The state Department of Corrections needs to do a better job of collecting supervision fees owed by those on probation and parole, House budget panel Chairman Jim Fannin said Wednesday. As reported by the Advocate Capitol News Bureau.

Sixty-two percent of the $54 per month fees are going uncollected, and that is unacceptable, Fannin said. The fee is generating about $16 million annually, according to budget documents.

“We undoubtedly are not doing very well,” said Fannin, D-Jonesboro. Fannin told top corrections officials that he wants a plan to address the debt collection problem.

The request came as the  House Appropriations Committee continued hearings on Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposed $24.2 billion state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Lawmakers are trying to cope with a $1 billion downturn in revenues to fund on-going operational expenses.

Office of Probation and Parole Deputy Director Gerald Starks said the agency encounters multiple problems in its collections efforts, including “people no longer around” and people back in jail.

“Those out on the street we basically hound them and try to get as much money as we can,” Starks said. “Many are not employed, a number are on SSI for mental illness and physical handicaps. But if you have money, we do everything we can to get them to pay it.”

Fannin said the nonpayment should be considered a debt to the state, just like the money owed by people who take out student loans to go to college. He offered to sponsor legislation that would move the probation and parole non-payments to tax debt status.

Corrections Undersecretary Thomas Bickham said the agency is already working with the Revenue Department to try to recoup money out of any tax refunds individuals may receive.

The agency is also looking into ways to make it easier for those who owe supervision fees to pay, such as contracting with Western Union for wire transfer of money, Bickham said. He said the agency is proposing legislation that would allow payment by credit card.

Bickham said another option being eyed is potentially hiring a collection agency. Corrections Secretary Jimmy LeBlanc said the agency will continue to work on improving collection of the supervision fees.

But he warned: “If you push them and push them, they go to commit crimes … Prison costs more than the fee they are not paying. That’s the balance we have to work.”

janchavarie Economic Issues, Louisiana, Parole

The number of women in prison since 1986 has grown at nearly twice the rate of men according to the Department of Corrections Offender Volumes Report 2009, released today. News reported on Voxy News. Complete report available from Corrections NZ.

The report, which presents information about the offender population managed by Corrections in prisons and in the community, shows that between 1986 and 2009 the number of female sentenced prisoners increased from 98 to 389 – a growth of 297%. Male sentenced prisoners increased from 2,359 to 6,157 – a growth of 161% over the same period.

Corrections Manager Strategy and Research, Dr Peter Johnston, said the report includes a summary of trends in the Department’s workload and trends in the known offender population of New Zealand since 1980.

“The report helps Corrections to plan and develop robust policies. It demonstrates the impacts of past and recent justice sector policies on the offender population managed by Corrections. It also helps Corrections to decide which offender groups it needs to target its rehabilitation activities at.

Dr Johnston said the report, which analyses offenders by age, gender, ethnicity, offence type, sentence type and sentence length, plus a range of other variables, contained a wealth of interesting information, this included:

The number of sentenced youth prisoners had decreased over the past 25 years. In 1986, there were typically 500 sentenced prisoners aged 15-19 years, in 2009 there were typically 400;

The growth in the number of sentenced prisoners has been largely driven from the growth in older (30 years plus) offenders. In 1980 prisoners aged over 30 were 20% of the sentenced population – this had increase to over 60% now;

Longer proven offending careers of prisoners. In 1980 almost 75% of sentenced prisoners had recorded their first conviction within the previous 10 years. In 2009, less than 38% had recorded their first conviction within the previous ten years;

Growth in the percentage of offenders serving prison sentence for violent, sexual and drug-related offending;

Though the numbers of sexual offenders being sent to prison had been relatively constant since 1993 there has been a trend towards sex offenders being in prison for longer periods; and

There were twice as many Maori 25 year old males in prison than there were European males of the same age. 3% of all Maori men aged 25 years old are in prison.

Dr Johnston said the report also included useful information for the Department on the growth in the number of offenders on community sentences.

“The number of offenders managed at any given point in time on community sentences by Community Probation & Psychological Services has grown nearly 80% over the past three years. In 2006 CPPS managed 18,000 offenders, by 2009 it had grown to around 32,000.

“Much of this growth had been for offenders aged 20-29, in 2006 there approximately 8,000 offenders in this age group on community sentences, in 2009 this had increased to 14,000.”

janchavarie Female Inmates, New Zealand

Acknowledging that teenagers in correctional facilities suffer from trauma and mental health issues and that the state has fallen short in helping them, Illinois officials announced Wednesday that the Department of Juvenile Justice will be folded into the Department of Children and Family Services. Story from the Chicago Tribune.

For more than three decades, the Illinois Department of Corrections had been responsible both for the state’s adult convicts and for juveniles serving time. In 2006, Illinois created a new Department of Juvenile Justice.

Kurt Friedenauer, the juvenile agency’s director, acknowledged earlier this year that staffing and funding troubles contributed to a decline in the quality of education at the prisons, putting the roughly 1,100 youths in custody at a disadvantage once they are released.

Toni Irving, a deputy chief of staff in Gov. Pat Quinn’s office, said Wednesday that the merger of the agencies is expected to save money, bring new expertise in winning federal grants and help build a much-needed program to support young inmates once they are released from state correctional facilities.

“There are a variety of needs that aren’t being met. DCFS has a youth focus that we haven’t really been able to achieve with the separation of the Department of Juvenile Justice,” Irving said. “The department has used the Department of Corrections for their shared services. … We are still relying on services that are adult-focused. This change will allow us to start relying on DCFS for shared services so there are people in place used to thinking what youths’ needs are.”

Cook County Public Guardian Robert Harris, whose office represents kids in juvenile court, said it often seemed unfair that children involved in the child protection side of juvenile court have access to services absent on the juvenile justice side.

“They are often confronted with the same issues — neglect, abuse, no family or parents involved in drugs,” Harris said. “It makes sense.”

Benjamin Wolf, associate legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said the children within DCFS and the Department of Juvenile Justice face similar challenges. But success for both agencies will depend on how much funding they can get, Wolf said. “We need to fund both adequately, and right now neither one is funded adequately,” he said.

janchavarie Illinois, Juvenile Justice

There is strong reaction to a proposal to get rid of the entire juvenile department of corrections. News reported by the AZ Family.

Critics say it will make kids more likely to commit more crimes. The idea is to close the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections and send the thousands who are served by the department each year to county jail facilities.

This is part of the proposed state budget expected to Gov. Jan Brewer’s desk later this week.

Prisoner advocate Donna Hamm says she fears it will turn troubled youth who go to places like Adobe Mountain School for rehabilitation into career criminals. “This is supposed to be a chance for offenders to feel someone cares about their well-being, cares about their future. None of that is present in county jails.”

There is also the issue of the cost, which is a savings of nearly $70 million for the state. Under the latest agreement, the state would provide some money but it would still cost the counties millions of dollars.

County Supervisor David Smith says, “This doesn’t work. It’s a bad policy and it should be thought of more carefully.”

