U.S. Department of Justice 

National Institute of Corrections 

Managing Managing

Risk in Jails Risk in Jails
U.S. Department of Justice


National Institute of Corrections


320 First Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20534 

Morris L. Thigpen 

Director 

Thomas J. Beauclair 

Deputy Director 

Virginia A. Hutchinson 

Chief, Jails Division 

Jim T. Barbee 

Project Manager 

National Institute of Corrections 

www.nicic.org 
Managing 

Risk in Jails 

Mark D. Martin 

Claire Lee Reiss, J.D., ARM, CPCU 

April 2008 

NIC Accession Number 022666 
This document is supported by cooperative agreement number 06J45GJJ4 

from the National Institute of Corrections, U.S. Department of Justice. 

Points of view or opinions stated in this document are those of the authors and 

do not necessarily represent the official opinion or policies of the 

U.S. Department of Justice. 
Contents 

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v


Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii


Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix


Purpose and Scope of the Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix


Who Should Use This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x


How To Use This Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x


Chapter 1. Understanding Risk and Its Implications for Jails . . . . . . . . . . 1


What Is Risk? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1


What Are the Benefits of Managing Risk Effectively? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2


Chapter 2. Jail Risk Management Issues and Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11


Functional Area 1: Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11


Functional Area 2: Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15


Functional Area 3: Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19


Functional Area 4: Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20


Functional Area 5: Program and Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23


Functional Area 6: Justice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25


Functional Area 7: Administration and Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27


Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31


Characteristics of Organizations That Have Successful Risk 


Management Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31


Step 1: Evaluate the Existing Risk Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33


Step 2: Assess the Effects of Risk on the Jail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34


Step 3: Implement Risk Control Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45


Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58


iii 
Chapter 4. Organizational Investments for Managing Risk . . . . . . . . . . . 61


Human Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61


Financial Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63


Property . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64


Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64


Reputation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64


The Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64


Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67


References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69


Appendix A. Recommended Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71


Constitutional and Civil Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73


Disasters and Emergencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74


Enterprise Risk Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75


Jail Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76


Risk Financing and Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77


Safety and Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78


Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79


Workers’ Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80


Appendix B. Worksheets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81


Worksheet 1. Risk Register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83


Worksheet 2. Risk Control Implementation Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84


Worksheet 3. Risk Control Action Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85


Appendix C. Evaluating Risk Financing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87


iv 
Foreword 

Risk affects a jail in the same way that it affects 

other organizations: by diminishing or enhancing 

the jail’s ability to achieve its mission. The mission of our jail system is to protect the public 

and maintain a safe environment within the institution consistent with legal requirements and to 

provide work and other self-improvement activities to reduce the likelihood of recidivism. 

If jails fail to manage risk, the entire community 

will potentially be subject to negative consequences, including inmate escape, injury to 

inmates and jail staff, damage to jail facilities, 

litigation and liability costs, and an increased 

likelihood of repeat offenses. 

Effective risk management also can lead to positive consequences. Many modern jails offer programs (e.g., educational programs, vocational 

programs, and substance abuse programs) that 

help inmates develop skills and overcome challenges. These changes require calculated risk 

taking. If jails manage that risk effectively, 

inmates emerge better able to function in society 

and less likely to become repeat offenders. Other 

benefits of effective risk management include the 

preservation and enhancement of key resources, 

reduced insurance premiums, and a reduction in 

staff turnover rates and lost worktime. 

This manual will help jails both to understand 

risk and its implication for jails and to develop a 

formal, effective risk management program that 

uses all of the jail’s basic resources (i.e., human, 

financial, property, partners, and reputation). A 

risk management program offers jail administrators a disciplined approach to assessing risks, 

implementing strategies to manage the risks, and 

evaluating the effectiveness of these strategies on 

an ongoing basis. The process outlined in this 

manual can be adapted to fit the needs of any jail 

regardless of its size; activities can be scaled 

back or expanded based on the organization’s 

size and complexity. 

It is our hope that this manual will be useful 

to a broad array of entities that have a stake in 

effective jail management, including jail administrators and managers, jail supervisors, line 

staff, risk managers, jail inspectors, funding 

authorities, and executive authorities. Effective 

risk management in jails is in our nation’s best 

interest. Nothing less than the safety and wellbeing of our citizens—inmates and the public at 

large—is at stake. 

Morris L. Thigpen 

Director 

National Institute of Corrections 

v 
Acknowledgments 

Managing Risk in Jails was written under the 

direction of the National Institute of Corrections 

(NIC). Special thanks go to Virginia Hutchinson 

and Jim T. Barbee at NIC and Georgette Walsh, 

former Writer/Editor at NIC, for their leadership 

and assistance in developing this document. 

We also thank Shelley Zavlek, who edited the 

initial draft, and Irene Cooperman and Janet 

McNaughton at Lockheed Martin Business 

Process Solutions, who took the document from 

draft stage to final publication. 

We also express our appreciation to the following individuals who contributed to the development of the document by providing information 

about existing jail risk management resources 

and programs and/or by reviewing drafts of the 

guide: 

■ Rod Miller, Jail Consultant and Director, 

Community Resource Services, Inc. 

■ William Page, Senior Risk Consultant, 

Michigan Municipal Risk Management 

Authority. 

■ Harold Pumford, Executive Director, 

Association of Governmental Risk Pools. 

■ Alan Richardson, former NIC Program 

Specialist with the Jails Division. 

■ Ray Sabbatine, Jail and Risk Consultant, 

Sabbatine & Associates. 

■ David Sasser, General Counsel, Idaho 

Counties Risk Management Program. 

This document draws heavily on the excellent 

expertise and resources of the Public Entity Risk 

Institute (PERI). PERI is a nonprofit organization that provides relevant and high-quality 

enterprise risk management information, training, data, and data analysis to public entities, 

small businesses, and nonprofit organizations. 

Readers interested in learning more about public 

risk management are encouraged to visit PERI’s 

website (www.riskinstitute.org) for more information about the organization and for a listing 

of its publications and technical resources. 

Mark D. Martin 

Claire Lee Reiss 

vii 
Introduction 

It is difficult to find a public endeavor that poses 

more risk than operating a jail. When we fail to 

manage risk in jails, the consequences can be 

severe: injury, illness, property damage, escapes, 

and more. Unmanaged risks can lead to significant losses—both monetary (costs arising from 

litigation defense, judgments, loss of income, 

overtime, personnel replacement, facility repairs 

or replacement, boarding, etc.) and nonmonetary 

(loss of staff productivity, increased external 

oversight, reduced public safety, and loss of public support and good will). 

Because risk is inherent in every activity, it cannot be totally eliminated, but it can be managed. 

One of the jail administrator’s primary roles is 

to manage the effect of risk on jail operations. 

Almost every decision an administrator makes— 

from personnel decisions to inmate housing 

assignments to the provision of medical and mental health care services—is designed to reduce 

the risks associated with housing a potentially 

volatile, high-risk population (Sabbatine, 2002). 

Well-run jails typically have many elements in 

place that contribute to effective risk management, including the following: 

■ Written policies and procedures. 

■ Personnel policies. 

■ Staff training programs. 

■ Inmate classification process. 

■ Security and communications systems. 

■ Provisions for fire safety and emergency 

response. 

■ Services to meet inmates’ basic needs. 

■ Provisions for facility maintenance and 

sanitation. 

When a formal risk management program is 

implemented and maintained in the jail, it 

improves and builds on jail officials’ efforts to 

manage risk. An effective, formal risk management program provides jail officials a disciplined 

approach to: 

■ Continuously assess risks associated with 

jail operation. 

■ Determine which risks are most important to 

manage. 

■ Implement strategies to control those risks. 

■ Evaluate the effect of their efforts and make 

adjustments as needed. 

Effective risk management also enables jails to 

accommodate activities that might have been 

dismissed as “too risky” (e.g., guest lecturers 

and performers, community work details, specialized vocational programming). These types 

of activities could result in positive outcomes 

(e.g., rehabilitating inmates and helping them 

improve their lives, possibly reducing the crime 

rate in the community). 

Purpose and Scope of the Manual 

This manual provides a framework for understanding and communicating more effectively 

about risk management issues in jails. It provides 

a basis for strengthening the jail’s risk management processes and increasing its capacity to 

ix 
achieve its mission. As a tool to improve the 

jail’s risk management efforts, this manual does 

the following: 

■ Defines risk. 

■ Explores the implications of risk in jails. 

■ Identifies the costs (both direct and indirect) 

and consequences of failing to manage risk. 

■ Describes the positive consequences of 

effectively managing risk. 

■ Provides a framework for identifying, 

assessing, and managing risk. 

■ Describes important risk management 

strategies. 

■ Presents communication approaches that 

engage all staff in the process. 

■ Analyzes sources of risk and factors that 

contribute to risk events in jails. 

■ Presents sample worksheets for identifying, 

analyzing, and prioritizing risks. 

■ Identifies risk management organizations 

and resources available to help jail officials 

establish risk management programs. 

Who Should Use This Manual 

Many entities have a stake in effective jail risk 

management. This manual offers them new 

insights, strategies, and tools. Stakeholders 

include: 

■ Funding authorities. 

■ Executive authorities. 

■ Jail administrators and managers. 

■ Jail supervisors. 

■ Line staff and all other individuals who work 

in the jail setting. 

■ Risk managers. 

■ Jail inspectors. 

How To Use This Manual 

This manual can be used in various ways, 

depending on the stakeholder’s interest and 

responsibilities for managing risk in a jail. 

Funding authorities such as county boards and 

city councils can use the manual to gain a better 

understanding of the unique risks associated 

with jail operation and the process for managing 

those risks. With this information, they can learn 

more about the most significant risks in their 

own jails and the actions jail officials are taking 

to manage those risks. They can then make more 

informed decisions as to the type and level of 

support required for the jail to manage its risks 

effectively. 

The jail’s senior management team, including the 

sheriff, jail administrator, and other key management staff, should use this manual as a guide to 

planning and implementing an effective risk management program. The information needed to 

develop such a program is outlined in considerable detail in chapter 3. Jail supervisors and other 

personnel should consider how their day-to-day 

work contributes to risk management in light of 

the framework outlined in the manual and then 

share their ideas with senior management. 

Finally, this manual considers risk management 

in jails from the perspective both of jail officials 

and of those responsible for inspecting the jail 

and making recommendations. The terminology 

and concepts presented here will serve risk managers, jail inspectors, and jail officials as a common framework for discussing risk management 

issues. 

x 
Understanding Risk and Its Implications for Jails
 1 

What Is Risk? 

Organizations often view risk as being associated 

with negative consequences, such as the chance 

that an accident, injury, or other loss will occur. 

This is especially true for jails, and for good 

reasons: 

■ A jail is a residential setting that confines 

some of society’s most threatening 

individuals. 

■ Jail populations are diverse and turn over 

frequently. 

■ Inmates exhibit a wide range of behavior 

and degrees of cooperation and have significant personal needs. 

■ Inmates’ rights are closely guarded by a 

comprehensive body of federal, state, and 

constitutional law. 

■ A complex system supports the jail and its 

operation (including the physical plant, 

security system, lifeline services, staff, 

policies and procedures, food service, health 

care, social services, and opportunities for 

inmates’ self-improvement); all components 

of this system must work together smoothly 

and consistently to avoid a breakdown. 

From intake through release, jail staff are 

required to assess and respond to a constantly 

changing mixture of inmate characteristics and 

needs. The nature of the jail environment 

inevitably causes staff and administrators to 

focus on controlling the risk of adverse outcomes. That is the subject of this manual. 

Risk can also be a positive force, even in a jail 

setting, where the primary focus is on controlling 

negative risk consequences. One way to understand this is to view risk as uncertainty of 

outcome—the possibility that an 

outcome will differ from the Risk events are specific 

expected—rather than the possi- incidents that produce risk 

bility of a bad outcome. Most consequences. Risk affects 

successful endeavors involve tak- an organization through 

risk consequences: the 

ing risks with the intention of effects a risk event has on 

achieving positive outcomes, but an organization and its 

often with an element of uncer- ability to achieve its 

tainty. The uncertainty comes mission and goals. 

from the fact that the actual outcome (i.e., the risk consequence) may turn out to 

be good or bad or may even include both good 

and bad elements. 

In a jail, attempting new endeavors can mean 

assuming the risk of unexpected unfavorable 

events. Such events can challenge the resources 

of the organization that has to respond. 

Taking risks in jails, therefore, involves examining the interplay between opportunity, progress, 

and risk. All organizations, including jails, have 

opportunities within their mission to make 

progress, to innovate, or to do something better 

than it has been done in the past. Failure to take 

advantage of an opportunity is a loss of progress 

toward a better future. Maintaining the status 

quo is not always the best option. Properly 

managed uncertainty—calculated risk taking—is 

an inevitable part of any effort to make progress. 

Progress requires change, and the outcome of 

change is always uncertain: It can be better or 

1 
worse than expected, and it can be accompanied 

by unintended side effects, either good or bad. 

The essence of risk management 

is to identify, manage, and con- In the private sector, 

“business risk” is the trol risk to minimize negative 

foundation of investment risk consequences and maximize 

return. Whether an positive ones. 

investor is buying stock or 

opening a family-owned The positive and negative aspects restaurant, the future 

returns are unknown when of risk are seldom neatly separatthe investment is made. ed. Most activities that involve 

The investor may lose the risk offer the possibility of both entire invested amount or positive and negative risk conse­ realize gains well beyond 

expectations. Of course, quences. One example in a jail 

investors take steps to setting is the evolution of jail 

manage this risk. If they are programming. Jails have developening a business, they 

evaluate the market and oped beyond their original misprepare a detailed business sion to serve as places of 

plan, including financial confinement that were designed projections. If they are to punish offenders and isolate buying stock, they research 

the company’s history and them from society. Many modern 

outlook. Informed jails strive to help inmates 

investors may choose an emerge better able to function in investment that poses a society and less likely to become significant chance of loss if 

it offers a higher potential repeat offenders. To accomplish 

return than a safer this goal, jails offer programming 

investment. that helps inmates develop skills 

and overcome challenges. These 

changes require calculated risk taking, which 

involves the following: 

■ Evaluating the opportunity. 

■ Analyzing the likely range of positive and 

negative consequences. 

■ Identifying ways to maximize the likelihood 

of positive consequences and control negative ones. 

■ Deciding whether the possible benefits of 

the opportunity are sufficient to justify 

taking the carefully controlled risk. 

Changes in the design of traditional jail housing 

units offer a good illustration of the interplay 

between the positive and negative sides of risk. 

The traditional linear housing design used in 

older jails, with cells located along a security 

corridor, isolates the jail officer from the incarcerated population. This design physically 

contains inmates, but the officer has only intermittent contact with them, often seeing them 

only during rounds. 

Many jails have made the management decision 

to adopt a more contemporary direct supervision 

housing model, in which the officer is stationed 

directly in the housing unit and is in a position 

to constantly monitor behavior and interact with 

inmates. These jails adopt direct supervision 

methods to increase jail safety and security by 

adding behavior management to physical containment, thereby allowing officers to detect 

trouble sooner and avoid incidents. The inmates’ 

increased interaction with officers also conveys 

the jails’ high expectations for them and encourages them to address their behavior problems 

and plan for the future. These are all positive 

outcomes, but the same changes present a risk of 

negative consequences. The officers’ increased 

direct contact with inmates could increase the 

likelihood of an inmate attack on the officer 

stationed in the unit or an excessive-use-of-force 

claim. 

In reality, risk permeates all jail activities; it 

neither can nor should be eliminated. Progress 

requires the vision and imagination to identify 

better ways to operate and the discipline to plan 

and implement an approach that will maximize 

positive consequences and minimize negative 

ones. 

What Are the Benefits of Managing Risk 

Effectively? 

The benefits of risk management are substantial 

and self-reinforcing. They include: 

■ Enhanced ability to achieve the jail’s 

mission. 

■ Preservation and enhancement of key 

resources. 

2 
Chapter 1. Understanding Risk and Its Implications for Jails 

Activities That Can Have Both Positive and Negative Consequences for Jails 

■ Work release programs and community work details. 

■ Inmate participation in institutional support services. 

■ Educational (General Equivalency Diploma, or GED) programs. 

■ Vocational skills training programs. 

■ Substance abuse programs. 

■ Day parole and other temporary release programs. 

■ Avoidance of litigation and liability costs. 

■ Reduced insurance premiums. 

■ Reduction in turnover rates and lost work 

time and increase in staff productivity. 

■ Decrease in costs to repair or replace facilities, vehicles, and equipment. 

■ Avoidance of revenue interruption/extra 

expense. 

■ Preservation of goodwill and favorable 

public perception. 

Enhanced Ability to Achieve 

the Jail’s Mission 

Risk affects a jail in the same way that it affects 

other organizations: by affecting its ability to 

achieve its mission. An organization’s mission is 

its purpose for existing, often described in a 

brief, written mission statement. The mission is 

usually supported by a series of goals that identify 

the desired objectives the organization must 

achieve to fulfill its mission. 

A business’s mission (or “bottom line”) is to generate an expected level of return on investment. A 

business manages risk to maximize the bottom 

line, either by reducing losses or enhancing gains. 

Jails also have a bottom line: successful fulfillment of their public mission. Risk management is 

important to jail administrators, who realize they 

must manage the effects of uncertainty to increase 

their ability to achieve the stated mission. 

The ultimate consequence of failing to manage 

risk is that the jail will not achieve its mission as 

well as it would have with a strong risk management program. Consider the following example 

of a jail mission statement (emphasis added): 

...to incarcerate offenders in a manner 

that protects the public and institutional safety consistent with legal 

requirements, and to provide work 

and other self-improvement opportunities to reduce the likelihood of 

reincarceration. 

If the jail fails to achieve this mission, the entire 

community will potentially be subject to the following negative consequences: 

■ Inmates may be more likely to escape and 

harm the public. 

■ Inmates and jail staff may be injured 

because of unsafe conditions. 

■ Inmates and jail staff may be victimized by 

inmates who have been improperly classified 

or inadequately controlled. 

3 
■ Facilities may be damaged by violent 

offenders. 

■ The jail may fail to provide a level of inmate 

care that complies with constitutional, statutory, and regulatory requirements. 

■ More inmates may become repeat offenders 

when they are released after prolonged contact with other offenders. (Repeat offending 

is more likely among inmates who have not 

had access to effective self-improvement 

opportunities during incarceration.) 

A mission statement describes an organization’s 

overall purpose, but it does not provide direction 

on how the organization is to achieve that purpose. Goals are important because they identify 

the critical elements of an organization’s mission 

and provide a general statement of expectations. 

Charles Logan (1993) defined the mission of 

jails in terms of several simply stated goals or 

outcomes: “To keep prisoners—1) to keep them 

in, 2) keep them safe, 3) keep them in line, 

4) keep them healthy, and 5) keep them busy— 

and do it 6) with fairness and no undue suffering, and 7) as efficiently as possible.” 

This definition has been incorporated into the 

seven functional areas delineated in 

Performance-Based Standards for Adult Local 

Detention Facilities, 4th edition (American 

Correctional Association, 2004). The American 

Correctional Association (ACA) believes that all 

jail activities can be organized under these seven 

areas. The performance-based standards present 

a goal statement for each functional area, as follows (American Correctional Association, 2004): 

1. 	 Safety. Provide a safe work environment 

for jail staff, volunteers, contractors, and 

inmates. 

2. 	 Security. Protect the community, staff, contractors, volunteers, and inmates from harm. 

3. 	 Order. Maintain an orderly environment 

with clear expectations of behavior and systems of accountability. 

4. 	 Care. Provide for the basic needs and personal care of inmates. 

5. 	 Program and activity. Help inmates successfully return to the community and 

reduce the negative effects of confinement. 

6. 	 Justice. Treat inmates fairly and respect 

their legal rights. Provide services that hold 

inmates accountable for their actions, and 

encourage them to make restitution to their 

victims and the community. 

7. 	 Administration and management. Administer and manage the facility in a professional and responsible manner, consistent with 

legal requirements. 

Effective risk management is essential to achieving each of these goals. Failure to achieve these 

goals results in failure in one or more aspects of 

the jail’s mission. Exhibit 1 illustrates the relationship between risk events, functional areas, 

and mission (as defined in the mission statement 

quoted above). 

Preservation and Enhancement 

of Key Resources 

Key resources are tangible or intangible assets 

that are important to the jail’s ability to accomplish its mission and goals and that may be 

affected by a risk event. For example, the facility, jail staff, jail funding sources, grants, records, 

and the jail’s motor vehicle fleet are all key 

resources. 

Negative risk consequences inevitably drain key 

resources the jail needs to achieve its mission. 

Exhibit 2 shows that risk consequences often 

produce a self-reinforcing ripple effect. The 

more negative risk consequences the jail experiences, the fewer resources it has to achieve its 

4 
Chapter 1. Understanding Risk and Its Implications for Jails 

Exhibit 1. Relationship Between Risk Events, Goals, and Mission 

Risk Event ACA* Functional Area Mission 

Prisoner escape #2 Security 

#3 Order 

Protects the public and institutional safety. 

Positive staff-inmate 

interaction 

#3 Order 

#5 Program and activity 

#6 Justice 

#7 Administration and management 

Protects the public and institutional safety. 

Overcrowding #1 Safety 

#2 Security 

#3 Order 

#4 Care 

Protects the public and institutional safety 

consistent with legal requirements. 

Grant to implement 

new self-improvement 

programming 

#7 Administration and management Provides work and other self-improvement 

opportunities. 

Decrease in motor 

vehicle accidents 

#1 Safety Protects the public and institutional safety. 

Decrease in inmate 

lawsuits 

#2 Security 

#4 Care 

#6 Justice 

Protects the public and institutional safety 

consistent with legal requirements. 

Flooding of jail building 

and successful 

evacuation 

#1 Safety 

#4 Care 

#7 Administration and management 

Protects the public and institutional safety 

consistent with legal requirements. 

*American Correctional Association. 

mission, and the cycle continues. Positive consequences enhance the jail’s resources and its 

ability to achieve its mission. Thus, effective risk 

management both preserves and enhances the 

resources necessary for the jail to achieve its 

mission. 

A jail’s key resources generally fall into one of 

the following categories: 

■ Human resources. Staff, volunteers, 

inmates, and contract service providers. 

■ Financial resources. Funds received from 

the sponsoring public entity, governing body, 

other public bodies or agencies that pay fees 

to the jail for housing their offenders, grant 

Exhibit 2. Effect of Risk Consequences on 

Resources 

Positive outcomes 

or negative risk 

consequences 

Mission and Resources goals 

Gain or loss of 

resources 

5 
funders, and internal revenue-generating ■ Reputation. The jail’s image and standing 

services such as inmate telephones and in the community. The way in which comcommissary. munity members perceive the jail will affect 

■ Property. Tangible property such as build- the other resources it receives. 

ings, equipment, security systems, informa- A jail’s reliance on its funding sources is a 

tion technology system, and vehicles. special vulnerability. A jail can supplement the 

■ Partners. Agencies, organizations, vendors, allocation it receives from its funding authority 

and contractors that provide services and with grants, inmate fees and copayments, boardsupplies to the jail (e.g., other public ing fees, and sales of goods produced by a jail 

agencies such as police and mental health industry. Jails also use in-kind support services 

providers; nonprofits that address substance from other public or private organizations to 

abuse issues; school systems that conduct supplement their human resources. 

inmate GED classes; vendors that provide A jail can lose these financial resources and 

lifeline services such as electricity, water, in-kind support services for many reasons. and telecommunications; and food service Following are just a few examples: and health care vendors). 

Examples of How Risk Management Can Preserve and Enhance a Jail’s Key 

Resources 

■ Property. Planning in advance to secure the resources necessary to continue operations in another 

location will enable the jail to fulfill its mission if flooding makes the facility uninhabitable. Retrofitting 

the jail building to be more earthquake resistant will help prevent extensive damage during an earthquake. Installing lighting in the jail parking lot helps reduce vandalism to jail vehicles. Maintaining duplicates of vital records reduces the potential for losing critical information. 

■ Human resources. A jail facility safety program helps prevent accidents and injuries that could result 

in liability lawsuits, workers’ compensation claims, and loss of employee work time. 

■ Financial resources. A defensive driver training program for jail staff helps reduce financial losses 

associated with motor vehicle accidents, including liability to third parties, damage to jail vehicles, and 

injury to jail staff and inmates; a systematic recordkeeping process for inmate property helps reduce 

claims for lost property; and sound budget planning and management practices ensure that the jail 

can make its case for funding, thereby helping it avoid funding cuts that would reduce its resources. 

