Transition from Jail to the Community: The TJC Effort in Howard County Maryland ACA Presentation

1. Transition from Jail to the Community: The TJC Effort in Howard County Maryland ACA Presentation August 10, 2013 Patricia “Trish” Schupple Deputy Director, Howard County Department of Corrections pschupple@howardcountymd.gov

2. Howard County, Maryland

3. Between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.Part of the Baltimore Metropolitan Area. Part of media and employment markets of Washington D.C.

4. About Howard County • Population around 290,000. • Cited for affluence, quality of life, schools and libraries. Ranked third wealthiest U.S. county by median household income by Census Bureau. • Main population center (Columbia/Ellicott City) named among Money Magazine’s 2010 "America's Best Places to Live.“[ • Schools frequently rank first in Maryland as measured by test scores and graduation rates. Library ranked #1.

5. About Howard County Corrections • Executive Department - Director reports to elected County Executive • Jail capacity of 461; Generally averages around 340. • Includes almost 100 BICE detainees held under contract • Leaves about 250 locally committed individuals.

6. About Howard County Corrections • Staff – As of 7/1/2013 --- 148 • 131 uniformed; 7 classification, community programs and compliance; and 10 administrative. One contingent contractual person for reentry. • Medical and Mental Health Services contracted. • Host for programs (addictions, mental health transitions, education, parenting and reentry planning).

8. The Decision To Adopt TJC- Pros • Number of good programs in place • Manageable population • Good relationship with local agencies providing community services • Good relationship with local parole and probation office (DPSCS Community Supervision) • Champion of the effort – Director of Corrections, Jack Kavanagh who has history of reentry initiative development and community collaboration

9. The Decision To Adopt TJC - Cons • Deficient Jail Management System---data management and individual inmate record • Fledgling in-community coordinating begun part time under series of grants – future funding not certain • Staffing concern – capacity to devote resources to the effort

10. The TJC Journey • Organization Structure for the effort • CJ Partnership Committee begun in 2012 (prior to TJC) to address justice-involved mentally ill • Called together Community partners to the Reentry Coordinating Council (“Our clients are your clients”) • Developed numerous work groups on different aspects

12. The TJC Journey • Data development for performance measurement • Guidance of the National TJC Team • Our own--data mining with a toothpick • Gaining community commitment • Gaining and keeping the community human service agencies engaged • Fall 2013 Meeting and Tour

13. The TJC Journey • Internal Processing – Challenging the Status Quo • 3 Proxy Questions of new intake • Focusing on the Tougher Offender (moderate-high risk to reoffend) • Identifying and adopting an actuarial Assessment (LSIR)

14. Proxy Risk Score: Risk to reoffend

15. The TJC Journey • Commitment of all staff – Challenging ourselves to inspire the tougher offender • Involving program staff in the redevelopment – including them in the planning and implementation • Including staff of other agencies working in jail (substance abuse, mental health transitional services, health care/insurance coordination • Engaging uniform staff – understanding their roles

16. Looking Back - One Year Assessment • Tangibles • Community and CJ leaders are engaged – RCC established • Target population determined • LSIR chosen as assessment tool; staff trained • Data system has been able to produce more helpful information than expected. • Re-organization of leadership positions to support TJC effort --- Reentry Services Manager Position

17. Looking Back - One Year Assessment • Intangibles • Better Collaboration with Community Agencies • Difficult offender transition cases • Other county initiatives • Staff Development • Opportunities to showcase talents and teamwork • Succession planning – leadership roles • Opportunities for uniform staff to further engage

18. Looking Forward in TJC • Continuing to reorganize Corrections staffing and resources to sustain the effort--- • Reentry Services Capacity (New Re-Entry Services Manager) • Assessments and Case Planning (purchasing the assessment tool, training and implementation---using existing staff and developing case plans for In-Jail and In-Community services) • Reservation System for In-Jail Programming (3x5 cards to automated system)

19. Looking Forward in TJC • Funding the staff and program/services support (challenge of going for grants) • Challenge of getting/keeping community agencies involved in planning. • Payoff: Connections at various levels

20. Looking Forward in TJC • Matching our programs to the areas of need shown in our assessments---finding our gaps in services and filling them • Zeroing in on what is working, what needs to be tweaked – using the performance measures. Training ourselves to carefully determine what the issue is before we try to determine the fix.

21. Looking Forward in TJC • Building the organizational relationships to support the mission • Making the systemic changes in operation---targeting the scarce resources • Reducing the number of offenders who re-offend.