Sen. Ron Gould (R-Ariz.) adds, “Yet they had plenty of money to build a new Taj Majal court house but don’t have the money to do what they’re supposed to do?”

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has offered to take all of the offenders from DJC into his jails. He says, “We can make room in our jail system for 700 tomorrow.”

Despite Arpaio’s promise to spare additional cost to the counties, it too is drawing opposition.

Smith says, “J-A-I-L. That’s what he’s proposing when they really need a secure facility that provides for education. The long-term cost to Arizona and the future of kids is going to be something we’re very very sorry about if this happens.”

janchavarie Arizona, Juvenile Justice

Reoffending by thousands of criminals serving short prison terms in England and Wales costs the taxpayer up to £10bn a year, a report has said. Reported by the BBC.

The National Audit Office found many prisoners were spending all day in their cells rather than being engaged in training and rehabilitation.

It added there was also “little evidence” the risk of short-sentence prisoners reoffending had been reduced.

The government said it would take the report’s recommendations forward.

Of all those in jail, prisoners serving less than a year have the highest reoffending rates and the most convictions, an average of 16.

Around 60,000 prisoners are jailed for less than 12 months each year, costing taxpayers £300m.

They are mostly convicted of theft and minor violent crimes and at any one time make up nearly one in 10 of prisoners in England and Wales; the prison population is currently about 82,000.

Value for money
Most spend as few as 45 days inside, and are released automatically at the halfway point of their sentence.

But in that time they are not given “appropriate assistance” to help them turn around their lives, the report said.

The NAO found that activities for this group of offenders were “inadequate”. About half were not involved in work or courses and spent almost all day in their cells.

The report concludes that short jail terms do not offer value for money. A six-week spell in prison costs £4,500 – £300 more than a highly intensive two-year community order involving unpaid work and rehabilitation schemes.

And overall, with 60% of short-sentenced prisoners committing another crime within a year of getting out, the social and economic cost to the country was between £7bn and £10bn a year.

But John Thornhill, chairman of the Magistrates Association, argued that alternatives to custodial sentences were often simply not available.

He told BBC Radio 5 live: “In my area of Merseyside we have a programme called Intensive Alternative To Custody. Magistrates like using that particular order… but [it] is not available across the country.

“It’s only available in six areas and we’re told that once the pilot scheme’s finished that alternative will not be there.”

The president of the Prison Governors Association, Paul Tidball, says magistrates had been criticised for being “so free” with the use of short-term sentences, which did not work.

‘Too short’
He told Radio 5 live: “I’ve heard the Magistrates Association in the past… saying prisons should do more with them [prisoners] while they have them.

“But if you’ve only got someone for six weeks, there’s a limit to what can be done.”

He added resources should be concentrated on those at greatest risk of reoffending, and said there should be better investment in communities in the first place to prevent crime.

Former inmate Craig Morrison called for earlier intervention by therapists and more robust community sentences to tackle problems such as drugs.

He said he spent his short stints in jail scrubbing floors and in the gym.

“It was too short a time to do anything rehabilitative with me. You know, I’d just get out and carry on from where I left off, playing catch-up, go out, committing crime straight away,” he told Radio 5 live.

“It sounds messed up but I was quite comfortable where I was. I was brought up in care since 12 and I accepted that was my lot in life.

“I had a moment of clarity – unfortunately it was years down the line. I had to go through years of therapy to realise how messed up my life was.”

Overcrowding
The auditors praised the efforts of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), which runs prisons and probation, in keeping inmates safe – despite overcrowding.

Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair said it was important prisoners who breached bail or committed offences on bail knew they would be sent back inside.

He supported putting more minor offenders to work in the community on “not very pleasant” tasks that had “an element” of rehabilitation, to free more space in jails.

“It certainly doesn’t need to be a chain gang, it can be just a high-glow jacket that shows that this is community punishment taking place,” he said.

Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said achieving NOMS’ goal of reducing reoffending by short-sentenced prisoners was “challenging” because so many prisoners spent so few weeks inside.

“However, it is reasonable to expect progress towards that goal. More coherent plans for prisoners, tailored to reducing their risk of reoffending, would be a good first step,” he said.

Phil Wheatley, director general of the NOMS, said he welcomed the report and would take the recommendations forwards.

‘Damning indictment’
Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “The revolving door of prison and crime costs the taxpayer billions and does little or nothing to reduce offending.

“The evidence is clear that community penalties, treatment for addicts, mental healthcare and sorting out housing and employment all work better than a short prison sentence.”

Jon Collins, of the Criminal Justice Alliance, said rather than spending money on a “futile attempt” to make short sentences work, the government should focus on keeping people out of jail to free up space and resources to better rehabilitate those who needed to be inside.

The Tories said the report was a “damning indictment of Labour’s prison failure” and pledged to introduce a “rehabilitation revolution”.

janchavarie Economic Issues, Re-offending, United Kingdom

With staff conducting market research in Hawaii, we are sending Corrections Reporter into hiatus until March 7. Until then….

janchavarie Admin

A program designed to help ex-convicts reintegrate into the community may be on it’s way to Macon. The Macon Reentry Coalition started in 2008, to look at how to reach offenders before they go back to a life of crime. Story reported by 13WMAZ.

In 2009, the Georgia prison system released 404 inmates who call Bibb County home.

Now, more than fifteen organizations are on board to get a reentry program started in Macon, including the city, the county, and the Department of Corrections. Derrell Dean loves a good game of dominos at the Macon Rescue Mission. It’s a big change from the activities that used to occupy his life.

Dean says, “I’ve been dealing with drugs for a long time, and drugs kinda had me super messed up, and I couldn’t seem to shake it, I didn’t have any tools to work with, I had no knowledge about addiction or any of that.”

He adds, “that’s what I lived to do and what I did to live, was get high. But today I don’t have to do that anymore.”

Dean wanted a fresh start. He says, “I was tired of prisons, tired of jails, tired of living like an animal.” So he came to the River Edge Behavioral Health Care Center and enrolled in substance abuse counseling.

“I think that’s a wonderful thing because, had I not gotten involved with this place here, and the Rescue Mission and other places that help people like me, I would have been either on my way back to prison or dead.”

It’s just one part of a Community Impact Program to help people like Dean when they get out of prison. Macon’s Chief Probation Officer Stacy Rivera says her office, the police department and agencies like River Edge all see many of the same clients.

Rivera says, “we’re all kind of off doing our own thing, doing what we do best, but we need to communicate more, we need to bring it all under one roof, all to one table so we are addressing the crime problem the way it needs to be addressed. The solution is not always to just lock someone up.”

That’s why she says the Macon Reentry Coalition wants to show high risk offenders where to go to get help.

Rivera says, “if you’re releasing them and you’re not servicing them, what are they going to do? They are going to create more victims, so we just think we are being smarter about it, with reentry.”

Demetra Butler runs the Savannah Impact Program, a model for other cities like Macon. They offer services for high risk offenders on probation and parole, and others who maxed out their sentence, much like Macon hopes to do.

