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Coping with the Mental Health Dilemma
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A Note from the Publisher
17 States Expected to Lower Prisoner Populations, Slow Prison Growth, and Save Billions through Innovative Justice Reforms
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cross the country, states are pioneering strategies to reduce their prison populations and costs, and invest criminal-justice dollars in evidencebased policies. Corrections Forum is committed to bringing to these pages topical updates of these reforms. A new Urban Institute report details the experiences of 17 states participating in the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI). Through JRI, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) in partnership with the Pew Charitable Trusts, states receive federal dollars to assess, revamp, and monitor the performance of their criminal justice systems. The Justice Reinvestment Initiative State Assessment Report examines the factors driving prison growth and how state policymakers are responding to this growth. Common problems include lengthy sentences, high parole and probation revocation rates, and inefficient supervision and reentry services for released offenders. States are testing a range of strategies designed to yield better public safety returns on their corrections spending. In South Carolina, for instance, corrections spending rose 500 percent over the past 25 years, and its prison population tripled. Increased housing of nonviolent offenders, a growing number of returning parolees and probationers, and declining use of parole drove this growth. The state responded with targeted reforms, such as strengthening supervision and enhancing parole release decisionmaking. Since implementing the reforms, the state has saved more than $7 million and prevented the return of 1,000 probationers and parolees to VISIT US AT CORRECTIONSFORUM.NET
prison. Total projected savings across all 17 states amount to as much as $4.6 billion. In addition to the benefit to state budgets, the report authors identify two bright spots in the reform efforts: enhanced cooperation and coordination throughout the criminal justice system and a cultural shift toward data-driven decisionmaking. States participating in JRI must demonstrate bipartisan support, involve the three branches of government, and actively engage stakeholders throughout the justice system— from judges to police chiefs to community leaders. JRI’s technical assistance providers work with the states to capture data, monitor the progress of reforms, and enhance accountability. According to the report’s principal investigator and Justice Policy Center director, Nancy La Vigne, “One of the best outcomes we’ve seen is that state leaders are now equipped with the hard data and tools they need to make wellinformed policy decisions. Through JRI, they have been able to ask and answer long-standing questions about which types of policies and practices were contributing to prison growth and why, and then respond with tailored solutions.” The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Vera Institute of Justice, and the Council of State Governments Justice Center serve as technical assistance providers to the 17 states chronicled in the report. The study includes detailed case studies about the strategies employed in each state. For the full report and other resources, check out the newlyredesigned Corrections Forum website at correctionsforum.net/ resource-center/white-papers.
CORRECTIONS
FORUM
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Jamie Stroud CORRECTIONS FORUM (ISSN10729275) is published bi-monthly by: Criminal Justice Media, Inc 116 South Catalina Avenue Suite # 116 Redondo Beach, CA 90277 (310) 374-2700 Send address changes to: CORRECTIONS FORUM Subscription Department 69 Lyme Rd. Hanover, NH 03755 (603) 643-6551 Subscriptions: Annual subscriptions for non-qualified personnel, United States only, is $60.00. Single copy or back issues - $10.00 All Canada and Foreign subscriptions are $90.00 per year. Free digital “issues” are available for qualified Canadian and Foreign Subscribers — Go to www.correctionsforum.net Printed in the United States of America, Copyright © 2014 Criminal Justice Media, Inc.
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A Note from our Publisher
Corrections In the Media
Coping with the Mental Health Dilemma Making Hearings Easy Via Videoconferencing Perimeter Security: Latest Advancements Alternatives to Incarceration: Risk Assessment & Community Treatment Tools Ad Index 18
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Corrections in the media
CHICAGO SHERIFF: WAREHOUSING MENTALLY ILL IN JAIL "RIDICULOUSLY STUPID" NPR In the Cook County, Ill., jail, where one third of the 10,000 inmates are mentally ill, Sheriff Tom Dart has created some of the most innovative programs in the U.S. to deal with them, hiring doctors and psychologists, and training staff. If you ask at the jail, it's barely managing. "I can't conceive of anything more ridiculously stupid by government than to do what we're doing right now," Dart says.
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"You see people who are so profoundly ill that you understand that this is not the place for them," says Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia, head of mental health for the jail. Here and throughout much of the nation, there's nowhere else for them to go. City and state governments nationwide have cut funding for mental health services. In the face of budget shortfalls, six of the Chicago area's 12 mental health clinics have closed in the
past three years. Illinois closed three of the area's state hospitals. Private clinics are struggling for funding. Dart is confused by the compliments he hears from other jail administrators. "On the one hand they're speaking so highly about what you're doing," he says, "but it's depressing as hell when they tell you you're the leader. I feel as if we're doing the bare minimum, and we're the leaders? No, this is not good."
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Corrections in the media OKLA. GOV. FALLIN ORDERS NEW REVIEW OF JUSTICE REINVESTMENT LAW Tulsa World Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin asked the new Department of Corrections director to evaluate a
public safety bill that many believe has not been funded adequately. Recently, the Board of Corrections tapped Robert Patton to replace Justin Jones, who resigned last year from an agency that is plagued with crowded prisons, poor staffing and low morale. Patton is coming from the Arizona Department of
Corrections, where he was the division director of operations. In 2012, Fallin signed a law creating the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which was designed to curb prison crowding and improve public safety. It called for two elements that have yet to be funded—the creation of "intermediate revocation facilities" for those who commit technical violations of probation and parole, and for more officers to supervise those leaving custody for nine months. Fallon asked Patton to evaluate the legislation, adding that she and legislators have not had confidence in the agency's handling of its funds. Critics say Fallin backed off the measure for fear of being called soft on crime in an election year. "I want to make it very clear—I do support JRI," Fallin said.
FAMILY OF EXECUTED OHIO MAN TO SUE OVER "FAILED, AGONIZING EXPERIMENT" Columbus Dispatch The family of Dennis McGuire will file a federal lawsuit against the state of Ohio over his troubled execution. The suit will contend that McGuire’s 8th Amendment rights under the U.S. Constitution to avoid “cruel and unusual punishment” were violated when he gasped for air, choked and struggled against his restraints for about 10 minutes before being declared dead at 10:53 a.m. McGuire’s children witnessed his lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Dayton. McGuire, 53, was executed for the brutal 1989 murder of Joy Stewart, 22, who was newly married and 30 weeks pregnant at the time of her death. There was no clear indication that a drug com8 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBURUARY 2014
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C orrections in media bination never before used in a U.S. execution triggered McGuire’s death struggles. Allen Bohnert, one of McGuire’s federal public defenders, called the execution a “failed, agonizing experiment by the state of Ohio.” McGuire died from an injection of midazolam, a sedative, and hydromorphone, a morphine derivative. The state switched to the new drugs because pentobarbital, the single drug used before, is no longer available as manufacturers will not sell it for executions.
WILL VIDEO VISITATION REPLACE FACE-TO-FACE TIME IN PRISONS, JAILS? Chicago Tribune Illinois' 25 state prisons are due to start using video visitation this year, and it has become the norm in scores of other correctional facilities across the U.S. In some places, the technology enables inmates' loved ones to "visit" from their homes through Skype-like chatting—a service typically provided for a fee by a contractor, with profits often shared with jail operators. Jailers say the format offers advantages to visitors, inmates and guards alike. It eliminates the need to escort inmates and visitors through correctional facilities, which cuts down on the use of personnel, increases security, and reduces contraband and confrontations among inmates. Advocates say the big advantage for families is the possibility of remote video visitation: For example, a relative in the Chicago area could talk to an inmate at a Downstate prison for a small fraction of what it might cost to travel there. Research suggests that visitation with family and friends helps improve inmate behavior in custody, reduces repeat offending, and eases inmates back into life once they're released. Critics worry that video will replace face-to-face visits and that providers will subject their captive customers to exorbitant fees. John Maki of the John Howard Association of Illinois, a Chicago-based inmate advocacy organization, welcomed video only as an additional option. "It's a fundamental right to have meaningful visits with loved ones," he said. "If it's to supplement in-person visits, that's great. I think the danger in video visitation is using it to replace in-person visits."
