Allegheny County State Forensic Program

1
Allegheny County State Forensic Program

• 2005 Innovations in American Government Award
  Winner
• Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and
  Innovation
• Kennedy School of Government
• Harvard University
• Created and Presented by Marilyn Kidd

2
Mission

• Reintegration of individuals with behavioral
  health diagnoses into the community as
  productive, valuable members of society upon
  their release from the Pennsylvania prisons
  system.

3
What Does the Program Do?

• Confront mental illness
• Helps former inmates reintegrate to become
• productive members of society
• Promotes safe and stable community
• Produce significant cost savings

4
Achievable Outcomes

• Recidivism Rate
• Before 71
• After 10
• National Average 61
• Cost
• 3000 per participant
• National Average 25,000

5
The Beginning
Recognition of the Ineffective
Inefficient

• Jail Transition Committee
• Increasing inmate population thru 1990s with
  increased
• Female Inmates
• Male inmates ages 18-25 years
• Programs effective with male inmates were not
  effective with female inmates.
• Female inmates
• Hx of physical, emotional and sexual abuse
• child-related responsibilities and parenting
• that needed to be considered when designing a
  program that would be effective for them.
• Only inmates going to probation were given
  pre-release interviews

6
The Roots of the Solution

• Jail Transition Committee Focus
• Reduce recidivism

7
The Roots of the Solution

• Jail Transition Committee
• RECOMMENDATION 1 County Corrections System focus
  on several key issues
• Coordination among agencies / departments
• Management Information Systems
• Individual Case Management for services for
  inmates in jail
• Identify program needs in jail /community
• Alternative incarceration programs including
  house arrest
• Treatment programs in jail/community
• Post-release planning and coordination
• Halfway and step-down programs
• The distinctive needs of female inmates
• Jail and community program evaluations
• Program funding and grants

8
The Roots of the Solution

• Jail Transition Committee
• RECOMMENDATION 2 Key Stakeholders form a
  Collaborative Group
• Allegheny County Jail Collaborative
• Three County Agencies
• Allegheny County Jail
• Allegheny Co. Department of Human Services
• Allegheny Co. Department of Health

9
The Roots of the Solution

• Allegheny County Jail Collaborative
• Purpose
• Develop a plan to implement a countywide
  reintegration approach.
• Since 2000, monthly meetings with 2 focal points
• Reduce Recidivism
• Increase Public Safety

10
Allegheny County Jail Collaborative

• Method Facilitate Collaboration of
• Government Agencies
• Court Officials
• Service Providers
• Ex-Offenders
• Faith Based Community Organizations
• Families
• Community at Large
• Obstacles recognized and acknowledged

11
Path to Success 2001Program Upgrade

• Comprehensive Service Approach Components
• Screen inmates to determine service needs.
• A Service plan developed through the facilitation
  of caseworkers
• On-going case management support
• Identification of additional services inside and
  outside the jail
• Courts commitment for early release for
  compliance with the service plan
• Address the overwhelming need for drug and
  alcohol treatment
• Begin planning for aftercare and post-release
  services well in advance of the release of the
  inmate
• Include the family of the inmate when possible
• Provide services and case management during
  incarceration and post-release.

12
Path to Success 2001Program Upgrade

• Service Plan
• Responsibility of Primary Manager of
  Inmate Service Plan
• Recognized by courts for sentence reduction

13
Path to Success 2001Program Upgrade

• Service Plan Key Elements
• Strong consistent communication among all
  entities involved
• Adequate number of jail staff to provide
  effective case management services
• On-going planning mechanisms
• Appropriate and realistic action plans
• Quality programs with adequate number of slots to
  serve inmates
• Adequate supervision and support for post-release
  services
• On-going assessment and evaluation of the
  functioning of the overall service approach and
  individual programs

14
Path to Success 2001Program Upgrade

• Community Re-integration Tracking and Evaluation
• Assess the improvements in service delivery
  system
• Assess individual outcomes

15
Path to Success 2001Program Upgrade

• Tracking and Evaluation
• Healthy Start
• Created database to collect, store and report
  inmate info
• Track service availability
• Determine eligibility of inmates for programs
• Assist in creation of comprehensive service plan

16
Path to Success 2001Program Upgrade

• Evaluation Focus
• Service Usage
• Provider Performance Outcomes
• Recidivism
• Length of time between screening , referral,
  service provision and release
• Information shared with DHS through eCAPS system

17
2002 Partnership for Change

• Service Providers from the Community invited to
  sit at the table
• Jail Planner identified to coordinate the
  collaborative process
• Collaborative group developed
• Service Plans
• Referral forms
• Consent forms
• Caseworkers trained on the implementation of the
  forms

18
Today

• Adopted by the State of Pennsylvania
  State Max Out Program
• Federal Attention
• Council of State Governments
• National Governors Association
• National Institute of Corrections, a branch of
  the Federal Bureau of Prisons

19

• Jeff Swensen for The New York Times
• The program's creator, Amy Kroll, right, spent
  time recently with her daughters and another
  former inmate, Ronald Williams.

20
Allegheny County State Forensic Program

• Novel
• Effective
• Significant
• Transferable
• 2005 Innovations in American Government
  Award Winner
• Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and
  Innovation
• Kennedy School of Government
• Harvard University