Butler says, “why set the person up to fail? Why set them up to go back to doing what they are accustomed to doing–selling drugs, prostitution, breaking into homes, whatever it is, that drives up our crime.”

Butler says since 2005, 409 offenders came to the program for help voluntarily. Of those 409, she says only 10 have gone back to prison on new felony convictions.

She says, “these people need to be positively reintegrated into the community, and to give them that, not hand-out but hand-up to say we have these resources that are going to be available for you.”

Butler says the people in the program are proof that it works, like Randy Brown, who joined the Savannah Impact Program three years ago after spending 17 years in and out of prison. Now Brown works at the site as a maintenance supervisor.

He says, “I told them I had a past history with drugs, and just put all my cards on the table and said I need help, will you help me? And I got all the help I needed right here at Savannah Impact, and it’s a miracle because this is the longest I’ve ever had a job or anything.”

Brown says he never wants to go back to life on the streets. Now, he drives his own car and pays his own bills. He says just years ago, he was living in an abandoned home.

He says, “this is the longest I’ve ever been out without getting into trouble, none at all, so this is an accomplishment for me.” Brown says now he lives for his children, and nothing could take him away from them.

Demetra Butler says officers with the program go and talk to offenders before they get out of prison, to tell them about the program and the resources that are available.

She says, “often times before that person gets home, we have that plan in place as to where they are going to stay, whether it’s with a family member, we have appointments and schedules set up for them, we even have the necessary social services set up, IDs, so when this person comes home, we’ve got a plan set so the anxiety is not so overwhelming.”

She says, “for those who really want the assistance, they appreciate the assistance, they appreciate the help that they have been given.”

Most people are in the program for about six to twelve months, but she says some stay for much longer, and continue to call and check in with program officials.

The program offers clients a varitey of classes on site, some of those include moral recognition therapy, anger management, and courses to help them get a GED so they can find employment, and reintegrate into everyday life.

The program also provides a savings to taxpayers. It costs $55 a day to house an inmate in the Bibb County Jail. But the cost for intensive probation supervision is only about $3.86.

Stacy Rivera says, “we’re being smarter about crime, and number one we want to keep the community safe, that’s the whole goal of this.”

Derrell Dean says he’s proud of where he is today, and hopes a program like reentry can offer assistance to others like him who need it most.

He says, “a lot of addicts, they don’t know that help is available, because I didn’t know, as many times as I’ve been in and out of jail I never really got an education about drugs, and I didn’t know why I kept doing what I was doing.”

But he says he knows now that a game of dominos is the best way to spend his time. Dean says, “I cry alot because I have real sincere feelings about where I am today.”

The Macon Reentry Coalition still has a few obstacles, the major one is funding. Stacy Rivera says the Department of Corrections fully supports Macon’s plans to establish a Community Impact Program, but have not committed funding yet.

They are also still working on which agency will lead the effort. In Savannah, it’s an extension of the police department, with funding coming from the city.

The Macon Police Department says as of now, they plan to devote a captain, sergeant and two officers to reentry.

Coalition members also continue looking into a location for the program here in Macon. They hope to have something up and running by the end of the year.

janchavarie GA Bibb County, Georgia, Inmate Programs, Re-Entry

Iowa’s prisons have serious problems that are delaying release of inmates into rehabilitation programs and potentially costing taxpayers millions of extra dollars, the state’s ombudsman told lawmakers Wednesday. Report from the Des Moines Register.

Among the problems:
- A work-release program that costs taxpayers less than daily prison fees has a waiting list of 800 inmates. In one inmate’s case alone, the additional cost to taxpayers was $25,000.

• Some prison officials have improperly held inmates’ earnings instead of applying them to victim restitution or court reimbursements.

• A gradual release program has been revamped so dramatically that some offenders are unable to do what is required to qualify for early release.

“We can’t continue to keep people in prison when they would be better placed in a less restrictive environment at a significantly reduced cost,” Iowa Ombudsman William Angrick said.

Lawmakers agreed the issues and likely extra costs are vital at a time when the state is discussing cuts to key services, such as education and health programs for low-income families.

Rep. Wayne Ford, a member of the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee, expressed anger at the findings and told committee members they would be violating their duties as lawmakers if they fail to immediately look more closely at the issue, despite a shortened legislative session.

Ford, D-Des Moines, has worked with prisoners through his social agency, Urban Dreams. Failures in rehabilitation programs not only cost taxpayers money but also increase the likelihood of recidivism, he said.

“Our No. 1 job as a Legislature is the public safety of this state,” Ford said, noting Angrick’s report. “Somebody is going to kill somebody, saying they’re mad as hell because these things are against me.

“This blood is on our hands.”
Fred Scaletta, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Corrections, said the administrators who could speak about the programs were unavailable for comment Wednesday.

However, Scaletta pointed to November board notes in which Director John Baldwin thanked Angrick for his comments about prisoner payments and said that a final resolution would be handled when the attorney general issues a ruling.

The attorney general has not issued any opinions or advice on the matter, Bob Brammer, a spokesman for the office, said Wednesday.

About 800 inmates are on a waiting list for placement in a residential facility as required for work-release programs, according to Angrick’s report. The programs save taxpayers $19.08 a day compared with prison costs.

He said one unidentified inmate was held in prison 351 days longer than anticipated. If the work-release program had been immediately available, the prisoner would have been eligible for lesser levels of imprisonment, such as day reporting and eventually parole, which costs about $3.75 a day. Angrick estimated the extra costs to taxpayers at about $25,000.

A September state audit of the corrections department verified Angrick’s findings about prisoner payments. Inmates at the North Central Correctional Facility in Webster County, by labor law, should have been paid about $7.80 an hour to pull tarps over harvested grain at two local elevators. Instead, they were paid about $6.15, the audit showed.

The disparities are important because much of the earnings from prisoners are turned over for court or victim reimbursements. However, according to Angrick’s findings, some of that money was not being properly distributed.

In another finding, Angrick noted that some prisoners through no fault of their own have lost the ability to meet the Iowa Board of Parole’s requirements to receive early release.

The problems stem from a policy change made a year ago that no longer allows inmates to live and work outside the secured perimeter of the prisons, the report said.

“If the Board of Parole requires an offender to work outside the fence as a prerequisite for release, but the Department of Corrections’ policy prevents the offender from doing so, one can safely draw the conclusion that the releases of many offenders will be delayed,” Angrick said. “That will undoubtedly increase incarceration costs for the state of Iowa.”

The Oversight Committee will attempt to organize a public meeting with the corrections department, said Rep. Vicki Lensing, D-Iowa City, co-chairwoman of the committee.

janchavarie Early Release, Inmate Programs, Iowa

Equipment that jams cell phones will get its first federally sanctioned test inside a prison in Maryland this week, as state officials try to show Congress how the technology can prevent inmates from using the contraband devices to commit crimes, a governor’s spokesman said Tuesday. News reported by the Associated Press.

