largest local jail system in the United States. It is one of only 3% of the local jails in the United States to have earned accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections.

The federal government also operates several “jails” across the country which hold persons awaiting trial in federal court. The Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Miami Correctional Center is such a facility. All branches of the military also operate jails (brigs) to hold military personnel prior to court marshall.

PRISONS

Prisons are operated by state governments and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Prisons are designed to hold individuals convicted of crimes.

Most prison facilities are exclusively either maximum, medium, or minimum custody facilities. Rarely are inmates with different classification levels mixed in the same facility.

State prison systems operate halfway houses, work release centers and community restitution centers — all considered medium or minimum custody. Inmates assigned to such facilities are usually reaching the end of their sentences.

Prisons are much different than jails. The constant turnover of inmates in a jail doesn’t happen in a prison. Prisons offer programs designed to rehabilitate inmates. About 97% of inmates committed to a state prison will eventually return to the community.