Corrections on the Internet -- An International Tour

Corrections on the Internet -- An International Tour

In the United States, correctional services are administered at many levels of government, by many different agencies and jurisdictions. While not an organizationally tidy arrangement, the diversity of organizations is a source of new ideas and innovation. However, we do not always take the opportunity to learn from one another. For many people working in corrections, the primary and perhaps only professional contacts are with people working at the same location in the same agency.

It is practically always stimulating and enlightening to visit other correctional agencies, even if only the jail in the next county, or the prison in a nearby state. A visit to a correctional facility or program in another nation and culture would be especially interesting, but, for most correctional professionals, the opportunity to attend a national convention is an infrequent opportunity, and the prospect of an international tour is inconceivable. An obvious alternative is to visit other correctional programs and services over the internet. There are some practical problems, but these are gradually being overcome.

A major problem is language. If you cannot read and write in the language of the foreign country, you cannot find correctional agencies on the internet, or interpret what you get if you find it. Your browser may also not be able to display what you find, unless you have configured it to display a foreign language character set. Fortunately, both Microsoft's and Netscape's browsers can be configured to display a wide range of foreign language character sets.

A second problem involves the limitations in internet deployment in many countries. In many parts of the world, the there is limited capacity to invest in developing the telecommunications infrastructure to support widespread internet implementation.

Finally, there are differences in how correctional programs and services are perceived both by people working in corrections and by the general public. In many western countries, but particularly in the United States, we are self-assured about correctional programs and services. We understand that appropriate correctional sanctions and controls, as imposed by courts, are necessary to civilized society. We also understand the importance of implementing the sanctions and controls in ways that a consistent with basic human dignity and civil rights. We recognize the importance of openness and access to information about correctional services, and therefore we find it appropriate to explain about corrections on the internet, with enthusiasm and pride.

In the most extreme instances, in other nations, correctional sanctions and controls are undertaken in secrecy. If authorities do not admit whether they are incarcerating certain person, they are highly unlikely to authorize web pages extolling the virtues of the programs, services, and facilities involved. However, even in countries where correctional services are governed by enlightened rule of law, sometimes there is little inclination to broadcast the details of correctional operations over the world wide web.

Even though there are barriers of language, technology, policy, and attitude to be overcome, there are ways to explore the internet for an international tour of correctional agencies.

The best way to start is to take in the big picture -- worldwide statistics and reports about corrections from international agencies. The World Fact Book of Criminal Justice was developed with funding from the U.S Department of Justice. It includes descriptive information on many nations, as well as links to internet sites if they existed at the time the index was created. This index also includes links to the United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network.

The Library of Congress provides an index, called Laws of Other Nations. This site provides information, including the full texts of basic laws such as constitutions, for many nations.

If you really want to directly examine web sites related to law and legal issues in a particular country, Alta Vista, the search engine, has a special site devoted to these issues, called the Internet Legal Resource Guide. Their search engine for specific nations is called LawRunner. This is an impressive tool. You select a country, and enter a term or set of terms for your search. You can limit your search to certain domains, such as sites with the last name "gov" for government sites, or "edu" for academic sites. If your term is in English, you get sites that include that word, which might include English-language newpaper articles. If you know the local language, you can search using the local term and get responses in the local language.

As of now, there are not a lot of web sites for international correctional agencies, at least not many that are accessible in English. However, here are the ones that I found.

Australia: The Ministry of Justice for Western Australia site includes a index of policies, programs, and procedures that is highly informative.

Canada: The Canadian Correctional Service has a site that can be displayed in English or in French.

Isreal: The Ministry of Public Security for Isreal site includes descriptive information about the corrections system.

United Kingdom: Outside of the United States, the United Kingdom provides best internet sites for a foreign correctional system: