20240626-111307-61

"Priority Area 1: Work with state agencies to receive and analyze data to identify drivers of Arkansas’s high recidivism rates and understand how recidivism contributes to overall crime and incarceration rates. Update: In February, CSG Justice Center staff received word from our internal IT team that the Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC) data representative requested access to our server to provide data. Staff worked with IT to set up the account but have not received any data. With respect to data from the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), CSG Justice Center staff were advised by organization leadership that administrative funds could be used to secure a line of credit that AOC staff indicated would satisfy the performance bond required to access AOC data. Documentation of the line of credit was sent to AOC staff who confirmed receipt and forwarded the data use agreement (DUA) to its legal department who approved the document. With regards to the Arkansas Crime Information Center (ACIC), staff connected with a representative from the Governor’s Office, who provided ACIC staff with clarification, but also indicated that ACIC should provide data soon. Priority Area 2: Work with practitioners and justice-impacted individuals around the state to engage in qualitative assessments of the effectiveness of supervision practices, identify barriers to successful reentry, and determine potential gaps in needed services for individuals reentering society. Update: In February, CSG Justice Center staff met with Arkansas’s Chief Workforce Officer to learn more about his efforts to ensure that individuals reentering the community from prison have appropriate skills and education to ensure they have adequate employment. To this end, he described several of his goals: Developing a way to determine an individual’s current work history, including their educational background, career-related licenses, and current skills; Addressing ancillary barriers such as ensuring that an individual has access to housing and appropriate documents to function in the community; and Identifying the appropriate way to address barriers to employment and matching the individual to the right service. Additionally, staff learned that the workforce cabinet hopes to identify industries in the state they can bring to prisons to help build individuals’ work history while they are incarcerated. In discussing obstacles, the chief of workforce development felt that capacity issues were his major concern, including adequate staffing for facilities, and that he hopes in the future to work on ways to build interest in correctional careers through apprenticeships and career tracks. Priority Area 3: Cultivate strong relationships with policymakers and stakeholders in the state to ensure that Arkansas’s JRI project has the greatest possible impact on the criminal justice challenges facing the state. Update: CSG Justice Center staff attended the February meeting of the Legislative Recidivism Reduction Task Force. The meeting was centered on programming offered within prisons and through the Division of Community Corrections. Several themes emerged from the presentations: The possibility of centralizing reentry services to one facility that individuals can be transferred to toward the end of their sentence; The need to develop more mental health services for incarcerated individuals, and recruit staff to provide those services; How the current prison space was not designed for programming; therefore, facilities encounter issues finding room for services; and A need to review the legislative and administrative criteria for programs in order to maximize the number of individuals who can participate. After the meeting, staff met with the task force chair, the newly appointed secretary of corrections, and the director of the Sentencing Commission. During that meeting, they requested that we provide a presentation on evidence-based principles and felt that it would be very impactful to the task force. Additionally, the group agreed with our regional approach to site visits and offered to review a list of proposed counties to offer suggestions as to whom to meet with. CSG Justice Center staff also met with representatives of the Department of Transformation and Shared Services to learn more about their data collecting initiatives. Staff learned of several useful projects the department was working on including a project assessing an individuals’ risk of recidivism."