The state wants to show the equipment can be used without interfering with emergency response and legitimate signals outside the prison perimeter, said Shaun Adamec, Gov. Martin O’Malley’s spokesman.

The Federal Communication Commission can only allow federal agencies — not state or local authorities — permission to jam cell phone signals. But a bill that passed the Senate and awaits action by the House would allow states to petition the FCC to block the use of cell phones from prisons.

Testing is set to begin Wednesday at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Adamec said. The governor has strongly backed allowing states to use the jamming technology to battle the growing problem of cell phone use in prisons.

A bipartisan measure sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., was approved by the Senate in September. A companion bill is in the House.

“I think all of this can help Senator Mikulski in her efforts to pass a bill, and hopefully if the FCC sees it coming they might just do it by regulation,” O’Malley said.

The tests are being conducted to provide more information about the technology as the legislation is being considered.

Prisons around the nation have been trying to stem rising problems from prison inmates using cell phones to coordinate criminal activity from behind bars. Officials in New Jersey even intercepted a conference call among gang members from different prisons who were plotting retaliation against another gang member.

In Maryland, a Baltimore drug dealer used a cell phone from the city jail to plan the killing of a witness in 2007. In Texas, a state senator’s life was threatened by a death row inmate who had a cell phone.

O’Malley and Mikulski asked the federal government last year to allow the testing to better inform Congress about the technology. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration agreed to hold the test this week. NTIA shares responsibility for managing the nation’s communications network with the Federal Communications Commission, which has denied previous requests from states to test the technology.

In July, corrections directors in 26 states signed a petition to the FCC asking federal regulators’ permission to jam cell phone signals inside state penitentiaries.

The FCC has authority over non-governmental radio communications, while the NTIA has authority over federal uses of the radio spectrum.

States have resorted to other ways of tracking illegal cell phones in prison, including the use of specially trained dogs to sniff out phones.

O’Malley expressed frustration that it has taken so long to get permission from the NTIA to conducted the test.

“We didn’t need to get their permission to train all the dogs that we trained to sniff out cell phones, but they make us jump through a lot of hoops — no canine pun intended,” O’Malley said.

Critics of cell phone jamming have expressed concerns that the technology could interfere with emergency response and legitimate cell phone use near prisons.

janchavarie Cell Phones, Maryland

Marvin Marshall’s rap sheet is colorful and long, stretching nearly 30 years — time marked by heavy cocaine use, robberies and thefts and stints in penitentiaries across the state.Story reported by USA Today.

But just 10 months out of prison following his last arrest in December 2007, things have changed. Now he’s clean, works full-time and, as his wife has breast cancer, pays all the bills. He even keeps in touch with his probation officer. “This is the best I’ve done in 25 years,” Marshall, 49, said.

He hasn’t missed any of his monthly meetings at the county’s re-entry court, a specialized program for recently released felons.

The change was evident when he got picked up for petty theft in December. A clerk at Gabriel Brothers in Ontario accused him of switching labels on an item, trying to save $5.

“Five years ago I would’ve knocked him down, cleaned out the cash drawer and took off running,” Marshall said recently in Richland County Common Pleas Court. “But not today.”

For Judge James Henson, court officers and courtroom spectators — most of the latter convicted felons — bemused laughter broke out. If Marshall was going to commit a crime, he’d be the first to tell you, it would be for more than $5. Yet because he was on probation, that $5 could end up costing him a lot more.

In a different courtroom, in a different age, it could’ve cost him his freedom. But this was re-entry court. So instead, Henson told him to get it cleared up and report back in a month. Marshall was doing well after 10 months in the program — working, testing clean and toeing the line with his probation meetings. This incident wasn’t enough to draw the hammer.

One of the first of its kind in the country, Richland County Re-entry Court has worked this way for 10 years, processing 1,000 or so felons like Marshall, who’ve served at least six months in state prison.

In the movies, they’re outfitted with a freshly-pressed suit, $100 in cash and a pack of cigarettes. In real life, they barely get bus fare and emerge clad in a penitentiary jumpsuit.

“I call them the vast unready,” Judge James DeWeese said of re-entry court participants. “They’re uneducated, unskilled, unemployed, unhoused and unused to self-government. It’s surrogate parenting.”

The program can lend help in many forms. One man had to get his teeth fixed for work, which federal grant money paid for. Others need glasses, food or bus fare. All of them need jobs.

“These people are broken,” program coordinator Toya Bowman said. “We want to up the standards, but not so high that you can’t reach.”

Since re-entry court’s inception in 1999, Bowman has worked with prison officials to select participants based on their proclivity to respond to treatment and the court system. She also oversees their progress.

Re-entry court’s convicts come in many stripes, from murderers to mid-level drug lieutenants, but the toughest cases, like those needing extensive mental health treatment, need not apply.

“I essentially changed the (Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation),” Bowman said of the program’s early days. “I had to get the wardens on board. There was a lot of politics then, but we changed the whole dynamic. The word ‘re-entry’ had never existed.”

Even critics of the program acknowledge its success. The felony re-arrest rate for graduates of the year-long court — about two-thirds of those who enter — is 4 percent within one year of release. That’s microscopic in a prison system nationwide that averages 44 percent, the U.S. Department of Justice reports.

“We show these numbers to criminal justice experts and professors and they just fall over,” said Dave Leitenberger, the county’s chief probation officer. “It took us 10 years to finally see real funding coming in. For the little bit of money that it costs, it’s a bargain.”

Jeffrey B. Spelman, chairman of the criminal justice and sociology department at Ashland University, is one of those experts. He said the average probation officer may check in with an offender just a couple times a month, but Richland County probation officers, according to his data, are checking in six times more often.

“The contacts are astronomical,” Spelman said. “Having this kind of relationship with an offender allows you to spot problem areas before they even exist.”

The re-entry court employs an idea many experts on deterrence call the wave of the future. The idea is constant attention coupled with swift and consistent consequences. In theory, this is much more effective than old-school probation — which involved limited visits and less consistent but far stricter punishment.

According to one study, by both removing imprisonment as an option for technical probation violations and cutting the length of parole, prison populations nationwide could shrink about 50 percent.

“The first time they mess up, you don’t use the nuclear option,” DeWeese said of his approach, referring to lengthy sentences for technical violations. “That’s why the re-entry court works the way it does, because they believe that you really care about making a difference in their life.”

Having offenders meet as a group helps as well. Each session before Henson or DeWeese lasts a couple of hours, and all of the two dozen-or-so participants must watch every proceeding. In essence, each monitors the progress of his peers. More importantly, they discover their road is not as lonely as they thought.

For observers, it can be like a reality show without the cameras. At Henson’s session Friday, Jerome Bond, 26, convicted of crack possession in 2006, said he’d mailed $40 to cover court costs two days previously. By Friday, there was still no sign of it, probably, Bond said, because he mailed in cash.

Bowman cocked an eyebrow. “Never paid a bill before, huh?” She said Bond comes from a good family, but was having trouble getting his act together since he got out from a three-year stint in Lorain.

