MInnesota Reducing Recidivism

Minnesota is experiencing promising success in reducuing recidivism through a program based upon the state's TPC model. An article from the Minnesota Depertment of Corrections TPC News Updates is reprinted below:

Issue #16,
December 18, 2013
TPC as a Foundation 
By Lee Buckley, Community Transition Coordinator

 TPC is the foundation for all reentry programming. Take, for example, the Second Chance Act (SCA) High Risk Adult Recidivism Reduction Demonstration Grant funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The grant uses the Minnesota TPC model to reduce recidivism for release violators transitioning from the MCF-Lino Lakes to communities in Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin and Ramsey counties. The project began in 2011, and is one of seven programs in the U.S. selected by the National Institute of Justice as part of a cross-site evaluation of BJA SCA Adult Reentry Demonstration projects. The project is funded and will operate through Sept. 30, 2015, and an assessment of the initial outcomes indicates a promising ability to change offender behavior and reduce new offense re-incarceration, and significant potential to reduce release revocations. A description and protocols document (posted to the TPC iShare site) details the framework of the project. Its structure includes all four components of the Minnesota TPC Linear Model with a key focus on engaging and collaborating with external stakeholders, case planning and management, and implementation of effective interventions. A “one-stop shop” community-based hub located in North Minneapolis, where offenders receive post-release case management, resources, referrals and more, serves as the core of the engagement and collaboration activity. The success of this demonstration project is a result of a dynamic team that includes staff from DOC Transitions Services, DOC Research, Anoka, Dakota, Hennepin and Ramsey County Community Corrections, the contracted community-based hub and four service providers, and the non-contracted providers who work collaboratively to serve this high-risk and high-need population. The success shows how effective the TPC model can be, and how it can make a difference for offendrs.

Sex Offender Training Available

The National Parole Resource Center (NPRC) a partnership of the Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP), the Association of Paroling Authorities International(APAI)and the Urban Institute, funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), has just announced a new scholarship opportunity for training on sex offemders. The one day workshop will be conducted on May 17, 2014, immediatelty preceeding the APAI Annual Training Conference near Denver, Colorado. This is a great opportunity for parole board and releasing authority members and staff to receive excellent training. Partiicpants may schedule their air travel in such a way so as to stay for the entire APAI Annual Training Conference. They will however be responsible for conference fees and food and lodging during the days of the confenerce To read the announcement in its entirety, including application criteria and instructions, click HERE

Early jail release to be curtailed under government plans

People jailed for child rape or some terror offences will no longer be automatically released from jail halfway through their sentences, under government plans for England and Wales.

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling says he also wants to curtail the early release of prisoners serving extended sentences for the most serious crimes.

About 600 prisoners a year are expected to be affected by the proposals.  Read more...

Prisoners detained for public protection win right to appear before Parole Board

Prisoners should have the right to appear in person before a Parole Board in cases where the fairness of their detention is in question, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The unanimous decision by Lord Neuberger, Lady Hale, Lord Kerr, Lord Clarke and Lord Reed, is likely to mean many prisoners who have served their sentence but are kept behind bars for reasons of “public protection” can appear in person to plead the case for their release.  Read more...

International Corrections and Prison Association Conference

Our colleagues at the International Corrections and Prison Association (ICPA) will be hosting their Annual Conference in the United States this year, October 27 thorugh November 1, 2013 in Colorado Springs. For more infomation visit thier website at: http://www.icpa.ca/calendar/icpa/

Montana Legislature sets sights on Parole Board's possible role in prison overcrowding

Examining whether board may be too stringent on granting or revoking parole for felons within Montana correctional system

HELENA — Montana’s parole board, which decides the fate of hundreds of state prison inmates each year, will be getting a hard look from the Legislature on its possible role in overcrowding Montana’s prison cells.

Beginning next month, a legislative panel kicks off a yearlong study of the board, examining whether the board may be too stringent on granting or revoking parole for felons within the Montana correctional system.

“We’re keeping so many people in prison for so long, nonviolent offenders, at tremendous cost to the taxpayer,” said Sen. Terry Murphy, R-Caldwell, the author of the bill leading to the study. “It just came to some of us that we really need to find out why that is.”

The study will be conducted by the Law and Justice Interim Committee, which has heard hours of testimony from families criticizing the board, accusing it of denying parole for their loved ones for no good reason.

Mike McKee, a retired financial adviser from Hamilton and chairman of the parole board since 2009, said last week that much of that testimony was “misinformation and half-truths being presented as facts.”  Read more...

