Louisville Metro Corrections using new model to create safer environment

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A new approach at Louisville Metro Corrections is trying to create a safer environment for inmates and staff.

The jail in downtown Louisville is using a new layout that is a direct supervision model. People housed at the jail have more of an open space, a concept that both officers and inmates agree is important for their mental health.

As previously designed, dorms housed about 30 inmates and corrections officers walk the halls, so there isn't much interacting.

A different approach at Metro Corrections with direct supervision. The benefits both inmates and staff say they’re seeing tonight on @WDRBNews at 5 pic.twitter.com/Qdh9zYP63a
— Christie Battista WDRB (@CBattistaTV) August 23, 2023

On the fifth floor of the Hall of Justice, a different kind of approach has started.

"It just creates a better atmosphere, a safer atmosphere and just a really pro-social experience for both, so it just makes it great on the officers," LMDC director Jerry Collins said. "It makes it good on the folks who are incarcerated."

In the morning, the west side of the housing unit utilizes the space, followed by the east side in the afternoon. There is cornhole, checkers and card games in the space. The people housed at the jail are grateful for the new approach.

"It's fresh air," said Kendrick Robinson, who is housed at the jail. "The freedom to walk around to take a step or two to think and relieve what's going on up in your mind."

Collins said the whole jail would be like this in a perfect world. The space requires two officers per every 50 inmates.

"This, I believe, can stop a whole lot of foolishness throughout the jail," Robinson said.

While the new layout can't be done throughout the entire jail, it does give an opportunity to see if it works. Robinson believes it does.

"The sense of freedom," Robinson said. "The sense of stress relief, the sense of taking a lot off a person's mind knowing what they may be going through in this type of particular place."

The National Institute of Corrections said direct supervision focuses on actively managing inmate behavior to make the jail safer and more secure. In order for inmates to stay on this floor, they have to be well-behaved in the first place.

Collins said since starting the model two months ago, they've had virtually no problems.

"The folks who are incarcerated want to stay there, so they don't want to act up," Collins said. "It's created a better relationship with the officers and the folks who are incarcerated, so they get to know each other and be seen as humans, not just folks who are wearing a blue uniform behind the window or folks who are wearing an orange uniform behind a window."

They hope the change inside of the jail will translate to change outside of it.