BROWN WANTS $500 MILLION FOR PRIVATE, LOCAL CELLS FOR 17,700 CALIF. INMATES Los Angeles Times California Gov. Jerry Brown plans to increase the state's use of private prison cells and leases with local jails even if federal judges agree to give the VISIT US AT WWW.CORRECTIONSFORUM.NET
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Corrections in the media state more time to meet crowding limits within its own lockups. His plan sets aside nearly $500 million to pay for prison contracts to take nearly 17,700 inmates, increases of $100 million and 4,700 prisoners over the current year. A little more than half of those prisons are out of state. The rest are community correctional centers, which could be run by local governments or private prison operators. Even with that increase in spending, California prisons would remain 3,000 inmates over what federal judges say they can safely hold and still provide adequate health care and psychiatric services. Projections released by the corrections department show that by 2019 the state will have 26,000 more inmates than its prisons would be able to hold under federal crowding caps. That amount is equivalent to the population of seven of the state's current prisons combined.
HOW AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MAY HELP EX-INMATES, CUT RECIDIVISM TheAtlantic.com An astonishing two-thirds of the 730,000 people released each year from U.S. lockups have either substance abuse problems, mental health problems, or both. Often, those problems were largely responsible for getting them locked up in the first place. Most addicted and mentally ill prisoners receive little or no effective treatment while they’re incarcerated or after they’re turned loose, so it’s little surprise they soon wind up back in jail. For some, that revolving door may stop spinning thanks to President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Get that junkie off heroin, and maybe he won’t steal your car 10 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBURUARY 2014
stereo for fix money; get that mentally ill homeless person on proper medications, and maybe she can find a job instead of turning tricks in alleys. “It’s not the drug itself, it’s the stealing and robbing they do to get the drug,” says Abbie Zimmerman of Transitions Clinic in San Francisco, which helps former prisoners. The ACA's expansion of Medicaid and other changes in the law mean that tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of inmates released every year are now eligible for health insurance, including coverage for mental health and substance abuse services. If only one percent of each year’s released inmates stay out of trouble, taxpayers will save nearly $200 million annually—and the pool of troubled ex-cons looking to steal your car stereo will be that much smaller.
OKLA. CLOSES HALFWAY HOUSE WHERE INMATES FOUGHT FOR ‘ENTERTAINMENT’ Tulsa World The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is taking all 200 inmates out of Avalon Correctional Services' Tulsa halfway house for men, due to investigations revealing "serious infractions" affecting inmate safety. The state confirmed that inmate brawls were an issue. Attorney Louis Bullock said he's been investigating the circumstances surrounding the inmate fights at Avalon Tulsa and has found repeated civil rights concerns. "It's very clear that fighting at that facility was commonplace," he said. "In some cases, it was not only supported or allowed, but actually ordered by the administration." Inmates were allowed to fight to settle debts or as punishment for mis-
conduct, he said. "Some of it was just done for pure entertainment of the staff and other inmates. You just can't operate a facility like that."
BANK OF AMERICA RAISES $13.5M FOR N.Y. EX-INMATE SOCIAL-IMPACT BOND PROJECT Barron’s Bank of America Merrill Lynch says it has raised $13.5 million from 40 private and institutional clients for a reform initiative for former New York state inmates. The proceeds will provide training and employment programs for 2,000 newly released ex-cons in hopes of reducing recidivism. If successful, the state would save millions in incarceration and criminal justice system costs; a portion of those savings would be paid to BofA’s investors, a market-rate financial return for those who helped finance the program. Social-impact bonds, or “pay for success bonds,” raise private investor dollars to fund social programs that reduce public sector costs, aids society in some way, and generate fixed incomelike payouts to investors. The BofA/New York partnership is being called the most significant social-impact bond todate globally. New York is the first state to launch such a project. If the program reduces recidivism by at least 8 percent and/or increases the former prisoners’ post-release employment by five percentage points, then investors get their money back. Further drops in recidivism or employment gains, could, in the best case, earn returns of up to 12.5 percent annually over the project’s five-and-a-half years. The state would in that optimal case realize up to $7.8 million in savings, even after investors walked
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Corrections in the media
THE PROBLEM OF PRISON OVERCROWDING The Economist Prison overcrowding is a problem for countries around the world, including the United States, where 30,000 California prison inmates initiated a hunger strike in July to protest solitary confinement policies at the state’s prisons. In its fourth week in August, nearly 500 inmates are still refusing meals. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the state to reduce its prison population, ruling the overcrowded conditions amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. While California prisons are overcrowded, U.S. prisons overall are operating at 99% capacity, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies, putting the U.S. in the middle of a group of selected countries highlighted by The Economist. Topping the list was Haiti, whose population of 9,904 inmates were housed in a system of 17 prisons operating at 336% occupancy level in 2009. The U.S. announced plans earlier this year to build two prisons in Haiti’s provinces as part of an international effort to ease the severe overcrowding that often requires inmates to take turns sleeping at night because of lack of space. Near the bottom of the list is Japan, whose comparatively roomy prisons have been likened to “Spartan retirement home[s]” with tiny, but spotless cells and a strict rule of silence. Japan’s prison population rate is 54 out of 100,000 citizens, compared to 716 in the U.S. Overcrowded prisons can be toxic for both prisoners and guards, according to a recent GAO report that found overcrowded conditions contribute to increased inmate misconduct, more competition for prison services such as educational or vocational training pro12 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBURUARY 2014
grams and a lack of meaningful work opportunities for prisoners during their incarcerations. Disease can also be a concern: tuberculosis rates can be 100 times higher in prisons than in the civilian population, and mental health and substance abuse issues are often more prevalent. Despite falling crime rates noted in a Pew Research Center analysis in May, the U.S. federal and state prison population has risen from 307,276 prisoners in 1978 to a high of 1.6 million prisoners in 2009, before declining slightly in the past three years.
Note: The last paragraph of this post has been updated to clarify that the prison population figures cited include federal and state prisoners. The International Centre for Prison Studies estimated the local prison population at 735,601 in 2011. VISIT US AT WWW.CORRECTIONSFORUM.NET
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Corrections in the media away with their cut. The Center for Employment Opportunities, a nonprofit focused on finding jobs for ex-prisoners, was selected by New York State for the project.
HARVARD STUDENT DESIGNS PRISON THAT INCLUDES SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY Architecture News Daily Architecture News Daily reports on a "radical approach to prison design" from Glen Santayana, a student at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, who designed PriSchool, a prison that includes a school of criminology. PriSchool is designed for non-violent offenders who struggle to stay on the right side of the law when released. Located in a Brooklyn neighborhood sur-
rounded by “million dollar blocks” with such high crime that the state is spending a million dollars a year to incarcerate their residents, the prison/school hybrid rethinks what a prison can achieve, imagining it as a place where prisoners and students can learn from each other, and where criminals can be rehabilitated. Prison design issues have been pursued by Raphael Sperry, founder of Architects/Designers/ Planners for Social Responsibility, who wants the American Institute of Architects to forbid members from designing execution chambers or solitary confinement units. Deanna VanBuren of FOURM Design Studio, has championed "restorative justice," which emphasizes rehabilitation and reconciliation in order to prevent people from re-offending.
