CJI is working with Alaska Department of Corrections to update AK's current reentry and case management process to comply with the statutory mandates of SB 91.
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Throughout the fall and spring, CJI has been working with Reentry Program Manager Morgen Jaco to facilitate a working group tasked with updating that process, and helped to prepare materials for group members to review before and after meetings. The working group began meeting in November, and in the first few meetings, there was disagreements among group members about what reforms would be possible. However, at a meeting in February, group members reviewed concerns from the initial meetings and realized the vast majority of the problems they’d been worried were insolvable had, in fact, been worked through and solved over the past few months. It was an encouraging realization as ADOC begins to implement the decisions of the working group. Meetings for the group have been paused for several months, and will resume once case managers have been hired and the program formally launches in April.
After a conversation with an ADOC staff member in charge of institutional programming which revealed the department needed assistance with case management, CJI worked to create ideas for updating case management in Alaska’s Institutions. CJI researched institutional case management practices in other states, and presented the findings and ideas during a phone meeting with institutional staff. Programming leadership are also considering switching to an updated risk assessment tool (institutional officers currently use the LSI-R and they are considering switching to the CMI), so CJI answered questions about the pros and cons of switching tools at this point in time, as well as how implementing a new tool across the state could work.
CJI is preparing for a Train the Trainer event for Field and Institutional Probation Officers. This training will be on Principles of Effective Intervention (PEI) and Effective Case Management (ECM), and will take place in October. This month, CJI worked to prepare materials for the training customized for Alaska.
CJI completed all Train the Trainer activities on PEI and ECM.
This month, DOC Commissioner Williams reached out to CJI to discuss concerns he was hearing from legislators about probation condition being overly harsh/unreasonable, and at times counter-productive. CJI has been talking with the Commissioner and others at DOC about facilitating a workgroup at DOC to examine how the agency is recommending, supervising and enforcing conditions and develop updated policies.
In July 2018, CJI spoke with the Commissioner and others at DOC about facilitating a workgroup at DOC to examine how the agency is recommending, supervising and enforcing conditions and develop updated policies. CJI held several calls with Commissioner Williams, Deputy Commissioner Karen Cann, and Probation Director Belden to discuss supervision conditions and a plan for moving forward. In preparation for the calls, CJI put together a research summary as well as examples of how other states set and enforce supervision conditions. CJI also conducted phone interviews with P&P supervisors.
In August 2018, CJI facilitated a workgroup onsite at DOC to examine how the DOC is recommending, supervising and enforcing conditions and to develop updated policies. The Division of Probation and Parole (DPP) along with the Executive Director of Parole proposed standardized supervision conditions and a plan for moving these recommendations forward. CJI assisted DOC in facilitating a stakeholder’s meeting with the Parole Board, judges, state attorneys, and public defenders to start discussing implementation of the standardized conditions.
DPP Director Winkelman expressed her interest in completing work on the standardization of general conditions of supervision to CJI. CJI and Director Winkelman discussed potential strategies to move forward, including ensuring involvement from the four presiding judges in Alaska. Director Winkelman suggested waiting until after legislative session ends to discuss next steps for this project.
Additionally, CJI facilitated on-site strategic planning session for risk/needs assessment and case management policy revisions. This session was focused on creating an action plan to improve supervision practices for facility, reentry, and community supervision. Next steps were to include subgroup work on each section of the policy (risk/needs assessment and case management) based on the group’s action plans.
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