Section 4

Managing Offenders To Reduce Recidivism and Promote Successful Reentry

Overview

In 2008, more than 7.3 million people were on probation, in jail or prison, or on parole at yearend — 3.2 percent of all U.S. adult residents or one in every 31 adults. About 70 percent of the persons under correctional supervision at yearend 2008 were supervised in the community, either on probation or parole, while 30 percent were incarcerated in the nation’s prisons or jails.

These individuals face multiple barriers to leading crime-free lives including mental illness, substance abuse, health problems, poor employment histories, family issues, lack of job skills, and lack of housing, as well as other significant personal problems. Research shows that about two-thirds of offenders are rearrested within three years of release, and half return to prison during that same period.

OJP, through a number of its bureaus, is working to reduce recidivism and its attendant fiscal and social costs and increase the safety of our communities. One of the largest efforts is the administration of the Second Chance Act of 2007.

Through the provisions of this statute, OJP is able to increase its support of reentry demonstration projects that use validated assessment tools to determine the risks and needs of offenders. BJA is overseeing projects designed to provide offenders in prisons or jails with necessary services. These include educational, literacy, vocational, and job placement services that facilitate reentry into the community; substance abuse treatment and services during incarceration that continue in community-based settings upon an offender’s release; and coordinated supervision and comprehensive services for offenders upon release from prison or jail, including housing and mental and physical health care to include veteran specific services.

OJP addresses the challenges that returning sex offenders bring to their communities through the Adam Walsh Act Implementation Grant Program. This program assists states, the District of Columbia, territories, and tribal jurisdictions with developing and/or enhancing programs designed to implement the requirements of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, and to promote innovation and best practices in the field of sex offender management.

Discretionary Programs

Program Name Second Chance Act Adult and Juvenile Offender Reentry Demonstration Projects (Section 101)
FY 2012 Funding $6,400,000
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.bja.gov/funding.aspx
Program Contact Gary Dennis, (202) 305-9059, Gary.Dennis@usdoj.gov; Thurston Bryant, (202) 514-8082, Thurston.Bryant@usdoj.gov
Program Description
The Second Chance Act authorizes grants to state and local governments and federally recognized Indian tribes for demonstration projects to promote the safe and successful reintegration of incarcerated individuals into the community. Allowable funding uses include employment services, substance abuse treatment, housing, family programming, mentoring, victim services, methods to improve release and revocation decisions using risk assessment tools, and other services.

Program Name Second Chance Mentoring Program (Section 211)
FY 2012 Funding $5,600,000*
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.bja.gov/funding.aspx
Program Contact Gary Dennis, (202) 305-9059, Gary.Dennis@usdoj.gov; Thurston Bryant, (202) 514-8082, Thurston.Bryant@usdoj.gov
Program Description
The Second Chance Act authorizes mentoring grants for nonprofit organizations and federally recognized Indian tribes. Project initiatives include mentoring adult offenders and offering transitional or other services to promote the safe and successful reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals back into the community.

*The peer review process in FY 2011 yielded a high number of qualified and competitive applications, many of which remain unfunded. The peer review process, while serving a valuable function in assisting BJA staff make funding decisions, is also costly and is funded with Second Chance Act program funds. By relying on the peer review results of FY 2011 and forgoing a new competitive application process including peer review in FY 2012, BJA is able to maximize the number of awards made to the field. Therefore, BJA will not be issuing a FY 2012 Second Chance Act Mentoring solicitation and instead will recommend FY 2012 Second Chance Act mentoring awards from the list of unfunded, qualified, and highly competitive FY 2011 applications.

Program Name Second Chance Act Family-Based Prisoner Substance Abuse Treatment Program (Section 113)
FY 2012 Funding $2,400,000
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.bja.gov/funding.aspx
Program Contact Gary Dennis, (202) 305-9059, Gary.Dennis@usdoj.gov; Thurston Bryant, (202) 514-8082, Thurston.Bryant@usdoj.gov
Program Description
Section 113 of the Second Chance Act authorizes grants to states, units of local government, and Indian tribes to improve the provision of substance abuse treatment within prisons and jails and after reentry for inmates who have minor children. It also includes outreach to families and provision of treatment and other services to children and other family members of participant inmates. BJA is seeking applications from eligible applicants to plan, implement, or expand such treatment programs.

Program Name Second Chance Act Technology Careers Training Demonstration Projects for Incarcerated Adults and Juveniles (Section 115)
FY 2012 Funding $3,000,000
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.bja.gov/funding.aspx
Program Contact Gary Dennis, (202) 305-9059, Gary.Dennis@usdoj.gov; Thurston Bryant, (202) 514-8082, Thurston.Bryant@usdoj.gov
Program Description
Section 115 of the Second Chance Act authorizes the Attorney General to make federal awards to states, units of local government, territories, and federally recognized Indian tribes to provide technology career training to incarcerated adults and juveniles.

