Respect Opens Doors

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

Respect Open Doors represents a campaign by line correctional staff and County managers to reduce incidents of violence and disorder and to encourage rehabilitative efforts in a local correctional facility by nurturing a culture of accountability, responsibility, and respect. It responds to changes in the client population over time and borrows heavily on research advanced by the National Institute of Corrections that highlights the importance and benefits to staff and incarcerated individuals in developing “healthy cultures” in correctional facilities. Respect Open Doors adapts these concepts that were developed for state and federal prisons to a county-run pre-release program that serves soon-to-be-released sentenced offenders. The ROD campaign is ongoing, and has involved a myriad of connected activities of training and activities for both staff and inmates. Since the implementation of Respect Open Doors, performance indicators on such measures as program completion, suspensions, and escape have improved and have supported staff’s observations of changes in clients’ behavior and attitudes.