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ARIZONA SHERIFFS SAY STATE WASTES MONEY BY MOVING INMATES TO PRIVATE PRISON Arizona Republic Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and other Arizona sheriffs’ offices say the state is needlessly spending money to move inmates to a new private prison when they could be held in county facilities for millions of dollars less per year. The sheriffs said they would be willing to take state prisoners after it was reported that the state would begin housing inmates at the privately held Red Rock Correctional Center near Eloy. The state guarantees owner Corrections Corporation of America a profit with an occupancy rate of at least
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Corrections in the media 90 percent at the new facility. CCA has become the third private-prison operator for the state corrections department, which has been told by the legislature and Gov. Jan Brewer to use private facilities to ease prison overcrowding. Critics—including Arpaio and other sheriffs—say those facilities are a waste of state resources and funnel tax dollars into the bottom line of companies that pay their top executives seven figures. “The state should be supporting the counties and not try competing against them,” said Brannon Eager, the Apache County sheriff’s chief deputy. “It’s obvious the existing sheriffs’ jails could house inmates cheaper than private prisons.”
HOW PRISON GARDENS CUT RECIDIVISM, SAVE TAXPAYER MONEY NPR A "vibrant movement of prison vegetable gardens" across the U.S. is providing inmates with satisfying work, marketable skills and fresh food to eat. From Connecticut to Minnesota to California, correctional authorities are finding all kinds of reasons to encourage inmates to produce their own food inside the walls. Planting Justice helped oversee a garden at San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco project in partnership with Insight Garden Program, which has been helping inmates at San Quentin rehabilitate and get training in flower gardening since 2003. Those gardening skills are being put to use once the men leave San Quentin as well. In the past three years, Planting Justice has hired 10 former inmates to work on landscaping jobs. They get an entry-level wage of $17.50 per hour. Pew Charitable Trusts says that more than four in 10 offenders return to prison within three years. Planting Justice says the recidivism rate for the men who go through the garden program is 10 percent. Programs in other states have had similar successes. In 2012, Nourishing the Planet, a blog of the Worldwatch Institute, put together this list of five urban garden prison projects. It notes that not only do the garden programs help with rehabilitation, they also often save states and local government thousands of dollars.
midyear 2012 (figure 1 below). The majority of the increase occurred in California jails. Excluding the increase in California’s jail population, the nationwide jail population would have remained relatively stable during the period. The average daily population (ADP) in jails remained stable from 735,565 during the 12-month period ending June 30, 2011, and 735,983 during the 12-month period ending June 30, 2012. The jail incarceration rate—the confined population per 100,000 U.S. residents—remained stable between 2011 (236 per 100,000) and 2012 (237 per 100,000). The incarceration rate was down from a high of 259 jail inmates per 100,000 residents in 2007. Overall, males accounted for 87% of the jail population at midyear 2012. Whites accounted for 46% of the total, blacks represented 37%, and Hispanics represented 15% of inmates. About 5,400 juveniles were held in local jails (or less than 1% of the confined population). At midyear 2012, about 6 in 10 inmates were not convicted, but were in jail awaiting court action on a current charge—a rate unchanged since 2005. About 4 in 10 inmates were sentenced offenders or convicted offenders awaiting sentencing. Nearly 91% of the increase in the confined population during 2012 occurred in the largest jail jurisdictions—those with an average daily population of more than 1,000 inmates. The largest jails held 48% of the jail population at midyear 2012, but accounted for less than 10% of all jail jurisdictions nationwide. The population declined in jail jurisdictions holding 500 to 999 inmates. The share of offenders in jail jurisdictions holding less than 500 inmates did not change significantly between 2011 and 2012,
JAIL INMATES AT MIDYEAR 2012—STATISTICAL TABLES BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS After three consecutive years of decline in the jail inmate population, the number of persons confined in county and city jails (744,524) increased by 1.2% (or 8,923 inmates) between midyear 2011 and 14 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBURUARY 2014
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Corrections in the media indicating that these jail jurisdictions had somewhat similar rates of increase in their population.
MISSISSIPPI PHASING OUT CONJUGAL VISITS FOR INMATES New Orleans Times-Picayune Turkey began letting their inmates have conjugal visits in 2012. They're even allowed in Saudi Arabia and Iran, countries infamous for their repressiveness, but in all but six states in our country they're forbidden. One of those six exceptions has been Mississippi. In fact, it's believed that around 1900, Mississippi became the first state to offer sex as a reward for good behavior. As groundbreaking as it was, Mississippi's conjugal visit program is said to be in its last weeks.
Come February, says Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps, conjugal visits will be a thing of the past. Epps has gone on record as saying he thought conjugal visitations had a positive influence on prisoners' behavior, had helped keep families intact and probably reduced sexual assaults among inmates. During the last fiscal year, only 155 inmates out of 22,000 were deemed eligible to participate, but Epps says the program has become too expensive to operate. Is it really the money, or is it that the program's become a political target for Mississippi politicians who find the policy uncomfortably liberal? Some people favor making prisons as hellish as humanly possible and think depriving prisoners of every comfort is the whole point of prisons. People who run prisons often say
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it's easier to keep order if prisoners are given something that can be taken away if they break the rules.
MONTANA OFFICIALS QUESTION HIGH PRISON-RAPE STATS Associated Press A nationwide survey of prisoners found Montana State Prison has one of the highest rates of rapes and sexual assaults, but state corrections officials questioned the report's methodology and said it's unlikely the problem is as bad as it seems. The U.S. Department of Justice survey of inmates in 233 state and federal prisons and 358 jails released last year identified Montana's Deer Lodge prison as one of 11 with high rates of sexual victimization of inmates.
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Corrections in the media The survey conducted from February 2011 through May 2012 included 191 Montana prisoner responses. At the time, there were more than 1,440 inmates in the state prison. Seventeen Montana respondents reported inmate-oninmate sexual assaults, a response rate that was third-highest among
state and federal prisons surveyed. Nineteen inmates, or nearly 10 percent of Montana respondents, reported staff-on-inmate sexual misconduct—the second-highest rate in the survey. The national average was 2 percent of inmates reporting inmate-on-inmate assaults and 2.4 percent reporting
CALIFORNIA PUBLIC SAFETY REALIGNMENT On May 23, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the ruling by a lower three-judge court that the State of California must reduce its prison population to 137.5% of design capacity (approximately 110,000 prisoners) within two years to alleviate overcrowding. In response, the California State Legislature and governor enacted two laws—AB 109 and AB 117—to reduce the number of inmates housed in state prisons starting October 1, 2011. The Public Safety Realignment (PSR) policy is designed to reduce the prison population through normal attrition of the existing population while placing new nonviolent, nonserious, nonsex offenders under county jurisdiction for incarceration in local jail facilities. Inmates released from local jails will be placed under a county-directed post-release community supervision program instead of the state’s parole system. The state is giving additional funding to the 58 counties in California to deal with the increased correctional population and responsibility; however, each county must develop a plan for custody and post-custody that best serves the needs of the county. After record low jail populations between yearend 2010 and yearend 2011, the California jail population increased in 2012 by an estimated 7,600 inmates since yearend 2011 (figure 2). The Bureau of Justice Statistics will continue to analyze population characteristics in California’s jails and describe how these jails affect the nationwide jail population.
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staff-on-inmate misconduct, the survey showed.
