In July, CSG Justice Center staff assisted agency leaders with developing a strategy for justice reinvestment data monitoring and to continued to assist agencies with planning for implementation of key policy areas, including the establishment of crisis stabilization units, improving programming and treatment at Arkansas Community Correction (ACC) residential facilities, and developing parole decision-making guidelines.
CSG Justice Center staff met onsite with agencies to assist them with developing plans and timelines to collect and report justice reinvestment data and identify IT changes needed to track new data. CSG Justice Center staff discussed with agency leaders and research staff key metrics to track and report to the Interagency Task Force and other state leaders to understand whether Act 423 policies are working as intended, make adjustments to implementation as needed, and ensure the state remains on track to achieve intended outcomes. CSG Justice Center also drafted mockup PowerPoint slides to provide examples of key trends that will be important for state leaders to track.
CSG Justice Center staff assisted agency leaders with convening the first meeting of the Parole Readiness, Release, and Community Supervision Issue-Specific Team meeting. Comprised of staff from ACC, the Parole Board, and Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC), the purpose of the team is to collaborate on the implementation of parole decision-making guidelines, parole readiness practices, and violation response policies impacting all three agencies. CSG Justice Center staff assisted agency staff with walking through a team work plan and discussing tasks and activities where coordination is needed.
To assist ACC with improving the efficiency and effectiveness of services offered at their residential facilities and to prepare them to serve additional low-level offenders and individuals receiving technical violations, CSG Justice Center staff conducted observations of current programming offered in three facilities. CSG Justice Center staff provided feedback and recommendations to strengthen offerings, including incorporating more skill-building and role play activities for individuals enrolled in programs and training security staff to facilitate programs not requiring licensure in order to cut down on group size.
CSG Justice Center continued to provide technical assistance to the Division of Behavioral Health Services (DBHS) with planning for the establishment of three Crisis Stabilization Units (CSU) to divert individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis from jail. This included holding regular calls to check in progress with developing the terms of the sub-grant agreement that the counties will enter into with DBHS and planning for a “Technical Assistance Day” in late August to assist the three selected counties with preparing to launch CSU operations by late fall.
Lastly, CSG Justice Center staff reviewed and approved the state’s initial application for subaward funds to cover the immediate needs of a JRI Coordinator position with the Governor’s Office and programming changes to their electronic offender management system. Because ACC anticipates the programming work to take 2-3 months to complete, initial funds were requested so that their vendor could complete the necessary changes by October 1, when new violation response and other supervision policies will go into effect.
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o Meeting with the Parole Board - Meeting with APB Chairman and members of the parole board to review a work plan for implementing parole decision-making guidelines and discuss development of the core factors for parole release decision-making.
o Meeting with JFA and ABP - Meeting with APB Chairman, and JFA Institute Vice President to discuss coordination between JFA projects within Arkansas and the development of parole decision-making guidelines.
o Programming Observations at OMEGA Technical Violator Center - Observed treatment programming at the OMEGA Technical Violator Center in Malvern, AR to provide feedback on strengths and opportunities to strengthen programming and improve outcomes
o Programming Observations at Central Arkansas Community Correction Center - Observed treatment programming at the Central Arkansas CCC in Little Rock, AR to provide feedback on strengths and opportunities to strengthen programming and improve outcomes.
o Programming Observations at East Central Arkansas Community Correction Center - Observed treatment programming at the East Central Arkansas CCC for Females in West Memphis, AR to provide feedback on strengths and opportunities to strengthen programming and improve outcomes.
o Meeting with ACIC - Meeting with ACIC Administrator, and ACIC Field Services Manager to discuss ACIC's role with justice reinvestment data monitoring and key metrics to track Act 423 implementation progress and outcomes.
o Meeting with DBHS - Meeting with Assistant Director for Quality Assurance and DBHS Program Manager to discuss key metrics to track on the implementation of three crisis stabilization units (CSUs), requirements for data tracking to include in the agreements with counties that will operate the CSUs, and technology options for counties to collect and report data to DBHS.
o Meeting with Parole Board - Meeting with APB Executive Administrator and Computer Support Analyst to discuss key metrics to track and plans for automating the parole guidelines in the offender management database, eOMIS.
o Meeting with ADC - Meeting with ADC Public Information Officer, ADC Research and Planning Administrator, and ADC Software Support Analyst to discuss key metrics to track on justice reinvestment implementation and upgrades needed to the offender management database, eOMIS.
o Meeting with ACC Research and Planning team - Program Management Administrator, Research and Evaluation Administrator, Information Systems Coordinator, Research and Evaluation Administrator, Project Manager, Marquis to discuss key metrics to track and timeline for making programming changes to offender management database, eOMIS, to track the use of new 90 and 180-day sanctions.
o Meeting with ACC leadership - Meeting with ACC Chief Deputy Director, and ACC Program Management Administrator to review the goals of and plans for justice reinvestment data monitoring and discuss the agency's subaward needs.