Randy Schlupp, 40, of Mansfield, was having back problems Friday. He ambled up before Henson with a heavy stoop, and said he was trying to find work, but couldn’t do much manual labor anymore. “Don’t say, ‘try,”‘ Henson scolded.

Schlupp, who was convicted of aggravated robbery in 2006 and released last year, said he’d taken courses to become a chef while in the pen. “Now that’s what I mean,” Henson said. “You’re doing it.”

Jan. 29 was the re-entry court debut for Donna Kirkpatrick, 26, of Mansfield. An ex-crack addict, she served nearly three years in Marysville on five forgery convictions before getting out this month. Henson told her what he tells all of the rookies.

“There’s been a lot of water under a lot of bridges in a lot of days,” Henson said. “Some people get swept away with it. Don’t let that be you.”

The lonely road The biggest deterrent to getting swept away, officials and the studies say, is simple: employment. Many of the convicts say the easiest way for them to stay out of trouble is 14-hour workdays. Not only is it steady income, it’s also a sense of routine and focus. Jerome Bond, the 26-year-old, refused to get a job after his initial release, Bowman said. Sure enough, not long after that, a drug test came back positive. “He gives up on himself very easily,” Bowman said.

For Marshall, the man arrested at Gabriel Brothers last month, staying clean and maintaining a manufacturing job for several months has been one of his proudest moments.

“It feels so good to have a piece of paper with my name on it,” he said. “For a lot of those years I was cashing a lot of checks with other people’s names on them.”

He’s clean now, not only to care for his cancer-stricken wife but at the careful prodding of his 24-year-old son, Marvin Marshall Jr., his probation officer and Judge Henson. He still has to pee in a cup regularly and complete several more months of re-entry court, but said that at the moment he is keeping busy.

“Maybe,” he said, hesitating, “I don’t know if it’ll happen, but maybe they will say that this time Marvin broke the cycle.”

Officials report the effectiveness of the Richland County re-entry court is in stark contrast to recidivism rates for prisoners released without such a program.

In a 2006 study, Ashland University professor Jeffrey Spelman found 124 of nearly 600 re-entry court participants, just 4 percent, were arrested for a felony within one year of successful completion of the program. The average recidivism rate nationally for those who did not participate in a re-entry court program was 44 percent in the first year.

janchavarie Ohio, Re-Entry

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections has reduced its staff by 59 as it struggles to deal with the effects of the state’s $729 million budget shortfall. Report from Bartlesville Live.

Corrections Department spokesman Jerry Massie said Friday that even though the agency is slated to receive a supplemental appropriation from the Legislature, officials still had to fill an $11 million gap after being told to trim their budgets by 10 percent for the rest of the fiscal year.

Massie says DOC Director Justin Jones told the Oklahoma Board of Corrections that 39 of the affected workers accepted early retirement buyouts. He says no corrections officers were included in the cuts.

Massie says the agency received a $503 million appropriation for the fiscal year, but the cuts mean officials will have about $48 million less to spend.

janchavarie Oklahoma, Personnel Issues

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) will not resume interest in a potential prison site here in response to an announcement by Bill and Brad Fain that they will continue to consider a private prison for their land. News from The Daily Courier.

“At this point in time it does not change where CCA is,” spokeswoman Louise Grant said Monday. She said the time frame to continue consideration of the site off Fain Road is too tight with the upcoming release of requests for proposals to solicit the private sector to operate prisons in Arizona.

The state Department of Corrections is seeking private companies to house as many as 5,000 inmates in new or existing prisons. CCA, which owns six prisons in Pinal County, also has studied sites in Winslow and west of Wickenberg.

“We are looking at all options. We are still looking throughout the state,” said Grant, who is based in Nashville, Tenn.

CCA’s senior director for site acquisition, Brad Wiggins, notified Gary Marks, executive director of the Prescott Valley Economic Development Foundation, in a letter dated Feb. 5 that the company was withdrawing consideration from the Fain property. Grant said afterward that opposition from a majority of the Town Council prompted CCA’s decision.

Brad Fain of the Fain Signature Group and Fain Land and Cattle Co. acknowledged Thursday evening that renewed interest from CCA was unlikely, adding he received a copy of the letter from Wiggins.

He and his father, Bill, announced during the public comment period of the council meeting Thursday that they would seek to annex the proposed prison site to the town and rezone it. The family owns 881 acres of grazing land that it has planned for more than three years for an industrial park.

“We are working with our team, our zoning and annexation team,” Brad Fain said after the meeting.

He and his father said they would welcome a public vote on whether to locate a prison on their land.

The public process for the prison appeared to have died Jan. 28 when three members of the council expressed opposition to the prison, citing phone calls and e-mails from constituents.

Mayor Harvey Skoog, who went on record against the prison Jan. 27, said he does not know whether any other prison companies are expressing interest in Prescott Valley.

Pablo Paez, director of corporate relations for The GEO Group in Boca Raton, Fla., declined in an e-mail to state whether his company is considering the tri-city area for a proposed prison. GEO operates three prisons in Arizona.

janchavarie Arizona, CCA

The Clark County Commissioners recently approved exploring the option of eliminating the county’s work-release program, but the program’s director doesn’t believe that’s a good idea fiscally. News from the News and Tribune.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Department receives $35 per day for each state prisoner it houses at the county jail and it is looking into the possibility of adding inmates to the third floor of the county building that currently houses the work-release inmates. But in order to add the new state inmates, the space would have to be cleared of the work-release program, which occupied the newly renovated $3 million space in 2008.

According to Steve Mason, director of Clark County work-release program, eliminating the county’s work-release program would cost the county money. Clark County receives about $700,000 from Indiana’s Department of Corrections each year in the form of a grant to operate the work-release locally.

While no determination on cutting the program has been made, a decision is likely before the grant runs out June 30 and would have to be renewed. If the county does not apply for the grant, the money would likely go to another county still operating a work-release program.

In addition to losing out on grant money, according to Mason, the program saves the county thousands.

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
Over a two-year span, Clark County Community Corrections collected nearly $650,000, reduced the county jail’s operating expenses by more than $800,000 and the state’s by more than $1.2 million, he said.

It costs the state $52.60 per day to hold an inmate at a state facility, $35 for the county and $15.50 per day is paid by the participants of the work-release program. By having the inmates participate in the local program, essentially the higher cost is avoided because the prisoners would otherwise be shuffled back to the state or county jail.

“We save the county money, we don’t cost the county a thing,” Mason said. “It’s cheaper for the state to give us money rather than have them housed at their facility.”

In addition, the work release program pays the jail $70,000 in rent per year — $60,000 in utility bills and an additional $10,000 in supplemental jail maintenance and employee salaries.

During the last two years, the work-release program has housed 265 inmates, who are normally nonviolent offenders or near the end of their sentences.

The participants in the work-release program are normally recommended by a judge or prosecutor to the program, which acts as a transition for the prisoners to rejoin the community and includes providing them with a job.

