Families of Prisoners

Facilitate relationship-based TTA to support all active SCA BJA and OJJDP grantees at all stages of grantee funding cycles

The role of practitioners in the criminal justice system is rapidly changing from enforcer or resource broker to facilitator of behavior change. Cognitive behavioral skill building is an evidence-based practice for changing difficult and entrenched behaviors including antisocial thinking, addiction, and impulsivity. The partnership between treatment providers and criminal justice professionals requires that all professionals understand cognitive behavioral therapy and skill development.

On March 3, 2020 April 7, 2020 and June 2, 2020 Margaret diZerega met with Andre Bethea to share lessons learned from the initiative and receive guidance on the next phase.

The coaches provided assistance in completing the implementation guide and time task plan. Coaches also helped to review their staffing plan and sent resources to the grantee to assist the facility in keeping youth safe from sexual abuse.

Coaches assisted with the development of the implementation guide and time task plan. Coaches also reviewed volunteer and contractor training documents.

Cases responded to and closed during the reporting period March - June 2020 were 346

The Psychology of COVID-19 article was written to increase knowledge of the psychological impacts of the pandemic and how those in corrections may mitigate them. This article was published in the May-June 2020 issue of Corrections Today which was posted online with free access.

The Coronavirus COVID-19: Managing the Stress of Uncertainty by Taking Care of You Webinar will be conducted to benefit policy makers and all disciplines of correctional staff to provide training and technical assistance on effective management of employees and subsequent related stressors that can be caused by pandemic type occurrences. This live webinar will also be posted to the ACA resource center as enduring materials for the public and individuals who may not have been able to access the live event.

Explore promising practices in supervising drug/alcohol-involved probationers/parolees in a community-based setting. Examine the importance of utilizing Risk-Need-Responsivity principles, community-based sentencing options, effective case planning and graduated responses to increase public safety and long-term behavior change. Discuss how stakeholders can contribute to improve outcomes for this population. Discuss the pervasiveness of mental illness in the criminal justice system. Identify basic mental, sociological and educational characteristics of the mentally ill offender population.

On October 23, 2019 Margaret diZerega met with Andre Bethea and Ruby Qazilbash to share lessons learned from the initiative and receive guidance on the next phase.