• 7/6 - Call with ACC Director, ADC Director, ADC Public Information Officer & Legislative Liaison, Executive Administrator, BOC Chairman, and 2 other staff to discuss and develop an inter-agency work plan on Act 423 requirements which effect ADC, ACC, and the Parole Board.
• 7/7 - Call with Governor's Office JRI Coordinator to check in on plans for reviewing and selecting county applicants to receive funds for operating crisis stabilization unit sites.
• 7/10 - Call with Governor's Office JRI Coordinator, ACC Program Management Administrator, and ACC Research and Evaluation administrator to provide feedback on the state's initial subaward application to fund the JRI Coordinator for the Governor's Office and IT upgrades for ACC and to prepare the application for submission to BJA.
• 7/14 - Call with ADC Public Information Officer, ACC Program Management Administrator, ACC Research and Evaluation Administrator, APB Executive Administrator, Governor's Office JRI Coordinator, DBHS Assistant Director of Adult Services, and 6th District Representative to review the new guidance materials on the subaward application process provided by BJA.
• 7/14 - Call with ADC Public Information Officer to debrief on the first Parole Readiness, Release, and Community Supervision Issue-Specific Team meeting and discuss plans for justice reinvestment data monitoring.
• 7/19 - Call with ACC Program Management Administrator to discuss plans for upcoming site visit to assist agency staff with developing a justice reinvestment data monitoring strategy.
• 7/19 - Call with Governor's Office JRI Coordinator to check in on scheduling issue-specific team meetings and plans for the first Act 423 Interagency Task Force meeting scheduled for early August.
• 7/19 - Call with ADC Public Information Officer, ACC Program Management Administrator, ACC Research and Evaluation Administrator, APB Executive Administrator, Governor's Office JRI Coordinator, DBHS Assistant Director of Adult Services, and 6th District Representative to review the new guidance materials on the subaward application process provided by BJA.
• 7/21 - Call with DBHS Assistant Director for Adult Services, DBHS Assistant Director for Policy and Research, and DHS Procurement Manager to discuss drafting agreement terms for three the counties that will be selected to operate crisis stabilization units and plans for holding a technical assistance day for the selected counties.
• 7/24 - Call with ACC Deputy Director and six ACC staff to discuss the OVG training and implementation plan.
• 7/26 - Call with APB Chairman, ADC Public Information Officer & Legislative Liaison, ACC Program Management Administrator, JFA Institute President and five additional staff to discuss the intersection between the ARORA-PRI created by the JFA Institute and the development of parole decision-making guidelines. In addition, we discussed ongoing communication and coordination between all agencies in regard to the projects.
• 7/26 - Call with APB Chairman to discuss coordination between APB, JFA Institute, and CSG Justice Center staff.
• 7/27 - Call with Governor's Office JRI Coordinator to check in on plans for the first Act 423 Interagency Task Force meeting and progress scheduling issue-specific team meetings.
• 7/27 - Call with ACC Program Management Administrator, ACC Research and Evaluation Administrator, and ACC Assistant Director for Residential Treatment to provide assistance with using the new BJA subaward application materials to prepare a second submission to request funds for training and curricula to be offered in ACC's residential facilities.
• 7/28 - Call with DBHS Assistant Director for Adult Services, DHS Procurement Manager, DBHS Assistant Director for Quality Assurance, and Governor's Office JRI Coordinator to check in on planning for a Technical Assistance day for counties selected to operate three crisis stabilization units and to review progress on drafting terms of the agreement that DBHS will hold with the counties.
• 7/31 - Call with DBHS Assistant Director for Adult Services and DBHS Assistant Director for Quality Assurance to discuss data and outcomes tracking to require from counties in their agreements with DBHS to operate three crisis stabilization unit sites.
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