■ Partners. Identifying and pursuing opportunities to partner with community organizations that have 

complementary missions enables the jail to increase its self-improvement programming. 

■ Reputation. Designating and training one or more staff members to serve as spokesperson(s) on 

behalf of the jail and instructing all staff members to refer press inquiries to the designated 

spokesperson(s) helps the jail avoid damage to its public image. 

6 
Chapter 1. Understanding Risk and Its Implications for Jails 

■ In an economic recession, the funding 

authority and private funders may have to 

reduce their allocations even if the jail is 

doing an outstanding job. Partner organizations that provide personnel and materials 

for mental health, educational, job training, 

and substance abuse programs at the jail 

may have fewer resources to contribute as 

well. 

■ If the jail cannot demonstrate to the funding 

authority or private funder that a jail program produces the desired results, it may 

lose the funds for that program. 

■ If the inmate population is inadequately 

controlled or unreceptive, or if the jail’s 

administration does not have a positive 

public image, partner organizations may 

withdraw their participation and support. 

Any of these situations can leave the jail without 

the key resources it needs to accomplish its mission and goals. Effective risk management can 

help avoid this outcome. 

Avoidance of Litigation and Liability Costs 

Litigation is probably the most familiar consequence of poor risk management. Litigation 

includes formal lawsuits filed in court and 

claims that are settled by agreement before a 

case comes before the court. Various parties 

(including employees, inmates, inmates’ family 

members, the general public/visitors, volunteers, 

or victims of released or escaped inmates) can 

initiate a lawsuit, the legal grounds for which 

may be constitutional violations, unfair employment practices, premises liability, negligence, 

and automobile liability, to name just a few. The 

plaintiff is the person seeking damages (money) 

from the defendant. The jail is usually the defendant in these types of cases. 

The costs of a lawsuit can be substantial: 

■ Defense. Defendants almost always pay 

their own expenses for defending litigation, 

even if the claim is without merit. Those 

expenses can include legal fees, court costs, 

investigation costs, court reporter fees, and 

expert witness fees. If the jail is insured, its 

insurance company or risk pool usually pays 

the costs of defense for covered claims. For 

some claims that allege constitutional violations, the plaintiff may be able to recover 

attorneys’ fees from the jail. 

■ Employee lost time. Jail employees must 

spend non-mission-related work time on 

investigating claims and lawsuits, giving 

depositions, and appearing at trial. 

■ Settlements. A settlement is an agreement 

between the jail and a plaintiff to settle a 

claim or lawsuit in return for payment of 

a specified amount. 

■ Judgments/awards. A judgment or award is 

the final decision in a lawsuit or administrative proceeding. It is entered by a court of 

law or an administrative body and orders 

appropriate relief. If the plaintiff has won the 

case, the judgment will award damages to 

the plaintiff and will include an order requiring the defendant to pay the award to the 

plaintiff. A judgment or a settlement may 

also require the jail to take remedial actions 

that can be expensive. 

■ Consent decrees. A consent decree is a judicial decree expressing the agreement between the plaintiff(s) and the jail that the jail 

will take or refrain from taking certain 

actions in the future. In the case of an action 

against a jail based on unconstitutional conditions of confinement, the jail may be 

required to take specific remedial actions 

over a period of time, submit reports, and be 

monitored, all at substantial cost. 

7 
A risk management program that helps the jail 

avoid the incidents that lead to these types of 

claims will help reduce these costs. 

Reduced Insurance Premiums 

Jails can transfer some of the negative financial 

consequences of risk to commercial insurers or 

to risk pools by paying a premium. Workers’ 

compensation, employer’s liability, law enforcement liability, property insurance, automobile 

insurance, volunteer liability, and professional/ 

errors and omissions liability insurance are all 

available. However, insurers generally will not 

continue to insure any organization at a financial 

loss. If a jurisdiction fails to manage its risk in 

the jail effectively and incurs many insured losses, its insurance company will either increase its 

premiums or decline to renew its coverage. Either 

way, the jurisdiction will be required to pay higher insurance premiums for the jail, which will 

reduce the jail’s available funds to serve its mission. A strong risk management program helps a 

jail avoid these consequences by helping to keep 

its claims experience low. 

Reduction in Lost Work Time and Increase 

in Staff Productivity 

Any organization’s most valuable—and costly— 

resource is its people. Because most jail staff 

positions require a variety of specific skills and 

knowledge of procedures, it is not easy to 

replace jail staff members. Excessive staff 

turnover, lost work time, and diversion of staff 

to non-mission-related work all adversely affect 

the human resources that are available to meet 

the jail’s mission. Effective risk management 

helps the jail control these losses. 

Excessive staff turnover refers to the jail’s 

replacement of staff members at a rate that is 

higher than normal. For example, a turnover rate 

of 30 percent means that the jail replaces a third 

of its staff every year. Excessive staff turnover can 

occur for many risk-related reasons, including 

staff injuries, dangerous working conditions, pervasive dissatisfaction with the conditions of 

employment, discrimination, harassment on the 

job, or poor management. 

Jails invest heavily in training each employee to 

comply with jail procedures and legal requirements. Some results of a high employee turnover 

are as follows: 

■ The jail receives a lower return on its investment in terms of productive employee work 

time. 

■ The jail’s total training costs increase, 

leaving fewer resources available for other 

purposes. 

■ The jail has a less experienced and less productive staff, on average, as compared with 

jails that are able to retain their employees 

for longer periods. 

A jail also loses the benefit of its experienced 

staff whenever an employee misses work 

because of injury or illness. The jail may incur 

additional cost to temporarily replace the 

employee if his or her job is essential. Some 

administrative employees may be able to be 

away from their jobs for a short period of time 

without replacement, but employees such as jail 

officers must either be at their post or be temporarily replaced. 

Non-mission-related use of staff time is difficult 

to measure. Activities that do not directly serve 

the jail’s mission and goals are considered to be 

non-mission related. For example, if the facility 

has many work-related injuries, supervisors may 

spend a great deal of time investigating and documenting injuries and managing the injured 

employees’ workers’ compensation benefits and 

work schedules. Similarly, staff may spend a 

great deal of time investigating and resolving 

inmate grievances related to conditions of confinement. These staff members are working, but 

8 
the work they are doing is loss control. It does 

not directly advance the jail’s mission and goals. 

Decrease in Costs to Repair or Replace 

Facilities, Vehicles, or Equipment 

Damage to or destruction of jail property can 

result in major financial losses. Although many 

jails have insurance coverage for their facilities, 

automobiles, and equipment, insurance rarely 

covers all of the loss. Recovery from a property 

insurer may be reduced or limited for many reasons, including the following: 

■ Policy deductible. Most property policies 

include a deductible, which is a portion of 

the loss that the insured jail must pay before 

the insurance will cover a loss. The purpose 

of the deductible amount is to reduce the 

costs associated with handling many small 

claims. 

■ Coinsurance penalty. An insurance policy 

covering real property may impose a coinsurance penalty, which reduces the amount 

an insurer will pay for a loss if the owner 

has not insured a certain percentage of the 

value of the property. The purpose of coinsurance penalties is to discourage owners 

from reducing their premium by insuring 

property for less than its full value. 

■ Limits of coverage. A limit of coverage is 

the maximum amount the insurer will pay 

for a loss. Even if the loss exceeds the limits, the property owner recovers no more 

than the stated limits. Without limits, the 

insurer would be unable to make accurate 

projections of its future losses. 

■ Policy scope of coverage. Property insurance policies specifically exclude coverage 

for certain types of property (for example, 

outdoor radio or television antennas) or certain causes of loss (for example, flood, war, 

or nuclear events). These exclusions limit 

the insurer’s exposure for more uncommon 

Chapter 1. Understanding Risk and Its Implications for Jails 

or potentially catastrophic events. Owners 

can often cover excluded items of property 

or causes of loss by paying extra premium 

or buying a specialized policy. 

The unexpected need to pay for uninsured 

repairs to or replacement of property that is 

important to the jail’s mission reduces the jail’s 

available financial resources for mission-related 

activities and programming. A strong risk management program helps prevent these types of 

losses. 

Avoidance of Revenue Interruption/ 

Extra Expense 

An organization may suffer revenue interruption 

and extra expense losses when an adverse event 

damages its property and prevents it from operating as usual. For example, a fire might render the 

jail building wholly or partially uninhabitable, 

forcing the jail to either reduce or discontinue 

operations or find another location. Revenue 

interruption and extra expense are often related 

to damages to real property, but they can also 

result from damage to or loss of personal property, 

such as motor vehicles or specialized equipment 

that is difficult or expensive to replace quickly. 

Revenue interruption losses reduce the organization’s net revenue stream. For example, if a jail 

is paid for housing another jurisdiction’s 

inmates, and the jail becomes uninhabitable 

because of a fire or other disaster, those boarding 

fees will no longer be paid. The jail may also 

lose fees it would have received in conjunction 

with housing prisoners, such as telephone commissions and copayments for health care services. 

On the other hand, the jail’s expenses are also 

reduced by the loss of the boarding population. 

The jail’s total revenue interruption loss is its 

reduction in net revenue from housing and providing services for those inmates minus the cost 

of providing the housing and services. Revenue 

loss may affect the jail directly (i.e., if the lost 

9 
revenue would normally flow back into the jail’s 

budget) or indirectly (i.e., if the loss means the 

jurisdiction will reduce its funding to the jail). 

Extra expenses are the jail’s costs, in excess of 

its usual operating costs, to continue operating 

after damage to its facility or essential equipment. Extra expense is potentially a significant 

cost for jails because they cannot suspend operations, even if the facility is severely damaged. 

They must find a way to continue operations or 

to transfer inmates to the custody of another 

appropriate facility. In the example above, if the 

jail pays a facility in a neighboring jurisdiction 

to house its inmates after a disaster, the additional 

cost to operate in the alternative location is an 

extra expense. 

The jail can also lose revenue or incur extra 

expenses if adverse events affect the operations 

of the jail’s suppliers or contractors rather than 

the jail itself. For example, a jail’s food service 

contractor may be unable to bring food to the 

jail because of a strike against its operations or 

because of damage to the facility where it prepares the meals. In this case, the jail may incur 

extra expense when it has to pay more per meal 

to buy the service from another company on 

short notice. Similarly, if a jail is unable to 

house inmates from other jurisdictions because 

the electrical utility that provides power to 

operate the jail’s security and heating systems 

becomes disabled, then the jail loses the boarding fees it would have received from the other 

jurisdictions. 

Good risk management, especially contingency 

planning that will help the jail continue to operate after an adverse event, along with backup 

planning for essential services provided by outside vendors, helps reduce the likelihood that 

these losses will occur. 

Preservation of Goodwill and Favorable 

Public Perception 

The nature of a jail’s business makes it difficult 

for a jail to cultivate a positive reputation in its 

community. Negative publicity about risk events 

makes it even harder, for the following reasons: 

■ A bad reputation for treatment of inmates 

will make the jail an easy target for 

litigation. 

■ Public perception that the facility has inadequate security may lead to citizen efforts to 

close the jail or vote out of office the responsible elected officials. 

■ Grantors may avoid jails that have not 

demonstrated their ability to use funding 

productively. 

■ Potential partner organizations may conclude 

that it would be a waste of time to work with 

the jail or may decline to provide services to 

the jail because of safety concerns. 

A strong risk management program will reduce 

the number of events that result in adverse publicity. The risk management plan should include 

a sound public relations protocol to control 

publicity about events that occur at the jail. 

Chapter 3 contains more information about how 

a jail can organize a risk management program 

to realize these benefits. 

Chapter 2 explores the close relationship between 

risk management and the seven functional areas 

identified in Performance-Based Standards for 

Adult Local Detention Facilities, 4th edition 

(American Correctional Association, 2004). 

10 
Jail Risk Management Issues and Strategies
 2 

This chapter addresses a number of jail risk 

management issues and highlights key strategies 

jail officials can employ to more effectively 

manage risk in these areas. It is organized in 

seven sections, each addressing one of the functional areas identified in Performance-Based 

Standards for Adult Local Detention Facilities, 

4th edition (American Correctional Association, 

2004). Each section states the goal for the functional area and then discusses the risk events and 

consequences associated with that goal. Some 

major sources of risk that affect each goal are 

identified, along with common contributing 

factors that make risk events more likely and 

increase their consequences. Possible strategies 

to address the effects of risk are included at the 

end of each section. 

Some risk events are so serious that they will 

affect all jail operations. For example, a disaster 

that destroys the jail facility will affect every 

aspect of jail operations for a long time. As a 

practical matter, we cannot discuss all these 

effects here. The information provided is not 

intended to be a comprehensive list of all jail 

risk issues, but rather it is designed to illustrate 

the linkage between the jail’s mission and goals 

and the risk management process. 

Functional Area 1: Safety 

Goal: Provide a safe work environment for jail 

staff, volunteers, contractors, and inmates. 

A safe jail provides a secure and healthful physical environment for staff, volunteers, contractors, 

visitors, and inmates. Operating a safe jail is 

fundamental to the jail’s mission and directly 

correlates with the jail’s legal duty to protect and 

duty to provide due care to those in custody and 

with its duty to provide a safe workplace for its 

staff. 

Risk events: 

■ Accidents that involve staff, inmates, or 

others present in the facility. 

■ Accidents that involve the facility or other 

jail property, including vehicles. 

■ Illnesses affecting staff, inmates, or others 

in the facility because of conditions in the 

facility. 

■ Violation of the jail’s legal duty to protect 

and provide due care to inmates. 

Consequences of risk events: 

■ Injury, illness, or death of staff, inmates, and 

others present in the facility. 

■ Health care expenses for injured or ill 

inmates and workers’ compensation benefits 

for injured staff. 

■ Damage to jail property. 

■ Loss of valuable employee services because 

of missed work time and time spent dealing 

with claims. 

■ Lawsuits against the jail to compensate 

visitors for injuries and the resulting expenses 

for legal defense, payment of adverse judgments and settlements, compliance with 

consent decrees, and increased insurance 

premiums. 

11 
Definitions 

Source of risk: An object, force, or condition that creates the potential for a risk event. A source of risk is 

not the occurrence of a specific risk event. For example, the potential for a fire, flood, or earthquake (and, 

from a positive perspective, the availability of grants to support jail programs) are all sources of risk. An 

actual fire, flood, or grant award is not a source of risk—it is a risk event. 

Risk event: A specific incident that produces consequences, either positive or negative. For example, a 

specific flood, fire, earthquake, or grant award is a risk event. 

Risk exposure: The possibility that an organization will be affected by a certain type of risk event based on 

the organization’s characteristics, such as location, activities, assets, or other factors that make it subject to 

a particular source of risk. 

Contributing factor: A condition or circumstance that makes it more likely for a risk event to occur. 

Risk consequences: The positive or negative effect a risk event has on an organization and its ability to 

achieve its mission and goals. 

■ Expenses for repairs to damaged property inherent within the jail setting or they may be 

and extra operating expenses during repair created by the activities or behaviors of those 

and recovery. who occupy the facility. Some common sources 

■ Loss of use of damaged or destroyed property. of risk are discussed below. 

■ Loss of revenue that would have been Chemicals 

derived from contractual relationships with Jails often use chemicals that may be toxic, 

other jurisdictions and vendors that provide caustic, or flammable and store them onsite. 

services to inmates. These chemicals are contained in common 

■ Loss of reputation. cleaning materials, insecticides, pharmaceuticals, 

paints, or products used in the operation of 

Operating a safe jail may reduce the occurrence equipment. Inappropriate use, handling, or storof adverse risk events and their associated costs. age of chemicals can cause illness, injury, or 

A risk management focus on safety is a wise property damage. Contributing factors include: 

investment because it can prevent this potential 

drain on the jail’s resources. 	 ■ Improper labeling, storage, and inventory 

control. 

Sources of Risk That Can Affect Jail Safety ■ Poor product selection. 

Like any work or residential environment, a jail ■ Inadequate training in proper handling and 

is exposed to a wide range of sources of risk that use. 

can endanger staff, inmates, property, or other ■ Lack of supervision and oversight in the use key jail resources. These sources of risk may be of such materials. 

12 
Chapter 2. Jail Risk Management Issues and Strategies 

■ Careless behavior in the use of products 

containing harmful chemicals. 

■ Failure to follow instructions for the use of 

these chemicals. 

■ Noncompliance with Occupational Safety 

and Health Administration (OSHA) and 

related workplace safety requirements, such 

as eyewash stations, hazardous materials 

training, and use of personal protective 

equipment. 

Fires and Explosions 

Fire is a source of risk for all jails, and explosions can occur independently or in association 

with a fire. Fires can result from many sources, 

including intentional inmate activity, spontaneous or accidental ignition of flammable 

materials, defective wiring, or equipment that 

is not maintained properly or is malfunctioning. 

Possible sources of ignition in jails include open 

“friendly” flames (kitchen, laundry, boilers, etc.), 

cigarette smoking materials, electrical wiring 

and devices, and mechanical equipment. 

Conditions or behaviors that combine these 

sources with the other critical ingredients 

required for fires or explosion, or that hinder 

appropriate responses, are contributing factors 

that can cause adverse fire events. Contributing 

factors include: 

■ Inmate access to sources of ignition. 

■ Nonresponsiveness to inmate grievances. 

■ Insufficient preventive maintenance of jail 

equipment. 

■ Poor housekeeping (e.g., lint traps, range 

hoods, etc.). 

■ Improper storage of combustible materials. 

■ Combustible materials allowed or stored in 

the facility (types and amounts). 

■ Furnishings and materials in the jail that are 

not fire resistant. 

■ Inappropriate use of extension cords. 

■ Inadequate emergency response plans. 

■ Insufficient training in fire evacuation and 

response. 

■ Antiquated manual locking systems (making 

evacuation difficult). 

■ Lack of properly positioned and accessible 

emergency exits. 

■ Inadequate fire detection and suppression 

systems. 

■ Noncompliance with fire codes. 

Biological Hazards 

Biological hazards include bloodborne and airborne viruses, bacteria, and other microorganisms that can be introduced into the jail by an 

infected person, vermin, or insects or by contamination of the jail’s air, food, or water, either 

accidentally or through an intentional, malicious 

act. Although bioterrorism cannot be ignored, a 

greater source of risk is the natural transmission 

of a disease. Inmates come to jail with a range 

of medical conditions that may include communicable diseases that can be passed from one 

person to another. Facility conditions and close 

quarters of confinement provide a fertile breeding ground for biological hazards that can spread 

quickly through the inmate population if proper 

measures are not in place. A severe pandemic 

influenza strain, for example, would be a substantial source of risk for jails. Contributing 

factors include: 

■ Poor sanitation and hygiene both in the 

facility and among inmates and staff (e.g., 

unsanitary conditions, presence of vermin 

and pests, failure to wash hands). 

■ Contaminated food or water supply. 

■ Insufficient protocol for the control of 

infectious and communicable diseases. 

■ Lack of facilities for medical segregation. 

13 
■ Insufficient training in the use of universal 

precautions. 

■ Inadequate intake assessment procedures. 

■ Noncompliance with health and sanitation 

codes. 

■ Uncontrolled access to the jail’s water, air, 

or food supply by those who are not 

employed at the jail. 

Natural Hazards 

Like the rest of the community, jails can be 

affected by natural hazards such as hurricanes, 

tornadoes, blizzards, floods, earthquakes, wildfires, or other types of inclement weather. Much 

of a jail’s exposure to natural hazards is determined by the jail’s geographic location and the 

area’s climate. A risk event involving a natural 

hazard can affect the jail in various ways, including a loss of lifeline support (power, heat, etc.), 

disruption of supply deliveries, disruption of 

communications, inability of relief staff to reach 

the jail, injury to or death of staff and inmates, 

and partial or total loss of the facility. Contributing factors include: 

■ Location of the facility (e.g., in a high-risk 

area such as a floodplain, landslide/mudslide 

area, along a coastline). 

■ Facility construction methods that do not 

take natural hazards into account. 

■ Inadequate emergency response plans, 

including evacuation plans. 

■ Insufficient emergency response training and 

drills. 

■ Inadequate emergency power and communications supplies and equipment. 

■ Poor preventive maintenance of emergency 

power equipment. 

■ Lack of planning for post-event continuity 

of operations, including alternative locations 

and sources of essential supplies. 

General Facility Conditions 

This category includes ambient conditions such 

as temperature, humidity, lighting, noise, ventilation, sanitation practices, living space, and other 

characteristics, along with the general condition 

of the building and its furnishings and equipment. These are quality-of-life issues that affect 

the health and well-being of both inmates and 

staff. Poor conditions not only increase the 

potential for staff and inmate illness or injury 

but may also increase the level of tension and 

violence in the facility. Facility conditions are 

often the focus of conditions-of-confinement litigation against jails. Contributing factors include: 

■ Unsanitary conditions due to inadequate 

procedures or staff/inmate conduct. 

■ Poor facility conditions (e.g., wornout or 

broken furnishings, malfunctioning equipment, holes, cracks, slippery floors, sharp 

objects, unstable surfaces, clutter). 

■ Inattention to preventive maintenance and 

repairs (e.g., neglect of facility equipment 

and systems). 

■ Crowding. 

■ Noncompliance with building codes and 

related physical plant standards. 

Vehicle Use 

Facility vehicles are used to transport inmates 

outside the facility and to support other facility 

operations. The use, dependence on, and security 

of these vehicles are all sources of risk for the 

jail. Vehicles must be maintained and operated 

in a manner that prevents harm to the community, 

staff, inmates, and others. Injury, death, property 

damage, and financial losses can occur from risk 

events involving the use of vehicles. Contributing factors include: 

■ Use of vehicles for a purpose for which they 

are not appropriate or are not properly 

equipped. 

14 
■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■ Poor condition of vehicles. 

■ Level of use of vehicles (how often they are 

used and length of trips). 

■ Driving conditions. 

■ Driver skill and behaviors. 

■ Nonexistent or inadequate procedures 

regarding the use of vehicles. 

■ Insufficient training in the use of vehicles. 

■ Inadequate security for vehicles and vehicle 

keys when not in use. 

■ Inadequate system for documenting use and 

drivers of vehicles. 

Risk Control Strategies 

Some potential strategies for controlling safety 

risks in the jail are listed below. 

■ Keep the facility clean, free of vermin, and 

in good repair. 

■	 Implement a pest and vermin control 

plan. 

■	 Implement a housekeeping and sanitation plan. 

■	 Make repairs promptly when needed and 

replace wornout items. 

■	 Implement a facilitywide preventive 

maintenance plan. 

■	 Assess and address issues regarding 

crowding and conditions of confinement. 

■ Manage the use of hazardous materials. 

Develop a plan to inventory and provide for 

the controlled and safe use of flammable, 

toxic, and caustic materials. 

■ Develop emergency response plans. 

■	 Coordinate plans with emergency 

service providers. 

■	 Conduct regular drills. 

■ Provide training. 

Chapter 2. Jail Risk Management Issues and Strategies 

■	 Develop and provide all affected staff 

members with safety training related to 

the contributing factors identified above. 

■	 Maintain records to document that 

training has taken place. 

■	 Provide periodic refresher training. 

■ Develop policies and procedures governing 

vehicle use. 

■	 Train staff in procedures for the use of 

vehicles. 

■	 Implement a vehicle maintenance plan. 

■ Inspect. Conduct comprehensive and thorough fire, safety, and sanitation inspections 

on a regular basis. 

■ Comply with safety standards. 

■	 Comply with applicable building, 

fire, safety, and sanitation codes and 

regulations. 

■	 Understand and comply with OSHA 

regulations, even if this is not required 

by law. 

Functional Area 2: Security 

Goal: Protect the community, staff, contractors, 

volunteers, and inmates from harm. 

Another fundamental goal of the jail’s mission 

is security. In secure jails, risk exposures that 

compromise security are identified and steps are 

taken to prevent adverse risk events, where 

possible, and to minimize the likelihood and 

consequences of events that cannot be prevented. 

Risk events: 

■ Inmate escapes from the jail or during 

transport. 

■ Inmate attacks on one another, staff, or 

others in the facility. 

■ Inmate suicide. 

■ Vandalism. 

15 
■ Outside attacks on the jail building (e.g., by 

gangs or inmate accomplices). 

■ Contraband (e.g., weapons or drugs) 

introduced into the jail population. 

Consequences of risk events: 

■ Physical injury, death, or emotional trauma 

to staff, inmates, or others in the facility. 