Program Name Second Chance Act Co-Occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders (Section 201)
FY 2012 Funding $6,000,000
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.bja.gov/funding.aspx
Program Contact Gary Dennis, (202) 305-9059, Gary.Dennis@usdoj.gov; Thurston Bryant, (202) 514-8082, Thurston.Bryant@usdoj.gov
Program Description
Section 201 of the Second Chance Act authorizes grants to states, units of local government, territories, and Indian tribes to improve the provision of drug treatment to offenders in prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities during the period of incarceration and through the completion of parole or other court supervision after release into the community. BJA is seeking applications from eligible applicants to implement or expand offender treatment programs for re-entering offenders with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders.

Program Name SMART Promoting Evidence Integration in Sex Offender Management: Circles of Support and Accountability for Project Sites
FY 2012 Funding $600,000
OJP Sponsor SMART Office
Web Link www.smart.gov
Program Contact Scott Matson, (202) 305-4560, Scott.Matson@usdoj.gov; Jackie O’Reilly, (202) 514-5024, Jacqueline.O’Reilly@usdoj.gov
Program Description
The goal of Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) is to fund up to three project sites to substantially reduce the risk of future sexual victimization of community members by assisting and supporting released men in their task of integrating with the community and leading responsible, productive, and accountable lives. The COSA initiative serves as a means to fill a gap in supervision for those high-risk sex offenders who "max-out" their incarcerative sentences and are released into the community without a formal process of aftercare. This project will provide funding to support the development or enhancement of COSA programs in jurisdictions.

Program Name SMART Promoting Evidence Integration in Sex Offender Management: Implementing Sites of the Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale Project
FY 2012 Funding $675,000
OJP Sponsor SMART Office
Web Link www.smart.gov
Program Contact Jackie O’Reilly, (202) 514-5024, Jacqueline.O’Reilly@usdoj.gov
Program Description
The goal of the Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale Project for implementing sites is to fund up to three sites to enhance sex offender management strategies in jurisdictions through supporting the development of a sex offender risk assessment model that combines the use of static and dynamic risk assessment tools in the management of sex offenders. Implementing sites will incorporate the use of specific static and dynamic sex offender risk assessment tools in their sex offender assessment and supervision practices. Data on the combined use of these tools will be collected and evaluated to determine whether the use of both static and dynamic risk assessment tools increases the predictive accuracy of the tools.

Program Name Second Chance Act Demonstration Field Experiment: Fostering Desistance through Effective Supervision
FY 2012 Funding $4,000,000
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.bja.gov/funding.aspx
Program Contact Ed Banks, (202) 307-3081, Edward.Banks@usdoj.gov
Program Description
This Demonstration Field Experiment (DFE) will focus on techniques to improve an offender’s motivation to change, and strategies to alter criminal thinking using a desistance approach. The multi-site DFE also will provide a rigorous test of a specific reentry model intended to improve offender outcomes post-release. Some of the outcomes of interest include, but are not limited to, re-offending and re-incarceration (recidivism).

The goals of the program are to (1) improve the offender’s motivation to change; (2) address cognitive and behavioral functioning regarding crime-prone thoughts and behaviors; and (3) address core criminogenic needs that affect an offender’s performance while on parole. The model also works on building the infrastructure of the reentry process and community-based services to deliver collaborative and seamless services.

Program Name Smart Probation: Reducing Prison Populations, Saving Money, and Creating Safer Communities
FY 2012 Funding $2,875,366
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.bja.gov/funding.aspx
Program Contact Gary Dennis, (202) 305-9059, Gary.Dennis@usdoj.gov
Program Description
The grants and technical assistance provided to jurisdictions (state, local, and tribal) by this initiative will be focused on six priority areas:

• building capacity in states to help local probation improve supervision strategies and reduce recidivism;
• providing demonstration grants to local probation agencies and court systems that will advance new strategies in probation to increase public safety and generate savings;
• developing and promoting knowledge and expertise that will make probation supervision more effective;
• promoting the integration of probation supervision strategies and services;
• increasing collaboration and strategic partnerships between probation and local law enforcement; and
• evaluating selected sites (jurisdictions) that receive targeted funding under the initiative to assess how well the interventions developed and policy changes implemented have helped the jurisdictions.

Program Name PREA Demonstration Projects to Establish "Zero Tolerance" Cultures for Sexual Assault Program (Prison Rape Prevention and Prosecution Program)
FY 2012 Funding $6,210,519
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.bja.gov/funding.aspx
Program Contact Gary Dennis, (202) 305-9059, Gary.Dennis@usdoj.gov; T hurston Bryant, (202) 514-8082, Thurston.Bryant@usdoj.gov
Program Description
As a result of the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), BJA established the Protecting Inmates and Safeguarding Communities Program in FY 2004. Funding was made available to states to support efforts to prevent and eliminate prisoner rape between inmates in state and local prisons, jails, and police lockup facilities and to safeguard the communities to which inmates return. The two main goals of the Protecting Inmates and Safeguarding Communities Program are to assist states and local jurisdictions in ensuring that budget cuts not compromise efforts to protect inmates, and to safeguard communities upon the inmate’s reentry. Applicants may apply for funding under the Protecting Inmates portion, the Safeguarding Communities portion, or both.

