Priority Area 1: Establish a Quality Improvement Unit within the Wyoming Department of Corrections.
Background: Wyoming’s Justice Reinvestment legislation, HEA 0062, requires a QI Unit to be created within the Department of Corrections to monitor the administration and use of substance use disorder assessments. This legislation supports hiring and training staff for the QI Unit, the development of policies and procedures specifically related to the assessment process, and training for personnel in both the WDOC and WDH who will be working within the newly developed QI policies.
Update: In January, CSG Justice Center staff continued working with the WDOC and WDH working groups to establish the policy and procedures that will lay the groundwork for the QI Unit established under HEA 0062. This included CSG Justice Center staff working with Alliance for Community and Justice Innovation (ACJI) to create a strategic plan for the QI Unit over the next 17 months. The newly hired Quality Assurance Manager started in January, and CSG Justice Center staff have been assisting in his onboarding process to provide information about Justice Reinvestment and the work that is being done in the state to address HEA 0062.
Priority Area 2: Develop standardized, evidence-based treatment guidelines and practices for substance use treatment and programming for people in the criminal justice system.
Background: During the earlier part of Phase II, CSG Justice Center staff completed an assessment of community providers’ treatment practices throughout the state. The assessment found that there were inconsistent practices statewide that could contribute to varying outcomes and costs for clients. To improve consistency, HEA 0062 requires a set of standards to be developed for programs delivering substance use disorder and behavioral health services.
Update: The biweekly meetings with the WDOC, WDH, Wyoming Association of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers (WAMHSAC), and CSG Justice Center staff continue. Throughout January, CSG Justice Center staff worked with ACJI to develop a Structured Decision-Making Framework for contracted behavioral health providers to use to monitor treatment matching using assessment results from the DSM-V for substance use disorder severity, the ASAM dimensions, the ASI-MV scales, and a risk/needs assessment. This will enable providers across the state to use a standardized treatment decision-making tool. Additionally, in January, an ASAM criteria training was held for 40 practitioners across the contracted behavioral health providers in the state as well as DOC and DOH staff.
Priority Area 3: Expand the sharing and acceptance of substance use disorder, mental health, and co-occurring assessment results between providers and WDOC.
Background: The assessment process completed by CSG Justice Center staff in the initial part of Phase II found that there was a hesitancy, or outright refusal, among some community providers to accept substance use assessments completed by other entities. The new behavioral health legislation, HEA 0062, addresses this with the requirement to improve the portability and acceptance of assessments across the state.
Update: The working group of WDOC, WDH, and providers that have been focusing on release of information has created a new policy guiding the practice of communication between institutional and community providers as well as an MOU that will allow information sharing between providers within the corrections facilities, community providers, and WDOC. In January, DOC and WDH were able to develop a plan for in-reach from the community into the facilities, so prior to release a person incarcerated will meet and complete an intake process with a community behavioral health provider. This will result in a substantial increase in the information sharing that is currently taking place. Additionally, ACJI held a Leadership and Culture Academy training for leadership from all DOC and WDH contracted providers, DOC staff, WDH staff, and WAMHSAC. This training was an unprecedented meeting of leadership that has fostered dialogue and collaboration across the state.
Priority Area 4: Create a separate contract or separate provisions in the existing contract between WDH and the regional behavioral health providers to ensure consistency and improve outcomes for people in the criminal justice system.
Background: Current contract standards with community providers are compliance based. With the requirements of HEA 0062, there will need to be adjustments to the contracting procedure to allow for greater monitoring and oversight by the QI Unit and to ensure consistency among practices within community providers.
Update: Wyoming remains in a holding pattern while the legislature reviews the current state of the budget and what the upcoming fiscal year may require as the state continues to respond to reductions in revenue. While contracts cannot currently be renegotiated with WDOC or WDH, discussions have begun about how contracts with behavioral health providers can be revised to include participant outcomes and use of evidence-based standards.
Priority Area 5: Develop data tracking measures.
Background: As part of Justice Reinvestment implementation, states are required to identify and submit regular data tracking metrics to the CSG Justice Center to capture the progress of both the original 4 pieces of legislation, HEA 53, SEA 19, SEA 20, and HB 45, as well as the newest piece of legislation, HEA 0062.
Update: CSG Justice Center staff continue to receive monthly data submissions from WDOC. With a new data share agreement in place, the state has continued to share data for monitoring.