■ Health care expenses for injured inmates and 

workers’ compensation benefits for injured 

staff. 

■ Damage of, and inability to use, the jail’s 

property. 

■ Property repair and recovery expenses. 

■ Lawsuits against the jail and the resulting 

expenses for legal defense, payment of 

adverse judgment and settlements, compliance with consent decrees, and increased 

insurance premiums. 

■ Loss of revenue and resulting extra expense. 

■ Loss of partners (service providers) who are 

willing to work with the jail. 

■ Damage to the jail’s reputation in the 

community. 

Security in jails is established through a combination of appropriate staffing, adequate facilities, 

and well-defined operational procedures. Jail 

security is not a “one-size-fits-all” proposition. 

Effective security requires a good match 

between the jail’s security measures and the 

custody level and characteristics of the inmate 

population. The likelihood of security-related 

risk events increases when a jail’s staffing, facility 

conditions, and operational procedures are inadequate for the characteristics of its particular 

inmate population. 

Sources of Risk That Can Affect Jail Security 

Common sources of risk that affect jail security 

include the physical plant, inmate behaviors and 

characteristics, and staffing levels and staff 

behaviors. These are discussed below. 

Physical Plant and Its Security Capabilities 

The design, construction, and maintenance of the 

jail’s physical plant are all sources of risk that 

affect its ability to provide adequate security. A 

secure facility has an effective security envelope 

that separates the secure area of the jail from the 

outside. In a secure facility, all components of 

the security envelope, including the walls, floors, 

ceilings, windows, doors, and locks, are constructed of materials that cannot be easily 

breeched. These components are regularly 

inspected and maintained to prevent escapes, 

intrusions, or introduction of contraband. 

Another factor in jail security is the ability to 

separately house and manage the various classifications of inmates. The design and layout of 

the facility, including the location of staff posts, 

affect how well various classifications of inmates 

can be separately housed, monitored, and managed. Security is also affected by design features 

such as lighting, visibility, and the design and 

condition of the facility’s electronic security systems. In addition, well-planned organization of 

spaces reduces the need to move inmates outside 

their living areas to receive services and participate in programs. Contributing factors include: 

■ Obsolete or poor overall organization and 

layout of the facility. 

■ Obsolete or poorly functioning security 

system. 

■ Poor condition and inadequate maintenance of 

the building, security equipment, monitoring 

systems, locking devices, and communications equipment. 

■ Weaknesses in the security envelope. 

■ Limited availability of housing units to 

separately house various classifications of 

inmates. 

16 
Chapter 2. Jail Risk Management Issues and Strategies 

■ Jail officer posts that are not in close 

proximity to areas occupied by inmates. 

■ Availability and reliability of emergency 

power to maintain vital systems. 

Inmate Behaviors and Characteristics 

The behaviors and characteristics of inmates are 

primary sources of risk for jail security. Inmates 

are sources of risk both because their potential 

for disruptive and aggressive behavior poses a 

danger to other inmates, staff, and others in the 

facility and because they are vulnerable to 

victimization by other inmates and staff. 

A key to managing this risk is the jail’s inmate 

classification system. A secure jail must have a 

means to identify and appropriately respond to 

the risks that each inmate presents. Risk information should be collected and assessed at the 

following key points when decisions are made 

regarding the supervision and management of 

each inmate: 

■ During acceptance of custody. 

■ During the booking process. 

■ Prior to the first housing assignment. 

■ Prior to a long-term housing decision. 

■ Prior to program placement. 

■ Periodically during incarceration. 

Information about risk should be collected to 

evaluate each inmate’s mental and emotional 

stability, history of violence, history of escape, 

medical status, potential for victimization, and 

potential to commit suicide. Inmates identified 

as high risk or as having special needs can then 

be housed and managed in ways that will reduce 

the likelihood of an adverse risk event such as an 

escape attempt, assault, or suicide. 

All inmates, regardless of risk and need, should 

be informed of the jail’s rules and behavioral 

expectations and should have the means and 

opportunity to comply with them. An orientation 

to facility rules, procedures, and routines, 

coupled with effective use of incentives and 

sanctions to hold inmates accountable and 

reward positive behaviors, can reduce the types 

of inmate behavior that threaten jail security. 

Contributing factors include: 

■ Inadequate risk assessment process. 

■ Use of risk assessment instruments that are 

incomplete or have not been validated. 

■ Failure to share information about inmates’ 

classification with custody staff. 

■ Inappropriate housing assignments (placement of inmates who are potential predators 

with those likely to be prey). 

■ Ineffective inmate orientation (failure to 

clearly convey rules and expectations). 

■ Ineffective or limited staff interaction with 

inmates. 

■ Inadequate access to basic services (e.g., 

medical or mental health). 

■ Crowding (e.g., compromises in 

classification). 

■ Inadequate supervision of inmates (e.g., 

intensity of supervision not commensurate 

with risk). 

Staffing Levels and Staff Behaviors 

Adequate staffing is essential to jail security. 

Although the building itself can help contain 

inmate behavior physically, active staff supervision is needed to manage that behavior effectively. Adequate staffing has been defined as having 

the “right number of people, in the right place, at 

the right time, doing the right thing” (Krauth, 

1988). A suitable number of staff must be available to provide coverage for essential posts and 

positions and to perform ancillary functions. 

Staff must be positioned in the facility in such a 

way that they can provide active, continuous 

supervision of inmates and respond promptly to 

emergency situations. They must be deployed 

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appropriately to meet the coverage requirements 

and workload of each shift. Staff themselves 

must also be given proper direction through 

comprehensive written policies and procedures 

and active supervision. Staffing is a source of 

risk for the jail because a breakdown in any of 

these areas increases the likelihood of a risk 

event. 

Staff attitudes and behavior also contribute to 

this source of risk. Staff must receive appropriate 

direction, training, and supervision regarding 

critical security issues such as the use of force, 

use of restraints, searches, control of contraband, 

and management of inmate behavior. If staff see 

themselves as “guards” or “enforcers” rather 

than as supervisors, they are more likely to use 

physical containment to control inmates than to 

actively manage inmate behavior. They are also 

more likely to use physical intervention and to 

be more reactive in dealing with problems in the 

jail. These approaches all increase the likelihood 

of a risk event related to staff conduct. Contributing factors include: 

■ Staffing levels (deficiencies in number, 

deployment, and placement). 

■ Staff attitudes and perceptions. 

■ Staff work performance (e.g., lack of attention, negligence). 

■ Inadequate supervision of staff. 

■ Insufficient training of staff. 

■ Lack of clear, comprehensive written policies and directives. 

■ Inadequate security practices and protocols. 

■ Lack of discipline or inconsistent discipline. 

Risk Control Strategies 

Some potential strategies for controlling security 

risks include the following: 

■ Secure the facility. 

■	 Establish and maintain a secure perimeter 

around areas occupied by inmates. 

■	 Develop a plan for controlling access to 

and use of keys, tools, and utensils. 

■	 Provide and maintain appropriate security 

equipment and resources (e.g., locking 

systems, monitoring devices, detection 

equipment). 

■	 Assess and address deficiencies in facility 

security. 

■ Maintain appropriate staffing (levels, deployment, and placement). 

■	 Conduct a staffing analysis and review it 

annually. 

■	 Train staff—particularly in how to 

supervise inmates effectively and maintain facility security—and manage staff 

behavior. 

■	 Establish use-of-force and use-ofrestraint policies and procedures. 

■	 Actively supervise staff and enforce jail 

policies and procedures. 

■	 Acknowledge and reinforce positive staff 

performance. 

■	 Implement accountability and discipline 

guidelines for supervisors. 

■ Provide effective inmate supervision and 

behavior management. 

■	 Implement a behavior-based classification system. 

■	 Provide thorough orientation for inmates 

when they are admitted to the facility. 

■	 Develop a housing plan that separates 

inmates appropriately by classification. 

■	 Implement a comprehensive plan for 

inmate behavior management. 

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	 Implement a contraband control plan. 

	 Align inmate search policies and procedures with current legal requirements. 

■ Inspect. Conduct regular security audits and 

inspections. 

Functional Area 3: Order 

Goal: Maintain an orderly environment with 

clear expectations of behavior and systems of 

accountability. 

Maintaining an orderly environment is a goal 

that is closely allied with safety and security. 

When a facility follows an established inmate 

behavior management plan, order is maintained 

and staff retain control of the jail environment. 

An orderly environment is one in which there 

are clear expectations for inmate behavior along 

with systems of accountability to regulate inmate 

conduct and compliance with rules and regulations. The jail’s disciplinary process, as part of 

the jail’s inmate behavior management plan, is 

the primary means by which rules are enforced 

and order is maintained. 

Risk events: 

■ Inmate attacks on one another, staff, or 

others in the facility. 

■ General inmate misbehavior and violation 

of rules. 

■ Inmate intimidation and coercion of one 

another. 

Consequences of risk events: 

■ Physical injury, death, or emotional trauma 

to staff, inmates, or others in the facility. 

■ Health care expenses for injured inmates and 

workers’ compensation benefits for injured 

staff. 

■ Damage of and inability to use the jail’s 

property. 

Chapter 2. Jail Risk Management Issues and Strategies 

■ Property repair and recovery expenses. 

■ Lawsuits against the jail and the resulting 

expenses for legal defense, payment of 

adverse judgments and settlements, compliance with consent decrees, and increased 

insurance premiums. 

■ Loss of revenue and resulting extra expense. 

■ Poor staff morale, increased staff absenteeism and turnover, and increased use of 

force by staff. 

■ Loss of partners (service providers) who are 

willing to work with the jail. 

■ Damage to the jail’s reputation in the community. 

Maintaining order requires appropriate actions 

by jail staff as well as inmates. Staff members 

who do not follow the established disciplinary 

process for controlling inmate behavior may 

harm inmates or violate inmates’ constitutionally 

protected rights (e.g., the right to be free from 

cruel and unusual punishment). In addition to the 

financial costs of resulting litigation, inappropriate inmate discipline also may increase the negative effects of confinement on future inmate 

behavior. 

Sources of Risk That Can Affect 

Order in a Jail 

Order in jails is established through a welldefined disciplinary process that includes written 

rules of conduct, penalties, and procedures for 

administration of discipline. Inmates learn about 

the jail’s expectations during orientation, and the 

disciplinary process is used to enforce those 

expectations in a fair and consistent manner. 

These systems are a source of both negative 

and positive risk for the jail. The likelihood and 

severity of adverse risk events increase when an 

appropriate disciplinary process is not established or when established procedures are not 

followed and enforced consistently and fairly. 

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A jail that successfully maintains order within an 

appropriate disciplinary system not only controls 

risk more effectively, but can also devote more 

attention to self-improvement programming for 

inmates. Contributing factors include: 

■ An inadequate disciplinary process for 

inmates (i.e., failure to maintain written 

rules, sanctions, and procedures that comply 

with legal requirements). 

■ Inadequate staff training in the disciplinary 

process and the legal constraints on staff 

behavior. 

■ Failure to adequately convey behavioral 

expectations to inmates (e.g., failure to 

provide an inmate handbook or an orientation to the jail). 

■ Inadequate enforcement of behavior rules for 

inmates (e.g., failure to enforce, inconsistent 

enforcement, or arbitrary or excessive 

enforcement of rules). 

■ Failure to afford basic due process rights in 

disciplinary proceedings. 

Risk Control Strategies 

Some potential strategies for controlling risks 

related to maintaining order are listed below. 

■ Develop rules of conduct and behavioral 

expectations for inmates. 

■	 Communicate rules, procedures, and 

expectations to inmates. 

■	 Develop disciplinary procedures for 

inmate rule violations. 

■ Actively manage inmate behavior. Develop 

and implement a comprehensive inmate 

behavior management plan. 

■ Actively manage staff behavior. 

■	 Train staff members about their role 

in inmate behavior management and 

discipline, clearly convey the jail’s 

expectations for staff conduct, and 

provide periodic refresher training. 

■	 Develop and enforce performance 

expectations and a disciplinary process 

for staff members who do not follow the 

jail’s rules for disciplining inmates. 

Functional Area 4: Care 

Goal: Provide for the basic needs and personal 

care of inmates. 

Jails must provide for inmates’ basic needs and 

personal care to maintain their health and wellbeing. This includes providing the essentials of 

daily living, such as nutritionally balanced 

meals, clean clothing and linens, and personal 

hygiene, along with providing access to adequate 

medical and mental health care. These services 

help the jail fulfill its legal duty to provide due 

care to inmates and also reduce the likelihood 

that inmates will try to meet their needs through 

inappropriate means. 

Risk events: 

■ Serving meals that do not meet inmates’ 

needs for a nutritious and balanced diet. 

■ Refusing to provide food that meets an 

inmate’s legitimate health or religious needs. 

■ Serving contaminated or spoiled food. 

■ Failure to provide adequate facilities, 

supplies, or opportunities for hygiene. 

■ Medical or mental health care that is inadequate or not appropriate to the inmate’s 

needs. 

Consequences of risk events: 

■ Food-related illnesses. 

■ Hygiene-related health conditions. 

■ The spread of communicable diseases within 

the jail. 

■ Increased costs for inmate health care. 

20 
Chapter 2. Jail Risk Management Issues and Strategies 

■ Death. 

■ Regulatory intervention and lawsuits against 

the jail and resulting expenses for legal 

defense, payment of adverse judgments and 

settlements, compliance with consent 

decrees, and increased insurance premiums. 

■ Loss of partners (service providers) who are 

willing to work with the jail. 

■ Damage to the jail’s reputation in the 

community. 

Sources of Risk That Can Affect the Jail’s 

Ability To Provide for Inmate Needs 

Jail programs for meeting basic inmate needs are 

sources of risk because failing to provide services, 

or providing substandard services, increases the 

likelihood of an adverse risk event. Common 

sources of risk relating to inmate care are 

described below. 

Food Service 

The risk in food service is primarily from food 

preparation and handling. The likelihood of a 

food-related illness is significantly greater when 

food is not prepared properly or is not served 

under sanitary conditions. To a lesser extent, 

portion sizes and the nutritional balance of the 

inmates’ diet can pose an adverse risk to 

inmates’ overall health and well-being. Failure 

to provide prescribed therapeutic diets may have 

adverse health consequences for specific inmates 

and may make the jail vulnerable to litigation. 

Contributing factors include: 

■ Poor sanitation in food service facilities. 

■ Improper food preparation practices. 

■ Food service staff who are not qualified to 

perform their job. 

■ Insufficient training of food service staff in 

food preparation and sanitation practices. 

■ Health status of food service staff, including 

inmate workers. 

■ Improper storage and cooking of food. 

■ Contamination or spoilage of food before it 

reaches the jail. 

■ Inadequate menu plan and diet, including 

failure to provide for special needs. 

■ Noncompliance with food service, health, 

and safety codes. 

■ Improper screening of contracted food 

service suppliers. 

Hygiene 

Hygiene refers to conditions related to cleanliness and practices that promote good health and 

help prevent disease. Poor hygiene contributes to 

illness and other health problems, especially in 

a closely confined inmate population. Hygienic 

practices depend on inmates’ personal habits 

(such as hand washing) and the availability of 

appropriate facilities (showers, toilets, hot and 

cold running water, laundry, etc.), supplies (soap, 

toiletries, and cleaning supplies), and clean 

clothing and linens. Contributing factors include: 

■ Inadequate planning to provide appropriate 

types and quantities of personal hygiene and 

cleaning supplies. 

■ Inadequate personal hygiene facilities. 

■ Inadequate laundry facilities. 

■ Failure of staff to enforce personal hygiene 

standards because of inattention or lack of 

knowledge. 

■ Poor sanitation in hygiene facilities (showers, toilets, lavatories, etc.). 

■ Noncompliance with building codes and 

regulatory requirements for jail hygiene 

facilities. 

Health Care 

The health care needs of the inmate population 

are a major source of risk for the jail. Inmates 

come to the facility with a wide range of medical 

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and mental health conditions. Some have illnesses 

or injuries that require immediate attention and 

some may have chronic conditions that require 

ongoing care. Others arrive depressed, mentally 

ill, intoxicated, with disabilities, and/or with serious communicable diseases. Inmates may also fall 

ill or be injured after they arrive at the jail. These 

conditions must be identified and treated as soon 

as possible, both for the well-being of the affected 

individual and to prevent the spread of communicable disease throughout the facility. 

Jails are mandated to provide adequate health 

care for inmates, whatever the source of their 

conditions. Jails must have services and protocols in place to identify inmates’ health care 

needs, provide access to necessary health care, 

and manage the delivery of health care services. 

Inadequate response to inmates’ health care 

needs increases the likelihood and severity of 

adverse risk events such as inmate lawsuits and 

unfavorable publicity. Contributing factors 

include: 

■ Inadequate health screening and assessment 

instruments and procedures. 

■ Insufficient training of staff who perform 

health screening and assessment during the 

intake process. 

■ Lack of access to qualified professional 

health care staff to oversee and deliver 

health care services. 

■ Inadequate identification of the need for 

suicide prevention and intervention services. 

■ Inadequate resources to manage alcohol/drug 

withdrawal and detoxification. 

■ Inadequate protocols for the control of 

communicable and infectious diseases. 

■ Gaps in the availability of and access to a 

continuum of health care services (medical, 

dental, mental health). 

■ Inadequate emergency services. 

■ Improper management of pharmaceuticals. 

■ Inadequate services for inmates who have 

special needs (e.g., those who are chronically 

ill, physically or mentally disabled, seriously 

mentally ill, geriatric, or developmentally 

disabled). 

■ Lack of ability to safely isolate inmates who 

have communicable illnesses. 

Risk Control Strategies 

Some potential strategies for controlling health 

care risks are listed below. 

■ Maintain adequate food service operations. 

■	 Assess and address deficiencies in 

facilities used to prepare food. 

■	 Employ qualified food services staff. 

■	 Provide training in food preparation and 

sanitation practices as needed. 

■	 Implement a comprehensive food 

services sanitation plan. 

■	 Provide an adequate nutritional diet. 

■	 Provide therapeutic diets as needed. 

■	 Comply with applicable food service 

and sanitation codes. 

■ Provide for the basic health care needs of 

inmates. 

■	 Conduct comprehensive health screening 

and assessment of detainees at intake. 

■	 Develop and implement a health services 

plan that provides for continuity of care 

from admission through discharge, 

including referral to community 

providers outside the jail as needed. 

■	 Include provisions for emergency care, 

chronic care, dental care, mental health 

care, and management of chemical 

dependencies in the jail’s health care 

plan. 

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■	 Include provisions for health care services 

for inmates who have special needs 

(e.g., those who are chronically ill, 

physically or mentally disabled, seriously 

mentally ill, geriatric, or developmentally 

disabled). 

■	 Employ qualified health care staff. 

■	 Designate a health care authority to 

oversee health services and establish 

agreements with community health care 

providers for services as needed. 

■	 Establish a program to control communicable diseases and infections. 

■	 Provide a mechanism for internal review 

and quality control of health care services. 

■	 Provide the facilities, resources, and 

supplies inmates need to maintain 

acceptable levels of personal hygiene. 

Functional Area 5: Program and Activity 

Goal: Help inmates successfully return to the 

community and reduce the negative effects of 

confinement. 

Many jurisdictions believe their jail should keep 

inmates productively occupied while in custody 

and also assist in their successful return to the 

community. This goal is accomplished by 

providing opportunities for self-improvement, 

helping inmates maintain family and community 

ties while in custody, and offering a range of 

programs and activities to reduce the negative 

effects of confinement. Unlike many jail activities, these programs and activities are designed 

to produce positive results, not just control negative behavior. If they are implemented, they will 

be a source of both positive risk consequences 

(beneficial outcomes) and negative risk consequences (adverse outcomes and accidents). If they 

are not implemented, the related risk of adverse 

outcomes and accidents will be avoided, but the 

jail will miss out on the beneficial outcomes that 

programming is designed to produce. 

Chapter 2. Jail Risk Management Issues and Strategies 

Negative risk events: 

■ Decision not to offer programming. 

■ Partnerships not established with community 

organizations. 

Positive risk events: 

■ Decision to offer programming. 

■ Establishment of partnerships with community organizations. 

Negative consequences of risk events: 

■ Inmate resistance to participation in 

programming. 

■ Inmate exploitation of programming as an 

opportunity for violence, vandalism, and 

misbehavior. 

■ No change in levels of violence, vandalism, 

and recidivism, despite the jail’s investment 

in programming. 

■ Accidents or incidents during programming 

that result in injury to inmates, staff, or 

program providers. 

■ Expenses for medical care for injured 

inmates and workers’ compensation benefits 

for injured staff. 

■ Lawsuits against the jail and the resulting 

expenses for legal defense, payment of 

adverse judgments and settlements, compliance with consent decrees, and increased 

insurance premiums. 

■ Damage to the jail’s reputation in the 

community. 

■ Loss of partners (volunteers and program 

providers) willing to work with the jail. 

Positive consequences of risk events: 

■ Inmate participation in programming. 

■ Reduced rates of inmate violence, 

vandalism, and misbehavior. 

23 
■ Reduction in recidivism because inmates are 

better prepared to live and work as contributing members of society when they leave the 

jail. 

■ Safer community due to reduced recidivism. 

■ Enhancement of the jail’s reputation in the 

community. 

■ Increased interest in partnering with the jail 

among community organizations. 

■ Increased access to program funding. 

■ Improvement in staff morale, job satisfaction, and performance. 

Sources of Risk That Can Affect 

Programs and Activities 

Some common sources of risk are discussed 

below. 

Self-Improvement Programs 

Self-improvement programs include education 

and personal development programs, counseling, 

and social services. Sources of negative risk 

include the inmate participants, service providers, 

facilities used for programs, program eligibility 

criteria, level of supervision provided, and other 

factors. The jail receives significant benefits 

from providing self-improvement opportunities 

and may experience negative reactions if these 

opportunities are not available; however, programs must be properly managed and supervised 

to control associated negative risk. Contributing 

factors include: 

■ Inadequate screening of inmates to assess 

risk and need. 

■ Inequitable treatment (e.g., discriminatory 

practices that exclude certain categories of 

eligible inmates, such as females or disabled 

inmates, from participation in the program). 

■ Insufficient supervision of participating 

inmates. 

■ Inadequate screening of volunteers and other 

outside program providers. 

■ Inadequate training of volunteers and other 

outside program providers. 

■ Lack of qualified program providers for 

programs that require specific skills or 

credentials. 

■ Physical spaces in the jail that are not secure 

or not suited for hosting program activities. 

■ Lack of adequate equipment, furnishings, 

and resource materials for program 

activities. 

Inmate Contact With Family and 

the Community 

Inmates have the right to maintain contact with 

people outside the jail, and the jail must give 

them the opportunity to do so. The jail does this 

by providing for visitation, mail and telephone 

services, and provisions for release back into the 

community. These opportunities for outside contact involve some risk. Without proper controls, 

visitors and other types of contact can give 

inmates access to material objects or information 

that could threaten the safety and security of the 

jail. Adverse events may occur when inmates are 

inappropriately released into the community 

or released without adequate preparation. 

Maintaining contact with individuals who were 

involved in the criminal behavior that resulted 

in incarceration likely increases an inmate’s 

chances for recidivism after release. However, 

it is important to note that not all risk is negative. Increased opportunities for contact with 

positive influences keep inmates engaged with 

families and the community and enhance the 

potential for successful reentry upon release. 

Contributing factors include: 

■ Inadequate facilities for visitation in the jail. 

■ Insufficient supervision of inmates during 

visiting hours. 

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■ Inadequate or unclear rules governing visitor 

conduct and responsibilities. 

■ Inadequate contraband screening of mail or 

other items that visitors bring into the facility. 

■ Failure to sufficiently provide for confidential contact with legal representatives and 

other specified professionals (e.g. bondsman, 

probation and parole officers, clergy). 

■ Failure to provide indigent inmates with the 

means to maintain communication with individuals outside the jail. 

■ Inadequate prerelease planning. 

■ Inadequate pretrial release screening and/or 

supervision. 

■ Lack of adequate policies and procedures 

governing inmate communications and 

release. 

Work, Exercise, and Leisure Time Activities 

Jails provide a range of activities to keep 

inmates productively occupied and to reduce the 

negative effects of confinement. Providing 

inmates the opportunity for productive work, 

exercise, and participation in religious or leisure 

time activities reduces operational problems 

such as assaults, property damage, and lawsuits. 

