PRE-RELEASE AND REENTRY SERVICES DIVISION
COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
SEPT 14, 2006
Committee Members and Guests Attendance: Eric Brenner , Director of the Maryland Governor’s Grants Office; Rev. Michael Bryant , Archdiocese of Washington; Cherise Burdeen, MGT of America; Colleen Davies , Parole & Probation; Thomas DeGonia , State’s Attorneys Office; Craig Dowd , DOCR Workforce Manager; Shawn Flower , Research Intern;POIII Denise Gill , Montgomery County Police Community Policing Coordinator; Karl Girshman , Community Member; Tomi Hiers, Maryland Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services; Norma Jennings , Silver Spring Interfaith Housing Coalition; John Keating , Metropolitan Industries; Susan Kirk , Bethesda Cares; Rev. Ralph Kuehner , Archdiocese of Washington; John Lavigne , Public Defenders’ Office; Stefan LoBuglio , PRRS Division Chief; Don Martin, Health and Human Services; Kent Mason , Community Member; Felix Mata , Baltimore City’s Ex-Offenders Initiative; Dr. Susan McFeaters , University of Maryland – Shady Grove Campus; Peter McGinnity , Representative from the Archdiocese of Washington; Charles Newman , Washington, D.C. Dept. of Corrections; Cleo Prather, St. James’ Prison Ministry; Debra Lyons-Prince, PRRS Community Release Coordinator; Hillel Raskas , PRRS Work Release Coordinator; Joyce Reimherr , Montgomery Works; Jane Sachs , PRRS Unit Manager; Agnes Saenz , Community Ministry of Rockville; James Shannon, PRRS Personnel and Budget Manager; Teresa Still , PRRS Assessment Services Manager; Becky Wagner, Community Ministry of Montgomery County; Mary Wasik , St. James’ Prison Ministry
Welcome and Introductions: Chairperson John Lavigne called the meeting to order at 7:35 A.M. The Committee members and guests introduced themselves.
PRRS Division Chief Stefan LoBuglio announced that at each Community Advisory Committee meeting he likes to have a theme.Today’s theme is recidivism.
PRRS Division Chief’s Report: Chief Stefan LoBuglio highlighted items from his Chief’s Report that described significant activities (see attached Report).
Issues discussed during the meeting were:
· The County Council will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, September 19th to discuss the Work Release Legislative Amendment to increase the eligibility criteria for PRRS programs from six months to one year and to better codify the home confinement program. The Amendment will go before the Council’s Public Safety Committee hearing on September 25th and before the full Council on October 3rd. DOCR Art Wallenstein and Chief LoBuglio will attend both hearings as observers. (This Bill, 34-06, was ratified on October 3, 2006 , by unanimous Council vote and becomes a Montgomery County law in ninety days.)
· DOCR spike in population over the past two months has created a hardship on the two detention facilities. To help alleviate some of the overcrowding, PRRS relaxed its minimum sentence criteria from 30 days to ten days. To accommodate some of the overcrowding, the Pre-Release Center transferred thirty individuals over a two week period from MCCF. Relaxing the Pre-Release Center criteria of 30 days to ten days has required better coordination of PRC and Detention Center staff. John Lavigne suggested that the spike in population could have happened because the Governor recently appointed four new judges. The new judges may not be setting bond or utilizing Pre-Trial Services, consequently the individuals are incarcerated and the detention facilities’ counts rose significantly. A Committee member expressed his concern about these shorter stays and the many services needed in such a short period of time. Chief LoBuglio responded by stating that PRRS, along with all the Department’s Divisions, must be flexible to assist each other and, if necessary, create new procedures in dealing with overcrowding issues. Pre-Release staff are reviewing ideas on how to create new short-time programming for offenders with less than thirty days left on their sentences. Chief LoBuglio will report to the Committee on this issue at the next meeting.
· Screening and Assessment Manager Teresa Still completed a report requested by Chief LoBuglio in response to the number of escapes from PRC since January 2006. Her report indicated that of the nine escapees, seven (78%) were back in custody within one day or less and of those same cases, five (56%) were back in custody within eight hours of less. The report also indicated that the majority of the escapees were serving sentences for Violation of Probation and 44% were receiving mental health services. Committee member John Keating (President of Metropolitan Industries) stated that he felt that a big failure in the system is Parole and Probation interfering with the stability of the hired offenders by making them meet with the P&P agents during regular work hours. This usually meant a loss of a day of work and pay for the offender. Colleen Davies , P&P Supervisor, stated that this should not be happening and employers need to get the names and telephone numbers of the P&P agents and their supervisors and advise them of the work situation.
· The improved security at PRC will soon be in place with new cameras that can be monitored by the Resident Supervisors and fencing around the back of the property. The fencing will deter outsiders from wandering around the property, especially in the back of the facility. These security measures will not distract from the facility.
· The County Council has directed that the DOCR produce a report that would describe the methodology by which the Department would conduct a recidivism study and how the results might be understood. Chief LoBuglio assigned Screening and Assessment Manager Teresa Still and Community Release Coordinator Debra Lyons-Prince to this project. Teresa and Debbie produced an excellent PowerPoint presentation for the Committee (attached). Highlights of this presentation were:
- Baseline recidivism rates, changes in recidivism rates, trends in offender population, program effects on recidivism, and programs making the biggest different in offender outcome.
- Hampden County , Massachusetts Sheriff’s Department ongoing recidivism study since 1998.
- 1994 Bureau of Justice Statistics Study
- National Recidivism Date – Estimated that approximately two-thirds of individuals released from prisons and jails recidivate within three years.
- Jacksonville Experience in Recidivism Intervention
- 2002 DOCR Proposed Recidivism Study
- Data Elements: Demographics, prior offenses, instant offenses, post-release supervision, offenses post-release
- What works to reduce recidivism
- CRIMS (Correction and Rehabilitation Information Management System) – DOCR is currently in the process of purchasing a software package and developing the CRIMS database.
- Sample data elements currently collected by PRRS monthly.
Kent Mason mentioned that in the past the Pre-Release Center has done recidivism research studies and asked if they had been reviewed prior to starting this new project. Debbie said the all the prior studies have been reviewed. Karl Girshman said that the mental health problems seem to continue to grow as health systems decline. Teresa Still stated that approximately 30% of the detention facilities’ population and 20% of PRRS’ population are on psychotropic medication. Eric Brenner stated that Mexico claims to have the lowest recidivism rates. Colleen Davies stated that the State’s data shows the recidivism rate is 33% after six months from release from a State facility and 16% after release from Montgomery County
· Cherise Burdeen produced a consultant’s report reviewing similar work release programs across the County. Ten facilities were chosen because of their similarity to PRRS. This report includes the size of the facility, number of offenders, and types of programs offered. The report will be used as an improvement tool for PRRS, plus staff on-site visits to several of these facilities.
· In the interest of adjourning on time, Stefan LoBuglio moved a presentation from University of Maryland PhD student Shawn Flower to the next quarterly Community Advisory Committee meeting.
· The next meeting of the Pre-Release and Reentry Services Division Community Advisory Committee is Thursday, December 7th at 7:30 A.M. , in the outside classroom. A light buffet breakfast will be served. Chairperson John Lavigne announced that at this meeting, dates for 2007 PRRS Community Advisory Committee meetings will be selected.
The PRRS Community Advisory Committee meeting adjourned at 9:05 A.M.
PRRS Division Chief's Report
Fy06 Monthly Totals
Recidivism Study Presentation
Round table Recidivism Paper
