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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri
Time: 12:23 pm
Time: 12:23 pm
Results for correctional supervision
2 results foundAuthor: Minnesota Sex Offender Program Title: Options for Managing the Growth and Cost of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program: Facility Study Summary: Throughout Minnesota, managing sexual offenders and combating sexual violence is a complex issue with a wide scope and multi-agency approach. For years, Minnesota has been a leader on many fronts in this area from specialized caseloads for supervision agents, to the development of one of the first actuarial risk tools in the field (MNSOST-R). The Minnesota Legislature has requested several studies related to sexual violence and sexual offenders in the past 15 years which is indicative of its commitment to continue to evaluate and strengthen current practice and to develop strategies consistent with advancements in the field. Many recommendations from these reports have been implemented and have resulted in an improved system. Minnesota is one of 20 states that enacted civil commitment statutes to indeterminately detain individuals for treatment to address their sexual dangerousness and as part of a broader strategy to manage the risks presented across the continuum of sexual offenders. The civil commitment program is expensive to maintain and the program continues to expand because more sexual offenders are entering than are being released. The cost and growth of the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) continues to be an area of concern particularly given the current economic issues facing the state. Public safety cannot be compromised yet the growth of this program creates a strain on the state budget as the per diem for MSOP clients is $328 and projections indicate an expected annual growth of at least 50 additional clients. To address future growth and cost, the 2010 Legislature included a subdivision in the capital investment bonding bill requiring the commissioner of the Department of Human Services (DHS) to submit a report to the Legislature by January 15, 2011. The commissioner tasked MSOP with the completion of this study. MSOP then convened four topical teams to provide analysis and recommendations for sex offender treatment, the civil commitment process, sexual abuse perpetration prevention, and bed space options for MSOP clients. These other facets of this issue were incorporated in this study to paint a complete picture of the growth of Minnesota’s civil commitment program for sexual offenders and its subsequent need for expansion. Developing options to manage the growth and decrease the cost of MSOP was the charge for each topical team as they researched and provided analysis of their topic. The treatment topical team found treatment systems in Minnesota have the potential to further reduce the need for civil commitments and to help support the release of some civilly committed individuals if they have made sufficient progress to warrant any court ordered release to society from MSOP. This results in an increased reliance on community-based treatment to manage higher risk sexual offenders. To make this shift responsibly, Minnesota should work to strengthen its community-based treatment options in several ways. These changes will require additional resources but it is likely that these additional costs will be more than offset through reductions in expected future MSOP operating costs and capital costs associated with program expansions. The team that reviewed the current civil commitment process concluded these programs for sexual offenders are an expensive yet necessary tool in an effective, comprehensive statewide management strategy. The challenge for the State of Minnesota is to utilize MSOP efficiently while maintaining public safety in a fiscally responsible manner. Opportunities exist to impact the future cost and growth of MSOP by making modifications and revisions in the current process of civil commitment. Evaluating the application of commitment criteria in the referral process and considering options to indeterminate commitment would impact the number of new clients admitted to MSOP. Enhancing coordinated community-based resources would increase the ability to manage this challenging population at a decreased cost. Once modifications and new policies are in place, an ongoing evaluation of the statewide management system for sex offenders would assist in maintaining efficiency and better ensure public safety. Managing the growth and decreasing the cost of MSOP could be most effectively achieved if sexual abuse was prevented before someone perpetrated sexual harm. Prevention of sexual abuse perpetration was included in this study and report to illuminate the importance of preventing the creation of civilly committed sex offenders as well as preventing recidivism once MSOP clients are reintegrated into the community. By investing in a population-based public health approach to sexual violence prevention, Minnesota will be investing in long-term cost-savings for the state. A complex web of social norms, environmental factors, peer influence and individual decision-making that precedes an act of sexual violence. Ample opportunities for intervention and prevention exist. After reviewing several options for renovation and expansion, the bed space options topical team concluded that both a short-term and a long-term solution are needed to address the projected growth of MSOP. In the short-term, MSOP should work with the Minnesota Security Hospital to move clients out of the Shantz building on the St. Peter campus. This allows MSOP to request asset preservation funds from the Legislature to complete the infrastructure renovations of the Shantz building. This will increase the capacity of MSOP by 55 additional beds, which will accommodate MSOP’s bed space needs for one more year. This timing allows MSOP to review next year’s projections and develop a bonding request for the 2012-2013 legislative sessions. The low operating costs of this recommendation will assist MSOP in lowering the overall per diem. The long-term solution is the lowest on-going operating cost per client in adding a 400 bed living unit within the original design of the MSOP Moose Lake facility. This allows MSOP to take advantage of existing support infrastructure, security perimeter and administrative staff. The MSOP Moose Lake facility expansion also allows for building only 200 or 100 beds. The 200 bed addition would include adding only two of the five housing wings. The 100 bed option only builds one of the wings. These options will still require building the additional support