The primary source of risk in these activities is 

from inmate behaviors, the types of activities 

permitted, the facilities and equipment used for 

these activities, and the level of supervision 

provided. Contributing factors include: 

■ Inadequate indoor and outdoor exercise 

facilities. 

■ Insufficient supervision of inmates during 

activities, particularly outside housing units. 

■ Failure to provide clothing, footwear, or 

protective gear that is appropriate for the 

type of activity. 

■ Inadequate screening and selection procedures for inmates who participate in work 

programs. 

Chapter 2. Jail Risk Management Issues and Strategies 

■ Inadequate screening and training of volunteers or other nonagency workers involved 

with inmate programs. 

■ Lack of adequate policies and procedures 

governing inmate programs and activities. 

Risk Control Strategies 

Some potential strategies for controlling risks in 

inmate programs and activities are listed below. 

■ Actively supervise inmate programs and 

activities. 

■	 Develop policies and procedures governing inmate programs and activities. 

■	 Provide adequate staffing to supervise 

programs. 

■	 Use intake screening information and 

other validated screening tools to match 

inmates with appropriate programs and 

services. 

■ Enhance program availability to achieve 

positive outcomes. 

■	 Use community resources where possible and appropriate. 

■	 Develop a volunteer program. 

■	 Develop a jail industries program. 

■	 Establish facility and community work 

details. 

■ Provide appropriate facilities and equipment 

for programs. Assess and address deficiencies in the physical spaces used for programs 

and services. 

Functional Area 6: Justice 

Goal: Treat inmates fairly and respect their legal 

rights. Provide services that hold inmates accountable for their actions and encourage them to make 

restitution to their victims and the community. 

Fair treatment is afforded in jails through the availability of viable grievance and inmate disciplinary 

25 
measures that provide appropriate levels of due 

process. Inmates’ rights are respected through policies and practices that provide them reasonable 

access to the courts and to internal grievance 

processes, protection from discrimination and 

abuse, and opportunities to communicate with officials outside the jail. Providing inmates with 

opportunities to make restitution and satisfy court 

obligations are ways in which jails encourage 

them to make amends for their actions and successfully reintegrate into the community. 

Risk events: 

■ Treating inmates unjustly. 

■ Blocking or restricting inmates’ access to 

attorneys or courts. 

■ Failing to provide inmates a fair process for 

resolving internal grievances. 

■ Preventing inmates from satisfying court 

requirements, including restitution. 

Consequences of risk events: 

■ Lawsuits against the jail and the resulting 

expenses for legal defense, payment of 

adverse judgments and settlements, compliance with consent decrees, and increased 

insurance premiums. 

■ Fires started by inmates seeking attention for 

unresolved grievances. 

■ Lawsuits alleging violation of due process 

and related legal protections and the resulting expenses for legal defense, payment of 

adverse judgments and settlements, compliance with consent decrees, and increased 

insurance premiums. 

■ Increased recidivism by inmates who have 

become more alienated from societal values. 

■ Increased vandalism and violence toward 

staff because of perceived unjust behavior. 

■ Increased danger to society from inmates 

who cannot successfully reintegrate into the 

community upon release because they have 

not been able to satisfy court requirements 

for restitution. 

■ Diminished reputation that compromises 

the jail’s ability to partner with other 

organizations. 

Sources of Risk That Can Affect the 

Perception of Fairness and Justice 

in the Jail 

The primary sources of risk related to the goal of 

justice are the legal system and the jail’s policies, procedures, and practices in dealing with 

inmates. The legal system establishes inmates’ 

rights and responsibilities, and the jail’s policies, 

procedures, and practices must comply with 

legal mandates. In addition, it is important for 

jail staff to deal with inmates in a fair and impartial manner. Jails tend to experience more operational problems and litigation if their practices 

lack fundamental fairness and if they do not 

strike an appropriate balance between their obligation to maintain safety, security, and order and 

their obligation to protect the rights of inmates. 

Contributing factors include: 

■ Failure to maintain a viable grievance 

process. 

■ Failure to afford appropriate levels of due 

process in disciplinary matters. 

■ Conditions that subject inmates to personal 

abuse (e.g., corporal punishment, harassment, personal injury, loss of property). 

■ Overly restrictive policies that limit inmate 

communications and access to the courts. 

■ Discrimination in administrative decisions 

on the basis of race, religion, national origin, 

gender, sexual orientation, or disability. 

■ Lack of parity between male and female 

inmates in access to services and programs. 

■ Lack of opportunities for inmates to make 

restitution or satisfy court obligations. 

26 
Risk Control Strategies 

Some potential strategies for controlling risk 

related to justice are listed below. 

■ Establish a legitimate grievance process (one 

that inmates will not perceive as a pretense). 

Work with local bar associations to increase 

inmates’ access to the courts and legal 

support. 

■ Establish and strictly follow a written 

process for handling rule violations and 

administering discipline. Include information 

about the process during inmate orientation 

and in the inmate handbook. 

■ Assess and address equity and parity issues 

as they relate to inmates’ access to services 

and programs. Provide inmates with the 

resources they need to make restitution or 

satisfy other court requirements. 

■ Train staff to treat inmates fairly and in a 

nondiscriminatory manner and to follow the 

jail’s justice-related policies and procedures. 

Functional Area 7: Administration and 

Management 

Goal: Administer and manage the facility in a 

professional and responsible manner consistent 

with legal requirements. 

This goal is inherent in the jail’s mission. Fundamental elements of effective jail administration 

include maintaining a competent, experienced, 

well-trained, and ethical workforce; having a 

clearly defined organizational structure and leadership; developing and following comprehensive 

and current written policies and procedures; 

implementing sound administrative and fiscal 

practices; and nurturing positive relationships 

with the community. 

Risk events: 

■ Violation of legal requirements relating to 

employment practices (discrimination, wrongful termination, sexual harassment, etc.). 

Chapter 2. Jail Risk Management Issues and Strategies 

■ Hiring or retaining staff members, volunteers, or contractors who are not qualified 

or not able to perform their essential job 

functions or who have criminal records that 

should preclude their employment in a jail. 

■ Failure to train staff, volunteers, or contractors in jail policies and procedures. 

■ Inappropriate use of force by staff. 

■ Inappropriate, illegal, or unethical behavior 

relating to drugs, contraband, sexual favors, 

or other issues on the part of staff, volunteers, or contractors. 

■ Misuse of jail funds or property. 

■ Wrongful disclosure of confidential information about an inmate or staff member. 

■ Failure to install and maintain an appropriate 

backup system for the jail’s electronic 

recordkeeping system. 

■ Accessing of the jail’s electronic recordkeeping system by staff, volunteers, contractors, 

or others without appropriate authorization. 

Consequences of risk events: 

■ Excessive staff turnover. 

■ Failure of staff, volunteers, or contractors 

to comply with jail policies and procedures 

because they do not understand their 

responsibilities. 

■ Loss of electronic records because of a 

catastrophic failure of the jail’s electronic 

recordkeeping system and the expense of 

recreating these records. 

■ Theft of jail funds or property and the 

expense of replacing them. 

■ Financial harm to inmates and staff members 

resulting from the theft of their confidential 

information. 

■ Lawsuits against the jail and the resulting 

expenses for legal defense, payment of 

adverse judgments and settlements, 

27 
compliance with consent decrees, and 

increased insurance premiums. 

■ Fines and penalties for noncompliance with 

employment or workplace regulations. 

■ Loss of partnerships because of adverse 

publicity relating to jail administration and 

management. 

■ Loss of reputation in the community. 

Sources of Risk That Can Affect 

Administration and Management 

The primary sources of risk related to administration and management arise from management 

of the jail’s workforce and day-to-day administrative activities. 

Workforce 

The primary sources of risk related to the jail’s 

workforce are employment practices; laws and 

regulations; the jail’s employment policies, 

procedures, and practices; workplace safety and 

workers’ compensation laws; contracts with outside workers; use of volunteers; and staff training and supervision. Employment practices 

include hiring, promotion, discipline, termination, benefits, and confidentiality. Contributing 

factors include: 

■ Lack of up-to-date written job descriptions 

for all positions. 

■ Inadequate written policies and procedures 

governing all aspects of employment. 

■ Failure to apply workforce policies and 

procedures consistently. 

■ Failure to maintain a safe work environment. 

■ Noncompliance with state and federal 

employment laws and regulations. 

■ Noncompliance with state and federal 

workplace safety laws and regulations. 

■ Inadequate screening and training of volunteers and contractors. 

■ Inadequate oversight and supervision of 

volunteers and contractors. 

■ Inadequate orientation, preservice training, 

and inservice training of staff. 

■ Inadequate supervision of staff. 

■ Failure to evaluate and address employees’ 

job performance. 

■ Inadequate documentation of personnel 

actions. 

Other Administrative Activities 

Additional sources of risk related to jail administration and management are the agency’s policies and procedures, budgeting and financial 

practices, property and inventory control, recordkeeping, and community relations. The likelihood of a risk event is greater in the absence of 

clear, comprehensive, and current written policies and procedures to guide facility administration and management. Community relations 

include the jail’s relationship with the media. 

The media may have significant influence over 

how the jail is perceived by the funding authority, 

other key stakeholders, and the general public. 

Contributing factors include: 

■ Inadequate written policies and procedures 

governing all aspects of jail administration 

and management. 

■ Failure to consistently follow, review, and 

apply the jail’s policies and procedures. 

■ Inadequate fiscal controls that account for all 

income and expenditures. 

■ Inadequate procedures for the handling of 

inmate funds and personal property. 

■ Inadequate property and inventory control. 

■ Inadequate recordkeeping practices. 

■ Inadequate plans for providing information 

to the public and the media. 

■ Isolation of the jail from the community. 

28 
■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

■

Chapter 2. Jail Risk Management Issues and Strategies 

Risk Control Strategies 

Some potential strategies for controlling administration and management risks are listed below. 

■ Establish comprehensive written policies and 

procedures for jail operations. 

■ Review and update facility policies and 

procedures annually and as needed. 

■ Train and test staff on their knowledge 

of facility policies and procedures. 

■	 Document all staff training. 

■ Adopt and adhere to well-defined, legally 

sound personnel policies and practices. 

■	 Develop written policies and procedures 

governing all aspects of employment 

practice and ensure that legal counsel 

reviews the policies before implementation. 

■	 Develop job descriptions for all positions in the facility. 

■	 Develop a staff recruitment and retention 

plan. 

■	 Train supervisors and managers in 

personnel policies. 

■	 Review violations of work rules and 

policies and enforce accountability 

through coaching, counseling, and 

discipline. 

■ Enhance workplace safety. 

■	 Adopt a safety program to reduce 

injuries and illness caused by facility 

operations. 

■	 Comply with applicable laws and 

regulations relating to employment and 

workplace safety. 

■ Supervise and monitor volunteers, contractors, and other non-staff members who work 

in the facility. 

■	 Provide written job descriptions and 

directions for volunteers. Train volunteers in safety and security procedures. 

■	 Require contractors to comply with 

applicable laws and regulations and with 

the terms of their contract. 

■	 Require contractors to indemnify and 

hold harmless the jurisdiction for liability 

arising out of its operations under the 

contract. 

■ Maintain adequate records and fiscal control. 

■	 Assess and address any identified 

deficiencies in fiscal and property 

control policies and practices. 

■	 Provide staff training and oversight 

to ensure that procedures are being 

followed. 

■	 Assess records management policies 

and practices and address any identified 

deficiencies. 

■ Develop a public information and media 

plan. Provide means to keep the public 

informed about the jail on a routine basis 

and in crisis situations. 

29 
Developing a Risk Management Program
 3 

A formal risk management program does the 

following: 

■ Demonstrates the jail administrator’s support 

of risk management to jail staff, the funding 

authority, the community, insurers, and partner organizations. 

■ Provides a systematic and consistent process 

for incorporating risk management into the 

jail’s activities and planning process. 

■ Clearly assigns responsibility and accountability for risk management. 

■ Promotes a culture of risk management 

throughout the jail. 

■ Improves the allocation of resources. 

■ Establishes goals and performance indicators 

to measure and demonstrate the success of 

risk management efforts. 

■ Provides a risk management reference 

source for staff. 

Characteristics of Organizations That 

Have Successful Risk Management 

Programs 

Risk management is not complicated. It is simply good management, which involves recognizing and planning for the possibility of a range of 

outcomes. A jail administrator who recognizes 

and plans for the effects of unexpected changes 

and opportunities in the jail is practicing risk 

management. 

A jail is most likely to successfully manage risk 

if it has the following four characteristics: 

■ Senior-level commitment. The jail administrator is strongly committed to risk management and demonstrates this commitment to 

all stakeholders in the jail’s operation, 

including its funding authority, jail staff, volunteers, vendors, contractors, partners, and 

inmates. The other stakeholders will follow 

the administrator’s lead. 

■ Stakeholder commitment. All stakeholders 

are involved in and committed to risk management. Jail staff, supervisors, volunteers, 

and the inmates themselves will have valuable perspectives on how risk affects the jail. 

Their cooperation and commitment are critical to successful risk management. 

■ Awareness. The jail administrator actively 

monitors changes in the jail’s environment, 

from new types of criminal activity in the 

community to innovations in jail practice. 

The administrator must be aware of these 

events so that he or she can respond to 

change and take advantage of opportunities. 

■ Flexibility. Within the bounds set by the 

Constitution, the statutes and regulations 

controlling jail practices, and the requirements of its funding authority, the jail’s 

operations are flexible enough to respond to 

change and opportunities in a timely manner. 

A jail with these characteristics can make risk 

management a dynamic, ongoing, self-sustaining 

process that takes place automatically at all levels of the organization. It will be an integral part 

of the assessment, planning, and decisionmaking 

process. 

31 
Responsibility for Risk Management 

There is no single formula for allocating responsibility for an organization’s risk management 

effort. The jail administrator is ultimately 

responsible for all facets of risk management, 

from facility safety to strategic planning, but is 

likely to delegate specific responsibilities to one 

or more staff members. In large organizations, 

risk management is often coordinated by a risk 

manager or a risk management department that 

has several employees. In smaller organizations, 

one or more employees may handle risk management issues part time. Some jails may handle 

risk issues internally and others may receive 

assistance from the local government’s risk management office. 

An effective risk management program cannot 

be fully implemented by a risk manager alone, 

or even by a risk management department. 

Centralized risk management coordination helps 

ensure that the jail’s efforts are consistent and 

are working for a common goal. It also reduces 

the likelihood of creating risk “silos,” in which 

various parts of the operation do not talk to each 

other about risk and take actions that are at 

cross-purposes. However, no risk management 

program can succeed unless the accountability 

for managing risk is decentralized; that is, all 

staff members must be responsible for managing 

risk within the scope of their duties. 

Ideally, the performance evaluation criteria for 

each staff position should include risk management performance measures tailored to that position. The risk-related performance measures will 

differ for jail officers, staff members who manage inmate self-improvement programs, and 

upper management engaged in strategic planning. However, all staff members should be 

expected to identify, analyze, and address risk 

if it is within their authority; alternatively, they 

should be instructed to bring these matters to the 

attention of a supervisor. 

Centralized coordination and decentralized 

accountability are long-term requirements for 

a successful risk management program. A newly 

implemented risk management program also 

needs a champion: an individual who serves 

as an advocate for risk management and has the 

persistence, determination, and tact to be able to 

succeed when faced with resistance to change. 

This champion is likely to be the person who 

works with stakeholders to develop and implement the jail’s risk management program. 

The Role of Committees 

One or more committees may be involved in a 

jail’s risk management efforts. Committees bring 

together the people within the organization who 

have information or useful perspectives to share 

about risk and give them an opportunity to work 

together to develop and implement solutions. A 

risk management committee composed of representatives from operational units may oversee 

the entire risk management process for all 

aspects of the jail’s operations. There may also 

be committees or subcommittees that are responsible for specific areas such as workplace or 

motor vehicle safety. To be effective in a broad 

capacity, committees require a clear mission and 

strong leadership that will assign responsibilities, establish deadlines and deliverables, and 

hold committee members accountable. 

Steps in the Risk Management Process 

Risk management is a three-step process: 

■ Evaluation of existing risk. 

■ Assessment of the likely effect of risk on 

the jail. 

■ Establishment of risk control measures. 

These three steps are examined in detail in the 

following sections. 

32 
Step 1: Evaluate the Existing Risk 

Environment 

The first step in the risk management process is 

to identify and analyze the jail’s existing exposure to risk. It is important to realize that risk 

management programs are not “one size fits all.” 

To be successful, a risk management program 

must be grounded in the jail’s unique mix of 

characteristics. In addition, even if this is the 

jail’s first formal risk management effort, it will 

almost certainly not be the first time the jail has 

addressed issues related to risk. The champion 

of a new risk management program can learn a 

great deal from the success or failure of previous 

efforts. 

Following are some important issues to consider 

at the beginning of developing a risk management program: 

■ Did the jail make any previous efforts to 

manage risk, and did those efforts meet 

with any challenges? Did the jail make any 

attempts to address positive risk? Who was 

responsible for those efforts and what lessons did they learn? 

■ What are the legal requirements that affect 

the jail’s responsibilities to incarcerated 

offenders?1 

■ What are the jail’s legal responsibilities to its 

employees?2 

■ How does the jail finance its negative risk 

consequences (e.g., through insurance, selfinsurance plans, membership in a risk pool, 

state plans)? 

1 See Collins (1998) for more information about the legal requirements (established by federal and state statutes and court decisions) 

that determine how jails handle inmates. 

2 See the sections in appendix A on constitutional and civil rights, 

safety and health, and workers’ compensation for links to information and resources about an employer’s legal responsibilities to its 

employees. 

Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

■ How comfortable are the funding authority 

and the jail administrator with the risk associated with innovative programming? 

■ Has the jail established a formal mission 

statement, supporting goals, and a system 

for measuring performance? Does the jail 

administrator believe that the jail is presently 

achieving its mission? 

■ Are the jail administrator and the funding 

authority interested in risk management 

issues that affect the jail? Do they have 

specific concerns they would like to address, 

or are they responding to the concerns of 

another individual? 

■ What is the jail staff’s attitude toward risk 

management? Are they likely to be supportive or will they need to be persuaded? 

■ Do any existing staff committees feel ownership of specific risk issues? 

■ How active and thorough is the jail’s training 

program for employees? 

This information provides the foundation for 

establishing realistic risk management goals and 

devising a strategy to meet them. The goals and 

strategies will be different for each jail. 

During the evaluation stage, the champion will 

work with stakeholders to establish the standards 

that will guide the jail’s identification, analysis, 

and prioritization of risk. These standards will 

help the jail decide which sources of risk it will 

address first and which can be deferred. Although the standards may differ somewhat 

among jails, it is likely that a high priority will 

be placed on compliance with constitutional and 

statutory requirements for care of inmates and 

for protecting the safety of the public, inmates, 

and staff. The jail administrator must approve 

the standards. In a jail where the administrator and 

the staff firmly support this effort, the champion 

can progress more rapidly with a broader based 

effort. In a facility where there is opposition, the 

33 
champion may need to begin with a modest effort 

to address a major problem area and defer broader 

based action until the benefits of risk management 

have been demonstrated. 

Step 2: Assess the Effects of Risk 

on the Jail 

The second step in the risk management process 

is risk assessment.3 The purpose of risk assessment is to identify and evaluate the likely effect 

of risk on the jail. Generally, risk assessment 

involves the following steps: 

■ Risk identification. Identify the sources of 

risk to which the jail is exposed and the risk 

events they can produce. 

■ Risk analysis. Estimate the likely consequences of potential risk events. 

■ Risk prioritization. Determine which risk 

exposures to address first. 

Risk Identification 

A systematically performed risk identification 

alerts the jail to its potential sources of risk, the 

risk events that can result, the contributing factors that could lead to those risk events, and the 

potential consequences. A jail that identifies how 

risk can affect its operations (in terms of both 

frequency and severity) will avoid some negative 

risk events altogether, respond more effectively 

to those that occur, and be better able to take 

advantage of opportunities when they present 

themselves. A jail that does not manage risk will 

operate in a reactive mode, constantly “putting 

out fires” or missing opportunities. 

The risk identification process begins with an 

understanding of the components that interact to 

produce risk consequences. These include the 

3 See Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand (2004) for an 

excellent and thorough discussion of the risk assessment process. 

sources of risk, risk events, exposure to sources 

of risk, and contributing factors. 

Sources of Risk 

A source of risk is the object, force, or condition 

that creates the potential for a risk event that 

affects the jail and its ability to achieve its mission and goals. Some sources of risk are more 

obvious than others. Hurricanes, fires, floods, 

and violent offenders are obvious sources of 

risk. Dependence on a key resource is a less 

obvious source of risk. A source of risk is not 

the occurrence of a specific risk event. For 

example, the potential for a fire, flood, or earthquake (and, from a positive perspective, the 

availability of grants that support jail programs) 

are all sources of risk. An actual fire, flood, or 

grant award is not a source of risk; it is a risk 

event. A source of negative risk can also be 

called a hazard. 

Risk Events 

A risk event realizes the potential of the source 

of risk and produces consequences that affect the 

jail. The incarceration of violent offenders in the 

jail is an example of a source of risk. An attack 

by an inmate against another inmate or a guard 

would be considered a risk event. 

Exposure to Sources of Risk 

An individual jail will not experience a risk 

event unless it is exposed to the underlying 

source of risk. Exposure to a source of risk does 

not mean that a risk event will necessarily occur, 

but it increases the likelihood for an event to 

occur. For example: 

■ Violent behavior by inmates is a source of 

risk for all jails, but the degree to which a 

jail is exposed to this source of risk depends 

on the composition of its inmate population. 

Jails that house serious and violent offenders 

are more exposed to this source of risk than 

other jails. 

34 
Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

Examples of Exposure to Sources of Risk 

■ A jail located next to a river is exposed to floods. 

■ Jails in California are exposed to earthquakes. 

■ All jails are exposed to the risk of fire, but jails located near wildlands have an additional exposure 

to wildfires. 

■ All jails are exposed to the risk of litigation based on violation of inmates’ constitutional rights. 

■ Hurricanes are a source of risk for jails 

located near the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf 

of Mexico in the southeastern United States. 

A jail in Iowa is not exposed to that source 

of risk, although it may be exposed to similar risk consequences (floods, wind damage) 

from severe storms and tornadoes. 

■ Motor vehicles are a source of risk. A jail 

that operates a fleet of motor vehicles to 

transport prisoners to and from court has an 

exposure to risk events that arise from the 

ownership and operation of motor vehicles, 

such as accidents and theft. A jail that does 

not own or operate vehicles (which is not 

very likely) does not have that exposure to 

risk. 

Exposure to a source of risk is not the same for 

all jails, and it is not necessarily the same for a 

particular jail from year to year. Exposure can be 

affected by many variables. In the case of motor 

vehicle risk, these variables may include the 

number of miles driven per year and the jail’s 

location (urban versus rural setting). As these 

variables change, the jail’s exposure also 

changes. 

Contributing Factors 

Even if the jail is exposed to a source of risk, a 

risk event usually will not occur without one or 

more contributing factors. The presence of a violent offender in a jail population exposes that jail 

to a source of risk, but jails exist 

to confine these offenders and 

manage that risk. A violent attack 

is not likely to occur unless there 

is a failure in the jail’s systems 

and procedures. Inadequate jail 

classification and security procedures are contributing factors that 

could cause this source of risk 

(the presence of the violent 

offender) to be realized as an 

actual risk event (a violent 

Key resource 

A tangible or intangible 

asset that is important to 

an organization’s ability to 

accomplish its mission and 

goals and that may be 

affected by a risk event. 

For example, the facility, 

jail staff, jail funding 

sources, grants, records, 

and the jail’s motor vehicle 

fleet are key resources. 

attack). Therefore, the risk identification process 

requires the jail to identify its exposure to 

sources of risk and the factors that could contribute to producing risk events. 

Interaction of the Components 

of a Risk Event 

A jail may depend on a fleet of vehicles to transport prisoners. If most of its vehicles are housed 

in the same location at night and a fire destroys 

the fleet, the jail will be unable to transport prisoners to court appearances. In this example, the 

jail was exposed to two sources of risk: fire and 

dependence on a specific asset (the fleet of vehicles). The fire that destroyed the fleet was the 

risk event. The negative consequences were the 

financial loss caused by the destruction of the 

fleet and the extra cost incurred for transporting 

prisoners pending replacement of the vehicles. 

There would likely be a number of contributing 

35 
factors to the fire, including the practice of keeping the vehicles in the same location at night and 

any careless acts or failure to act that may have 

caused the fire. 