JUDGE FINDS S.C. PRISON SYSTEM VIOLATES RIGHTS, THREATENS LIVES OF MENTALLY ILL PRISONERS The State (Columbia, S.C.) The treatment given to S.C. prison inmates suffering serious mental illness is so substandard that it's unconstitutional and threatens the mental health of inmates, a state judge ruled Jan. 8 in a historic decision on a 2005 class-action lawsuit according to article by John Monk. The S.C. DOC intends to appeal the decision, the agency said. Mental health is not just a corrections problem, it's a national problem that all sectors of society are working to address, the agency said through a spokesman. But the judge said the agency is responsible for its conduct. "Evidence in this case has proved that inmates have died in the S.C. Department of Corrections for lack of basic mental health care," Judge Michael Baxley wrote in his 45-page order. "Hundreds more remain substantially at risk for serious physical injury, mental decompensation, and profound, permanent mental illness," he wrote. He cited numerous individual cases as evidence of "a system that is inherently flawed in many respects, understaffed, underfunded and inadequate." Baxley, 57, of Hartsville, called the lawsuit "the most troubling" of the 70,000 cases he has handled in his 14 years on the bench. He found that evidence in the case showed that for more than 10 years, the Department of Corrections has known "its mental health program is systemically deficient and exposes seriously mentally ill inmates to a substan-
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Corrections in media tial risk of serious harm." He gave the department—the main defendant in the case—180 days to prepare a plan to remedy the situation. The plan must include additional staff and better-trained staff, the judge wrote. The other defendant, former prisons director William Byars, resigned last year. The ruling resulted from a class action lawsuit originally filed in 2005 in circuit court in Richland County. Several prison inmates identified only by their initials as well as a Columbia-based advocacy group—Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities—brought the lawsuit. Baxley made it clear he hoped Corrections would not appeal. "We are now eight years into this litigation. Rather than accept the obvious at some point and come forward in a meaningful way to try and improve its mental healthy system, defendants have fought this case tooth and nail—on the facts, on the law, on the constitutional issues," Baxley wrote. "The hundreds of thousands of tax dollars spent defending this lawsuit, at trial and most likely now on appeal, would be better expended to improve mental health services delivery at SCDC." Of the 22,000 inmates in the state's prison system, an estimated 3,500 have serious mental illness, according to the judge's order, which was based on evidence presented during a 2012 nonjury trial in the case. The lawsuit did not seek damages, but only to force corrections to develop and fund a "reasonable and adequate system for the mental health care of inmates suffering from mental illness."
ALABAMA INMATES PROTEST, POST VIDEOS TO INTERNET The Anniston Star A nonviolent strike by inmates at three Ala. prisons is winding down, a spokesman for the state DOC said, but some inmates could face charges after posting videos to the Internet. Spokesman Brian Corbett said Jan. 7 that some inmates at Holman Prison, St. Clair Correctional Facility and Elmore Correctional Facility had refused to work at their prison jobs. The work stoppage was related to a series of YouTube videos, all with the title "Free Alabama Movement," that show inmates describing conditions in prisons. State officials have long acknowledged that the state's prisons are overcrowded. Currently the state holds more than 25,000 inmates in prisons built for slightly more than 13,000. Corbett said he hadn't examined all the videos thoroughly, but he confirmed that at least some of them were filmed within an Alabama prison. All appear to have been filmed with a cell phone. Use of a cell phone by a prison inmate is a felony in Alabama. Corbett said inmates appearing in the videos could face charges. VISIT US AT WWW.CORRECTIONSFORUM.NET
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PHOTO COURTESY OF CORIZON
BY MICHAEL GROHS, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
With nearly 1 in 5 inmates suffering w ith some form of mental illness, measures must be tak en to d eal w ith the issue.
CORRECTIONAL facilities in the U.S. have become the nation’s default mental health providers. This has been a trend for the past 50 years: a result of what is called “deinstitutionalizing,” and the numbers are sobering. According to the 2012 study “No Room at the Inn: Trends and Consequences of Closing Public Psychiatric Hospitals 2005–2010” published by the Treatment Advocacy Center, the number of psychiatric hospital beds shrank by 14% between 2005 and 2010 alone. It 18 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
is currently at the same level as it was in 1850, which was the beginning of the movement to provide better mental health care in hospitals to the seriously mentally ill. The numbers are telling. Nearly one in five inmates has some form of mental illness, according to Sharen Barboza, Ph.D, CCHP-MH, director of Clinical Operations at Mental Health at MHM Services, Inc., a Vienna, Va.-based provider of behavioral health and medical services in correctional facilities.
One of the problems, she notes, is that correctional facilities were not constructed as treatment facilities. Treating mental illness has been incidental and something that has been thrust into the correctional milieu. Imagine, she says, if an unanticipated 20% of the prison population needed wheelchair access. Constitutionally, corrections facilities are required to provide “medically necessary” treatment or to treat “serious” conditions. Despite that, there are myriad mental health disorders, only a
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Corizon offers group therapy sessions as part of a multi-disciplinary team approach in delivering behavioral health to those in a correctional environment.
small percentage of them are considered “serious.” That still means that 14% to 20% of inmates suffer from a serious mental illness (SMI) such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major mood disorders, and borderline personality disorders. That percentage is even higher in jails. Between 2005 and 2010, the trend was for more states to reduce the number of psychiatric beds. During that time, 13 states closed 25% or more of their total state hospital beds. Minnesota and New Mexico closed more than 50%, and Michigan and North Carolina just under 50%. The number of psychiatric hospital bed closures has reduced the number to 28% of what is considered “necessary for minimally adequate inpatient psychiatric services.” (The Treatment Advocacy Center called for a moratorium on further closings until a sufficient number of beds are available in community facilities.) As a result of these closings, people with chronic or acute mental conditions are gravitating to emergency rooms, prisons, and jails. Regardless of the difference between what is and what should be, the question remains for those employed in the correctional setting: What do we do about it? Three mental health providers from different organizations weigh in. Barboza of MHM offers her suggestions for how to cope with the situation. One is to enlist the help of the experts. She suggests that a facility’s management incorporate the mental health staff in regards to discussions about segregation, housing options and service options. The other is “training, training, training.” For one, not all correctional officers are 20 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
trained to recognize the symptoms that present in mental illness. Many inmates with mental health conditions struggle with prison life. They may misinterpret the meaning of an action or have difficulty moving quickly or following multi-layered instructions such as being given a to-do list of four tasks and are able to complete only two or three. The smooth operation of the facility is disrupted by this group of inmates who have difficulty functioning. On top of that, Barboza furthers, there is a subset of officers who did not set out to have mental health careers, are not schooled in the subject, and might themselves misinterpret the meaning of an action to be one of misbehavior. Officers, says Barboza, should be trained in areas such as crisis intervention and
A NaphCare clinician uses the TechCare EHR and Telemedicine system.
mental health first aid. She compares this tactic with the fact that many or most are trained in CPR. Mental health professionals also require training. Correctional facilities are controlled environments and schedules change on a moment’s notice. Things get cancelled, moved, and locked down, which requires a special set of skills to train providers to thrive in such as environment. Malingerers will try to take advantage and scam and fraud to get what they want, and that and other VISIT US AT WWW.CORRECTIONSFORUM.NET
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institutional behavior will need to be recognized. While she stresses that training should include administration as well, she adds, “You get more bang for the buck by training the line staff.” Birmingham, Ala.-based NaphCare’s philosophy, says Dr. Steven Bonner, Chief Medical Officer, MD, is to be aggressive with identification and manage-
NaphCare evaluates, evolves, and adapts their programs according to both clients' needs and the ever-changing field of correctional healthcare.