While the statistics on recidivism rates are not yet available for Clark County — they are determined every three years — Kenneth Whipker, executive liaison of sheriff and county jail operations for the Department of Correction, said its more beneficial to keep offenders local — and it’s cheaper.

The rationale for looking into replacing the program with state inmates is money, and by opening up the space for state inmates, the county hopes to address the revenue shortfalls that have been hampering the county.

“To make profit over the money generated by the work release program, the jail would have to house 44 state inmates, every day of the year, at $35 per inmate before Clark County Government generated a penny in profit,” Mason said in an e-mail.

According to Clark County Sheriff Danny Rodden, the jail is housing 90 inmates from the state.

By multiplying the number of inmates currently held by the per-day-rate — if they were held for every day of the year — the county would receive about $1.1 million annually.

However, there is an operations cost of housing the additional inmates of between $300,000 to $400,000, which would bring the revenues received down to around $750,000.

If the third-floor of the jail were converted to house more inmates, the number that could be accommodated would increase by 125 individuals, Rodden said. Increasing the number of inmates to the maximum 125, the revenue grows to more than $2.7 million.

But again, operational costs would rise when adding inmates to the county facility, cutting into the revenues.

MORE TO COME?
The larger issue may be that the state may not be providing the county with any additional inmates.

“[It is] very unlikely Clark County would be able to house additional inmates,” Whipker said. “We need the beds that the [Sheriff] provides for us, but to add additional beds, that’s just not going to happen.”

Like most other government entities, the state is trying to mitigate its costs and the fewer inmates sent to other counties the less money the state has to pay out.

“I don’t see changes in our budget that would continue to allow for that,” Whipker said of sending more state inmates to county jails.

Rodden said he is aware that the state is trying to limit the prisoners it sends to other facilities, but the amount of prisoners the state has still overwhelms the system and overcrowding is a problem that may persist.

“It’s up in the air,” he said of receiving more state inmates.

He added that the state is cutting back at facilities that do not offer programs for prisoners, where Clark County does so, and even if the state limits the number of prisoners, Rodden may seek to house federal inmates in the county facility.

JOB TO MOVE?
One area that would likely be cut should the work release program be eliminated is payroll.

It is likely many of the jobs of community corrections — which are funded by the state grant — will go with the elimination of the program.

Rodden said that he would look to hire additional staff from the community corrections workers, giving them the first opportunity at the jobs — which would be part of the county payroll — but the amount of workers needed would be about nine employees.

The Clark County Community Corrections at its current staffing levels includes eight part-time and 22 full-time employees.

“I need the Sheriff to run our program,” Mason said. “I need to work with him, [but] what you’re going to lose to gain that $35, it just doesn’t add up.”

SO YOU KNOW
Total savings to the county and Indiana Department of Correction (instead of housing work-release inmates in county/state jail):

• County: $811,615
• IDOC: $1,219,741
• Amount collected from successful clients of work-release: $277,622
• Amount collected from unsuccessful clients of work-release: $77,253
• Amount paid per day by work-release inmates: $15.50
• Amount paid per day by state to house state prisoners: $35

Note: Figures from Jan. 1, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2009

janchavarie IN Clark County, Work Release

A 1995 federal law aimed at eliminating frivolous lawsuits by prisoners slowed the flow of such filings for a decade. Reported in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.

But as the prison population increases, so does the workload of government offices charged with defending lawsuits such as this one: Four prisoners claim Pennsylvania inadvertently canceled all of its criminal statutes when it adopted a constitution in 1790. Or Randall Eugene Parran’s claims that as a “child of God,” he’s exempt from government control and taxation.

In the early 1990s, the state defended itself against thousands of such lawsuits, said Sarah Vandenbraak Hart, a former general counsel for the Department of Corrections who was appointed director for the National Institute of Justice, a research agency in the Department of Justice.

“Half of the (federal) court docket was prisoner lawsuits, and almost none of them were successful,” said Hart, who helped write the 1995 federal Prison Litigation Reform Act.

The courts were a means of recreation and retaliation for prisoners because they were exempt from the filing fees that other people pay to start lawsuits. Now prisoners must start paying filing fees after they’ve filed at least three lawsuits that judges rule meritless.

That doesn’t stop the nonsense entirely.

The Sept. 4 lawsuit filed by four prisoners generated 24 filings and rulings on the docket, mostly from a federal magistrate who recommended a judge throw out the lawsuit.

Parran, 24, of Monroeville, who is serving five to 10 years for drug and robbery crimes, claims he’s being held illegally because the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution guarantee his right to be free from “government interference.”

The inmates filed the cases themselves without lawyers.

The Corrections Department has seven salaried attorneys working full-time on prisoner lawsuits, said spokeswoman Susan Bensinger. Inmates filed 462 lawsuits against the department last year.

Margaret Philbin, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Pittsburgh, said 15 federal prosecutors spent 2,737 hours on prisoner lawsuits — or about 8 percent of their time — last year. The state attorney general’s civil litigation unit has 562 open cases filed by prisoners, said spokesman Erik Shirk.

Not all prisoner lawsuits are outrageous, Lynn Branham notes. Branham chaired an American Bar Association task force that looked at the 1995 Prison Litigation Reform Act. The association in 2007 recommended that Congress amend the act.

“There was a lot of talk about frivolous inmate litigation,” she said. “What we didn’t hear about is the greater problem of prisoners whose constitutional rights are violated and aren’t able to gain access to the courts for a variety of reasons.”

Branham and Hart agreed that a study by professor Margo Schlanger at Washington University in St. Louis is the most accurate measure of the law’s effect. Schlanger compared 1995 and 2005 figures to show the act reduced the number of lawsuits filed per inmate by 60 percent.

In recent years, the number of lawsuits increased with the prison population, according to Schlanger’s study and Department of Justice figures. Prisoners filed 54,796 cases nationally in 2008, a 1.6 percent increase from 2007, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

Most consist of prisoners complaining about things the average person would complain about if forced into similar circumstances, Branham said. A prisoner suing because a previous inmate smeared feces against walls, for example, is legally frivolous, she said.

“A little bit of sewage on the cells doesn’t make a constitutional violation,” Branham said.

janchavarie Inmate Lawsuits, Pennsylvania

More than 1,500 parolees in Orange County may stop reporting to their parole agents under the same law that is releasing state and county prisoners early. According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, there are currently 6,406 parolees in Orange County. Of those, 1,719 of them could be eligible for the so-called “non-revocable” parole. Story published in the Orange County Register.

Under non-revocable parole, recently released inmates in the state parole system:

• Would not have to report to a parole officer on a regular basis
• Can’t have their parole revoked by the parole board. Instead, a former prisoner who commits a crime would have to start from scratch in the judicial system
• Can still be searched without a warrant or probably cause by law enforcement officers

In the county’s most populous city, Santa Ana, that means that 338 of the 1,326 parolees currently registered there could be eligible for the new system. In Anaheim, 294 of 1,223 may qualify.