How Can DISCOVER CORRECTIONS Help You and Your Agency?

As the premier national website dedicated to promoting corrections careers, www.DiscoverCorrections.comenables corrections agencies to:

· Reach a local and national audience of informed, interested and qualified candidates
· Present jobseekers with detailed information about their agencies
· Post job openings to our free job board
· Search resumes of registered job seekers
· And do it all for FREE

First, has your agency registered as an employer on DiscoverCorrections.com? If not, please take a moment and register your agency today! Even if you don’t have current job openings, registering and creating a profile on Discover Corrections is a great way to promote your agency.

Are you unsure if your agency has registered? You can view the employer directory at this link:

http://discovercorrections.com/jobboard/browse-by-company/?action=search

Need to register your agency, go to

http://discovercorrections.com/jobboard/registration/?user_group_id=Employer

Don’t forget to let your Human Resources staff know about the site and encourage them to use it as another method for posting job openings.

Second…help us promote the website to your constituency group. I’ve attached some templates that you can adapt and use to help us spread the word. There is a short announcement you can insert into e-newletters or email blasts. There is also a short article that you can include in a newsletter or magazine. A general email blast template and copies of 3 full page color ads are also attached for your use.

Technical Assistance Available From the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)

The Association of Paroling Authorities International (APAI) is partnering with the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to promote some very important technical assistance opportunities. BJA is committed to supporting the efforts of probation and parole agencies across the nation to leverage contemporary research to implement promising supervision policies and practices that are evidence-based, data-driven, and smart on crime.  Although it currently funds several technical assistance (TA) initiatives for community corrections, BJA recognizes that there is a need for additional resources that can be tailored to address the specific challenges faced by community corrections at the state, local, and tribal levels.  BJA’s National Training and Technical Assistance Center (NTTAC) has, therefore, committed additional resources to support TA engagements that focus on enhancing the work of community corrections agencies on the following key issues:

•        Leveraging key lessons learned from BJA’s Smart Probation Initiative to enhance the overall effectiveness and efficiency of offender supervision strategies.

•        Enhancing the use of empirically validated offender assessment tools to guide supervision and decision-making.

•        Evaluating caseload allocations and implementing strategies to use limited supervision resources most efficiently and effectively, (e.g., targeting high and medium risk offenders for smaller caseloads, more intensive supervision and programming).

•        Integrating effective treatment and programming with supervision, and ensuring quality of services delivered.

•        Developing and implementing a comprehensive system of data-driven graduated sanctions designed to respond to violations and reduce the likelihood of recidivism.

•        Enhancing collaboration and expanding strategic partnerships between probation and parole agencies and local law enforcement to enhance offender management efforts. 

These topics appear to be areas in which state parole boards and releasing authorities can collaborate with their supervision partners to improve their performance in the critical task before them.  This assistance is open to non-federal agencies from the United States and the U.S. territories.

Community corrections agencies interested in pursuing TA engagements on any of the aforementioned issues are encouraged to complete a brief online application at: http://bjatraining.org/working-with-nttac/requestors/tta-request/form by September 30, 2013.  

Questions regarding the assistance available on enhancing the work of community corrections can be directed to BJA NTTAC at 855-252-8822.

Almost Half of States Acted in 2012 to Cut Inmates or Aid Re-Entry

The State of Sentencing 2012, a new report from The Sentencing Project, highlights reforms in 24 states that demonstrate a continued trend to reform sentencing policies and scale back the use of imprisonment without compromising public safety. The report provides an overview of recent policy reforms in the areas of sentencing, probation and parole, collateral consequences, and juvenile justice.  Read more...

Training Opportunites Available from the National Parole Resource Center

ANNOUNCEMENT:  TRAINING SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE FOR:

 Positive Outcomes for Women Offenders: Applying the Research and Principles of Gender-Responsiveness to Parole Decision Making and Supervision

The National Parole Resource Center (NPRC) a partnership of the Center for Effective Public Policy (CEPP), the Association of Paroling Authorities International (APAI), and the Urban Institute, supported by a grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), is pleased to announce a workshop entitled Increasing Positive Outcomes for Women Offenders: Applying the Research and Principles of Gender-Responsiveness to Parole Decision Making and Supervision to be conducted on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 22 and the morning of Thursday, May 23, 2013 in Providence, Rhode Island in conjunction with the APAI Annual Training conference.  (Although funding for this workshop is provided in the grant supporting the National Parole Resource Center, recent procedural changes at the Department of Justice require that every meeting sponsored under their funding be individually approved.  A request for approval of this event—proposed in the original grant application—was submitted, and all financial guidelines regarding how funds may be utilized are being observed.  Approval is anticipated, however, funds may not be obligated—e.g., airline tickets purchased, etc.—until specific approval has been received.  NPRC will keep applicants for this event fully informed as to the status of plans, and will notify them specifically before any travel costs may be incurred.)

