Corrections officers are faced with a daunting challenge in their efforts to matriculate and maintain order over diverse inmate populations.
On August 11, 2000, under Executive Order #13166, President Bill Clinton ordered that
“…each Federal agency shall examine the services it provides and develop and implement a system by which Limited English Proficiency (LEP) persons can meaningfully access those services consistent with, and without unduly burdening, the fundamental mission of the agency…”
Federally funded correctional facilities must adhere to this Order. In response, many facilities have hired dedicated interpreters or multi-lingual corrections officers to meet this need. However, a shortage of interpreters and an increasingly diverse mix of languages and dialects among inmate populations have made this an arduous task.
Many correctional facilities have turned to Voxtec translation devices to meet these demands. It should be noted that the following correctional facilities have acheived outstanding success at overcoming language barriers by combining their use of the Phraselator® P2 translation device along with Voxtec's Module Builder PRO™ software to create "corrections-specific" language modules.
- Howard County, Maryland Police Department
- Palm Beach, Florida Sheriff’s Office (Corrections Division)
- Lee County, Florida Sheriff’s Office (Corrections Division)
- Clark County, Ohio Sheriff’s Department
These facilities are using the Phraselator® P2 and creating specific phrases to better process inmate entrance and medical exams, maintain crowd and riot control and perform exit interviews.
“The Phraselator will result in less use of force in detention facilities. If an inmate doesn’t understand you, the situation can escalate.”
Captain Tom Eberhardt, Lee County, Florida
Sheriff’s Office (Corrections Division)