A similar analysis applies to opportunities. Local 

businesses that donate resources to jail selfimprovement programs are an opportunity, that 

is, a source of positive risk. A jail is exposed to 

this source of risk if businesses in the community make such donations. An actual donation of 

resources by a specific business to the jail in its 

community is a positive risk event. The positive 

outcome is the jail’s ability to provide additional 

self-improvement programs that serve its mission. A contributing factor could be the jail’s 

active recruitment of local business partners. 

State programs that give grants to jails are also 

a source of opportunity. Kentucky’s Office of 

Drug Control Policy offered up to 10 awards 

to correctional/detention facilities to start or 

enhance jail recovery programs (Commonwealth 

of Kentucky, 2005). Eligible jails in Kentucky 

were exposed to that source of risk. Receiving 

one of the awards was a positive risk event. The 

contributing factors were the jail staff’s awareness of the program announcement and timely 

application for the grant. 

Bottlenecks 

Identifying Risk Exposures 

A jail can use many tools to help identify its risk 

exposures, but no one tool is likely to provide all 

the information needed. Risk identification 

therefore relies heavily on imagination—What 

can happen? What would be the consequences? 

Some risk identification techniques can require 

many resources; hiring consultants to develop 

flowchart analyses to identify potential bottlenecks in the jail’s prisoner intake process is one 

example. 

Usually a combination of approaches is required. 

Following are some basic tools that jails can use 

to identify exposure to risk: 

■ Review of the jail’s loss history. A history 

of loss is useful, but it must be combined 

with other tools. Few jails have experienced 

events arising from all the sources of risk to 

which they have exposure, and loss histories 

do not help the jail identify opportunities. 

■ Document review. Helpful information can 

be gained by reviewing documents that reflect 

the jail’s activities, resources, and plans, 

including the jail’s policies, procedures, 

strategic plan, insurance policies and property 

“Bottleneck” is a term frequently used in traffic control to refer to an area where road traffic merges into 

fewer lanes, thereby creating the potential for frequent backups, especially if an accident blocks part of 

the road. This term is also used to refer to industrial processes in which all activity must flow through a single location, piece of equipment, or other resource, creating the risk of backups if the resource becomes 

disabled. 

In the jail setting, a bottleneck could occur during intake if all activity must flow through a single computer. 

If a jail has only one computer available to use in classifying incoming inmates and the computer has no 

backup system, the jail is subject to a bottleneck: If the computer malfunctions or breaks down, the jail 

might not be able to process new inmates quickly and accurately. 

36 
Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

schedules, reports to the funding authority, 

contracts, and employee handbook. 

■ Checklists. Although no standardized checklist will include all of the necessary information for a particular jail, checklists are a 

good starting point for developing questionnaires, interview questions, and inspection 

protocols. 

■ Brainstorming sessions. Conduct facilitated 

workshops with jail supervisors, managers, 

and line employees, who can identify 

sources of risk from different perspectives. 

■ Interviews. Conduct individual interviews 

with supervisors, managers, and line 

employees. 

■ Audits and inspections. Physically visit 

each part of the jail and examine all aspects 

of the jail’s operations. The jail’s property 

and casualty insurer or risk pool may be able 

to provide assistance through its loss control 

personnel. State jail inspectors may be able 

to provide similar assistance. 

■ Questionnaires. A written or electronic 

questionnaire can establish baseline information for subsequent interviews or brainstorming sessions. 

■ Discussions with peers in other jails. 

Sharing knowledge allows jails to benefit 

from others’ experiences. 

It is important to develop a plan before beginning the risk identification process. The goal is 

to gather useful information as efficiently as 

possible and with minimal drain on operational 

resources. For example, detailed questionnaires 

should not be distributed to every department 

without first identifying the information that is 

needed, those who will analyze the responses, 

how the results will be used, and the most productive sequence for using the information. For 

example, would better questionnaires be developed after a review of the jail’s documents? 

The most difficult part of risk identification can


be deciding which question to ask first. It might


seem logical to first identify the jail’s exposure


to sources of risk. The tools described above


would help gather this information from multiple


sources. However, it can be surprisingly difficult


to identify sources of risk that have never affect­


ed the jail. 


One way to begin the risk identi­


fication process is to begin with Worksheet 1: 


Risk Register the jail’s goals. Ask how risk can 

affect the jail’s ability to achieve Worksheet 1, found in 

appendix B, shows a sam­ its goals, both positively and neg- ple format for organizing 

atively. How can sources of risk the information gathered 

to which the jail is exposed affect in the risk identification 

the key resources the jail needs phase. It may be helpful to 

prepare two separate

to achieve each of its goals? worksheets: one for 

What factors could contribute to sources of risk with negaa risk event? Work systematically tive consequences and one 

for sources of risk with through each goal, involve a vari- positive consequences. 


ety of stakeholders in the process


to obtain different perspectives,


and compare and consolidate the results. 


ACA’s Performance-Based Standards for Adult


Local Detention Facilities, 4th edition, is a use­


ful tool in the risk identification process because


it is organized according to the seven functional


areas/goals that are essential to achieving a jail’s


mission. For each functional area, the publica­


tion includes one or more performance stan­


dards, which describe “a required or essential


condition to be achieved and maintained” by


jails (American Correctional Association, 2004,


page xxx). Each performance standard includes


a series of expected practices, which are


detailed “specific actions and activities that, if


implemented properly (according to protocols)


will produce the desired outcome—achievement


of the condition described in the standard.”


Each ACA functional area indicates a relation­


ship to risk. For example, the purpose of ACA


37 
goal 2, security, is to protect the jail’s community, staff, contractors, volunteers, and inmates 

from harm. This is a broad goal, and its performance standards and expected practices address 

many aspects of jail operation in detail. These 

details provide additional guidance that can help 

a jail identify its risk exposures and the factors 

that could contribute to an actual risk event. For 

example, one expected practice under ACA goal 

2 is the following (American Correctional 

Association, 2004, page 15): 

4-ALDF-2A-01. Space is provided for 

a 24-hour secure control center for monitoring and coordinating the facility’s 

security, life-safety, and communications systems. Staff assigned to a control 

center has access to a toilet and washbasin. There are multiple communication systems between the control center 

and inmate occupied areas.4 

This expected practice identifies the following 

factors that could contribute to the jail’s failure 

to achieve its security goal: 

■ Inadequate physical infrastructure to support 

the jail’s security, life-safety, and communications systems. 

■ Monitoring of the jail’s security, life-safety, 

and communications systems less than 24 

hours per day, 7 days a week. 

■ Prolonged absence of staff from the security 

control center to use remote toilet facilities. 

■ Loss of communication between the security 

control center and areas occupied by inmates 

and loss of video surveillance capabilities 

due to lack of redundant systems. 

Performance-Based Standards can also help 

identify opportunities. For example, ACA goal 5, 

program and activity, focuses on helping inmates 

“to successfully return to the community and 

reduce the negative effects of confinement” 

(American Correctional Association, 2004, page 

83). The focus of this goal is positive: to improve outcomes for inmates and for the community. One expected practice under ACA goal 5 is 

the following (American Correctional Association, 2004, page 83): 

4-ALDF-5A-02. The plan for inmate 

programs and services provides for the 

identification and use of available 

community resources.5 

This expected practice identifies community 

organizations as possible partners for achieving 

the jail’s goal of providing self-improvement 

opportunities to inmates. 

When the jail has identified its risks and opportunities, it moves on to risk analysis. 

Risk Analysis 

The second step in risk assessment is risk analysis, the process of estimating and comparing the 

consequences of risk events. In a perfect world, 

all risk exposures would be addressed immediately. In the real world of budgetary and time 

constraints, a jail must prioritize based on estimated consequences. Risk analysis develops the 

system and criteria required for the jail to perform the third stage of risk assessment, risk 

prioritization. 

Analysis of both positive and negative risk is 

important. A missed opportunity is the same as 

4 Reprinted with permission from Performance-Based Standards 5 Reprinted with permission from Performance-Based Standards 

for Adult Local Detention Facilities, 4th edition, published by the for Adult Local Detention Facilities, 4th edition, published by the 

American Correctional Association, Alexandria, VA. American Correctional Association, Alexandria, VA. 

38 
a loss, so the jail needs to be aware of its opportunities. At the risk identification stage, it is relatively easy to brainstorm about positive and 

negative consequences at the same time. In the 

risk analysis stage, it may be easier to address 

positive and negative risk consequences separately. However, the same approach can be used 

for both stages. 

In risk analysis, the jail must examine two variables: the likelihood that a risk event will occur 

(also called “frequency”) and the consequences 

of the risk event (also called “severity” for negative risk). This task involves two possible 

approaches. A quantitative approach expresses 

the expected consequences in dollars. A qualitative approach expresses relative values verbally, 

with terms such as “infrequent” and “frequent” 

for likelihood, and “low,” “medium,” or “high” 

for consequences. 

Quantitative Risk Analysis 

This type of risk analysis projects the expected 

financial consequences of risk. This approach 

can be expensive and complex; for the most part, 

it is used by large organizations that have a great 

deal of data about their risk exposures. Most 

jails cannot perform complex, quantitative risk 

Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

analyses with internal resources only and would 

hire consultants if this level of analysis were 

required.6 A detailed description of this approach 

is beyond the scope of this manual. 

If a jail has data about the frequency with which 

it experiences a certain type of risk event (e.g., 

liability from at-fault motor vehicle accidents) 

and the resulting losses, it can estimate its future 

losses by multiplying the average annual frequency of that type of risk event for each of the 

past few years by the average loss from each 

event. 

The jail’s exposure does not necessarily remain 

the same from year to year because most organizations do not operate in exactly the same way 

from year to year. One important exposure factor 

for an organization’s motor vehicle accident liability losses is the number of miles driven by its 

fleet of vehicles: the more miles driven, the 

greater the number of accidents that would be 

expected. To control for changes in miles driven, 

6 See chapter 6 in Risk Management Guidelines Companion to 

AS/NZS 4360:2004 (Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand, 

2004) for more information about quantitative approaches to risk 

analysis. 

Estimating Future Losses Based on Past Data 

A jail’s loss history shows that over the past few years it has experienced an average of five at-fault motor 

vehicle accidents per year and that the average liability loss from each of these accidents is $30,000. There 

is no significant trend (increase or decrease) in these numbers, and the jail’s exposure to motor vehicle 

accidents will remain the same. This jail’s motor vehicle accident liability losses for the next year would be 

estimated at $150,000, calculated as follows: 

Average number of accidents per year � Average liability loss per accident = Estimated liability loss 

5 � $30,000 = $150,000 

This estimate is an approximation only. It is almost certain that the actual loss will be either higher or lower. 

39 
the jail can divide its motor vehicle accident liability loss (expressed in dollars) for each of the 

past few years by the number of miles its fleet 

drove during each year. The result expresses the 

loss history as the number of dollars lost to liability for motor vehicle accidents per mile driven. 

If the average loss per mile driven is consistent 

from year to year, the jail can estimate its motor 

vehicle accident losses in dollars for the following year by multiplying the loss per mile driven 

by the number of miles it expects its fleet to 

drive during the next year. However, if the jail’s 

ratios change significantly from year to year, it is 

likely that there are factors at work other than 

miles driven, making this method a less effective 

way to predict its future motor vehicle losses. 

Exhibit 3 shows liability loss per mile driven for 

two jails. Even though jail A’s total loss per year 

due to motor vehicle accidents has increased 

over time, its average loss per mile driven has 

remained the same. (The increase in total losses 

due to motor vehicle accidents would be expected because of the increase in the jail’s exposure 

(miles driven) to those losses.) Because jail A’s 

average loss per mile driven has remained consistent, it can use this to estimate future motor 

vehicle accident liability losses. 

Exhibit 3. Example of Liability Loss Per Mile Driven 

On the other hand, a jail might find that its liability losses are increasing even as its total miles 

driven remain relatively stable, that its losses are 

increasing at a faster rate than its miles driven, 

or that there is no consistency in its average loss 

per mile driven, as is the case for jail B in exhibit 3. In such cases, the jail cannot accurately 

project its future liability losses for motor vehicle accidents simply by calculating its average 

loss per mile driven. The jail must look closely 

at the causes of the accidents to determine the 

other factors that were involved. 

Qualitative Risk Analysis 

Qualitative risk analysis uses words rather than 

numbers to describe both the likelihood and consequences of risk events. The words used to 

describe the likelihood of a risk event can range 

from basic two- or three-level scales, such as 

“probable” and “improbable” or “rare,” “possible,” and “likely,” to more complex scales with 

finer gradations, which can include five or more 

specific ranges of expected frequency. A more 

complex scale is shown in the following example 

(Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand, 

2004, page 59): 

■ Rare: The event will occur only in exceptional circumstances. 

■ Unlikely: The event may occur occasionally. 

Year Miles Driven Total MVA* Loss ($) Average Loss Per Mile Driven ($)† 

Jail A 

1 

2 

3 

Jail B 

1 

2 

3 

40,000 

50,000 

60,000 

40,000 

50,000 

60,000 

20,000 

25,000 

30,000 

60,000 

120,000 

40,000 

0.50 

0.50 

0.50 

1.50 

2.40 

0.67 

* Motor vehicle accident. 

† Total MVA loss divided by miles driven. 

40 
■ Possible: The event will probably occur 

occasionally. 

■ Likely: The event will probably occur on a 

regular basis. 

■ Almost certain: The event is expected to 

occur on a regular basis. 

Another approach is to link the terms to an 

expected frequency in number of years, as 

follows (Standards Australia/Standards New 

Zealand, 2004, page 59): 

■ Rare: Once every 100 years. 

■ Unlikely: Once every 30 years. 

■ Possible: Once every 10 years. 

■ Likely: Once every 3 years. 

■ Almost certain: Once a year or more often. 

Categories used to describe the magnitude of 

consequences arising from a risk event can also 

be expressed in words. Again, the complexity 

can vary. The jail decides the level of detail that 

would be meaningful and how to define each 

level, as shown in the following example: 

■ Insignificant: The consequences of an event 

would have no significant effect on the jail’s 

ability to achieve its mission and goals. 

■ Minor: The consequences of an event would 

have a slight effect (which could be corrected quickly and easily) on the jail’s ability to 

achieve its mission and goals. 

■ Moderate: The consequences of an event 

would affect some aspects of the jail’s ability to achieve some aspects of its mission and 

goals for a significant period. 

■ Major: The consequences of an event would 

prevent the jail from achieving some aspects 

of its mission and goals for an extended 

period. 

■ Catastrophic: The consequences of an event 

would prevent the jail from achieving most 

or all of its mission and goals for an extended 

period. 

Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

When the jail has selected and defined the 

categories it will use for likelihood and consequences, it assigns a risk category to each 

combination of likelihood and consequence, 

as shown in exhibit 4. Each cell of this matrix 

represents a combination of likelihood and consequences; the entry in the cell represents the 

significance of that combination to the jail. 

In exhibit 4, the low risk rankings cluster in the 

upper left-hand corner of the matrix, where 

events are rare and their results are insignificant. 

The high risk rankings cluster in the lower righthand side of the matrix, where events are more 

frequent and more severe. As potential consequences become more severe, their risk category 

increases, even if the event is quite unlikely, 

because the consequences are so great. Even a 

“rare” event (e.g., a major terrorist attack) can 

have a risk ranking of “significant” if its consequences are “catastrophic.” Conversely, events 

that have insignificant or minor consequences 

earn a rating of medium or severe risk as they 

become more frequent because if they occur 

often enough, their cumulative consequences for 

the jail will be significant. 

Jails will assign rankings based on their individual 

tolerance for risk. In general, smaller organizations 

with fewer resources have a lower tolerance for 

accepting risk than do large organizations that 

have resources to address unexpected events. 

With its risk analysis in place, the jail is ready to 

move on to risk prioritization. 

Risk Prioritization 

In a world of limited resources, risk prioritization uses information developed during risk 

identification and risk analysis to develop an 

orderly process for addressing an organization’s 

risks. This process directs an organization’s 

resources where they will provide the greatest 

benefit for achieving its mission. 

41 
Exhibit 4. Risk Matrix: Categories Based on Likelihood and Consequences of Risk 

Likelihood 

Consequences 

Insignificant Minor Moderate Major Catastrophic 

Rare 

Unlikely 

Possible 

Likely 

Almost certain 

L 

L 

L 

M 

M 

L 

L 

M 

S 

S 

M 

M 

S 

S 

H 

S 

S 

H 

H 

H 

H 

H 

H 

H 

H 

Key: 

H = high risk: A critical issue that requires immediate action, detailed research, and a management plan.


S = significant risk: Intervention by senior management is necessary; this type of risk affects resources that are critical


to accomplishing the jail’s mission.


M = medium risk: The risk must be monitored on a regular basis and corrective measures must be implemented to


eliminate or reduce exposure.


L = low risk: Staff use routine procedures to manage risk. 


In the risk identification phase, the jail identifies 

how risk can affect it. In the risk analysis phase, 

the jail establishes the criteria it will use for prioritizing risk for intervention and then analyzes 

its risks according to these criteria. In the risk 

prioritization phase, the jail uses the information 

gathered and developed in the two earlier stages 

to set its priorities for addressing risk. The third 

column in the risk assessment section of worksheet 1 is used to record the rankings. 

Exhibit 5, “Example of Worksheet 1: Risk 

Register,” uses the risk of a flood event in the 

jail building as an example of this process. 

Assume this jail is the only location in which the 

jurisdiction can house its prisoners. If the jail is 

affected by a flood, the building will become 

uninhabitable and the inmates will have to be 

evacuated. The building may be unusable for a 

significant time if the jail requires extensive 

cleaning to eliminate mold and other contaminants. Consequently, the jail will incur expenses 

for evacuating inmates, housing inmates in 

another jurisdiction, and decontaminating the 

facility. 

To rank this source of risk for intervention, the 

jail would refer back to its risk analysis matrix 

(see exhibit 4). Following are the five categories 

of likelihood: 

■ Rare: The event will occur only in exceptional circumstances. 

■ Unlikely: The event may occur occasionally. 

■ Possible: The event will probably occur 

occasionally. 

■ Likely: The event will probably occur on a 

regular basis. 

■ Almost certain: The event is expected to 

occur on a regular basis. 

The category chosen will depend on the jail’s 

unique circumstances; however, for purposes of 

this example, assume the jail is flooded every 5 

to 10 years, putting the likelihood of this risk in 

either the “likely” or “almost certain” category. 

Next, the jail considers the consequences. Assume 

the jail has adopted the following categories: 

■ Insignificant: The consequences of an event 

would have no significant effect on the jail’s 

ability to achieve its mission and goals. 

42 
Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

Analyzing the Risk for Positive Outcomes 

Qualitative risk analysis can be used to analyze positive outcomes. The categories used to describe likelihood will be the same as those used in analyzing negative outcomes, but the categories used to describe 

positive consequences will be slightly modified, as follows (Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand, 

2004): 

■ Insignificant: The consequences of an event would have no significant effect on the jail’s ability to 

achieve its mission. 

■ Minor: The consequences of an event would slightly benefit the jail’s ability to achieve its mission. 

■ Moderate: The consequences of an event would benefit some aspect(s) of the jail’s ability to achieve 

its mission. 

■ Major: The consequences of an event would benefit many aspects of the jail’s overall ability to achieve 

its mission. 

■ Outstanding: The consequences of an event would significantly benefit the jail’s overall ability to 

achieve its objectives for an extended period. 

The risk rankings could be modified as follows for positive outcomes: 

■ High opportunity (H): Capable of transforming the jail. Take immediate action and devote significant 

resources to pursuing the opportunity. 

■ Significant opportunity (S): Capable of significantly benefiting the jail. Take immediate action to pursue the opportunity. 

■ Medium opportunity (M): Capable of benefiting the jail. Take action to pursue within the jail’s existing 

priorities and resources. 

■ Low opportunity (L): Potential benefit to the jail is low. 

■ Minor: The consequences of an event would ■ Major: The consequences of an event would 

have a slight effect (which could be correct- prevent the jail from achieving some aspects 

ed quickly and easily) on the jail’s ability to of its mission and goals for an extended 

achieve its mission and goals. period. 

■ Moderate: The consequences of an event ■ Catastrophic: The consequences of an event 

would affect some aspects of the jail’s abili- would prevent the jail from achieving most 

ty to achieve some aspects of its mission and or all of its mission and goals for an extended 

goals for a significant period. period. 

43 
Exhibit 5. Example of Worksheet 1: Risk Register

GoalAffected 

Risk

Consequence 

Risk Identification Risk Assessment Risk Contro

Source of

Risk Event 

Risk and

Exposure 

Contributing

Factor(s) Likelihood 

Level of

Consequences 

Risk

Ranking Existing 

P

All goals Jail building

becomesuninhabitable 

Flood event Nearby river Location of

building in

flood plain

Building notconstructedfor floodresistance 

Almost

certain 

Major High Evacuation

plan

Contingency

operating

plan 

Mov

Ere

bar

Ret

buifloo

Fire event Kitchen

operationson premises 

Inadequate

cleaning

of kitchen

exhaust hoodInadequaterange hoodfire suppression systemBuildingconstructionnot fireresistant 

Likely Major High Schedule

and adopt 

written

procedures

for cleaning

exhaust hood 

Train 

employees

in kitchen

fire response 

Evacuation

plan

Contingencyoperatingplan 

Mov

pre

offs

Hire

pro

to c

exh

hoo

Inst

hoo

stat

the

sup

syst

Loss oflifelineservices:electricity 

Dependence

on electricity 

to operate

jail systems 

No backup

generator

at the jail

Excessivedemandduring thesummerConfiguration of theelectricalgridInadequateresponseby utility toan event on

the grid 

Likely Major High Contingency

operating

plan 

Bac

gen

and 

sufffor ind

44 
If the jail is flooded and facility decontamination 

requires 1 to 2 months, displacing the inmates 

for the entire time, the event consequences 

would probably be categorized as “major.” 

Assume the jail has adopted the risk matrix 

shown in exhibit 4 to guide its risk prioritization 

efforts. An identified source of risk with a likelihood ranking of likely or almost certain and a 

consequences ranking of major is firmly in the 

high risk category. It requires immediate action 

along with detailed research and a management 

plan. This ranking is shown in the third column 

in the risk assessment section of worksheet 1 in 

exhibit 5. 

It is important to note that a rule of reason must 

be used. To use a popular example, the consequences of a massive meteorite smashing into 

the jail would be catastrophic and its likelihood 

would be rare. This would place the event in the 

high risk category, which requires some form of 

action. However, because this event is much less 

likely to occur than many other potentially catastrophic events and there is little the jail can do to 

address it directly, it should receive no attention. 

The jail can follow this process systematically to 

rank all of the risk exposures it has identified, 

including its opportunities. When the jail completes this process, its priorities will be established and its current risk assessment will be 

completed. 

Step 3: Implement Risk Control Measures 

The third step in the risk management process is 

risk control. Risk control is the “what to do 

about it” stage of the risk management process. 

It is sometimes called “risk treatment” 

(Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand, 

2004, page 71) to acknowledge the need to 

address positive outcomes as well as negative 

consequences. 

Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

At the end of the risk control process, the jail 

will have: 

■ Established objectives for the risk control 

program. 

■ Identified the options for controlling each 

risk that it prioritized for intervention in the 

risk assessment phase. 

■ Selected the risk control measures it will 

use. 

■ Identified resources to implement the 

measures. 

■ Allocated to appropriate personnel the 

responsibilities for implementing the 

measures. 

■ Established deadlines and milestones. 

■ Developed performance measurements. 

■ Developed a system for monitoring and 

review. 

■ Documented the risk management program. 

Many of a jail’s risk control activities will focus 

on contributing factors that increase the likelihood or magnitude of a risk event resulting from 

a source of risk to which the jail is exposed. For 

example, jails cannot eliminate fire as a source 

of risk. What they can do is identify and address 

the contributing factors that would increase the 

likelihood of a fire event or the extent of damage 

caused by a fire event. 

Establishing Risk Control Objectives 

At this stage, the jail reviews the risk management priorities established in the risk assessment 

stage and matches them with risk control measures that will meet its objectives. To do this, the 

jail must decide on its objectives for risk control 

in general and for control of each priority that 

was identified. 

Following are some examples of a jail’s general 

objectives for risk control efforts: 

45 
■ Enhance the jail’s compliance with laws and 

regulations. 

■ Increase staff efficiency and reduce the time 

spent by staff in responding to negative risk 

events. 

