Re-Entry Programs: Reducing Recidivism and Promoting Successful Community Re-Entry

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Re-Entry ProgramsReducing Recidivism and
Promoting Successful Community Re-Entry
Senate Criminal Justice Committee
William Carr Assistant Secretary of Re-Entry
October 4, 2011
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While we diminish the stimulant of fear, we
must increase to prisoners the incitements of
hope, in proportion as we extinguish the terrors
of the law, we should awaken and strengthen the
control of the conscience. Dorothea Dix,
Prison Reformer (1802-1887)
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Recidivism and Successful Community Re-entry

• Agenda
• Re-Entry Facilities
• Vocational Training
• Identification Cards
• Work Release Beds
• Prescription Drugs Upon Release
• Financial Assistance
• Mental Health Services in the Community

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Re-Entry Facilities

• Northern Region
• Baker
• Southern Region
• Demilly
• Polk
• Sago Palm

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Re-Entry Facilities Portals A Single Point of
Entry
Re-entry FACILITY
Re-entry portal
Offender Reunited with Family
On-site criminal registration
POST-RELEASE supervision ?
YES
NO
Connected with probation staff
Offered re-entry services available at portal
Offered re-entry services available at portal
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Re-Entry Facilities Portals

• Designated release site for offenders returning
  to a specific county upon release
• Locations
• Jacksonville Reentry Center (JREC)
• Hillsborough County Portal
• Pinellas Safe Harbor
• Palm Beach County Portal
• The moment of release represents a critical
  point in time that can make or break an inmates
  successful reintegration into society.
• (Release Plan for Successful Reentry, Urban
  Institute Justice Policy Center)

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Vocational Training

• Occupational trades based on Agency for Workforce
  Innovation
• and U.S. Department of Labor
• FY 2010-2011
• Vocational courses offered to 4,981 inmates
• Certificates awarded 2,190 inmates
• Primary recipients
• Inmates identified with the greatest need
• Youthful Offenders with no marketable
  occupational skills
• Adults with no marketable skills within 3.5 years
  of release

Without education, job skills, and other basic
services, offenders are likely to repeat the same
steps that brought them to jail in the first
place Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal
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Vocational Training

• 33 occupational trades offered within the
  Department include
• Commercial Class B Driving
• Building Construction Technology
• AC, Refrigeration and Heating (HVAC)
• Applied Welding Technologies
• Automotive Collision Repair and Refinishing
• Commercial Foods and Culinary Arts
• Electrical
• Environmental Sciences
• Gasoline Engine Service Technology
• Masonry Brick and Block
• Plumbing Technology
• Waste Water Treatment Technologies

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Vocational Training Specter Program

• A federally funded grant for Post-secondary
  vocational training
• Inmates 35 years of age and under who have a high
  school diploma or GED
• Programs operated at 7 institutions

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Vocational TrainingU.S. Department of Labor

• In collaboration with U.S. Department of Labor
  and the Florida Department of Education
• Will provide the opportunity for inmates to earn
  an industry certificate from the Florida
  Department of Education and U.S. Department of
  Labor
• Available for long-term and short-term inmates
• Program offering includes
• Auto-body repair
• Cosmetology
• Welding
• Landscaping
• Housekeeping

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Issuing Identification Cards

• Collaboration with Social Security Administration
  and DHSMV to meet the requirements of the Real ID
  Act
• Currently 13 participating sites
• Social Security cards issued to inmates at all
  Institutions
• Since January
• 530 birth certificates issued
• 384 ID cards issued

Proper identification generally is required to
find employment, obtain housing, or apply for
public benefits that may be necessary to obtain
medication or other treatment services that can
help reduce inmates risk of reoffending.
(OPPAGA, Report No. 09-44)
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Work Release

• Work Release is a community transition program
  authorized by Florida Statute, which was
  introduced in the Department of Corrections more
  than 35 years ago.
• Participating inmates must be within 14 months of
  their release date.
• Work release allows inmates to be gainfully
  employed while still being in a controlled
  environment.

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Work Release Beds

• Statewide Community Release Program
• 3,992 Total Beds
• Department Operated Facilities -20
  2,133 (53) Total Beds
• Vendor Operated Facilities - 13 1,859 (
  47) Total Beds

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Paid Employment

• Subsistence in FY 10-11
• 6,748,739 General Revenue
• 20 Department Operated Facilities 6,748,739
• 13 Vendor operated (vendor retains all
  subsistence collected) 0

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Paid Employment

• Restitution, fines, court costs collected FY
  10-11 1,853,840
• 20 Department Operated Facilities 1,011,
  471 (55)
• 13- Vendor Operated Facilities 842,368
  (45)

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Financial Assistance in the Community

• FDOC and DCF entered into an Interagency
  Agreement
• DCF will provide a dedicated staff member to
  assist inmates
• transitioning back into the community with the
  following
• Determine eligibility for all ACCESS assistance
  programs
• Process applications for Office of Disability
  determinations
• Food Assistance
• Medicaid
• Temporary Cash Assistance

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Prescription Drug Cards

• Provide offenders with access to discounted
  prescription drug benefits to aide in the
  reentry process
• Saved FDOC ex-inmates and probationers 28,000
  since June
• 1,874 have used the card since May
• Save an average of 38 on prescriptions
• Individual saved 93 on a single prescription
• While access to in-prison health care services
  may be readily available, continued adherence to
  treatment regiments following release is a
  critical public health issue
• (From Prison To Home, Urban Institute Justice
  Policy Center)

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Mental Health Aftercare

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Post Release Work Release Medications Policy

• Statute requires that an inmate be provided a
  30-day supply of all HIV/AIDS-related medication
  at the time of release.
• FDOC policy requires that all inmates prescribed
  psychotropic medications will be provided with a
  30-day supply of medications as part of their
  mental health re-entry plan at the time of
  release. 
• FDOC policy allows for inmates to be provided
  with up to a 30-day supply of medications upon
  end of sentence (EOS) or transfer to a Work
  Release Center (WRC).
• If the Work Release inmate cannot afford
  continuing health care, including prescribed
  medications, the inmate is referred for
  evaluation by a health care provider at the
  inmates assigned institution.

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Process for Offenders Needing Post-Release
Outpatient Mental Health Services
180 Days
Treatment Plan updated
150 Days
Referral to DCF
SSI/SSDI Application initiated
45 Days
Aftercare Appointment Set with CMHC
Treatment Summary Completed
SSI/SSDI Application forwarded to SSA
Treatment Summary Forwarded to CMHC and
Probation/Parole
30 Days
Inmate Advised of Aftercare Arrangement
Release Medications Order
Release
30 Day Supply of Medications
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Electronic Web-Based Substance Abuse and Mental
Health (SAMH) Referral System
Step 2 Encrypted file transfer
Step 1 FDOC staff enter referral information
into DC Mainframe
DC Mainframe
DCF Server
Step 3 DCF staff receives referral and assigns
community provider
Step 5 FDOC staff obtains aftercare
arrangements from aftercare database /
communicates information to inmate.
Step 4 Community provider receives referral and
posts aftercare appointment in aftercare database.
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Resources

• William Carr, JD Asst Secretary , Reentry
• Carr.William_at_mail.dc.state.fl.us
• Latoya Lane, PhD Director of Reentry
• Lane.Latoya_at_mail.dc.state.fl.us
• Dean Aufderheide, PhD Director of Mental
  Health
• Aufderheide.Dean_at_mail.dc.state.fl.us