Reentry/Release

Protect United States of America.

Howard County is seeking assistance to complete a work release program feasibility study. The scope of work will generally include: determining eligible participants; program requirements; staffing; community partners; available resources; facilities and financial analysis. The planning process will bring together the county elected officials, law enforcement and corrections, courts, education providers, non-profits and community leaders to identify the most effective and efficient work release possible.

Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants(OVSJG) is the State Administering Agency (SAA) for Byrne funds. OVSJG is represented at multijurisdictional workgroups and stakeholders have approached OVSJG for the following TTA request: (1) training for staff at two consolidated and newly developing DC agencies within the public safety and justice cluster - DC Office of Chief Medical Officer and DC Forensic Sciences. Both agencies are developing its infrastructure and are under new administration.

Since its launch in 2010, the RJIP has identified and helped to reform policies and practices that produce racial disparities in local criminal justice systems across the country.

NCJA Travel

BJA has requested that individuals from the Denver County Sheriff's Office participate in a panel discussion at the American Correctional Association (ACA) conference in August 2015.

Rhode Island is seeking an assessment and re-validation of their existing parole risk instrument. Assessing and refining the existing parole risk instrument will ensure that parole discretion is supplemented with sound research and data.

BJA will commission a White Paper on risk assessment use in state and local sentencing decision making. The final report will be a critical tool to expand BJA's knowledge of how risk information is used, and may impact future BJA funding priorities and strategies.

BJA will identify a provider to facilitate JRI peer-to-peer technical assistance events. Similar events were held in February 2015 to share ideas, resources, and tools from sites involved in JRI efforts. This TA will expand those events to more sites involved in JRI activity.

On a nationwide basis, Pretrial Justice Reform efforts have gained momentum. The Commonwealth of Kentucky implemented Pretrial Services statewide in 1976. Since the inception of Pretrial Services there has never been a formal cost benefit analysis conducted to demonstrate the effective and efficient use of funding and resources . Kentucky Pretrial Services is housed in the judicial branch of government, which over the past three budget cycles has been grossly underfunded, experienced lay-offs, furloughs and frozen positions.