infrastructure, but require less bonding dollars in the near term and still allow for the additional expansion of the other wings. Minnesota would do well to continue to strengthen its multi-faceted, multi-agency approach to the issue of sex offender management and also, in preventing sexual violence. In moving forward, Minnesota should create and fund an on-going entity to coordinate, assess and improve statewide responses to sex offender management as well as to identify new and emerging issues. As this report demonstrates, the issue of sexual violence is exceedingly complex and thus requires an approach equal in its complexity including prevention, intervention and response. It should be noted that the Office of Legislative Auditor (OLA) is in the process of conducting a program evaluation of MSOP. The OLA report to the Legislature will likely address some of these areas in further detail as well as provide suggestions and or recommendations for future direction. Details: St. Paul: Minnesota Department of Human Services, 2011. 58p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 7, 2012 at: http://archive.leg.state.mn.us/docs/2011/mandated/110064.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: http://archive.leg.state.mn.us/docs/2011/mandated/110064.pdf Shelf Number: 127187 Keywords: Civil Commitment of Sex OffendersCorrectional SupervisionCosts of Criminal JusticePrisonersRisk AssessmentSex Offenders (Minnesota, U.S.)Sexual Violence |
Author: John Howard Association of Illinois Title: Reforming Illinois' Prison System from the Inside-Out: A Blueprint for the Implementation of Risk Assets Needs Assessment and System Change in the Illinois Department of Corrections Summary: Illinois has two public safety problems. It has one of the most crowded adult prison systems in the United States, and despite spending $1.3 billion annually on the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), there are not enough resources to effectively house, supervise, and provide rehabilitative programming to the approximately 49,000 men and women who are in state prisons or the additional 25,000 who are on Mandatory Supervised Release under IDOC's Parole Division. These problems have led to an increasingly dangerous situation for inmates and correctional staff, with prisoners being housed in prison gymnasiums and reports of increased violence inside facilities. This makes for hazardous conditions not only inside prisons, but also for Illinois' communities. Every year, Illinois releases more than 30,000 people from its prisons. While there is no evidence to suggest that exposure to harsh and overcrowded conditions makes inmates less likely to commit new crimes, research has shown that these kinds of environments can make inmates worse and more likely to reoffend when they are released. Given these conditions, coupled with the Parole Division's chronically low resources and the multiple barriers former prisoners face returning home, it should come as no surprise that almost half of the inmates who leave the IDOC return to prison within three years of their release, creating a vicious and costly cycle. To address these problems, Illinois needs to safely decrease the number of people under state correctional supervision. This will require an on-going commitment to comprehensive criminal justice reform, including investing in crime prevention programming to strengthen communities, expanding alternatives to incarceration for low-level offenders, reforming overly punitive criminal sentences, and removing unfair obstacles to reentry. Just as importantly, Illinois must ensure that IDOC has the capacity it needs to make the most effective use possible of its limited resources both inside and outside of its facilities, so that when inmates are released they are less likely to return to custody because they are re-integrated safely and successfully back into their communities. Inside the IDOC, the most important initiative to reduce Illinois' over-reliance on incarceration is the implementation of a new and more effective inmate assessment tool called RANA, which stands for Risk Assets Needs Assessment. The problem with the IDOC's current assessment system is that it relies primarily on offenders' committing offenses to make security and programming decisions. So, for instance, if a person is convicted of a low-level offense, he or she will more than likely be treated the same as all other low-level offenders, be housed in a minimum-security facility, and be paroled under the same conditions of release. This kind of assessment system is based on the false assumption that offenders convicted of similar kinds of crimes need the same kind of treatment and supervision. It is also limited in that it ignores the importance of evaluating and developing positive vocational, social, and psychological strengths and assets that lead offenders to turn away from crime. While the IDOC's current approach to inmate assessment may make a certain amount of intuitive sense, it does not provide the agency with a reliable means to provide rehabilitative programming targeted to address the precise needs of individual prisoners that will discourage future criminal activity or encourage pro-social behaviors and attitudes. Using its current assessment system, the IDOC ends up spending its limited security and programming resources on inmates without any certainty that its actions will reduce recidivism. The implementation of RANA will improve upon the IDOC's current assessment system by enabling the agency to focus on the factors that lead people under correctional supervision to return to prison. As mandated, RANA requires the IDOC to adopt an evidence-based assessment tool that will evaluate risks, assets, and needs that are proven to influence recidivism and to create individual case plans that address these factors inside and outside facilities. The benefits of reform are not speculative. Research and the experience of other states indicate that the implementation of a RANA-like system can lead to more efficient use of programming and security resources, reduce recidivism, and ultimately decrease the costly number of people under state correctional supervision. Details: Chicago: The Association, 20113. 27p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2017 at: http://www.thejha.org/sites/default/files/JHA%20Blueprint%20Reforming%20IL%20Prison%20System%20from%20the%20Inside%20Out.pdf Year: 2013 Country: United States URL: http://www.thejha.org/sites/default/files/JHA%20Blueprint%20Reforming%20IL%20Prison%20System%20from%20the%20Inside%20Out.pdf Shelf Number: 131202 Keywords: Correctional ReformCorrectional SupervisionOffender SupervisionPrison OvercrowdingPrison Reform |