Young Adults (18 - 24)

In June, Vera facilitated conference calls with UDC’s data research lead Julie Christianson to discuss the department’s ongoing development of performance metrics and reports, specifically the recently updated data for fourth quarter of 2017.

In May Vera participated via conference call in VADOCs mental health committee meeting. The meeting focused on our specific findings and recommendations around system wide mental health issues outside the purview of the new Diversion Units (SDTP). Additionally, the Vera team took part in scheduled bi-weekly calls with our site lead, Tori Raiford and other designated staff to provide updates on VADOCs implementation progress.

In May there were ongoing emails and phone calls with Jeremy Sharp (UDC's site lead) in preparation for two upcoming implementation meetings (Part I on May 11th and Part II on May 23rd) with the UDC implementation team via video conference. The meetings were in support of UDCs work-plan and were designed to help the implementation team identify key staff to lead specific reform goals, to assess the feasibility of implementing each of our recommendations, and to prioritize implementation tasks and activities accordingly.

In April, Vera exchanged emails clarifying notes and following up on the recent (March 29-30) implementation plan meeting and ongoing development of VADOCs work-plan. This work included the launch of three new work-groups to address three key areas of our proposed reforms: culture change, mental health, and other system-wide reforms.

In April, Utah's Executive Director Rollin Cook announced he was stepping down after five years in the position. As a result, there were multiple phone calls and email exchanges with Director Cook and UDC leadership to gauge and ensure the department's commitment to continue working with Vera on the implementation of our recommendations for reform.

CSG Justice Center staff provided on-site TA to DC Core Planning Team and toured the D.C Jail and True Unit for emerging young adults.

Hosted by the National Reentry Resource Center, with funding support from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance.

Pilot program for 24 county jails in central Texas-- some rural, some urban-- to determine the scope of their PREA compliance, connect them with their local rape crisis centers, hold a one-day convening to facilitate conversations about best practices and barriers to PREA implementation, and create a toolkit that will provide Texas-specific best practices and lessons learned from the convening, that county jails across Texas can use to better implement PREA standards.

CJCA is to convene 18-20 of its members to build capacity and strengthen the fidelity of the training package developed for the first and second level supervisors to address and sustain positive cultural change and PREA implementation by piloting and training and creating a resource guide for training directors to customize materials into pre-existing curricula.

In June, Vera returned to the Angola facility for a training on compassion given by a local teacher for the Department and external stakeholders. This training allowed for greater understanding, empathy, and collaboration between incarcerated people, prison officials, and external individuals who care about continuing the reforms already begun in the LADOC system regarding conditions of confinement. Vera also continued working on the memo for the Department on the transition program and will send shortly.