Priority Area 6: Continue to assist the state with monitoring progress, collecting data, tracking outcomes, and addressing challenges with implementation of the priorities associated with HEA 53, SEA 19, SEA 20, and HEA 45.
Background: From March 2019 to March 2020, CSG Justice Center staff completed several implementation projects associated with Wyoming’s first four Justice Reinvestment bills (enacted in February 2019). These included the implementation of the PRISM incentives and sanction system, the use of 90-day sanctions, the use of substance use treatment and cognitive behavioral programming in jails and prisons, the use of early discharge from supervision and capping the length of supervision, and the impact of the expansion of victim compensation periods. Active technical assistance on these projects has wound down, but CSG Justice Center staff continue to monitor their progress and outcomes.
Update: CSG Justice Center staff continue to monitor monthly data submissions to track the progress being made under the initial Justice Reinvestment legislation. Key metrics are reported to the CSG Justice Center with a significant lag time (approximately five months).
Priority Area 7: Engage and educate Wyoming stakeholders on Justice Reinvestment legislation to promote oversight and sustainability.
Background: The Joint Judiciary Committee approved legislation to monitor the implementation of Justice Reinvestment legislation for the first part of Phase II (HEA 53, SEA 19, SEA 20, and HB 45). Additionally, the Joint Labor, Health, and Social Services Committee will receive annual updates on the newly passed behavioral health legislation through 2023.
Update: In January, CSG Justice Center staff began preliminary discussions with the state on wrap activities that could be completed as technical assistance for JR work comes to end. This included offering retrospective and data analysis to DOC, WDH, and the legislature.
New Insights: The Corrections Manager that will oversee the work of the QI Unit, started their new position in January.
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1/8: Call with Deputy Administrator (Transparency Division, WDOC), Administrator (Field Services, WDOC), Corrections Manager (Transparency Division, WDOC) Community and Director (Community Relations and Strategy, Alliance for Community and Justice Innovation (ACJI)) to discuss the strategic plan for the quality assurance unit and the phased roll out of the structured decision-making tool.
1/14: Bi-monthly call with Administrator (Field Services, WDOC), and four additional WDOC staff members to discuss the status of the deliverables beginning in the weeks ahead and to review the progress made on the structured decision-making tool being prepared by ACJI.
1/15: Call with Administrator (Field Services, WDOC), Deputy Administrator (Transparency Division, WDOC), Corrections Manager (Transparency Division, WDOC), and Director (Community Relations and Strategy, ACJI) to introduce the Corrections Manager, newly hired for the QI unit, to ACJI and CSG Justice Center staff.
1/20: Weekly call with Corrections Manager (Transparency Division, WDOC) to complete an introduction of the new Corrections Manager that will be overseeing the QI unit, to the HEA 62 work that has been done to date.
1/20: Call with Administrator (Field Services, WDOC) and two additional WDOC staff members, Director (Community Relations and Strategy, ACJI) to discuss the strategic plan developed by ACJI for the implementation of the QI Unit and the structured decision-making tool developed by ACJI.
1/21: Bi-monthly call with Administrator (Field Services, WDOC) to discuss deliverables, to answer questions on processes to complete for the Category 2 subaward, and to begin the discussion of CSG Justice Center will begin to slow down the technical assistance in the state and start to prepare materials that will provide an overview of the work in the state completed under Justice Reinvestment.
1/22: Call with Administrator (Field Services, WDOC) and two additional WDOC staff members, Director of Leadership and Organizational Intelligence (ACJI) and two additional staff members to discuss challenges and accommodations to the structured decision-making tool that ACJI is developing for the state.
1/22: Call with Administrator (Field Services, WDOC) and two additional WDOC staff members, Director (Community Relations and Strategy, ACJI) and one additional staff member, to discuss reactions to the strategic plan for the QI unit and the phased implementation of the structured decision-making tool.
1/26: Call with Administrator (Field Services, WDOC) and two additional WDOC staff member, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Administrator (Behavioral Health Division, WDH), and Director (Community Relations and Strategy, ACJI) to discuss reaction to the second Leadership and Cultural Acumen training facilitated by ACJI.
1/28: Bi-monthly call to discuss deliverables and the administrative processes that need to be identified and outlined as implementation moves forward.
1/28: Call with Administrator (Field Services, WDOC) to discuss legislative outreach to present the work that has been done under Justice Reinvestment
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