Description
The collection contains research papers and
theses; minutes from the California Board of Corrections; California
legislative committee reports; information on county jails and detention
facilities in California; inmate counseling; jail standards for California;
reports on probation and parole in California. The collection also includes
materials from the UNRRA. These items are mainly guides and manuals on how to
handle the problem of displaced persons in Germany after World War II.
Background
Dr. A. LaMont Smith, a Criminal Justice Consultant, had a long and
distinguished career in the criminal justice field. He began his career in
1935, as the Assistant County Probation Officer in San Bernardino, California.
In 1939, he became a Warden’s Assistant and Parole Officer for the U.S.
Department of Justice at Terminal Island. In 1941, Smith became First Associate
Superintendent of the new prison in Chino, California, where he was responsible
for developing individualized treatment programs for minimum-security
facilities. In 1944, Smith earned his Masters Degree in Public Administration
from the University of Southern California. In that same year the United
Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) recruited him to
become a Team Director in Regensburg, Germany to locate free-living Displaced
Persons and provide them with food, shelter, and medical care. In 1952, he
became the Executive officer of the California Board of Corrections, where he
was responsible for researching and implementing minimum jail standards, and
providing plans for new construction or remodeling of jails. In 1958, he
received his Doctorate in Public Administration from the University of Southern
California. In 1960, he became a faculty member of the School of Criminology,
University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley Dr. Smith taught probation,
parole and correctional administration courses for both upper division and
graduate students. In 1968, Dr. Smith became a faculty member of the Center for
the Study of Crime, Delinquency and Corrections, Southern Illinois University
at Carbondale. He was primarily involved in developmental research and new
training procedures for the U.S. Department of State programs for correctional
administrators from foreign countries. In 1969, Dr. Smith was the First Deputy
Director of the Arizona Department of Corrections. In 1977, he became a
Criminal Justice Consultant traveling to Arizona, Washington, Europe, and Asia
conducting courses and seminars on various aspects of the Criminal Justice
system in the United States. In 1979, Dr Smith was a visiting Professor of
Justice to the University of Alaska-Fairbanks and at the U.S. Air Force Base,
Sembach, West Germany.
Restrictions
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as
the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the
researcher.