■ Enhance the jail’s reputation 

Contributing factors in the community. and risk of a 

kitchen fire ■ Help the jail avoid losses 

Kitchen operations are a and take advantage of


significant source of fire opportunities. 


risk, often due to accumu­


■ Avoid changing processes or lations of grease in a range 

hood. Contributing factors conditions in ways that create 

to a kitchen fire event new sources of risk. 

include failure to clean the 

range hood as required, ■ Ensure that the direct and 

failure to train kitchen staff indirect benefits of risk conin how to respond to a fire trol measures outweigh their appropriately, or failure to 

direct and indirect costs. ensure that fire extinguishers in the kitchen are work- ■ Ensure that risk control efing properly. An inadequate forts are easily communicated, fire suppression system 

could allow a small fire to integrated into the jail’s existburn out of control. All of ing practices and procedures, 

these contributing factors and practiced at all staff levels. 

could be the target of risk


control activities. ■ Develop measurable results. 


■ Include a system to verify 

compliance with the risk 

control program. 

■ Provide objectives that are realistic and 

sustainable. 

■ Develop objectives with input and agreement 

from the staff. 

■ Ensure the funding authority and jail management are comfortable with the program 

and the level of risk retained. 

■ Develop objectives in a way that will not 

provoke an undesirable response from 

inmates. 

Identifying the Options 

A variety of measures can be used to address 

risk. Most of these measures fall into one of the 

following categories: 

■ Risk avoidance. 

■ Loss reduction. 

■ Positive outcome enhancement. 

■ Risk sharing. 

■ Risk retention. 

Risk Avoidance 

Risk avoidance is the most complete form of 

control for negative risk. It completely eliminates exposure to the specific source of negative 

risk by either discontinuing or avoiding the 

activity that exposes the jail to the source of risk. 

One limitation of risk avoidance is that it eliminates an activity’s benefits along with the exposure to negative consequences. Another limitation 

is that some activities cannot be discontinued 

because they are legally mandated or are part of 

an organization’s core functions. For example, 

risk avoidance will not help a jail manage the 

risks of housing and caring for legal offenders in 

most situations. These activities are a source of 

significant negative risk, but they are also the 

reason that jails exist, and usually cannot be 

eliminated. 

In a jail setting, risk avoidance is more likely to 

apply to optional programming the jail provides 

for inmates’ self-improvement. A thorough risk 

assessment should be part of any decision to 

implement a new self-improvement program in a 

jail. If the assessment shows that the likely negative risk consequences outweigh the benefits to 

inmates and society, then the jail can “avoid” 

exposure to anticipated risk by deciding not to 

implement the program in question. 

An example of risk avoidance in a jail setting is 

the “fitness to confine” procedures for jails. 

Most jails do not have the equipment or staff to 

care for seriously and acutely ill inmates. If the 

jail admits an inmate who has a serious medical 

condition that is making him or her acutely ill, 

the jail could be legally liable for failing to 

46 
Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

provide appropriate medical care. Jails can avoid 

this potential liability by screening incoming 

inmates for serious medical conditions before 

they are admitted and refusing to admit those 

who have a condition for which the jail cannot 

provide adequate care. 

Loss Reduction 

Loss reduction measures reduce either the likelihood that a negative risk event will occur or the 

level of negative consequences that flow from 

the event. Many common jail procedures serve 

loss reduction objectives, even if they are not 

considered to be “risk management” procedures. 

Following are some examples of loss reduction 

measures and related loss reduction objectives: 

■ Workplace safety programs and inspections combined with regular inspection, 

maintenance, and (if necessary) upgrade 

of equipment and security systems: 

Reduce losses resulting from staff injuries 

that are caused by unsafe conditions and 

practices. 

■ Legal and regulatory compliance programs (e.g., occupational safety and 

health regulations, jail standards, constitutional requirements): Reduce losses 

resulting directly from violations of laws and 

regulations (e.g., staff and inmate injuries/ 

illnesses and judgments against the jail for 

constitutional violations) and from the 

expense associated with legal proceedings 

and compliance with consent decrees. 

■ Safety committees: Identify unsafe conditions and practices and obtain employee 

input on better safety and security practices. 

■ Return-to-work programs for injured 

workers: Reduce prolonged absences of 

injured employees and improve the likelihood of a full return to work. 

■ Procedures for securing and returning 

inmate possessions: Reduce inmates’ claims 

for loss of personal property taken from 

them at the time of confinement. 

■ Driver safety training: Reduce liability 

losses resulting from accidents caused by 

unsafe operation of the jail’s motor vehicle 

fleet. 

■ Post-loss claims management: Reduce the 

monetary value of losses arising from negative risk events. 

■ Housing plan with appropriate separation 

by classification of inmates: Reduce the 

likelihood of lawsuits arising from inmateon-inmate violence by housing inmates with 

others in similar behavioral categories. 

■ Contraband policies: Reduce the chances 

that inmates will possess materials they can 

use for inappropriate, forbidden, or violent 

behavior that may injure jail staff or other 

inmates. 

■ Inmate needs assessment: Avoid inmate 

civil rights lawsuits by ensuring that the jail 

has a plan in place to meet each inmate’s 

constitutionally protected rights. 

■ Personal protective equipment: Reduce 

workers’ compensation claims by providing 

clothing or other items that are worn or used 

by jail staff for protection against health hazards and physical hazards in the workplace 

that cannot be eliminated by other means. 

■ Use-of-force policies and procedures: 

Reduce the likelihood of a claim for excessive use of force. 

■ Staff selection and training programs: 

Select and develop staff who have the 

appropriate skills, attitudes, and experience 

to interact positively with inmates and operate the jail in a safe, secure, and humane 

manner. 

■ Supervisor selection and training programs: Select and train supervisors who 

have the appropriate skills, attitudes, and 

47 
experience to ensure that staff members 

follow jail policies and procedures. 

■ Emergency procedures drills: Ensure that 

staff members are familiar with the jail’s 

emergency procedures so they can respond 

to an event immediately and effectively. 

■ Contingency planning: Ensure that the jail 

can continue to operate and fulfill its mission after a negative risk event and can take 

timely advantage of opportunities. 

■ Backup of key resources: Ensure that the 

jail can continue to operate even if it loses 

the use of a key resource by giving the jail 

immediate access to a replacement for that 

resource. 

■ Segregation of key resources: Help the jail 

continue to operate after a negative risk 

event by storing key resources in different 

locations or duplicating them with backup 

resources that are easily available. 

Positive Outcome Enhancement 

Positive outcome enhancement measures increase the likelihood that a positive risk event 

will occur or increase the magnitude of the positive consequences that will flow from an event. 

Following are examples of positive outcome 

enhancement measures and related positive risks 

or consequences: 

■ Staff training: Improves jail staff members’ 

positive interaction with inmates with the 

goal of improving outcomes (reducing 

recidivism). 

■ Partnership development: Provide inmates 

with better self-improvement programs by 

adopting partnership development goals and 

assigning staff to identify and pursue opportunities to partner with other organizations. 

■ Grant development: Obtain funding to support jail operations and programs by adopting a systematic process and assigning staff 

to research and apply for grants. 

Risk Sharing 

Risk sharing measures are designed to share an 

organization’s risk exposure with another organization. Risk sharing can also be called “risk 

transfer”; however, “transfer” is misleading 

because the jail seldom eliminates all of its risk 

through these relationships. 

Risk sharing is usually accomplished by contract. 

Risk sharing measures include the following: 

■ Contracting with another organization to 

perform specific activities for the jail and to 

assume some of the financial risk associated 

with those activities (contractual risk sharing 

arrangements). 

■ Contracting with a commercial insurance 

company or a public risk pool to assume 

some of the financial consequences of 

negative risk events (insurance/risk pool 

membership). 

Contractual risk sharing arrangements. 

Organizations often use contracts to transfer the 

responsibility for certain types of work to another 

organization, usually one that has specific 

expertise in the type of work to be performed. 

For example, jails often hire contractors to provide medical care, food service, and sometimes 

overall jail management. Risk sharing is not the 

primary purpose of such contracts; it is a byproduct. The primary objective is to transfer 

responsibility for a set of tasks to an entity that 

can perform them better and in a more costeffective manner. The jail remains legally liable 

for the functions that are contracted out, but the 

contractor is also legally liable for the way in 

which it performs the contracted work. 

The parties to these contracts can decide how 

to allocate financial responsibility for negative 

risk consequences. The parties’ agreement does 

not change the legal rights of third parties who 

may have a claim against one or both parties; 

however, it does establish the parties’ respective 

48 
responsibilities for responding to a claim. 

Contracts for services often will include the 

following: 

■ A provision stating that the contractor (the 

party in the best position to control risk 

resulting from the work) will “indemnify 

and hold harmless” the jail for negative risk 

consequences resulting from the contractor’s 

work. 

■ A requirement for the contractor to obtain 

adequate liability insurance coverage that is 

appropriate for its work and to provide evidence that it has added the jail to the insurance policy as an “additional insured.” 

Contractors should further be required to 

notify the insured if the policy is subsequently reduced or cancelled. 

■ A requirement for the contractor to obtain, 

and provide evidence of, workers’ compensation coverage for its employees. 

■ A requirement for the contractor to obtain, 

and provide evidence of, motor vehicle liability insurance coverage if it operates vehicles as part of its work. 

Specialized work may expand these insurance 

requirements. For example, in construction contracts, the contractor is often required to provide 

property damage insurance to protect the building owner from damage to the property on which 

the contractor is working. Contractual language 

and possibly state law can greatly affect the 

scope of protection provided. Contractors’ standard contract forms are often carefully drafted to 

minimize the liability the contractor assumes; 

therefore, the jail’s legal counsel or a risk manager well versed in contract risk management 

should be part of the contract review process. 

Insurance/risk pool membership. Even the best 

risk control program will not eliminate all risk 

events and negative risk consequences. Risk 

financing arrangements provide a jail with 

Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

financial resources to pay for some of these losses. Most jails buy insurance from a commercial 

insurance company, join a public risk pool, or 

participate in a state-sponsored program to share 

the negative financial consequences of risk 

events.7 The jail pays a premium and in return 

receives a contractual promise that the 

insurer/risk pool will pay for certain types of 

negative risk consequences up to a specified 

amount (referred to as “limits”). Because the 

insurer’s or risk pool’s responsibility is subject 

to dollar limits and coverage restrictions, some 

of the exposure to loss remains with the jail. 

Many public entities are required by law or 

administrative procedure to follow specific procurement practices in all of their purchasing 

activities, including risk financing arrangements. 

These requirements vary from state to state and 

may control how a public entity obtains quotes, 

how many quotes must be obtained, how the 

quotes are evaluated, which insurance carriers 

may do business with public entities, and how 

the public entity may use agents or brokers. Any 

jail staff members who make risk-financing decisions should be familiar with these laws. 

Risk Retention 

Risk retention is another form of paying for the 

negative consequences of risk events. An organization retains risk when it pays for some or all 

of its losses using internal resources, without the 

help of funds from insurers or risk pools. 

Risk can be wholly or partially retained. It is 

wholly retained if there is no outside financing 

for a loss. It is partially retained if some (but not 

all) of the losses are covered by outside financing. The objectives of risk retention include 

reducing or eliminating insurance premiums, 

7 Virginia provides a liability self-insurance plan that includes 

Virginia’s sheriffs and regional jails. See http://www.trs.virginia.gov/ 

drm/constitution.asp, accessed April 18, 2007. 

49 
gaining greater control over claims handling, and Risk may also be retained unintentionally (e.g., 

absorbing costs that are affordable. if the organization has not identified its risk 

exposures, if it is unaware that the exposures are Risk may be retained intentionally. An organiza-	 excluded from its insurance, or if its exposure tion may intentionally retain a known risk by significantly exceeds the limits of its coverage). using insurance that includes deductibles or Organizations in this potentially dangerous situa­ self-insured retentions8 or by establishing its own tion are described as uninsured “by default”— 

self-insurance plan to pay losses up to a certain they retain financial responsibility for a loss level. For example, if state law permits, a jail without considering how it may be avoided, might decide that small and routine losses (such reduced, controlled, or shared, and without 

as loss of inmate property) will be paid from a	 analyzing the possible effect of large losses on special fund rather than by insurance. Potentially their financial stability or ability to meet their large losses, such as those resulting from person- goals and mission. Risk identification and 

al injury, are usually inappropriate for complete assessment are important because they help pro- retention; however, an organization may decide tect organizations from unknowingly retaining to partially retain the risk by accepting a large financial responsibility for potentially cata­ deductible or self-insured retention in exchange strophic losses. Equally important is a careful for a significantly lower premium.	 review of the organization’s insurance 

policies/pool documents to ensure that the organization’s leaders are aware of the coverage limitations and the types of loss that are excluded 

8 Deductibles and self-insured retentions require the insured to pay from coverage. Programs that cover unknown 

the first part of a loss, up to a set dollar or percentage amount, risks where feasible are highly desirable. before the insurer or pool pays any part of the loss. 

What Are Risk Pools? 

Risk pools are associations of public entities with similar functions that have banded together to share risks 

by creating their own risk-financing organizations. Members pay premiums that fund the administrative 

costs of operating the pool, including claims management expenses, and compensate members for covered losses. 

Pools offer some advantages. They may offer coverage that is more targeted and at premiums that are 

generally stable and affordable. Many pools offer additional benefits and services at little or no cost, including advice on safety and risk management, seminars on loss control, updates on changes in the insurance 

industry, and property appraisal and inspection. Some pools offer members the opportunity to receive dividends for maintaining a good loss record. On the other hand, some pools may require members to pay 

additional funds if the pool’s loss experience is worse than anticipated. As with commercial insurers, the 

pool’s financial stability is an important consideration. Consequently, a public entity must apply the same 

diligence to investigating pooling programs that it would apply to the selection of commercial insurance 

carriers. 

50 
Risk may also be retained because it is not insurable. For example, a jail cannot insure against 

the possibility that its funding authority will 

reduce its funding. However, this risk can be 

managed in various ways—for example, by 

identifying alternative revenue sources or ensuring that the funding authority understands the 

jail’s funding needs. 

Funding retained risk. An organization that 

retains risk must find a way to pay for losses that 

it does not share with others. These alternatives 

may include the following: 

■ Treating losses as expenses and using the 

regular operating budget to pay for them. 

■ Creating and funding a special account to 

pay for intentionally retained losses. 

■ Seeking supplemental funding from the 

funding authority. 

State law or requirements of the funding authority 

may limit a jail’s choice of risk retention 

mechanisms. 

Deciding to retain risk. Before deciding to retain 

insurable risk, a jail should do the following: 

■ Determine whether it is legally required 

to buy insurance. Many states require insurance for automobile liability and workers’ 

compensation risks, although some states 

allow qualified self-insured plans that meet 

state-mandated requirements. The jail must 

also determine whether its funding authority 

imposes any special requirements for risk 

financing. 

■ Determine whether it is financially able to 

retain risk. This necessary but difficult task 

involves estimating the financial consequences of potential losses before they happen. Very few (if any) organizations can 

afford to be completely self-insured. The 

most commonly self-insured risks involve 

low severity and either low or high levels of 

Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

frequency; that is, risks that are predictable 

and pose little danger of catastrophic loss. 

Coverage with high deductibles or selfinsured retentions may be available for 

organizations that want to retain some risk 

but also protect against an unexpected severe 

loss or series of losses. Organizations rarely 

self-insure against losses that could significantly affect financial stability or their ability to meet their mission. 

■ Compare the costs of insurance with those 

of retention. An insurance premium covers 

more than losses. It also covers loss adjustment expenses—the insurer’s cost of investigating, paying for, and defending claims, if 

necessary. Retention is less expensive than 

insurance only if the premium exceeds the 

cost of losses plus the associated loss adjustment expenses and any other benefits an 

insurance carrier or risk pool would provide. 

Selecting Risk Control Measures 

The more risk exposures (both positive and negative) the jail addresses, the more likely the jail 

will be to experience a desired outcome; however, the jail cannot adopt every risk control 

measure it identifies. Rather, it should review 

and compare the various approaches available 

for addressing each exposure. Some risk control 

measures will be an obvious match for the jail’s 

exposures, but often the identification and selection of risk control measures is challenging. It is 

not as simple as choosing one risk control measure to address each potential risk event. Usually 

a combination of factors contributes to a risk 

event, and each factor can be addressed by one 

or more risk control measures. 

When evaluating risk control measures, a jail 

should ask the following questions: 

■ Is the risk control measure mandated by 

legal and regulatory requirements? If a 

risk control measure is mandatory, the jail 

51 
must comply with it. Multiple factors Examples include the contribute to risk 

workplace safety require- events 

ments of a state’s occupation- An inmate’s sexual abuse 

al safety and health law and of another inmate may


result from a combination requirements for automobile


of factors, including liability and workers’ commistakes in inmate classifi­ pensation insurance. cation and inadequate 

supervision of inmates by ■ Which risk control measstaff. A strong classification ure(s) are most compatible system and staff training 

with other jail objectives? are both risk control measures for this negative risk. Risk control measures that 

conflict with the jail’s mission and goals are unlikely 

to have long-term positive 

outcomes. 

■ Which risk control measures does the jail 

have the resources to implement? Identify 

the resources that would be required to 

implement the risk control measure (e.g., 

funding, personnel, equipment), determine 

whether the jail has those resources, and 

consider how the jail would obtain the 

resources if they are lacking. 

■ Which risk control measures are most 

cost effective? Choose risk control measures 

that offer the best direct and indirect benefits 

for the cost of their implementation. 

■ Which risk control measure is the simplest to communicate and implement? 

Staff members must be able to understand 

the risk control measure and easily incorporate it into their routines. 

■ Will staff members be willing and able 

to implement the selected risk control 

measures on an ongoing basis? Staff input 

is critical to determining which measures 

will continue to work for an extended 

period. 

■ Can staff compliance be reliably documented and measured? Documentation is 

critical to prove that the jail follows its own 

policies and procedures. Measurement of 

outcome is important to establish that the 

risk control measure works. 

■ How will citizens and the funding body 

perceive the risk control measure? 

Consider public reaction if the measure is 

publicized. Jail administration must be able 

to support its decision to use a risk control 

measure, particularly when communicating 

with the media. 

■ Does the risk control measure create additional problems? Some risk control measures that address one problem will create 

another. Consider all of the possible effects 

of a risk control measure, including those 

that are negative. 

■ Can the risk control measure be successfully integrated into the jail’s existing 

practices? A measure that requires a basic 

change in the way the jail operates is less 

likely to be successful over an extended 

period. 

■ What is the accepted practice in similar 

jails? If an effective approach is followed by 

many jails, using that approach may be beneficial in the face of a legal challenge. 

■ What resources are available to the jail to 

support a promising risk control measure? Existing resources may enable the jail 

to successfully implement a risk control 

measure. 

Appropriate stakeholders should be included in 

the selection process. It is especially important 

to seek and consider input from the jail staff 

members who will implement the risk control 

measures selected. They can offer valuable perspective on whether the measures under consideration can be implemented and can succeed. 

These staff members may also be able to suggest 

practical solutions based on their experience. In 

addition, they are more likely to successfully 

implement new approaches they have helped to 

develop. 

52 
Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

Assigning Responsibility and Accountability selection of risk control measures is not comOverall, the responsibility and accountability for plete until the organization has determined and 

managing an organization’s risk resides with its documented how and by whom they will be carsenior management. In addition, each employee is ried out, established a program for training 

responsible for managing risk within his or her employees about these responsibilities, and 

area of control. If a jail has a risk manager, he or incorporated risk responsibility and accountabilishe is likely to oversee, evaluate, and recommend ty into its job descriptions and performance evalchanges to the risk management program. uation criteria. 

New risk control measures affect how employees Establishing Deadlines and Milestones 

do their jobs. Changes in risk control are more A deadline is a specific date or time by which a 

likely to succeed if employees are clearly instruct- task must be accomplished. A milestone is a siged that they are responsible and accountable for nificant point of achievement in the life cycle of 

doing their part in the process. Responsibility and a project—the completion of one of the project’s 

accountability are not the same. Employees are important tasks—that may be associated with a 

responsible for carrying out a task when their job deadline or target completion date. “Driver safedescription requires them to do it. Employees are ty classes must be implemented by June 1” is an 

accountable when satisfactory performance of example of a deadline. Selection of the instructor 

their responsibilities is a significant factor in and the actual delivery of the first driver safety 

their performance evaluation. Accordingly, class are milestones. 

Responsibility and Accountability in Driver Safety Training 

A jail’s risk manager is responsible for reporting emerging risk management problems to senior management and for making appropriate recommendations and is accountable for failing to do so. In discharging 

that responsibility, the risk manager reports that the jail’s employees are having an increased number of 

at-fault auto accidents in the jail’s vehicles and recommends a driver safety training program. Senior management approves the recommendation and informs department heads, supervisors, and employees of its 

support for the program. 

The risk manager is responsible for establishing performance indicators for the program, contracting an 

instructor, working with department managers and supervisors to establish a training schedule and a training recordkeeping system, evaluating the program using the performance indicators, and making changes 

if necessary. The risk manager is accountable for the overall functioning of the driver training program. 

Supervisors and department heads are responsible for ensuring that their drivers attend driver safety training and for enforcing employee compliance with safe driving practices. They are accountable for the poor 

driving performance of the employees under their supervision. 

The jail’s drivers are responsible for operating vehicles safely and are accountable if their failure to do so 

causes an accident. 

53 
Deadlines and milestones are useful project 

management tools for ensuring that the selected 

risk control measures are implemented according 

to schedule. They help both supervisors and 

employees monitor progress. Arriving at deadlines and milestones requires a thorough analysis 

of each measure chosen: what steps will be 

required to implement the measure, how long 

will each step reasonably take, and what important interim events can serve as milestones? The 

jail can use this information to monitor progress 

and hold employees accountable for their risk 

management responsibilities. 

Identifying Performance Indicators 

Performance indicators are objective tools that 

can be used to evaluate an activity, including a 

risk management program. Performance indicators can measure both processes and outcomes; 

they must be chosen carefully to ensure they 

reflect what the organization intends to measure. 

Process indicators measure the extent to which 

risk control measures are being implemented 

properly: 

■ Risk control measure: Self-improvement 

programming.


Process indicator: Number of self-


improvement programs offered to inmates.


■ Risk control measure: Driver safety training 

program. 

Process indicator: Percentage of eligible 

drivers trained during the first 6 months of 

the program. 

Outcome indicators measure the extent to 

which risk control measures have produced 

desired results: 

■ Risk control measure: Self-improvement 

programming.


Outcome indicator: Decrease in recidivism


rates.


■ Risk control measure: Driver safety training 

program. 

Outcome indicator: Decrease in the number 

of at-fault vehicle accidents after training, 

measured against a goal to reduce the number of at-fault accidents by a specified percentage. 

Although both types of performance indicators 

are useful in risk management programs, outcome indicators directly measure whether the 

jail is meeting its risk control goals. 

Choosing performance indicators can be challenging. Jails can refer to Performance-Based 

Standards for Adult Local Detention Facilities, 

4th edition (American Correctional Association, 

2004), which describes outcome measures that 

are directly applicable to jail risk issues for each 

of ACA’s seven functional areas. 

Developing a System for Monitoring and 

Review 

A risk management program is never completed. 

The jail and its risk environment are constantly 

evolving and facing new risk exposures, including opportunities that must be identified, analyzed, and addressed. In addition, the risk 

control measures that are selected may perform 

differently than expected or become less productive or cost effective over time. Therefore, a risk 

management plan must be evaluated and adapted 

to changing needs so that it does not lose its 

value. 

Monitoring is the process of examining the jail’s 

risk profile and the performance of its risk 

management program on an ongoing basis. 

Monitoring activities include regular gathering 

and analysis of data for the risk management 

performance indicators selected by the jail. 

Jail staff perform monitoring functions, which 

ideally should be part of their day-to-day responsibilities so that the process becomes selfperpetuating. For example, a jail monitors its 

54 
Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

Establishing Deadlines and Milestones for Driver Safety Training 

The jail adopting the driver safety training program would probably want to move quickly. The major steps 

(some of which could be selected as milestones with deadlines) would include the following: 

■ Assess the major problem areas that contribute to accidents. 

■ Decide to recommend implementation of a driver safety training program. 

■ Recommend the driver safety program to senior management and obtain approval. 

■ Inform department heads and discuss scheduling issues. 

■ Select performance indicators. 

