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Montgomery County Department of Correction & Rehabilitation

MONTGOMERY COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY
Community Advisory Group
Monthly Meeting

September 16, 2003

ATTENDANCE

Anthony Sturgess: Health Services Administrator, MCCF
Bina Allgood: OSC, MCCF
Jeanette Barber: Captain, Montgomery County Sheriffs Dept.
Leon Grant: Mt. Calvary Baptist Church
Loretta McClintock: Community
Nancy Hislop: Up-County Services Center
Rob Green: Warden, MCCF
Russell Isler: Chaplain, MCCF
Steve Howie: Clarksburg Civic Association
Terry Reister: Hyattstown Christian Church
Vicky Dorworth: Montgomery College

MONTGOMERY COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (MCCFAC) BY LAWS

The By-Laws for the reorganized community group (Montgomery County Correctional Facility Advisory Committee) were handed out. The group reviewed Art’s additions to the By-Laws concerning Membership. There was discussion on what to call the membership in Article V; subcommittees, focus areas, permanent members, adhoc committees, and representative members. What areas of membership should be represented? Should one committee be all encompassing involving all ethnic groups? Should the list be organizational members and focus members, separately? Does the re-entry community need to be recognized? Everyone agreed that there should be a statement referencing how the membership could be amended in the future (a flexibility clause). Agreed upon changes will be made and the new By-Laws will be issued with the mailing of the minutes.

The history of the Clarksburg Business Advisory Group (CBAG) was reviewed. It was a group that was active for approximately three years, which did incredible work in the development and start-up of MCCF. DOCR’s Director and Steve Howie co-chaired this group. The group acted as community liaison during construction.

It was decided that the original CBAG group would move in another direction. As part of the new direction, it was agreed upon that the CBAG Issues Matrix would be closed and can be recalled if needed. Bylaws (attached) were developed for the new group. Rob reviewed the purpose of the group by reading Article IV. He emphasized the importance of community questions, concerns and input. MCCF will benefit from the communities knowledge, know-how and contacts. Rob noted that the Bylaws are flexible and that additions and revisions are to be expected in the course of maintaining a productive and efficient committee.

The Bylaws call for the MCCF Warden to serve as co-chair along with a representative of one of the focus group membership organizations. Because of the number of attendees at tonight’s meeting, a quorum could not be obtained to vote on the co-chair. It was tabled until next month.

After discussion, a vote was taken to rename the group Montgomery County Correctional Facility Community Advisory Group. It is important to keep the word “community” in the name, which indicates that it is an open community based interface, verses a group that may be otherwise be appointed by the Executive or other practitioners in corrections. The vote passed.

WARDEN’S UPDATE

• MCCF has now been open for six months. The building is progressing as expected.
• All of our programs are up and operating. New programs are being started every week. Programs are being offered to both men and women as available.
• The Bakery Program and Food Service Sanitation Course begin October 1. Upon completion of the Food Service Sanitation Course the inmate will be certified to work in Food Service in Montgomery County (pilot program to begin October 15, 2003).
• The first semester of Montgomery College courses started with 17 inmates participating.
• Technical programs (e.g., plumbing, electrical, masonry) have been up and running. These programs introduce the MCCF population to trade work.
• Computer Learning Lab has been up and running from the time MCCF opened teaching basic PC skills.
• Almost an entire housing unit is participating in the ESOL Program. We hope to expand this program.

MCCF POPULATION

MCCF is housing 39 Federal inmates. We are approved for up to 75 Federal inmates. There have been no critical incidents.

CONSTRUCTION HOUSE AND PROPERTY

The construction house (the house on the hill) is scheduled for demolition in approximately 60 days. The Kingsley Wilderness School’s rock still needs to be moved to their new site. The Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPWT) are working on getting equipment large enough to move the rock.

For the safety of our staff and the Kingsley Wilderness School, MCCF has purchased “Private Property No Hunting” signs to post as soon as possible.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

The Department of Correction will be helping with the Germantown October Fest, October 3rd from 6 to 9 p.m. and 4th from 11a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Seneca Creek Park. We will use some of the alternative sentencing population to help with the cleanup as an offset of some of the costs for the festival.

There is a Community Meeting Room at MCCF that is available to the community groups. Contact Bina to reserve a meeting time.

FEATURED MCCF REPRESENTATIVE – MEDICAL UNIT

Each month Rob will feature a representative to speak on a different aspect of what we do at MCCF. We welcome all comments and questions by the members present. This month Tony Sturgess, Health Services Administrator will give an overview if his section.

• The Medical Unit is approximately 11,000 square feet.
• It can house up to 29 inmates.
• It is a state of the art Medical Unit, such as rooms specialized for TB isolation.
• In-house IV treatment.
• In-house physical therapy.
• In-house dialysis.
• In-house suturing.
• An x-ray machine is brought to MCCF for in-house chest x-rays.
• There is a doctor at the facility up to six days a week for 2-3 hours a day.
• There is a dentist at the facility three days a week for eight hours a day.
• There is a psychiatrist at the facility several days a week.
• The facility has a 46 bed Crisis Intervention Unit which is the biggest therapeutic mental health unit in Montgomery County.
• There is seven day a week sick call. The Nurse Practitioners had 3,446 sick call visits last year.
• This is significant because in previous years Nurse Practitioners were not involved in sick call visits and the inmate would have to be seen by the doctor.
• The Medical Unit is seeing more diabetes, heart conditions, and complicated infections, as well as more of an elderly population.
• Both men and women are given a complete physical by the Nurse Practitioner after arriving at MCCF. The Nurse Practitioner with give the women an in-depth education on sex education, cervical cancer, breast cancer and will give other gynecological exams as is necessary.
  
  Medical Cost Saving Plans
  
• There are major costs for the inmate to see a specialist. To reduce costs we have utilized the Alliance Providers (Managed Care Innovation). Their goal is to find the best services for the most reasonable costs.
• There has been quite a savings with all the in-house treatments that are now being done. Previously, these treatments were done outside of the facility with a very high cost. There would also be a security issue in having to transport the inmate out of the building.
• The Medical Unit utilizes the State Laboratories as much as possible.
• There is a great relationship with the Health Department. They come into the facility weekly to do HIV testing. They also have an infectious disease doctor that we can request to come to MCCF as needed.
• One of the most cost saving practices is the utilization of generic drugs.

The Department is in the process of applying for a grant for one million dollars for a demonstration project titled, Therapeutic Community Jail and Addictions Program. It would concentrate on those inmates with a co-occurring disorder.

Next month the featured MCCF representative will be Barbara James, Director of the Model Learning Center (inmate education).

The next meeting will be October 21, 2003
at MCCF,in the Community Room