Agency Leaders, Labor, and Advocates in Corrections Working Together to Transform Cultures, Climate, and Spaces in Corrections

The Keystone Restituere Justice Center (KRJC) will administer a three-year national effort that brings together corrections agency leaders, staff, and advocates to transform prison culture, climate, and spaces.  The project involves the development of a national call to action and the design of a strategic planning process that state departments can employ in partnership with advocates for corrections employees and people incarcerated and their family members.  A toolbox will be developed and widely disseminated, which provides checklists, case studies and other resources on related issues to prison culture and climate, including: data to assess climate/culture; recruitment/hiring/onboarding; prison design; wellness programs; and responses to behaviors that are incentive-based and increase perceptions of fairness and equitable treatment.  A national learning community involving a cross-section of 4-6 state departments of correction will serve as a laboratory to test and refine these resources and promote lessons learned to departments of correction and their partners everywhere.  Virtual and in-person events (including a national convening) will facilitate the development of a national field dedicated to improving prison culture, climate, and spaces.   Significant in-kind contributions are provided by Corrections Leadership Association (CLA) and Chicago Beyond.