ment from the start. NaphCare, “a comprehensive medical and mental health service provider concentrating 100% in partnering with corrections agencies around the country” utilizes the “Proactive Care Model,” which is conducted upon arrival. An inmate is screened during booking using TechCare, an electronic operating system that screens for mental health issues, suicidality, and detox requirements. If they are found to be suicidal, their safety is ensured and the mental health 22 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
team and security are notified. If an inmate requires detox, he or she may be placed in into a “standardized detox protocol.” Once an inmate is identified as having mental health issues, NaphCare’s mental health team has regular appointments with them. “A more stable mental health inmate poses far fewer issues for corrections,” says Dr. Bonner. NaphCare also sets up the inmate with follow-up appointments at local mental health facilities so upon release they may maintain their treatment. (Recidivism for mentally ill people is higher than other inmates. A study found that in Los Angeles County Jail, 90% of inmates with mental health problems were repeat offenders, and nearly a third of those had been incarcerated more than 10 times. ) “This service model has been quite successful in identifying and addressing inmates with mental health issues. The result for our patients and partners has been improved care and less negative outcomes.” Bonner’s advice to correctional management likewise involves training and interaction. “Our recommendations would be for corrections to work closely with their mental health care provider and be a part of the process. If all parties involved are aware of the at-risk inmates, then you maximize your ability to intervene before a bad event. Making sure corrections officers have some basic mental health training is also very helpful in educating them on the warning signs of an inmate who is at-risk.” Mark Fleming, Ph.D., regional vice president for Behavioral Health at Corizon, a Brentwood, Tenn.-based provider of correctional healthcare to over 537 correctional facilities, offers his recommendations to correctional management that can help ensure a successful behavioral health program: The first, he concurs, is to recruit, train and retain good staff. Facilities should also follow nationally accepted guidelines prescribed by organizations such as the American Correctional Association (ACA) and the National Commission on Correctional Healthcare (NCCHC). The Standards were developed by experts in the fields of health, law and corrections and “lay the foundation for constitutionally acceptable health services systems.” The Standards can be found on NCCHC’s website. He furthers that management should “utilize empirically validated treatment models and best practice approaches that have been shown to be VISIT US AT WWW.CORRECTIONSFORUM.NET
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effective in a correctional population” as well as “a multi-disciplinary team approach in delivering behavioral health to those in a correctional environment.” His other suggestion for management is to incorporate a strong Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) program into the system that tracks the work being done in the area of mental health. CQI, according to the NCCHC is to “improve health care by identifying problems, implementing and monitoring corrective action and studying its effectiveness.” Some solutions might be found or burdens alleviated as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). Barboza points out that the Act may provide funding for inmates that may not previously have been available. It allows community providers the knowledge that quality clinical work exists in corrections. It requires correctional providers to align with community providers, and may open a dialogue between corrections and the community. “I hope that PPACA will provide for much-needed access to MH care in the commu-
problems of mental health corrections, he says, is discharge planning. There are so few community service providers that it might be months before an inmate can get an appointment, and over that time he or she would be far less likely to maintain medications, stability, and sobriety, which in turn increases the likelihood of recidivism. In states opting for Medicare expansion, many inmates will qualify for benefits. This will provide them with a payer source, and it is much easier find referrals and providers when there is a payer source. Barboza, Bonner and Fleming all agree that having a discharge plan in place can have a significant impact once an inmate has been released and actively pursue tactics to strengthen the process. NaphCare has the technology to interface with Medicare programs to assist in this. MHM has partnered with Centene, a “Medicaid management company to provide services in correctional settings through Centurion—a unique blending of community and correctional resources to help support the move toward PPACA.” Says Fleming of the Act, “The reentry process for inmates with severe mental
“We have never fully sup p o rted p arity fo r MH services in o ur co untry, and PPACA m ay start to change that.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF NAPHCARE
—Sharen Barbo za
nity. We have never fully supported parity for MH services in our country, and PPACA may start to change that. If it does, all people can be provided with the services they need in the community and hopefully stop the development of symptoms and behavior that result in interactions with law enforcement and can result in incarceration.” Bonner of NaphCare also considers that the PPACA might have a dramatic effect on the issue of mental health in corrections. One of the biggest 24 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
illness and other mental health diagnoses will change how we create treatment plans in the correctional facilities as well as how we create a reentry transition plan to ensure a seamless continuity of care in the community.” For more information, contact NaphCare at www.naphcare.com, 1.800.834.2420, or e-mail sales@naphcare.com; MHM at www.mhm-services.com or 1.800.416.3649; Corizon at www.corizonhealth.com or 1.800.729.0069. VISIT US AT WWW.CORRECTIONSFORUM.NET
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Video
BY DONNA ROGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Hearings Open source equipment and IP networks are making it easier and cheaper to conduct arraignments and other hearings via video.
ftentimes a bail hearing or an appearance takes just a few minutes, yet the offender—and the sheriff’s deputy or other staff—may spend half a day getting to the courthouse and waiting for the offender’s chance in front of the judge. Transporting inmates between jail and court was an easy task back in the old days when the lockup was down the hall, states the webpage of Nefsis, a Brother company. Today, administrators for district courts, cities and jails
O
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face an increasingly challenging burden of providing physically safe and secure transport—for inmates and staff—between widespread facilities. Overburdened courts and busy attorneys throughout the country are realizing that video conferencing can indeed help to speed the legal process by enabling deposition and arraignment testimony to take place outside of the courtroom via video, says Nefsis, which offers a software-based solution that runs on standard PCs and operates over shared
TCP/IP-based networks. Video technology is now powering one-to-one and multiparty video visitation in prisons and courts. Through a joint partnership with the N.J. Department of Corrections, the Administrative Office of the Courts, Office of the Public Defender, the State Parole Board and private vendors, a system-wide and alternative approach to criminal justice proceedings has been implemented in New Jersey successfully. Major objectives for the N.J. Video Teleconferencing Program
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include providing systemwide access to the inmate population for criminal justice systems at all levels, state, county, local and federal, and enabling each to conduct business in a more efficient manner, according to Nefsis. Its Video Teleconferencing Program, especially for inmates in the Edna Mahan Correction Facility for Women in Clinton, New Jersey, and the New Community Corporation's Harmony House in Newark allow inmates to connect with their children who otherwise may not get to see their moms. The City Court and 14th Judicial District Court in Lake Charles, La., are other good examples of how IP-based video conferencing technology from Nefsis can accelerate the judicial process by allowing judges to hold court proceedings, either arraignments or "Assignment of Counsel," remotely which eliminates the need to transport prisoners to and from the courthouse or requiring judges and minute clerks, who record the proceedings, to travel to the jail. Prior to using the Nefsis solution (formerly called e/pop), the 14th Judicial District Court utilized an expensive traditional point-to-point hardware-based video conferencing system that was complex to use and required expensive peripherals to increase the audio quality in the cinder block room where inmates were arraigned, the company notes. The District installed the system on a standard PC server at the courthouse, and it connects to remote sites via Frame Relay. Conference traffic is secure as all traffic routes over their private network. This video conferencing software was selected in 2009 as a replacement in part because it uses readily available, low-cost and off-the-shelf PC-based audio and video peripherals. In particular, it was a good choice because of the wide variety of 3rd party peripherals including specialized
echo-cancelling microphones that worked in cinder block rooms. It was also cost-effective because it is a software-based solution that runs on standard PCs and operates over shared TCP/IP-based networks, without requiring dedicated lines or specialized video switching equipment. IP-based video conferencing utilizes the TCP/IP network protocol to connect users, generally two or more, between remote locations—either public or private Internet connections. It also includes features that allow IT staff to set encryption standards, such as SSL or TLS, standards used by e-commerce, online retailers, and banks for secure transmission of passwords, credit cards, and other sensitive data. After installing the system, the District and the City Court in Lake Charles increased arraignments from approximately eight to 30-50 per week. They replaced a traditional, point-to-point video conferencing system that cost more than $30,000 with inexpensive standard audio and video peripherals and PCs found in any retail electronics store. The new IP-based video conferencing system is easy to use, requires little or no training and minimal system maintenance, according to Nefsis.
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Invaluable Net Results Moving Northeast, Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, in Marietta, Ga., has a large jail, which averages about 1,600 inmates daily. For the past five years the department has used video for inmate visitation, certain types of court hearings and internally for certain meetings, according to Col. Donald Bartlett, director of the Detention Division. While “probably the biggest impact has been from inmate visitation,” he says, “having court hearings over video has also resulted in significant cost savings and better security.” Hearings often take just a few minutes, and most of the Sheriff’s Office’s preliminary and various status hearings and motions are conducted over video. “This allows the judge to remain at the court (even in his office if he chooses) and our inmates at the jail,” he notes. In addition to the obvious security benefit, is also allows the judge to be more spontaneous in scheduling hearings and has allowed the judicial process to move more quickly. Multiple parties can be accommodated at multiple locations, eliminating backups as inmates don’t need to be physically moved, and streamlining the flow of appearances.