To qualify for the new parole category, inmates must not have a violent or serious felony conviction in their records. Those who are required to register as sex offenders would also not qualify. They must also not be a member of a prison gang. Inmates convicted of crimes such as misdemeanor spousal abuse, vehicle theft, prostitution or embezzlement may qualify.

Under the same law, more than 6,500 state prison inmates are due for early release this year and hundreds of inmates in county jails have already been freed early.

Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said the new system will reform the state’s flawed corrections approach, reducing the number of cases each parole officer handles and allowing them to focus their attention on the most serious offenders. The result, they say: a half-billion-dollar savings to the state by the end of the year.

But local law enforcement – faced with its own budget challenges – oppose the changes. Before Jan. 25, when the new law took effect, all freed state inmates were placed in the parole system. They had to report to a parole officer, keep the officer abreast of travel plans and follow additional rules and restrictions. Any violation of parole could send them quickly back to prison — a decision that was made by a parole board.

Under the new law, those inmates who and deemed “low-risk” may be placed under a non-revocable parole, meaning they can be searched, at any time. But if they break the law or the rules of parole, they are not returned to state prison. Instead, they must be charged and processed through the justice system. The law applies to soon-to-be-released inmates as well as those already reporting to parole officers around the state.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said in the new system may clog local courts with cases that were once handled by the state officials. The new system, Rackauckas said, is not reform, but simply a way to save money. But while the state saves money, the costs will be shifted to local law enforcement.

Non-revocable parole, says Rackauckas, takes away the penalties that released inmates were meant to follow: “It’s a parole that can’t be violated.”

CDCR spokeswoman Terry Thornton counters that the new law reforms a broken system. “I’ve seen someone in state prison on a non-serious offense do eight months, get out on parole, and spend three years back in state prison on parole violations,” she says. “We have to do something about that, too.”

janchavarie CA Orange County, Parole

A juvenile corrections administrator with 33 years of experience was named today as superintendent of the 295-bed MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn. Reported by the Woodburn Independant.

Isidro “Sid” Thompson, superintendent of the 50-bed RiverBend facility in La Grande for the past two years, will start the new job Feb. 22. MacLaren serves male sex offenders, violent offenders, those with substance abuse issues, older male youth and the majority of the male Oregon Department of Corrections population committed to OYA facilities.

“Sid Thompson’s three decades of diverse responsibilities in juvenile corrections have made him an effective and respected leader,” said Colette S. Peters, OYA director. MacLaren youth and staff will benefit from the wealth of experience, knowledge and compassion he brings to the job.”

MacLaren, serving nearly a third of OYA youth in close-custody facilities, plays a major role in the agency’s mission to protect the public and reduce crime by holding youth offenders accountable and providing opportunities for reformation in safe environments.

Thompson joined the Oregon Youth Authority in February 2008 after a 31-year career with the Arkansas Division of Youth Services, where he was assistant director of residential operations. He also managed juvenile correctional facilities and residential treatment facilities in Arkansas and consulted with five states.

OYA will begin a recruitment for a permanent superintendent at RiverBend in approximately three months. Brian Blisard, treatment manager at RiverBend, will serve as interim superintendent of that facility.

At MacLaren, Thompson succeeds Mike Riggan, who resigned to accept a position with the Washington County Juvenile Department as juvenile division manager in charge of the Harkins House juvenile shelter in Hillsboro.

“Washington County has recruited a professional who has proved himself as an organizational leader who has the support of his staff and whose work benefits youth in OYA’s care and custody,” Peters said.

OYA has custody of approximately 900 youth offenders ages 12 to 24 in correctional and transitional facilities in Albany, Burns, Florence, Grants Pass, La Grande, Salem, Tillamook, Warrenton and Woodburn. The agency also supervises approximately 1,100 youth on parole and probation in communities throughout Oregon.

janchavarie Juvenile Justice, Oregon, Personnel Issues

Thirty Facebook pages have been taken down because prisoners were using them to taunt their victims, Justice Secretary Jack Straw has said. Report from the BBC.

Mr Straw was speaking after a meeting with victim campaigners to discuss prisoners using social networking sites to taunt families. They will look at ways to stop inmates using smuggled mobile phones to access webpages and abuse their victims.

Mr Straw said the 30 offending pages had been removed within 48 hours. He also said he was “reassured by the co-operation which we’re receiving from Facebook” and said it was agreed a better system for policing websites was needed.

‘Devious, manipulative people’
“This is horrible, profoundly disturbing… and it’s deeply offensive to public morality,” he said.

Mr Straw met with Margaret and Barry Mizen, the parents of teenager Jimmy Mizen who was murdered at a bakery in south-east London in May 2008, and Richard Taylor, the father of 10-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor, who was killed in a north Peckham estate in November 2001.

Mr Mizen said the talks were “encouraging” but he wanted Facebook to be “more responsible”.

He said: “I’m sure Facebook is a massive organisation and there’s lots of money floating around. If you have to spend a bit more on monitoring, then you have just got to do it.”

The Justice Secretary also met representatives from Facebook and Ofcom. He said it might be possible to change the rules under which prisoners are freed on parole and temporary licence, to make it “explicit” that they cannot make use of sites in this way.

“We are getting much tougher about people smuggling telephones into prison and using them.

“I’m afraid we’re dealing with crooks. Devious, manipulative people who actually have no respect for their own bodies so they push these mobile telephones into their body orifices.

Prisoner taunts
To combat this, visitors are made to sit on special chairs that scan people internally, he said. Mr Straw also said there is evidence that the families of some prisoners have been involved in updating sites.

In one case, Nottingham gangster Colin Gunn said he could not wait to see fear in people’s eyes when he got home.

Gunn, who ordered the revenge killings of John and Joan Stirland at their bungalow in Lincolnshire, used Facebook to let his friends know what was on his mind.

Jade Braithwaite, 20, the killer of 16-year-old Ben Kinsella, used the same website to boast he was “down but not out”. He also said he wanted a remote control so he could “mute or delete people when I need to”. Facebook later took down the offending page.

And prolific burglar Roy Boodle, 28, taunted detectives for 18 months saying he could not be caught, but was eventually jailed for three-and-a-half years. All the major social networking sites have policies to remove material considered to cause harassment or distress.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said earlier: “We recognise it is deeply distressing for victims and their families and friends and we have made it clear to Facebook that we do not think it acceptable or appropriate for such profiles to remain active, something Facebook agrees with.

“If material is considered to be causing harassment or distress, or constitutes illegal activity, Facebook’s policy is to remove the offending account.”

janchavarie Cell Phones, Technology, United Kingdom

It’s no secret Michigan has some serious issues with money and crime. That’s why the Wolverine State has launched a program that aims to address both of those problems in a way that might surprise. Reported by WNDU.

The Michigan Prisoner Re-entry Initiative (MPRI) is a program designed to put prisoners back in the workforce. For years, Michigan’s jails were filled to the brim.

