With jail admissions, where generally short sentences can make a lengthy and comprehensive procedure impractical, administrators should adopt or develop an evidence-based, abbreviated intake procedure. Jail intake procedures should focus on providing inmates with immediate access to core programs and on linking inmates to community-based organizations which can engage or continue to provide services to these individuals after they are released from jail.

Example: Orientation program, Hampden County Jail and House of Correction (MA)

Hampden County requires all sentenced individuals to participate in a five-week orientation program, which is broken down into two phases. During phase one, which lasts one week, inmates undergo LSI-R:SV screening to determine their Individual Service Plans (ISP) and attend Fundamental Programming, daily classes focused on substance abuse, education, employment, and anger management. During phase two, inmates participate in a four-week course of intensive programming based on their ISPs. Phase two programs address victim impact issues and cognitive thinking skills, as well as the areas covered by the first phase.

Jail administrators may also abbreviate the individual instruments. A packaged or integrated instrument that can combine the issue areas assessed in more comprehensive, distinct instruments into a shorter, if less precise, bundle. As with any instrument, an integrated assessment should be applied only if it has been normed and validated by qualified professionals.

Because release back into to the community may be imminent but unpredictable for jail detainees, health care staff should, at a minimum, provide individuals screened with actual copies of significant medical screening documents as soon as they are completed. Jail staff should also seek to provide referrals to community-based health care providers and linkages to benefits counselors, if needed. (See Policy Statement 20, Planning Continuity of Care, for more on establishing health service linkages for individuals in jails; see Policy Statement 24, Identification and Benefits, for more on connecting inmates to entitlements after release.)