The public court viewing room in Cobb County, Georgia, Sheriff’s Office Visitation Center where the public can view a court proceeding live on a quad screen and can interact at the discretion of the judge. CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 27
PHOTO COURTESY BLACK CREEK INTEGRATED SYSTEMS
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Cobb County Visitation Center conducts both video visitation and hearings.
Offenders are accommodated by two large stations in the jail, one at the Visitor’s Center where the public can interact at the discretion of the judge, and several other portable units are spread throughout the Sheriff’s Office. At the courthouse, a number of units are spread throughout the facility and software licenses have been purchased for 50 to 100 implementations on individual PCs, notes Bartlett. When looking to purchase the system, Bartlett says they looked for quality, flexibility and price. They eventually settled on a VGSI video conferencing system from Tandberg (the company was taken over by Cisco Systems in 2011). On the visitation side, they use Black Creek’s IP Web Visitor for visitation, whereby voice and video streams are fully digitized, synchronized, encrypted and configured for transmission over conventional data networks and over the Internet using TCP/IP transmission standards. The system rides on the County network, he says, and while they had periodically experienced issues with bandwidth they were able to address this by assigning priority to the video calls. 28 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
Bartlett says overall they have been pleased with the system. Some of the key advantages have been the ease of use (“Once everything is set up, the system is fairly easy for the end user…it is just like making a phone call.”); the flexibility of control (“Judges like having the ability to use their individual desktop and the ability to control who can join and who can speak.”); and the transmission quality (“The video quality is very good once we worked out the network issue.”) While cost of such a system for a large facility is not inexpensive and there is an annual upkeep, says Bartlett, making the purchase pays off quickly. He believes they recouped the cost in about two years. And the savings go even deeper. “While it is difficult to put a cost on improved security or moving cases more rapidly through the system—the net result is invaluable.”
Open Source Components In Crown Point, Ind., Lake County, the second largest county in the state, is expected to go live in February with a video system for its Superior Court-
Criminal Division. Its four criminal courts have an average of 40 inmates total who are seen in the court on a daily basis—and oftentimes just to set a new hearing date or a bond reduction—just a quick hearing to change the minutiae, says Mark Price, bailiff, Lake Superior Court-Criminal Division 4. While the Lake County Jail is connected to the Court, offenders still need to be walked over with escorts, a five-hour process that begins at 5:45 in the morning. There’s “a whole lot of movement,” with inmates coming over in different shifts with sheriff’s deputies, says Price. Paid attorneys go first and offenders sit in a holding tank for perhaps five hours “doing a whole lot of nothing.” Now with an 80-inch LED screen in each felony court, 19inch monitors at defense and prosecution tables, and the judge equipped with a 24-inch monitor, there’s a lot less running around. Four cameras and a quad screen can depict the four main parties, and the defendant can also see who is testifying. For ease of compatibility and cost effectiveness, the court uses open source (OS) equipment, explains Price, which allows them to be more flexible in outfitting the courtrooms. Using OS equipment they can take “a Panasonic Blue Ray and an Onkyo receiver and they should be able to talk to each other.” Thus, the Telmate video system at the Sheriff’s Office is plugging into the OS system at the Court and they can “work and talk.” Telmate also offers video visits over the Internet via Web browser at the jail. Price reports the cost to install the video technology was less than $75 thousand per courtroom, yet the amount of payback was great. It takes “very little time before [the ROI] comes back, plus, ultimately, it enhances the safety of all involved.”
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COMPILED BY BILL SCHIFFNER, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
HIGH-TECH SOLUTIONS FOR KEEPING FACILITIES SECURE
CORRECTIONS
staffs rely on various technologies to help keep their facilities secure. Technology allows them to monitor prisoner movement and prevent the influx of contraband into the facility, and it provides guards with protection and the means to effectively subdue inmates. Over the last two decades these advances have encompassed many areas, and have led to changing roles for personnel. With perimeter security, there is a definite trend toward integrating as much technology as possible and as a result, systems have become a lot more complex. Like most perimeter solutions, the corrections environment requires a multi-tiered, multifaceted approach to security with various systems in place. Physical security systems have advanced from reliance on the human eye to comprehensive electronic sensing devices. Access control methods are used to monitor and control traffic through specific access 30 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
points and areas of the secure facility. This is achieved using a variety of systems including CCTV surveillance, identification cards, and electronic/mechanical control systems such as locks, doors, and gates. There is a no “one solution fits all” approach and each system must be tailored to a facility’s specific needs. Here’s a look at some of the latest security solutions for keeping the perimeter safe and secure.
integrates audio, CCTV, video visitation, perimeter detection, nurse call, access control, wireless mobile operator stations and facility diagnostic systems on a video graphic user interface. The company has been developing these video graphic user interface
Custom Automated Systems Accurate Controls, Inc. focuses on security automation systems for the corrections industry and related markets. With more than 500 security systems installed in correctional facilities worldwide, Accurate Controls is reported to provide innovative, reliable designs and installation that are custom-made for each facility while utilizing only third-party available components. The firm VISIT US AT WWW.CORRECTIONSFORUM.NET
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systems (touch screens) for more than 18 years with its Wonderware and InduSoft systems, said to be considered the standard in the corrections industry. www.accuratecontrols.com, 920.748.6603
Perimeter Intrusion Detection Systems Black Creek provides cost-effective, reliable Perimeter Intrusion Detection Systems (PIDS) that utilize multiple technologies from multiple vendors. All Black Creek PIDS are tightly integrated using Black Creek’s Super Display Touchscreen Control System, which provides the control room officer with an easily understandable, graphical user interface for all PIDS alarm annunciation and operational functions. This high level of integration also allows interaction with other security subsystems such as lighting control and CCTV that would automatically turn on perimeter impact lighting and call up CCTV cameras associated with a perimeter zone in alarm. www.blackcreekisc.com, 205.949.9900
Trackless Folding Gate System Door Engineering has added a trackless folding gate system to their product line offering. Similar to their original Four-Fold Door System, the Four-Fold GT has the high-speed, high-cycle operation with low maintenance. Adding to its appeal over a conventional sliding cantilevered gate is the minimal moving parts and minimal space it requires. The Four-Fold GT is a free-standing column design with the operators mounted on the columns. With standard opening sizes up to 20 feet wide and custom panel options, the Four-Fold GT will not only fit any gating need, it is aesthetically appealing. www.doorengineering.com 1.800.959.1352
Fencing Solutions The Guardian Fence System provides strength and security against defeat attempts, and saves time and money in installation, repair and upgrade. Ideal for
DOOR ENGINEERING’S FOUR-FOLD GT
32 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
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porates a microphonic sensor cable into the stainless-steel barbed coil, creating a sensor/barrier assembly that deters and delays any potential escape or intrusion. When movement of the coil is detected, an analogue signal notifies officials for rapid responses. www.detekion.com, 607.729.7179
Four-Fold Door System Door Engineering’s Four-Fold Door system’s operator automatically locks the doors in the closed position, resisting forced entry, and the hinges are constructed with fully concealed bearings with nonremovable pins giving the security you need. In
high security perimeters and segregation areas, the revolutionary Guardian Fence System has been installed to deter breaching, detain facility inmates, delay/defeat attempts and deny separable pieces that can become weapons within a correctional facility. A primary benefit of the Guardian security mesh system is that breaching requires a much more complicated tool than many existing fences, especially chain link. www.BetafenceUSA.com, 972.878.7000
Security Sensor Coil System The Sensor Coil 600 from DeTekion Security combines a perimeter detection system with a barbed tape security coil. In applications where other barriers, such as fences, are connected to the system, even forces solely applied to those barriers send out signals that can be picked up by Sensor Coil, overall increasing detection and security, according to the company. Also, the system incor34 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
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addition, this door system provides a low maintenance, high-speed and high-cycle operation that can’t be matched, the firm reports. They are ideal for police stations, detention centers and correctional facilities that require door systems to meet stringent operational requirements. www.doorengineering.com, 1.800.959.1352
Detention Hardware Sentry Security Fasteners offers a wide selection of tamper-resistant security screws, nuts and power anchors. In addition, Sentry is an authorized stocking distributor for Southern Folger Detention Equipment Company. Sentry’s warehouse is well stocked with locks, lock parts, switches, motors, hinges, door pulls, locks and keys. All parts are ready for immediate shipping. www.sentrysf.com, 1.888.693.2646