“We went through that whole period of being tough on crime and we locked people up so Michigan ended up with one of the largest prison populations in the nation,” said Marvin Austin, Regional Director of the Heartland Alliance at the Opportunity Center in Benton Harbor.

That large prison population was often a burden budget-wise. Michigan’s cost of housing a prisoner is well above the national average of about $23,000, closer to $29,000 a year per prisoner.

“But the reality is most of the people that go to prison are going to come home sometime. So if you’re just locking people up you just wait until their sentence is done, you send them home, what you find is the cycle back into prison,” Austin said.

That’s why the state created the MPRI, which helps place ex- convicts who have served their time. MPRI is administered through local sites like the Opportunity Center.

The Michigan Department of Corrections says that when MPRI started on a limited basis in 2005, 5 out of 10 prisoners returned to jail for new crimes within 3 years of being released. Since then, that’s decreased to less than 4 out of 10.

So, the one-time cost of less than $2,000 Michigan spends on the re-entry program per prisoner at places like the Opportunity Center can help offset nearly $29,000 dollars annually; if it’s the difference between making a successful life outside of jail and recidivism.

“So literally everyone wins,” Austin said.

Those with the most to gain are the prisoners trying to re-invent their lives, which is no small task.

“The effort for them is probably double what it would be for someone else. But those that put the time in they do find that they can be successful,” said Rose Hunt, Director of the Opportunity Center.

Once they get out of jail, participants go through an intense program that helps them focus on the steps they need to take to again become a functioning member of society.

“They come in with the odds against them. They know they’ve made mistakes and I think in a lot of cases they’re really sorry that they’ve created such a negative situation for themselves,” Hunt said.

For many, it is tough to stay away from the behaviors that landed them in jail in the first place.

“If they make an error we don’t judge them right way and throw them out of the program. We say these are the 3 options you have to pick which one you think is best for you. Or we have them take the problem to a group of their peers and help them decide what option is best,” Hunt said.

But it’s also tough to move back into a regular life. Just finding a job creates some blatant obstacles.

“They have to check that box that says they do have a felony, and so we try to help them draft (cover) letters that kind of put a human element a face to who they are,” said Syrina Butler, the senior employment counselor for MPRI in Benton Harbor.

“I think it’s hypocritical and contradictory for society to say you’ve done your time and now they want you to get out and make a success and they not embrace you and help you make that success. If they don’t, then what do they expect you to do?” said Virgil Hatcher, a peer counselor at the Opportunity Center.

The Michigan DOC says there’s been some major progress since 2005, thanks in part to MPRI.

Corrections spending has been cut by $400 million dollars, and other efficiency measures have also contributed to the state closing 12 prison facilities in 7 years.

The state is working on expanding this program, which the Opportunity Center is rooting for.

“We’re going to help people get back on their feet and be successful. They’re the parents of the next generation and once they’re being productive you’re really going to see the change in the communities,” Austin said.

janchavarie Michigan, Re-Entry

Sheriff Stan Sniff received the full support of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors today to begin hiring guards and other  personnel needed to staff new cell blocks at the county’s Banning jail. Reported by KESQ News Service.

In a 5-0 vote, the board affirmed that the Sheriff’s Department would have the $12.6 million Sniff requested to fund 142 new positions in fiscal year 2010-11, in addition to roughly $750,000 for hiring in the current fiscal year.

“We’re very pleased with the board’s decision,” the sheriff told City News Service.

The expansion of the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility is expected to wrap up next month, but many of the personnel needed for security and administrative functions have yet to be hired.

Sniff warned the board twice last year — in May and November — that he was short of the funds necessary to hire people to work in the new facilities. But faced with a then-$50 million — and growing — county budget deficit, the supervisors shied away from new financial commitments.

he $12.6 million in next year’s budget will assure funding to hire 45 sworn law enforcement personnel to work at the jail, 49 non-sworn correctional deputies and 48 “classified” employees, including food service workers, clerks and accountants, according to the sheriff.

He doubted all the money that was approved would be needed and predicted the new jail units would be fully operational in 12 months.

The two-year, $80 million Smith expansion includes 582 inmate beds in three housing units encompassing 173,000 square feet.

With the pending release of some 40,000 convicted felons from state penal facilities — in compliance with a federal judicial panel’s mandate that California’s prison population be reduced for health reasons — opening the new cells can’t come a moment too soon, said Supervisors Jeff Stone and John Benoit.

“We are going to have to have the capacity to house more dangerous criminals that we shouldn’t be responsible for housing in the first place,” Stone said, alluding to expectations that the parolees will offend again.

“We have to make our facilities function as prisons when they’re detention centers,” he said.

Sniff agreed, saying law enforcement officials statewide were preparing for a spike in crime — and greater pressure on local resources.

“It scares all of us, with scarce resources and additional loads being dropped on us,” he said. “The county jail is at the front end of the system. We just don’t have the bed space.”

The sheriff said the county has 3,600 inmate beds available, compared to 6,000 in neighboring Orange County. Some 3,500 prisoners were released before the completion of their jail terms in 2008 due to overcrowding in the county jail system, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

Supervisor Bob Buster wondered whether talk of risks to public safety from recidivism wasn’t “grossly exaggerated” and suggested more money might be diverted to rehabilitation programs and deputies drawn from other areas to staff the jails.

Sniff replied that pulling deputies from the field would leave a gap in patrols assigned to unincorporated communities.

According to the sheriff, in the coming months, he will “laterally” move inmates from older jail units to the new cell blocks, without realizing an immediate net gain in jail space.

The shift will instead give sheriff’s officials a chance to exercise the equipment now in place at Smith, as part of a “warranty” check to ensure all the mechanisms are functioning as promised.

“We can’t just let that stuff sit there and not put a load on it,” he said. “If anything is broken, it needs to be fixed by the people who supplied it.”

janchavarie CA Riverside County, Personnel Issues

Oregon lawmakers moved a bill to the Ways and Means Committee Tuesday that temporarily suspends a law passed last session to allow some nonviolent offenders to get out of prison early. Story from The Oregonian.

The original law, passed last summer to help the state’s Department of Corrections save $6 million, allows some nonviolent offenders to earn an extra 10 percent off their sentences for good behavior. Previously, non-violent offenders were limited to a 20 percent credit. For the inmates who have earned the extra earned time, it has meant an average of 55 days off their sentences.

Prosecutors and Oregon Attorney General John Kroger objected to the increase in earned time, calling it too generous.

Tough-on-crime advocates, who’ve argued that 30 percent earned time is excessive, persuaded legislators to suspend the additional 10 percent earned time to study it and then reinstate it in 2011. The amendments to Senate Bill 1007 also include a list of violent offenses to be excluded from the early-release option.

In the original bill, legislators built in a review of the extra earned time credit and judges have turned down 766 requests since July. Another 3,473 inmates have been approved for early release. Some 952 inmates have earned the extra 10 percent and already been released, according to the Department of Corrections.

To date, Oregon Department of Corrections officials say the law has saved about $4 million of the projected $6 million.

janchavarie Early Release, Oregon