NPRC Background

The National Parole Resource Center (NPRC) was established to address the documented and significant gap that exists in the resources and accessible knowledge base available for a critical group of justice system practitioners – paroling authorities. The NPRC, operated by a partnership among the Center for Effective Public Policy, the Association of Paroling Authorities International, and the Urban Institute, was established to provide state paroling authorities with the kind of information, guidance, and support on best practices or evidence emerging from the research needed to strengthen and make the work of state paroling authorities more effective within the larger context of the criminal justice system.

Workshop Description

The movement towards evidence-based practice (EBP) and gender-responsive practices has led to important discoveries in the field regarding how criminal justice professionals can work more effectively with women offenders to improve their outcomes.  This workshop will provide participants with gender-specific considerations that parole boards and paroling authorities should consider when making release decisions, setting conditions, and supervising offenders to facilitate their successful transition to the community. The workshop will integrate research on female development, pathways and trauma, while emphasizing how gender-specific research and best practices can be applied within the current framework of EBP in which many agencies are already engaged.  Information on NPRC resources and technical assistance opportunities will also be provided. 

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Summarize the research on the new gender-informed classification and risk assessment tools.
• Define the risk levels, criminogenic needs and resiliency factors that women present and identify the implications for release decision making, condition setting, and supervision.
• List the behavioral symptoms of women’s trauma experiences and identify the implications for effective interactions with women and parole supervision strategies.
• Consider the ten “practice targets” for paroling authorities through the lens of working with justice-involved women.
• Locate and access additional resources provided by the NPRC.

NPRC to Sponsor Scholarships for a Limited Number of Parole Board Members and Potentially Other Staff

The NPRC is pleased to announce that the project will support the participation of at least one Parole Board member from up to 30 different U.S. non-federal/military paroling authorities.  The intent of the NPRC is to ensure broad-based, nationwide participation in this event.  However, if applications are not received from 30 individual parole boards, the project will fill remaining slots with a senior staff member, hearing officer, or an additional member from boards with one member already participating.  These decisions will be made on a first come, first served basis. 

Support for these 30 participants will be in the form of “scholarships” available to pay the costs of transportation, lodging, and food for this two-day event. While the provision of food and lodging will cover this workshop only, transportation can be arranged so as to allow for attendance at the entire APAI Annual Training Conference.  (Conference registration fees and additional food and lodging costs for the remainder of the APAI conference are not covered by the NPRC scholarship.)

If space permits, an additional 5 individuals (from U.S., federal/military, and international boards) may be permitted to attend the NPRC workshop (though no additional scholarships would be available for these individuals).  Information about further non-scholarship slots in the workshop will be available at a later date.

Eligibility

Because of the source of funding for these scholarships, the following eligibility requirements are necessary.  In order to be eligible for a scholarship to this event, a nominated candidate:

·         Must be a member or staff of a state parole board or releasing authority within the United States; and

·         Must commit to attend both days of the workshop.

In the event that not all scholarship opportunities are sought, remaining slots will be assigned to a second participant from applying paroling authorities, on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Application Process

Boards may make up to two nominations:

·         First, for the available scholarship opportunity—they should nominate one Board member;

·         A second nomination may also be made (for a senior staff member, hearing officer, or an additional board member), to take advantage of the opportunity in case another scholarship becomes available.

The deadline for receipt of the letter of application is Friday, February 15, 2013.  Final selection decisions will be made by March 15, 2013.  Potential participants should not make any travel arrangements to travel to the workshop without notification of final selection from the NPRC.  Applications will be considered in the order in which they are received.

How to Apply

In order to apply, applicants should submit the  application form, available HERE or on the APAI website,  and a brief email to Leilah Gilligan, Center for Effective Public Policy, via email at lgilligan@cepp.com with the subject line “APAI Justice-Involved Women Training Application.”  The email message should demonstrate compliance with the eligibility requirements above. 

Questions about the application process or the workshop should be directed to: Leilah Gilligan at 301-5 lgilligan@cepp.com 89-9383 or lgilligan@cepp.com. 

* Approval for this workshop is pending with BJA and the convening of this workshop is

contingent upon this approval being received.