Delta Force’s barbed tape obstacles are available in configurations and diameters that meet industry standards for low level, and maximum security facilities. www.ameristarfence.com, 1.888.333.3422
Tymetal Corp. Fencing Solutions Tymetal Corp. manufactures vehicle sallyport and pedestrian gate locking systems for the corrections market as well as a wide array of integrated products. They provide secure, transparent and aesthetically pleasing protection for solutions for a number of facilities such as courthouse judicial parking and prisoner delivery entrances. www.tymetal.com, 1.888.978.GATE
Gate Systems Wallace International’s SpeedGate offers timesensitive security, completing an open or close cycle in 7 seconds. Its fully-galvanized construction make it an optional choice for projects that require securi-
Access Control Systems with Historical Records
ty and reliability, yet its factory assembly and small site footprint result in an efficient and economical installation. Available in top track and trackless industrial designs, the SpeedGate is the optimum solution for time-sensitive security solutions. www.wallaceintl.com, 1.866.300.1110
High Security Fence Delta Force was introduced by Ameristar Fence Products to parallel its efforts in the high security fence market. The addition of Ameristar’s barbed tape and concertina lines is the perfect visual deterrent on chain link fences. The system’s helical barbed coils provide a menacing level of delay when mounted to barb wire on top of industrial fences. VISIT US AT WWW.CORRECTIONSFORUM.NET
Black Creek Integrated Systems’ access control systems provide facility managers with the ability to control access into or out of the facility or certain areas within the facility itself without the need for staff intervention. The system also provides a historical record of access transactions. Black Creek’s systems utilize proximity-type cards and contactless readers that do not exhibit the wear-and-maintenance problems associated with magnetic stripe cards and readers. Card readers can be combined with keypads requiring the entry of a personal ID numbers or with biometric devices such as fingerprint or retina scanners to further enhance security at highly sensitive areas. www.blackcreekisc.com, 205.949.9900 For future editorial consideration, please send your new product announcements as well as news of successful implementation of your products in the field to corrforum@mac.com. CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 35
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BY DONNA ROGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ALTERNATIVES TO I How
manage-
ment assessment
tools can predict risk and high-tech tools can assist in managing community treatment.
36 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
DESPITE evidence that incarceration without treatment does nothing to control recidivism, the public remains skittish about releasing offenders to community programs. With 1 out of every 140 adults behind bars, the U.S. has the highest per capita incarceration rate in the world. It is partly the result of many years of the philosophy that we should lock ’em up and throw away the key. But the tide is changing. At yearend 2012 there were 1.57 million prisoners in U.S. state and federal prisons, a drop of 27,400 prisoners from yearend 2011, and the third straight year the prisoner population declined in the U.S, according to a report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics in December 2013. This trend is not a flash in the pan. Admissions to state and federal prisons declined by 16.3% between 2009 and 2012. In 2012, the num-
ber of admissions (609,800) was the lowest since 1999, representing a 9.2% decline from 2011. A percentage of these prisoners are being diverted to local corrections agencies and many are enlisted in drug treatment programs. In fact, new court commitments to state prisons for drug offenders decreased 22% between 2006 and 2011, according to the BJS. A confluence of reasons is bringing about the change—economic woes, as well as challenges to subpar conditions being addressed by the Courts. This can save corrections departments millions. In one instance, in Broward County Jail in Fort Lauderdale, diversion to a drug court costs $10 per day compared with $114 per day per inmate, according to an article titled Broward County’s Jail: a Population Management Study published in American Jails (Jan./Feb. 2012). California’s historic Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011 also contributed to the change. Through this law non-serious, non-violent, non-
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sex registrant (non-non-non) offenders were redirected from state to local jurisdictions, while reserving state prison for those with serious or violent charges (current or prior), sex registrants, and a few other offense types. The point, according to the CDCR, was to treat offenders in their local communities. (The state is careful to point out, no inmate was released early.) In December 2013, the first analysis of the program was released (see the full report at http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/realignment/). It compares numbers of
in the Washington Post. The judges gave Gov. Jerry Brown and attorneys representing inmates until Jan. 23 to propose plans to comply with earlier court orders to limit prison population. The plans are scheduled to go into effect on April 18. Brown has asked the judges to delay population limits for three years; his budget proposal, released a week prior, assumes a delay of at least two years. His proposed budget includes $500 million for new prison facilities aimed at reducing overcrowding in existing prisons. It also includes $200
over time—to measure the likelihood of future criminal behavior can help officials to better identify individuals at a high risk of reoffending, while also identifying the types of supervision and services that are most likely to slow the revolving door of America’s prisons. When developed and used correctly, these risk/needs assessment tools can help criminal justice officials appropriately classify offenders and target interventions to reduce recidivism, improve public safety and cut costs.” Two of the most commonly
re-offenders from the pre-realignment year with offenders from the post-realignment year. Initial results are encouraging. Though offenders are serving less time in state prison, they are not being re-convicted at higher rates. The rate of conviction for new crimes is 20.9 percent prerealignment and 21.0 percent post realignment. The static nature of the numbers of offenders reconvicted of new crimes is a positive outcome as there is undoubtedly an adjustment period as the state embarks on significant changes to its criminal justice system, states CDCR, and the numbers may improve as there are still significant milestones that need to be accomplished on the part of the counties in terms of providing rehabilitative programming to parolees. Realignment is not the only fire the California prison system has come under. On January 15, after months of extensions that failed to resolve a dispute over conditions in state prisons, a panel of federal judges has given California officials just a week to come up with plans to reduce prison overcrowding, according to an article
million for programs to reduce recidivism rates, programs state lawmakers believe will hold the key to a long-term reduction in prison populations. While treating offenders in community programs are proven to lower recidivism rates and technology such as ignition interlock devices and self-service kiosks are readily available, the public remains doubtful about releasing even low-level offenders. Perhaps they do not want to be accused of being soft on crime.
used tools are the LSI-R (Level of Service Inventory–Revised) and the LS/CMI (Level of Service/Case Management Inventory). These validation tools are data-driven and studies have demonstrated their ability to accurately identify offenders’ risk of reoffending. Toronto-based MHS Inc. specializes in high-risk science. The company publishes many leading assessments in the industry, including the LSI-R and the LS/CMI, which “are considered to be the gold standard risk/needs assessments,” says Tammy Holwell, manager, Public Safety. “LS tools are the most widely used risk/needs assessments in the world. Over 14 million LS assessments have been administered since the tool was developed.”
O INCARCERATION
PREDICTIVE TOOLS The ability to use risk assessment tools to assess risk and/or needs of offenders has a huge effect in predicting whether offenders will re-offend. A 2010 study by the Pew Center on the States titled “Risk/Needs Assessment 101: Science Reveals New Tools to Manage Offenders” states that “practitioners and researchers have identified key factors that can help predict the likelihood of an individual returning to crime, violence or drug use. “The instruments that have been developed—and fine-tuned
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HOW DO THEY WORK? These instruments are an actuarial tool that assesses dynamic risk and criminogenic need factors, and they work in conjunction with the professional judgment of a parole officer, judge or other criminal justice supervisor. Some of the risk factors they look CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 37
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at are education, substance abuse, social attitudes, employment, leisure and recreation, antisocial personality pattern, companions and family relationships, says Holwell. These factors are very predictive in determining if they will reoffend, she says. Another tool is the Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) instrument, a statistically based client assessment, classification, and case management system developed by the Northpointe Institute for Public Management in Traverse City, Mich. According to Tim Brennan, chief scientist, factors that drive COMPAS predictive risk scale are criminal involvement/criminal history; vocational educational problems including a history of failures; a drug problem scale, which includes arrests/convictions, prior treatments, history of failure of treatments; age at intake, age at first arrest and conviction rate. Matching offenders to programs based on their risk levels is another key to reducing recidivism. Research has revealed that certain intensive programs work very well with high-risk offenders but actually can increase recidivism rates among low-risk offenders, according to the Pew Center report. Researchers think this counterintuitive finding may occur because mixing risk groups exposes the lower-risk offenders to the more destructive behaviors of higher-risk offenders and jeopardizes prosocial relationships and productive community engagement they may have.