Program Name State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP)
FY 2012 Funding $215,721,966
OJP Sponsor BJA
Web Link www.bja.gov/funding.aspx
Program Contact Joe Husted, (202) 353-4411, Joseph.Husted@usdoj.gov
Program Description
BJA administers SCAAP, in conjunction with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security (DHS). SCAAP, limited to eligible jurisdictions in all states, cities and counties, provides federal payments to states and localities that incurred correctional officer salary costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for violations of state or local law, and incarcerated for at least 4 consecutive days during the reporting period.

Program Name Evaluation of the FY 2011 Bureau of Justice Assistance Second Chance Act Adult Reentry Program for Planning and Demonstration Projects
FY 2012 Funding $3,000,000
OJP Sponsor NIJ
Web Link www.nij.gov/funding/welcome.htm
Program Contact Marie Garcia, (202) 514-7128, Marie.Garcia@usdoj.gov
Program Description
NIJ is interested in funding proposals for a comprehensive evaluation of adult demonstration projects funded under the Second Chance Act of 2007. This solicitation seeks to award a grant in order to measure the processes, outcomes, costs, and impacts of the adult offender reentry programs that received funding under the Second Chance Act in FY 2011 and to assess the effectiveness of the Second Chance Act in reducing recidivism among released prisoners.

Training and Technical Assistance

Program Name SMART Promoting Evidence Integration in Sex Offender Management: Circles of Support and Accountability Training and Technical Assistance Program
FY 2012 Funding $500,000
OJP Sponsor SMART Office
Web Link www.smart.gov
Program Contact Scott Matson, (202) 305-4560, Scott.Matson@usdoj.gov; Jackie O’Reilly, (202) 514-5024, Jacqueline.O’Reilly@ojp.usdoj.gov
Program Description
The goal of Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) is to substantially reduce the risk of future sexual victimization of community members by assisting and supporting released men in their task of integrating with the community and leading responsible, productive, and accountable lives. The COSA initiative serves as a means to fill a gap in supervision for those high-risk sex offenders who "max-out" their incarcerative sentences and are released into the community without a formal process of aftercare. Funds also will be used to provide training and technical assistance to sites as they work to locate and train volunteers or expand their existing COSA programs.

Program Name SMART Promoting Evidence Integration in Sex Offender Management: Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale Training and Technical Assistance Project
FY 2012 Funding $225,000
OJP Sponsor SMART Office
Web Link www.smart.gov
Program Contact Jackie O’Reilly, (202) 514-5024, Jacqueline.O’Reilly@ojp.usdoj.gov
Program Description
The goal of this program is to provide training and technical assistance to the competitively selected Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale implementing sites on a sex offender risk assessment model that combines the use of specific static and dynamic risk assessment tools. The grantee will provide specific training and technical assistance on administering, scoring, and interpreting these tools.

Program Name SMART FY 2012 Professional Development Fellowship Program
FY 2012 Funding $450,000 (up to $150,000 per fellow)
OJP Sponsor SMART Office
Web Link www.smart.gov
Program Contact Dawn Doran, (202) 353-3040, Dawn.Doran@usdoj.gov; Faith Baker, (202) 305-2586, Faith.Baker@usdoj.gov
Program Description
The SMART Office proposes to fund for the first time three fellowship positions to enhance the capacity of the SMART Office by providing technical assistance and support to state, local and tribal jurisdictions on their responses to sexual violence and exploitation in the context of sex offender management. The fellowships will focus on 1) victims’ issues, 2) prevention and education, and 3) practices and research in Indian Country in the field of sex offender management. The goal of these fellowships will be to work on multi-disciplinary issues with the relevant program offices within the Office of Justice Programs (Office of Victims of Crime, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the National institute of Justice, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics), as well as the Office on Violence Against Women, to explore and build a foundation within the field of sex offender management for the integration of effective victim-centered approaches, prevention and education programming, and sexual violence prevention and sex offender management programming in Indian Country.

Research and Statistical Programs

Program Name Determining the Relationship between Stress and Unexplained In-Custody Deaths
FY 2012 Funding $400,000
OJP Sponsor NIJ
Web Link www.nij.gov/funding/welcome.htm
Program Contact Brian Montgomery, (202) 353-9726, Brian.Montgomery@usdoj.gov
Program Description
NIJ will fund research that examines whether the physiologic and metabolic effects of the stress of being subdued or restrained, by any means, may explain otherwise unexplained in-custody deaths. Specifically, NIJ seeks proposals for research to: (1) clarify the fatal mechanisms that might be associated with stress resulting from subdual and restraint, by any means and not limited to CEDs; and, if such mechanisms can be demonstrated, (2) identify post-mortem markers that can inform death investigations.

Program Name Evaluation of the Implementation of the Sex Offender Treatment Intervention and Progress Scale
Grantee Competitive
FY 2012 Funding $1,000,000
OJP Sponsor NIJ
Web Link www.nij.gov/nij/funding/forthcoming.htm
Program Contact Marie Garcia, (202) 514-7128, Marie.Garcia@usdoj.gov
Program Description
NIJ seeks applications for a study to replicate the use of Vermont’s Dynamic Risk Assessment Tool. Interested applicants will be required to evaluate the risk assessment tool in one jurisdiction (to be determined).