■ Evaluate training options and select an instructor (internal or external). 

■ Determine a location for the training program. 

■ Establish a training schedule and inform trainees. 

■ Develop an attendance recordkeeping system. 

■ Present classes to trainees. 

■ Obtain attendee evaluations and make adjustments as required. 

■ Determine whether performance measures were met. 

■ Review training objectives and revise the training program as needed. 

■ Report to senior management. 

■ Decide whether to continue offering the classes. 

■ Monitor results on an ongoing basis. 

■ Make changes as needed. 

facility safety program by documenting regular jail contracts and purchases of new equipment for 

safety inspections. In this case, monitoring also the risk exposures they may present. 

includes regular activities that help the jail administrator identify and address changes in the jail’s A review is an indepth periodic evaluation of the 

risk profile (i.e., its new exposures and opportuni- risk management program or of a specific aspect 

ties). This could include regular review of all new of the program. A review is not a substitute for 

55 
Measuring the Performance of Driver Safety Training Over Time 

If a performance indicator compares statistics from different time periods, changes in exposure must be 

considered. A reduction in the number of at-fault vehicle accidents after driver safety training may not 

demonstrate that the training was successful if: 

■ It fails to consider seasonal variations in accidents (for example, if accidents occur more frequently in 

winter because of weather conditions, a reduction in accidents the following summer may be unrelated to the training). 

■ The number of miles driven has changed. 

■ The jail has replaced the vehicles in the fleet with newer vehicles that have better safety features (for 

example, antilock brakes). 

monitoring because reviews occur less frequently and are likely to be narrower in scope. 

However, they are useful because they provide 

an opportunity to study an aspect of the risk 

management program comprehensively. An 

example of a review is a detailed audit of the 

jail’s return-to-work program for injured staff 

members. 

Documenting the Risk Management 

Program 

A risk management program is more likely to succeed if it is documented in writing. Documentation 

provides the structure for directing implementation, establishing accountability, monitoring 

progress, making required changes, and reporting 

to the jail administrator and the funding authority. 

The written documentation of a risk management 

program will likely consist of multiple living 

documents (preferably electronic documents) 

that are easily accessible to the staff members 

who use them. A document that sits on a shelf 

will not be useful and can actually be detrimental if it is out of date. 

Information about a jail’s risk management program will likely be contained in more than one 

document. Individuals who are responsible for 

addressing a specific area of risk will probably 

record detailed information in a personal working file. Minutes from a risk management committee’s meetings may be maintained by the 

committee chair. General information about the 

risk management program as a whole (for example, the schedule for reporting to the funding 

authority, forms that are used throughout the 

organization, and insurance information) may be 

maintained in a risk management manual that is 

available to all staff members. Each jail will tailor its documentation to serve its own needs and 

capacity. The following sections describe some 

tools that jails can consider using to document 

their risk management program. 

Risk Register 

A risk register is a living planning and communication document that summarizes key information 

from the risk assessment phase, including the 

specific ways in which risk affects a jail and the 

prioritization of risk exposures. The best format is 

a matrix or spreadsheet that is easy to understand 

and update and uses a template that includes elements of critical information. Worksheet 1 (see 

exhibit 5, page 43) is an example of a risk register. 

56 
Chapter 3. Developing a Risk Management Program 

Developing the risk register is an ongoing 

process that begins with the jail’s first risk 

assessment efforts. The information included in 

the register depends on the jail’s specific needs. 

Following are some important elements to consider including in the risk register: 

■ A unique identifier for prioritized risk exposures so that each one can be tracked along 

with plans to address it, actions taken, and 

outcome. For example, a unique number 

could be assigned to each risk exposure 

identified as a high priority on worksheet 1. 

■ The potential consequences of each prioritized risk exposure. 

■ The factors that may contribute to the occurrence of a risk event, along with resulting 

consequences. 

■ The likelihood and magnitude of each 

described risk consequence. 

■ Existing and potential controls for each risk 

exposure. 

■ The priority assigned to each risk exposure. 

Risk Control Schedule and Action Plans 

A risk control schedule is a single document that 

summarizes the jail’s decisionmaking process 

for selecting measures to control each risk area 

included on the risk register. It can be used as both 

a planning tool and to provide an overview of 

deadlines for purposes of monitoring. Worksheet 

2, shown in exhibit 6, is a sample template for a 

risk control schedule. A blank copy of the worksheet in exhibit 6 is provided in appendix B. 

Action plans are individual documents that discuss in detail, and assign responsibility for, the 

implementation and monitoring of the control 

measures selected for each prioritized risk area. 

They are actually detailed plans for how each risk 

will be controlled. Exhibit 7 shows a sample template for an action plan. 

Risk control schedules and actions plans can 

be organized depending on the jail’s needs. 

Following are some elements to consider including in the schedule and action plan: 

■ A unique identifier assigned to each risk 

exposure on worksheet 1. This enables the 

jail to track the risk exposure through the 

various documents that may address it. 

■ The risk control options considered for 

each risk exposure. Including the options 

considered as well as the options selected 

demonstrates that the jail conducted a thorough analysis before it selected its risk control options. 

■ The risk control options selected for each 

risk exposure. Documenting the options 

selected identifies the group of risk management activities that must be monitored. 

■ Deadline(s) for intermediate milestones 

and final implementation of the selected 

options. Identifying milestones and assigning deadlines provides an objective basis for 

measuring progress. 

■ The people who are responsible and 

accountable for implementing the selected 

risk control options. Risk control measures 

are more likely to be implemented if specific 

people are accountable. Monitoring and 

reviewing the risk management program will 

be expedited if responsible parties are clearly 

identified. 

■ Performance indicators that establish 

objective criteria for measuring progress. 

Establishing performance indicators in 

advance of implementation gives the jail an 

objective basis for measuring its progress. 

■ Review dates for program implementation 

and maintenance. Setting review dates 

ensures that monitoring and evaluation take 

place on a regular basis. 

57 
■ A schedule for submitting regular risk 

reports (including outcomes demonstrated 

by any performance indicators) to the jail 

administrator, the funding authority, and 

others. A reporting schedule ensures that the 

parties whose support is critical to effective 

risk management are informed about program performance. 

Summary 

The process outlined in this chapter can be 

adapted to fit the needs of any jail regardless of 

its size; activities may be scaled back or expanded 

based on the organization’s size and complexity. 

Furthermore, the risk management process can 

be implemented in stages, beginning with areas 

of operation that historically produce the greatest 

risks or with activities that can be implemented 

throughout the organization. It is important for a 

jail to start the process and then, on an ongoing 

basis, continue to integrate risk management 

processes into the jail’s organizational structure 

and daily operations. 

58 
Exhibit 6. Example of Worksheet 2: Risk Control Implementation Schedule

Risk ExposureID No. 

Risk

Exposure 

Risk Control

Measure Chosen? 

Lead Person and

Department 

Target 

Completion Date 

Date

Completed 

0001 Flood of building

due to spring

flood of river 

Move facility No N/A N/A 

Erect floodbarriers

No N/A N/A 

Retrofit thebuilding for floodresistance

Yes Name/department XX/XX/XXXX

Evacuation plan Existing Name/department XX/XX/XXXX Contingencyoperating plan 

Existing Name/department XX/XX/XXXX

59 
Exhibit 7. Worksheet 3: Example of Risk Control Action Plan 

Risk ID No. Risk exposure 

Risk control measure chosen (Identify the risk control measure.) 

Detailed action plan (Describe in detail how the jail plans to implement the risk control measure.) 

Target implementation completion date (Date by which full implementation of the risk control measure is 

expected) 

Schedule of interim milestones (Interim milestones and target dates) 

Milestone Target date 

Team leader (Identify the team leader—the person who has primary responsibility for implementation.) 

Other personnel assigned (Identify the names and functions of other personnel assigned to perform activities.) 

Name Function 

Other resources allocated (Identify any other resources allocated.) 

Resource Function 

Performance indicators (Describe the process indicators and outcome measures selected and the schedule for 

evaluating and reporting.) 

Performance indicator Schedule 

Monitoring and review (Describe the ongoing monitoring and periodic reviews to be performed.) 

Monitoring/review activities Schedule 

60 
Organizational Investments for Managing Risk
 4 

Good risk management requires investment in all 

of the jail’s basic resources: human, financial, 

property, partners, and reputation. Therefore, an 

investment in risk management is an investment 

in the jail’s ability to achieve its mission. Efforts 

to secure funding for a risk management program may be more successful if this fundamental connection is stressed. 

Human Resources 

A well-qualified, well-trained staff that reliably 

and safely performs its duties in accordance with 

the jail’s procedures is critical if the jail is to 

achieve all aspects of its mission. A jail can also 

use well-qualified volunteers or contractors to 

perform mission-related activities. To better 

enable staff to carry out their responsibilities 

safely and in a manner consistent with legal 

requirements, the jail may choose to invest in 

staff recruiting, screening, and selection; supervision; risk management staff and committees; 

policies and procedures; training; and workplace 

safety. Each of these topics is discussed in the 

following sections. 

Staff Recruiting, Screening, and Selection 

Jail staff, volunteers, and contractors work in an 

environment that presents significant risk. One 

source of this risk is the inmate population. 

Some inmates are predators and some have 

physical or mental vulnerabilities. All are confined involuntarily because they have been 

charged with or convicted of illegal actions. 

Although inmates are confined, they have rights 

that are strictly protected by the law. Jail staff, 

volunteers, and contractors who work with 

inmates must be carefully recruited, screened, and 

selected to avoid adding to the risk of managing 

this volatile population and to maximize their own 

safety and that of the public. The jail’s investment 

in this process includes the following: 

■ Planning for adequate numbers of qualified 

staff. 

■ Current and detailed job descriptions. 

■ A candidate screening process that includes 

criminal history, work history, job references, education, and evaluation of the candidate’s physical ability to safely perform 

essential job functions. 

■ A system that facilitates staff efforts to 

continue meeting the jail’s standards. 

The process of recruiting, screening, and selecting jail staff is both a risk control measure and 

a risk exposure. Federal, state, and some local 

governments impose legal requirements that are 

designed to provide equal employment opportunity. States establish minimum qualification 

standards for correctional officers. These 

requirements guide the administrator in developing a well-qualified and diverse staff but also 

create legal pitfalls for those who are unaware of 

the requirements. 

Supervision 

Good risk management requires an investment 

in experienced and well-trained supervisory 

61 
personnel. Supervisors are the front line in the 

effort to ensure that the jail staff operates in 

accordance with jail policies and procedures. 

Supervisors’ proximity to jail activity on a daily 

basis allows them to identify problems and 

opportunities as they develop and to devise solutions that may not be apparent to upper management (who may not be aware of issues that occur 

on a regular basis). 

Risk Management Staff 

Most jails cannot afford to have a professional 

risk manager on staff, but specific staff members 

can be responsible and accountable for important 

risk-related activities. The cost is diversion 

of some staff time to risk issues; the benefit is 

the jail’s overall improved ability to meet its 

mission. The responsibility for having a full 

understanding of the jail’s risk ultimately falls to 

the jail administrator, who must also invest time 

in establishing risk management as a jail priority. 

Risk Management 

Policies and Committees 

procedures Risk management committees 

“A policy is a simple foster staff communication and 

statement of the collaboration about risk. Colla- administration’s 

position on an issue borative efforts produce broader 

concerning the jail’s and more effective solutions than 

operation. It defines do individuals working alone.
 what action is to be taken
 The cost of diverted employee and why. A well written 

policy contains both the work time is reduced if the comaction and the rationale. . . . mittee has a clear mission and 

Procedures are step-by- the members have assigned step instructions of the 

activities necessary to fulfill responsibilities. 

the policy. Procedures 

describe how, when and Policies and Procedures 

where the organization 

will implement the policy Jail administrators develop and 

and who will implement it” update written policies and pro­

(Martin and Rosazza, 2004, cedures that help staff do the


page 31).
 following: 

■ Operate in compliance with federal, state, 

and local legal and regulatory requirements 

governing care of the inmate population. 

■ Create a safe workplace. 

■ Maintain the security required to protect the 

community from the potentially dangerous 

inmate population. 

Development and consistent application of 

carefully drafted policies and procedures are 

essential to meeting these diverse expectations. 

Written policies and procedures that are in an 

accessible, user-friendly format give jail staff the 

information they need to be consistent in performing their tasks. Policies and procedures also 

establish a documented foundation for training 

purposes. 

Training 

Training is an indispensable part of implementing the jail’s policies and procedures and is a 

significant, ongoing risk management investment. Some training topics (e.g., safety training 

mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration) must be delivered in settings 

where employees can ask questions of a live 

trainer. Many jails meet this requirement by 

employing full-time training staff or by having 

staff perform training as a part of their job functions. Others hire outside contractors. Additional 

expenses for training can include the following: 

■ Development and reproduction of materials. 

■ Purchase of equipment and software for 

videos or slideshows. 

■ Classroom space. 

■ Overtime pay for staff who attend training 

sessions. 

■ Tuition and travel expenses for courses that 

are conducted offsite. 

Recordkeeping is a critical component of a training program, and one that imposes additional 

62 
Chapter 4. Organizational Investments for Managing Risk 

expenses. Keeping records is mandatory in many 

states for training that is required by an occupational safety and health agency. Even if the training is not mandated by a regulatory authority, 

and records are not mandatory, they are an 

important risk management tool because records 

document the jail’s efforts to provide a safe 

facility that meets the legal and regulatory 

requirements that govern its operations. 

Recordkeeping systems range from files for 

saving paper documents to computer databases. 

Staff time is required to complete and maintain 

the records, to oversee a calendar system to 

ensure that employees receive initial and refresher 

training as required, and to maintain the training 

records in accordance with legal requirements and 

the jail’s record retention policy. 

Workplace Safety 

Jail staff members face some workplace safety 

hazards that are common to most workplaces 

(e.g., lifting injuries) and others that are specific 

to a jail environment (e.g., violent attack by 

inmates). Following are the basic categories of 

investment that help correct, control, or eliminate workplace safety hazards (Martin and 

Rosazza, 2004): 

■ Eliminating the hazard or condition. 

■ Diminishing the hazard by limiting or 

controlling exposure to it. 

■ Training staff (and inmates) to be aware of 

hazards and to follow procedures to avoid 

these hazards. 

■ Providing protection against the hazard. 

Most workplace safety controls impose costs 

such as the following: 

■ Use of employee work time for development 

and enforcement of safety rules, training, 

drills, and simulations. 

■ Purchase of personal protective (safety) 

equipment. 

■ Capital expenditures for upgrade of the 

facility and its security systems. 

Financial Resources 

Jails need adequate financial resources to 

achieve their mission. To obtain and preserve 

financial resources, jails must do the following: 

■ Maintain a good relationship with the 

funding authority. 

■ Educate the funding authority about the jail’s 

needs. 

■ Develop additional funding sources (e.g., 

grants) for special programs. 

■ Implement a detailed budgetary process that 

accurately anticipates operational expenses 

and long-term investments in infrastructure 

to provide adequate capacity. 

■ Protect the jail from losses (e.g., uninsured 

liability claims, damage to jail property, 

injury to jail employees) that drain its 

resources. 

Much of the investment in this area will be in 

employing a sufficient number of jail staff with 

the expertise necessary to maintain and increase 

the jail’s funding base. However, protecting the 

jail’s financial resources also requires the jail to 

share its risk of loss by purchasing commercial 

insurance, joining a risk pool, or establishing a 

self-insured program. All of these risk-sharing 

approaches involve costs for the jail. Commercial 

insurance and risk pool membership both require 

a premium payment that covers a bundle of services provided by the insurer or pool. A selfinsured program requires the jail to make its own 

arrangements for the bundle of services that 

would be provided by an insurer or pool, including a fund for loss payment, loss prevention 

services, and claims processing. 

63 
Property 

A jail’s physical infrastructure—buildings, 

equipment, vehicles, computer systems, security 

systems, and other tangible property—is essential to its mission. The jail’s records, which are 

increasingly maintained in electronic format in a 

computer system, are also essential. To fulfill its 

mission, the jail must protect its property, know 

what increased capacity it will require to meet 

the community’s future needs, and develop and 

implement a strategy for ensuring that it has the 

necessary resources in case of an emergency. 

Partners 

Jails have a complex mission that involves 

serving the community. This mission cannot 

be accomplished without partner organizations, 

including vendors of services and supplies, 

providers of lifeline services, other public agencies, and nonprofit organizations whose missions 

overlap with the jail’s. Jails can best develop 

these partnerships by investing in jail staff and 

administrators who understand the importance 

of developing and maintaining good partner 

relationships. 

Reputation 

The jail’s reputation (i.e., how the community 

feels about the jail) affects its financial support 

and the interest of partner organizations that may 

collaborate with the jail to achieve shared objectives. To cultivate a good reputation, the jail 

must devote resources to a community relations 

program, including outreach to the media, which 

may report on positive or negative events involving the jail. 

The Challenge 

Jails have a vital mission within the local justice 

system and the community: to safely incarcerate 

offenders in a manner that protects the public, 

meets legal requirements, and provides 

opportunities for self-improvement that will 

reduce recidivism. 

Very few of the jail’s activities and operations 

are discretionary, and most are fraught with risks 

in which adverse events can have serious consequences. Ignoring these risks is simply not an 

option. If the jail is to fulfill its mission successfully, these risks must be identified and managed 

to the greatest extent possible. 

Properly managing risk achieves two critical 

objectives that enable the jail to achieve its mission. First, it reduces the potential for risk events 

that produce negative consequences for the jail. 

Second, and equally significant, it increases the 

potential for risk events that produce positive 

consequences. Negative consequences, which can 

be monetary (e.g., judgments, loss of income, 

overtime) and/or nonmonetary (e.g., loss of staff 

productivity, loss of public support and good 

will), diminish the jail’s capacity to achieve its 

mission by depleting valuable jail resources— 

both financial and human. On the other hand, 

properly managing risk allows the jail to accommodate programs and activities that might otherwise have been dismissed as too risky and that 

might result in positive consequences. The 

essence of risk management, therefore, is to identify, manage, and control risk to minimize negative risk consequences and maximize positive 

consequences. The freedom to take calculated 

risks, which is a by-product of a good risk management program, gives the jail the capacity to be 

innovative and to take advantage of opportunities 

to make progress toward a better future. 

Success in managing risk requires an investment 

in the jail’s resources. Clearly, most jails operate 

with limited resources, and inevitably there is a 

wide range of competing demands on those 

resources. Making the commitment to invest in 

the jail’s resources—human, financial, property, 

partners, and reputation—should be viewed as 

an investment in the jail’s ability to achieve its 

mission. 

64 
Chapter 4. Organizational Investments for Managing Risk 

There is good news in this regard: a sound risk 

management program does not have to be implemented overnight. It can be implemented in 

stages, beginning with areas of operation that 

historically produce the greatest risks. It is 

important for a jail to start the process and then, 

on an ongoing basis, continue to integrate risk 

management processes into the jail’s organizational structure and daily operations. 

In initiating this process, begin with the understanding that risk management is not a one-sizefits-all proposition. Effective risk management 

must be tailored to the jail and must consider the 

facility’s size and other unique characteristics. 

This document presents a framework and a 

process to guide jail officials in the establishment of a risk management program. The challenge for jail administrators and policymakers is 

to use this information to integrate as many risk 

management tools and strategies as possible in 

the jail’s organizational structure and operations. 

After all, good risk management and good jail 

management are really one and the same. 

65 
Definitions 

Contributing factor: A condition or circumstance that makes it more likely for a risk event 

to occur. 

Key resource: A tangible or intangible asset that 

is important to an organization’s ability to 

accomplish its mission and goals and that may 

be affected by a risk event. For example, the 

facility, jail staff, jail funding sources, grants, 

records, and the jail’s motor vehicle fleet are key 

resources. 

Risk consequences: The positive or negative 

effect a risk event has on an organization and its 

ability to achieve its mission and goals. 

Risk event: A specific incident that produces 

consequences, either positive or negative. For 

example, a specific flood, fire, earthquake, or 

grant award is a risk event. 

Risk exposure: The possibility that an organization will be affected by a certain type of risk 

event based on the organization’s characteristics, 

such as location, activities, assets, or other factors that make it subject to a particular source of 

risk. 

Source of risk: An object, force, or condition 

that creates the potential for a risk event. A 

source of risk is not the occurrence of a specific 

risk event. For example, the potential for a fire, 

flood, or earthquake (and, from a positive perspective, the availability of grants to support jail 

programs) are all sources of risk. An actual fire, 

flood, or grant award is not a source of risk—it 

is a risk event. 

67 
References 

American Correctional Association. 2004. 

Performance-Based Standards for Adult Local 

Detention Facilities. 4th ed. Alexandria, VA: 

American Correctional Association. 

Collins, W. 1998. Jail Design and Operation and 

the Constitution: An Overview. Washington DC: 

U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of 

Corrections. NIC Accession Number 014848. 

Commonwealth of Kentucky. 2005. “The Office 

of Drug Control Policy Distributes Applications 

for Jail Recovery Grants,” www.kentucky.gov/ 

Newsroom/justice/pr1118b.htm. Accessed June 

20, 2007. 

Commonwealth of Virginia, Department of 

the Treasury, www.trs.virginia.gov/drm/ 

constitution.asp. Accessed April 18, 2007. 

Krauth. B. 1988. Staff/Inmate Ratios: Why It’s 

So Hard To Get to the Bottom Line. Washington, 

DC: U.S. Department of Justice, National 

Institute of Corrections. NIC Accession Number 

007105. 

Logan, C. 1993. “Criminal Justice Performance 

Measures for Prisons,” in Performance Measures 

for the Criminal Justice System, pp. 19–59. 

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, 

Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice 

Statistics. 

Martin, M.D., and Rosazza, T.A. 2004. Resource 

Guide for Jail Administrators. Washington DC: 

U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of 

Corrections. NIC Accession Number 020030. 

Sabbatine, R. 2002. Jail Risk Management 

Manual. Frankfort, KY: Kentucky Association of 

Counties. 

Standards Australia/Standards New Zealand. 

2004. Risk Management Guidelines Companion 

to AS/NZS 4360:2004. Sydney, Australia, and 

Wellington, New Zealand: Standards Australia 

International, Ltd., and Standards New Zealand. 

69 
Recommended Resources 

Appendix A
APPENDIX
 A 

Constitutional and Civil Rights 

Organizations 

Civic Research Institute 

www.civicresearchinstitute.com 

Civic Research Institute (CVI) is an independent 

publisher of reference and practice materials for 

professionals in the social sciences and the law. 

CVI publishes Correctional Law Reporter, a 

publication for jail managers and their legal 

counsels that focuses on legal issues and trends. 

CRS Incorporated 

www.shopcrs.org 

CRS is a nonprofit criminal justice organization 

that publishes the Detention and Corrections 

Caselaw Quarterly, a publication that presents 

concise summaries of recent jail- and prisonrelated court decisions. CRS also publishes the 

Detention Reporter and the Detention and 

Corrections Caselaw Catalog. 

International Public Management Association 

for Human Resources 

www.ipma-hr.org 

Job Accommodation Network 

www.jan.wvu.edu 

Consultants from the Job Accommodation 

Network have compiled several ideas for accommodating individuals with disabilities. Publications 

are available at www.jan.wvu.edu/media/ 

ideas.html. 

Legal Liability & Risk Management Institute 

www.llrmi.com 

Poverty & Race Research Action Council 

www.prrac.org 

Public Agency Training Council 

www.patc.com 

U.S. Equal Employment 

Opportunity Commission 

www.eeoc.gov 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity 

Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency that 

enforces federal employment discrimination 

laws. The EEOC website includes a page with 

information for small businesses from state and 

local agencies (www.eeoc.gov/employers/ 

stateandlocal.html). 

Publications 

Confronting Confinement: A Report of the 

Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s 

Prisons, Commission on Safety and Abuse in 

America’s Prisons, 2006, www.prisoncommission. 

org/pdfs/Confronting_Confinement.pdf, accessed 

November 17, 2006. 

Jail and Prison Legal Issues: An Administrator’s 

Guide, American Jail Association, 2004, 

www.aja.org/aja/publications/legal.shtml, 

accessed November 21, 2007. 

73 
Protecting Civil Rights: A Leadership Guide for 

State, Local, and Tribal Law Enforcement, 

International Association of Chiefs of Police, 

2006, www.theiacp.org/documents/index.cfm? 

fuseaction=document&document_type_id= 

10&document_id=862&subtype_id=7, accessed 

November 16, 2006. 