HOW EFFECTIVE ARE RISK TOOLS? Numerous studies have demonstrated that validated risk assessments accurately differentiate between high-, medium- and low-risk offenders, according to the Pew Study. In other words, individuals classified as high risk reoffend at a higher rate than those classified as low risk. 38 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
A 2010 study by Edward J. Latessa et al. and reported by the Pew Center demonstrated the effectiveness of matching offenders to programs by risk level. The study of 44 halfway house programs in Ohio found that the programs reduced recidivism for high-risk offenders by 10 percent but increased recidivism of lowrisk offenders by 2 percent. “LS instruments are unsurpassed in their research,” Holwell says. “The LSI-R and LS/CMI are the only tools where there exists a large body of documented, replicated, peer-reviewed original studies, comparative meta-analytic reviews, and independent reviews. There is a sample of 135,000 offenders on the LS/CMI, includ-
sample, or for various target groups (by gender, age groups, offense categories). These distributions are then segmented into low, medium and high by imposing cut-points on the distribution, says Northpointe’s Brennan. AUC is a measure of “accuracy” of prediction, he continues. “This is currently the most widely used measure of predictive accuracy for risk models in criminal justice.” The company says that “good predictive models typically vary from 0.66 to 0.78. Scores of .64 to .70 indicate moderate accuracy, scores above 0.70 are regarded as good, and until recently rarely attained. Currently the best risk assessment models in criminal justice typically range from .67 to
Risk assessment tools should be used to “inform the decision.” —TAMMY HOLWELL ing diverse races, both genders and offenders from institutional and community settings.” The LS works across a range of outcomes, among them general recidivism, violent recidivism, domestic abuse, prison misconducts, including violence, and technical violations in the community. And LS tools are diverse in their application. They are suitable for use at all different points in the criminal justice system including prison intake, classification, reentry, and parole supervision. COMPAS relies on the standard approaches to assess predictive power and accuracy, e.g., odds ratios, AUC coefficients, failure rates that show differences from low/medium and high. The total risk score for each target offender population is first computed and ordered into statistical distributions for the total
.73, with only a few exceeding this level. Most COMPAS scores are in the 0.70 to 0.74 range.” The Odds Ratio indicates relative separation of failure rates across the “risk levels,” i.e., low, medium and high failure levels. Predictive outcome studies of COMPAS show that inmates classified into the high risk on the COMPAS Recidivism Risk Scale have an odds of arrest approximately six times the odds of those in the low level of the scale (using a three years time at risk). In also providing evidence for accuracy, MHS’s Holwell references a 2010 Canadian study called “Strategic Training Initiative in Community Supervision” (STICS), which is a job training program for probation officers to help them apply the risk–need–responsivity (RNR) model with probationers to reduce recidivism. It was imple-
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mented in three Canadian provinces. Holwell notes the authors of this study sought to measure the impact of training probation officers in the RNR model using the LS tool. “The RNR model has been influential in our understanding of ‘what works,’” she says. “The study found a two-year reconviction rate with a 15% difference favoring the clients of the officers trained in RNR principles through the LS tools.” Using the Northpointe tool, says Brennan, multiple validation studies indicated that COMPAS has good predictive accuracy. “The strength of support for
COMPAS predictive accuracy across multiple studies and follow-up periods typically has impressive AUC values ranging from 0.68 to 0.75, with most above .70. (Flipping a coin or random choices would produce an AUC of .50.).” He furthers that several external researchers unaffiliated with Northpointe have conducted case studies and have demonstrated the predictive validation of COMPAS (New York DOC Research department—AUC = .72; California CDCR—AUC = .70; Florida State UniversityBroward County indicated that COMPAS had “high levels of accuracy in predicting general
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recidivism, violence, and failure to appear for court." The Broward County study also indicated “substantial” savings in multiple millions of dollars when using COMPAS to facilitate diversion from jail to community programs.
A GOOD GUIDE Risk/needs assessments cannot predict an individual’s behavior with absolute precision, cautions the Pew Center report. Inevitably there will be lower-risk offenders who reoffend and higher-risk offenders who do not reoffend. However, it continues, “objective tools more accurately predict
GPS and real-time reporting that can help individuals test and verify their sobriety conveniently. 1.888.283.5899 or www.intoxalock.com IGNITION INTERLOCK DEVICES
Intoxalock Legacy utilizes fuel cell technology that ensures a high level of accuracy and precision. Intoxalock Legacy Plus takes that technology and incorporates a high resolution camera to meet local and state requirements. Intoxalock eLERT combines real-time reporting and photo technology to meet the most rigorous local and state requirements. 1.888.283.5899 or www.intoxalock.com OFFENDER SERVICES KIOSK
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Built on 20 years of alcohol monitoring experience, Intoxalock Home eLERT offers the reliability, accuracy and advanced features of the firm’s ignition interlock devices, but in a portable and discrete home model. Home eLERT offers photo imaging,
40 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014
The Centurion Kiosk System developed by Sentinel Offender Services provides an interactive and automated solution for offender checkins and collections. The advanced functionality enables offenders to check in, make payments, update demographic information and compliance status, and receive messages from program administrators. All kiosks are integrated into
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behavior than subjective assessments by individuals, making them critically important in helping agencies to classify and manage groups of offenders.” In addition, the report notes, “risk/needs assessments can help guide decisions, but they should not be dispositive. These tools serve as an anchor for decision-making, but professional discretion remains a critical component.” Risk assessment tools should “inform the decision,” says Holwell. Finally, states the report, “there is no one-size-fits-all risk assessment tool. Agencies frequently employ multiple tools to
inform decision-making at points throughout the criminal justice process, and significant attention must be dedicated to ensuring that the appropriate instruments are selected or developed.” Risk assessment tools have been proven to go a long way in assessing which offenders have a greater chance of reoffending. Sometimes, concludes Holwell, the public likes “the idea of getting tough on crime, but there’s a large body of research that shows it’s better to be smart on crime. Research has shown punishment without treatment actually has no effect on reoffending. You’re just burning your tax dollars.”
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Sentinel’s own proprietary centralized CMS through its frame relay network accessing and updating client information in realtime. Connection to its wide area network allows multiple kiosks to communicate simultaneously. 1.800.589.6003 x1040, or www.sentrak.com PAROLE CHECK-IN KIOSK
Slabb recently won the bid to manufacture, deliver and install 60 customized self-service kiosks to the Arkansas Department of Community Correction for selected minimumrisk clients to check in throughout their supervision period. Identification of the parolees is done via a fingerprint reader, webcam shots and signature pad. Specialized software allows payments to the Information Network of Arkansas (INA). The kiosks will also allow users to access housing and employment information. 702.730.1110, www.slabb.com
Mars ..................................11 Medi-Dose Company ........21 MHM Correctional Services, Inc.....................2 Morse Watchman, Inc.........5 NaphCare ..........................17 National Comm. on Correctional Healthcare (NCCHC) .......................25 Sentry Security Fasteners, Inc. ...............33 StunCuff Enterprises, Inc. .15 STV Architects, Inc ............15 Time Keeping Systems, Inc...................31 TriActive America ..............13 Wexford Health Sources ...23 This advertisers index is provided as a service to our readers only. The publisher does not assume liability for errors or omissions.
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