Websites 

DisabilityInfo.gov 

www.disabilityinfo.gov 

This website includes resources for emergency 

preparedness, workplace accommodations, occupational safety, etc. Additional information is 

available at www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/ 

public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=9. 

Disasters and Emergencies 

Organizations 

American Red Cross 

www.redcross.org


First Aid Fast and HIV/AIDS Fact Book are


available for purchase at http://www.redcross.org/


pubs.


Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

www.cdc.gov 

Citizen Corps 

www.citizencorps.gov 

Citizen Corps partners with Volunteers in Police 

Service to enhance the capacity of state and local 

law enforcement to use volunteers effectively. 

Federal Emergency Management Agency 

www.fema.gov 

Firewise Communities 

www.firewise.org 

The Firewise Communities program is a resource for agencies, organizations, fire departments, and communities that seek to reduce 

losses suffered as a result of wildland fires. 

Institute for Business and Home Safety 

www.disastersafety.org 

National Fire Protection Association 

www.nfpa.org 

National Institute of Corrections 

www.nicic.org 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

www.noaa.gov 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provides information to federal, state, 

local, tribal, and international authorities regarding 

the condition of the oceans and the atmosphere. 

Public Entity Risk Institute 

www.riskinstitute.org 

U.S. Fire Administration 

www.usfa.dhs.gov 

Publications 

Corrections Agency and IT Preparations for 

Pandemic Influenza, National Institute of 

Corrections, 2006, http://nicic.org/Library/ 

021463, accessed October 20, 2006. 

Crisis, Disaster, and Emergency Management: 

Websites for Researchers, National Institute of 

Corrections, 2002, http://nicic.org/Library/ 

018191, accessed October 20, 2006. 

A Guide to Preparing for and Responding to 

Prison Emergencies: Self-Audit Checklists, 

National Survey Results, Resource Materials, 

Case Studies, National Institute of Corrections, 

2005, http://nicic.org/Library/020293, accessed 

October 20, 2006. 

Mass Medical Care with Scarce Resources: 

A Community Planning Guide, Health Systems Research, Inc., 2007, www.ahrq.gov/ 

research/mce, accessed November 16, 2006. 

74 
Appendix A 

Orientation Manual for First Responders on the 

Evacuation of People with Disabilities, Federal 

Emergency Management Agency, 2002, 

www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/ 

fa-235-508.pdf, accessed October 20, 2006. 

Pandemic Influenza Planning, Minnesota 

Department of Corrections, 2006, www.corr. 

state.mn.us/publications/documents/Flupandemic 

4-06.pdf, accessed October 20, 2006. 

U.S. Fires in Selected Occupancies, National 

Fire Protection Association, 2006, www.nfpa.org/ 

assets/files/MbrSecurePDF/OSover.PDF, 

accessed November 21, 2007. 

Viral Hepatitis and HIV/AIDS Integration: 

A Resource Guide for HIV/AIDS Programs, 

National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS 

Directors, www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/hepatitis/ 

resource/training/nastad.pdf, accessed 

November 16, 2006. 

Websites 

All About Presidential Disaster Declarations 

www.peripresdecusa.org/mainframe.htm 

The Public Entity Risk Institute maintains this 

searchable website on Presidential Disaster 

Declarations. 

Disaster! Finder 

http://disasterfinder.gsfc.nasa.gov 

Disaster! Finder is a service developed and 

maintained by the National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration (NASA) Solid Earth and 

Natural Hazards Program. It was created for the 

disaster-response community at large and provides quick and easy access to the most helpful 

links for information about disasters. 

DisasterHelp 

www.disasterhelp.gov 

This website of the Federal Emergency 

Management Agency provides information and 

services for individuals, families, and businesses 

needing disaster recovery assistance. 

Mitigation Planning Guidance 

www.fema.gov/plan/mitplanning/planning_ 

resources.shtm#1 

This website includes “How-To” guides for 

mitigation planning. 

Open for Business: A Disaster Planning 

Toolkit for the Small to Mid-Sized Business 

www.disastersafety.org/business_protection 

This online toolkit from the Institute for 

Business and Home Safety provides small business owners information that will help them 

reduce their potential for loss should disaster 

strike and help them reopen quickly should they 

be forced to close. 

PandemicFlu.gov/AvianFlu.gov 

www.pandemicflu.gov or www.avianflu.gov 

Ready.gov 

www.ready.gov 

The Ready Campaign educates Americans on 

how to prepare for and respond to emergencies, 

including natural disasters and potential terrorist 

attacks. 

USA.gov 

www.usa.gov 

USA.gov is the federal government’s official 

web portal. 

Enterprise Risk Management 

Organizations 

SAI Global 

www.saiglobal.com 

SAI Global is an applied information services 

company that helps organizations manage risk, 

achieve compliance, and drive business improvement. It offers a variety of publications on risk 

management through the SAI Global Webshop, 

www.saiglobal.com/shop/Script/portal.asp? 

portal=RiskManagement, accessed November 

20, 2007. 

75 
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat 

www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/index_e.asp 

The Risk Management Directorate helps public 

service departments and agencies implement risk 

management practices. 

Publications 

Integrated Risk Management Framework, 

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, 2001, 

www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pubs_pol/dcgpubs/ 

riskmanagement/rmf-cgr_e.asp, accessed 

November 21, 2007. 

Jail Administration 

Organizations 

Americans for Effective Law Enforcement 

www.aele.org 

American Correctional Association 

www.aca.org 

American Jail Association 

www.aja.org 

Law Enforcement Information Technology 

Standards Council 

www.leitsc.org 

National Criminal Justice Reference Service 

www.ncjrs.gov 

The National Criminal Justice Reference Service 

is a federally funded resource offering justice 

and substance abuse information to researchers, 

policymakers, and others worldwide. It provides 

access to reference and referral services and to 

one of the largest justice-focused libraries and 

abstract databases. 

National Institute of Corrections 

www.nicic.org 

The National Institute of Corrections Information 

Center maintains a collection of the most current 

materials available in corrections and related 

fields, including unpublished materials developed 

by federal, state, and local agencies. 

National Institute of Justice 

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij 

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is the 

research, development, and evaluation agency of 

the U.S. Department of Justice and is dedicated 

to researching crime control and justice issues. 

NIJ provides objective, independent, evidencebased knowledge and tools to meet the challenges of crime and justice, particularly at the 

state and local levels. 

National Sheriffs’ Association 

www.sheriffs.org 

The National Sheriffs’ Association offers a Jail 

Officers’ Correspondence Training Program and a 

First/Second Line Supervisor’s Correspondence 

Training Program. 

Public Executive Research Forum 

www.policeforum.org 

Law enforcement personnel from small jurisdictions may become members and receive access 

to current research and publications. 

Urban Institute 

www.urban.org 

The Urban Institute (UI) conducts nonpartisan 

economic and social policy research. Crime/ 

justice, including corrections, is one of the UI’s 

areas of focus. 

Publications 

Accreditation for Adult Local Detention 

Facilities: Moving from Process Measures to 

Outcome Measures, American Correctional 

Association, 2004, http://nicic.org/pubs/2004/ 

period256.pdf, accessed October 20, 2006. 

Addressing Sexual Violence in Prisons: A 

National Snapshot of Approaches and Highlights 

of Innovative Strategies, The Urban Institute, 

2006, www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411367_ 

psv_programs.pdf, accessed November 28, 2006. 

76 
Appendix A 

Alternatives to the Secure Detention and 

Confinement of Juvenile Offenders, Office of 

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 

2005, www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/208804.pdf, 

accessed November 28, 2006. 

Jail and Prison Legal Issues: An Administrator’s 

Guide, American Jail Association, 2004, 

www.aja.org/aja/publications/legal.shtml, 

accessed December 3, 2007. 

Jail Resource Issues: What Every Funding 

Authority Needs To Know, National Institute of 

Corrections, 2002, http://nicic.org/pubs/2002/ 

017372.pdf, accessed October 20, 2006. 

Jailers Risk Management Best Practices Manual, 

Kentucky Association of Counties, www.kaco.org/ 

media/715/jail_risk_management_manual.pdf, 

accessed November 17, 2006. 

“LAPD Gender Balance and Reform” (recommendations and motions approved by the Los Angeles 

City Council), National Center for Women & 

Policing, www.womenandpolicing.org/ 

genderbalance.asp, accessed November 28, 2006. 

Performance-Based Standards for Adult Local 

Detention Facilities, 4th ed., American Correctional Association, 2004, www.aca.org/store/ 

bookstore/view.asp?Product_ID=541. 

Preparing for the Future: Criminal Justice in 

2040, National Institute of Justice, 2006, 

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/journals/255/2040.html, 

accessed June 19, 2007. 

Recruiting & Retaining Women: A SelfAssessment Guide for Law Enforcement, Bureau 

of Justice Assistance, 2001, www.ncjrs.gov/ 

pdffiles1/bja/188157.pdf, accessed November 28, 

2006. 

Resource Guide for Jail Administrators, National 

Institute of Corrections, 2004, http://nicic.org/ 

Library/020030, accessed November 21, 2007. 

Standard Functional Specifications for Law 

Enforcement Records Management Systems 

(RMS), Law Enforcement Information 

Technology Standards Council, http://it.ojp.gov/ 

documents/LEITSC_Law_Enforcement_RMS_ 

Systems.pdf, accessed November 28, 2006. 

Websites 

Jail & Prisoner Law Resources 

and Publications 

www.aele.org/law/jb-resources.html#Inmate 

%20Property 

This page on the AELE website provides links to 

legal information on a variety of corrections topics. 

Justice Standards Clearinghouse for 

Information Sharing 

http://it.ojp.gov/topic.jsp?topic_id=133 

Through this clearinghouse, agencies involved in 

the corrections field can share ideas about standards and performance measurements. 

National Center for Women & Policing 

www.womenandpolicing.org 

The National Center for Women & Policing promotes increasing the number of women in law 

enforcement as a means to improve police 

response to violence against women, reduce incidents of police brutality and excessive force, and 

strengthen community policing reforms. The 

Center publishes and distributes information on 

a variety of topics central to its mission, including information on recruitment and retention of 

women in law enforcement. 

Risk Financing and Insurance 

Organizations 

Association of Governmental Risk Pools 

www.agrip.org 

Nonprofit Risk Management Center 

www.nonprofitrisk.org 

77 
Publications 

Coverage, Claims & Consequences: An 

Insurance Handbook for Nonprofits, 2nd ed. 

Nonprofit Risk Management Center, 2007, 

http://nonprofitrisk.org/store/coverage-claims. 

shtml, accessed November 21, 2007. 

Safety and Health 

Organizations 

American Psychiatric Association 

www.appi.org 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

www.cdc.gov 

Commission on Safety and Abuse 

in America’s Prisons 

www.prisoncommission.org 

National Association of County 

& City Health Officials 

www.naccho.org 

The National Association of County & City 

Health Officials provides access to publications 

on bioterrorism and emergency, communicable 

disease, health equity and social justice, and 

other subjects. 

National Commission on Correctional 

Health Care 

www.ncchc.org/resources/standards.html 

The National Commission on Correctional 

Health Care develops correctional health care 

standards. 

The National Institute for 

Occupational Safety and Health 

www.cdc.gov/niosh/homepage.html 

National Institute of Corrections 

www.nicic.org 

National Lightning Safety Institute 

www.lightningsafety.com 

The National Lightning Safety Institute offers 

consulting services, classes, seminars, workshops, videos, standards, and books on lightning 

safety. 

National Safety Council 

www.nsc.org 

The National Safety Council provides resources 

on emergency preparedness, with an emphasis 

on natural disasters, workplace safety, and 

pandemics. 

Occupational Safety & Health Administration 

www.osha.gov 

Publications 

Annals of Internal Medicine, a publication of the 

American College of Physicians, is available 

both in print and online at www.annals.org/. 

Confronting Confinement: A Report of the 

Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s 

Prisons, Commission on Safety and Abuse in 

America’s Prisons, 2006, www.prisoncommission.org/ 

pdfs/Confronting_Confinement.pdf, accessed 

November 17, 2006. 

“Correctional Health Care: A Public Health 

Opportunity,” Annals of Internal Medicine 

118(2): 139–145, 1993, www.annals.org/ 

cgi/content/full/118/2/139, accessed November 

28, 2006. 

Jail Inspection Basics: An Introductory SelfStudy Course for Jail Inspectors, 2d ed., 

National Institute of Corrections, 2007, 

http://nicic.org/Library/022124, accessed 

November 21, 2007. 

Jail Inspection Basics: Supervisors Guide, 

National Institute of Corrections, 2007, 

http://nicic.org/Library/022123, accessed 

November 21, 2007. 

78 
The Meth Epidemic in America: Two New 

Surveys of U.S. Counties, National Association 

of Counties, 2006, www.naco.org/Template.cfm? 

Section=Meth_Action_Clearinghouse& 

template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay. 

cfm&ContentID=18837, accessed November 17, 

2006. 

New Approaches to Staff Safety, 2d ed. National 

Institute of Corrections, 2003, http://nicic.org/ 

pubs/2003/011356.pdf, accessed October 20, 

2006. 

NIOSH Pocket Guide to Hazardous Chemicals, 

National Institute for Occupational Safety and 

Health, 2005, www.cdc.gov/niosh/npg, accessed 

October 20, 2006. 

OSHA Technical Manual (OTM), Occupational 

Safety & Health Administration, 1999, 

www.osha.gov/dts/osta/otm/otm_toc.html, 

accessed November 21, 2007. 

Psychiatric Services in Jails and Prisons, 2d ed. 

American Psychiatric Association, 2000, 

www.appi.org/book.cfm?id=2287, accessed 

November 28, 2006. 

Public Health Emergency Response Guide for 

State, Local, and Tribal Public Health Directors, 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 

www.bt.cdc.gov/planning/pdf/cdcresponseguide.pdf, 

accessed November 14, 2006. 

Public Health Reports, the official journal of the 

U.S. Public Health Service, is available in print 

or online at www.publichealthreports.org. 

The Status of TB Prevention and Control 

Measures in Large City and County Jails in the 

U.S., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 

www.cdc.gov/tb/pubs/StatusTB_jails/ 

Introduction.htm, accessed November 16, 2006. 

Appendix A 

“Trauma Exposure, Mental Health Functioning, 

and Program Needs of Women in Jail, Crime & 

Delinquency 51(1): 133–151, 2005, http://cad. 

sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/51/1/133, accessed 

November 28, 2006. 

“Women Behind Bars: Health Needs of Inmates in 

a County Jail,” Public Health Reports 116: 191– 

196, 2001, www.publichealthreports.org/userfiles/ 

116_3/116191.pdf, accessed November 28, 2006. 

Websites 

OSHA eTools and Electronic Products for 

Compliance Assistance 

Occupational Safety & Health Administration 

www.osha.gov/dts/osta/oshasoft/index.html 

State Occupational Safety and Health Plans 

Occupational Safety & Health Administration 

www.osha.gov/dcsp/osp/index.html 

Volunteers 

Organizations 

Law Enforcement Volunteers of California 

www.levoc.org 

The Law Enforcement Volunteers of California 

is a consortium of law enforcement agencies 

committed to the education and training of law 

enforcement volunteers and coordinators 

throughout California. 

Nonprofit Risk Management Center 

www.nonprofitrisk.org 

USA Freedom Corps 

www.usafreedomcorps.gov/for_orgs/ 

state_local/index.asp 

The site offers guidance to state and local governments about using volunteers effectively. 

79 
Volunteers in Police Service 

www.policevolunteers.org 

The program’s ultimate goal is to enhance the 

capacity of state and local law enforcement to 

use volunteers effectively. 

Publications 

State Liability Laws for Charitable Organizations 

and Volunteers, 4th ed., Nonprofit Risk Management Center, 2005, http://nonprofitrisk.org/ 

downloads/state-liability.pdf, accessed October 20, 

2006. 

Workers’ Compensation 

Consult state statutes on workers’ compensation 

and industrial injury for workers’ compensation 

treatment of both jail employees and offenders 

working in jails or in work release programs. 

80 
Worksheets 

Appendix B
Worksheet 1. Risk Register 

Risk Identification Risk Assessment Risk Contro

Source of 

Goal Risk Risk and Contributing Level of Risk 

Affected Consequence Risk Event Exposure Factor(s) Likelihood Consequences Ranking Existing P

83 
Worksheet 2. Risk Control Implementation Schedule

Risk ExposureID Number Risk Exposure 

Risk Control

Measure Chosen? 

Lead Person and

Department 

Target 

Completion Date 

Date

Complete

84 
Appendix B 

Worksheet 3. Risk Control Action Plan 

Risk ID No. Risk exposure 

Risk control measure chosen (Identify the risk control measure.) 

Detailed action plan (Describe in detail how the jail plans to implement the risk control measure.) 

Target implementation completion date (Date by which full implementation of the risk control measure is 

expected) 

Schedule of interim milestones (Interim milestones and target dates) 

Milestone Target date 

Team leader (Identify the team leader—the person who has primary responsibility for implementation.) 

Other personnel assigned (Identify the names and functions of other personnel assigned to perform activities.) 

Name Function 

Other resources allocated (Identify any other resources allocated.) 

Resource Function 

Performance indicators (Describe the process indicators and outcome measures selected and the schedule for 

evaluating and reporting.) 

Performance indicator Schedule 

Monitoring and review (Describe the ongoing monitoring and periodic reviews to be performed.) 

Monitoring/review activities Schedule 

85 
Evaluating Risk Financing Options 

Appendix C
APPENDIX
 C 

To make informed decisions about insurance and 

risk pooling, jail staff must understand precisely 

the coverage that will be provided for the premium the jail pays. Because policy terms, conditions, and exclusions for some types of coverage 

can differ significantly among insurers, the policy with the lowest premium may not be the best 

value. The less expensive coverage may be much 

narrower in scope than more expensive coverage, 

or the provider of the less expensive coverage 

may be less financially stable. To ensure that the 

jail is receiving a good value, the responsible 

staff should (1) obtain proposals and a sample 

policy (or other description of policy provisions) 

from more than one insurer; (2) carefully examine the terms, conditions, coverages, and exclusions contained in each policy; (3) research the 

financial stability of each provider; and (4) review the additional benefits and services that 

each provider offers. 

Preferably, a staff member who is familiar with 

insurance issues and who represents only the 

jail’s interests will provide expertise. A jail that 

does not have this resource on staff can gather 

information from the following sources: 

■ The jail’s insurance representatives (agents 

and brokers). These individuals usually 

receive a commission that is a percentage 

of the insurance premium. However, some 

believe this compromises the objectivity of 

these individuals. 

■ Independent or local government legal counsel. Independent counsel will require a fee; 

either independent or government counsel 

may lack expertise in insurance matters. 

■ An independent risk management consulting 

firm. Services are provided on a fee-forservice basis. 

■ Jails in nearby jurisdictions that agree to 

share information. This resource is free and 

often is very useful. 

■ Internet sites that offer information on risk 

management for public entities. Some of 

these services are free and some require a 

fee. It is important to keep in mind that these 

sites might have an advertising motive. 

■ Nonprofit organizations that address public 

risk management issues (e.g., the Public 

Risk Management Association or Association 

of Governmental Risk Pools). Some of these 

organizations offer free information and 

some require membership or charge a fee. 

If the jail is relying on the expertise of insurance 

agents, brokers, or independent consultants 

(third parties with no direct financial interest in 

the jail’s program), it must have a good relationship and an effective channel of communication 

to ensure that information is shared accurately. 

More important, the jail must trust the representative’s loyalty to its interests and must have 

confidence in his or her professional judgment. 

89 
Insurance Policy Terminology 

It is important to be familiar with the scope and limitations of coverage, whether it is provided by a 

commercial insurance carrier or a risk pool. As with any contract, insurance policies carefully describe the 

obligations of each party and the limits of those obligations. These obligations and limits are described 

throughout the policy. Following are common terms included in an insurance policy: 

■ Declarations. The policy declarations include a description of who is insured, effective dates of coverage, 

limits of coverage, the endorsements that are attached to the policy, and whether the type of coverage 

is “occurrence” or “claims made.” 

■ Limits. The limits of coverage establish the maximum dollar amount the insurer/risk pool is obligated 

to pay for a covered loss. 

■ Self-insured retention/deductible. The portion of an insured loss that the insured is required to 

pay. 

■ Occurrence coverage forms. Insurance that covers a loss that occurs while the policy is in effect, 

even if the claim is made after the policy is no longer in effect. 

■ Claims made coverage forms. Insurance that covers losses for which claims are made during the 

time the policy is in effect and possibly during a very brief time after the policy ends. 

■ Defense costs. The costs (including attorney’s fees) of defending an insured against a covered claim. 

Policies that pay defense costs in addition to the limits of coverage are preferred. 

■ Terms and conditions. The requirements the insured must fulfill for the insurer to cover a loss. For 

example, an insured must pay the premium and report a potentially covered risk event to the insurer 

in a timely manner. 

■ Exclusions. The losses that the policy does not cover. Losses arising from war are frequently excluded. 

■ Insured. The persons or entity insured by the policy. 

■ Endorsements. Additions to the policy language that become part of the policy and that change its 

provisions. Endorsements are commonly attached at the end of a policy and can expand or reduce 

coverage. 

When obtaining proposals from more than one ■ Insurance company rating (provided by


potential insurer, a useful analytical tool (and insurance agent).


demonstration tool, if the results will be present- ■ The line of coverage provided (general
 ed to a decisionmaker) is a table that compares, liability, public officials’ liability, workers’


point for point, the following important aspects


of each insurer’s proposal:


90 
Appendix C 

■ Exclusions (some may be important to jail 

operations). 

■ Individuals covered (e.g., employees, agents, 

volunteers). 

■ Endorsements (those that change the coverage 

significantly). 

■ Terms and conditions (e.g., those that place 

responsibility on the insured, such as reporting 

losses or claims). 

■ Loss control services (services that are 

included in the policy). 

A sample format for this table is given below. 

compensation, auto liability, law enforcement liability, etc.). 

■ Limits of coverage (included in the policy 

declarations; a policy can include more than 

one set of limits). 

■ Self-insured retention/deductible (included 

in the policy declarations; the part of the 

claim the insured must pay). 

■ Occurrence/claims made (there may be a 

retroactive date that limits coverage for 

losses that occurred before the policy was 

issued). 

■ Defense costs (these expenses may be in 

addition to the limits of coverage or they 

may reduce the limits available to pay an 

adverse judgment). 

Aspect of Policy Insurance Company A Insurance Company B 

Insurance company rating 

Coverage provided 

Limits of coverage 

Self-insured retention/deductible 

Occurrence/claims made 

Defense costs 

Exclusions 

Individuals covered 

Endorsements 

Terms and conditions 

Loss control services 

91 
National Institute of Corrections


Advisory Board


Collene Thompson Campbell 

San Juan Capistrano, CA 

Norman A. Carlson 

Chisago City, MN 

Michael S. Carona 

Sheriff, Orange County 

Santa Ana, CA 

Jack Cowley 

Alpha for Prison and Reentry 

Tulsa, OK 

J. Robert Flores 

Administrator 

Office of Juvenile Justice and 

Delinquency Prevention 

U.S. Department of Justice 

Washington, DC 

Stanley Glanz 

Sheriff, Tulsa County 

Tulsa, OK 

Wade F. Horn, Ph.D. 

Assistant Secretary for Children and Families 

U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services 

Washington, DC 

Byron Johnson, Ph.D. 

Department of Sociology and Anthropology 

Baylor University 

Waco, TX 

Harley G. Lappin 

Director 

Federal Bureau of Prisons 

U.S. Department of Justice 

Washington, DC 

Colonel David M. Parrish 

Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office 

Tampa, FL 

Judge Sheryl A. Ramstad 

Minnesota Tax Court 

St. Paul, MN 

Edward F. Reilly, Jr. 

Chairman 

U.S. Parole Commission 

Chevy Chase, MD 

Judge Barbara J. Rothstein 

Director 

Federal Judicial Center 

Washington, DC 

Jeffrey L. Sedgwick 

Acting Assistant Attorney General 

Office of Justice Programs 

U.S. Department of Justice 

Washington, DC 

Reginald A. Wilkinson, Ed.D. 

President and Chief Executive 

Officer 

Ohio College Access Network 

Columbus, OH 

B. Diane Williams 

President 

The Safer Foundation 

Chicago, IL 
U.S. Department of Justice 

National Institute of Corrections 

Washington, DC 20534 

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