Center for Court Innovation, Harlem Community Justice Center’s Reentry Program
Organization Name:
Community Name:
Organization or Community Type:
What was the criminal justice problem facing the community?
Description of Problem:
The community faced high recidivism rates for prisoners returning to the community. Approximately 2,200 convicts released from prison return to Upper Manhattan, including East Harlem, each year. According to the Justice Mapping Center, one in 20 males in the seven block radius between 119th and 126th Streets in East Harlem has been incarcerated. Compared to other parolees in Manhattan, parolees in Upper Manhattan served time for more violent crimes, are likely to be unemployed and less likely to be engaged in services such as mental health or substance abuse programs.
What factors were contributing to the criminal justice problem?:
- Significant re-arrest rate for nonviolent offenders with drug offenses, especially younger persons on parole (ages 18-26)
- Lack of pre-release planning, stabilization services and services targeting major criminogenic needs available for parolees returning to the community from prison
- Lack of support for parole staff
- High rates of joblessness in East Harlem
Criminal Justice Topic area:
Crime Justice Sub-Topic area:
Which evidence-based solutions were recommended for this problem?
Name of evidence-based program or practice:
Description of Evidence-Based Program or Practice:
COMPAS is a tool for assessing risk and needs for offenders in correctional settings. In this context, risk is defined as the likelihood of re-offending in the future. COMPAS provides details on each parolee’s risk of committing new crimes and identifies his/her criminogenic needs that, if left unaddressed, could lead to recidivism. Utilizing the results of this instrument and other assessments, the Justice Center’s reentry team develops an individualized reentry plan for each parolee.
CBT targets the top three criminogenic needs – anti-social behavior, anti-social personality pattern and anti-social attitudes. The CBT intervention used by the Justice Center offers 22 sessions of group work that target criminal thinking and address challenges with interpersonal communication by using “thinking reports” and role plays.
MI is a client-centered, strength-based counseling approach designed to help clients elicit and strengthen the motivation for change.
How was the evidence-based solution implemented?
Response Strategy:
The Justice Center began by researching and developing a plan to further incorporate evidence-based practices into its work. This collaborative approach convened critical stakeholders, such as parole officers and service providers.
- Adjust Job Descriptions. The Justice Center adjusted job descriptions for new hires to include a requirement for experience with evidence-based reentry practices.
- Train Personnel. The Justice Center trained staff on effective evidence-based practices. This process started with training on the eight principles of effective reentry programming and how to utilize the COMPAS tool. Staff were then trained in MI and engaged in ongoing workshops to maintain and strengthen their skills.
- Implement Graduated Responses. To ensure incentives and rewards were used throughout the program, the reentry team developed a reward protocol which included milestones and corresponding rewards.
- Document Outcomes and Track Progress. The Justice Center developed a reentry database for case managers to document outcomes and track client progress. In addition, the database streamlined supervisor’s ability to manage staff workloads.
- Test Results. The Justice Center embarked on a random assignment evaluation of the reentry program to test the effectiveness of the evidence-based enhancements. Results from this evaluation will be compared to a retrospective analysis the Justice Center completed in 2010. The 2010 study compared outcomes for Reentry Court clients and a matched-sample of persons on regular parole for the period 2001 to 2008, prior to deployment of the evidence-based practices.
Stakeholder Groups Involved:
Stakeholder Groups Involved:
The stakeholders work as a comprehensive team to address the underlying needs of formerly incarcerated individuals that contribute to recidivism. The Justice Center links parolees to a wide range of social services, including drug treatment, transitional employment and vocational services, health care and mental health treatment. Where appropriate, these services are also offered to family members as well to help increase stability in the home.
Estimated Cost to Implement:
$400,000
Estimated Time to Implement:
Impact and Outcomes
A sample of Reentry Court participants with otherwise similar parolees were tracked over three years from their release (November 2002 through February 2008). Impact findings include:
- Rearrests. Reentry Court parolees were less likely to be rearrested.
- Reconvictions. Reentry Court parolees were less likely to be reconvicted.
- Revocations. Reentry Court parolees were more likely to be revoked and returned to prison.
- Role of Program Completion. Additional analyses indicated that Reentry Court parolees who completed the program experienced lower odds of rearrest and revocation.
The Reentry Court seems to have had a positive effect with regard to preventing new crimes as measured by rearrests and reconvictions. However, participants were found to have higher rates of revocations. Given the lower caseload and greater intensity of the program, it is assumed that “supervision effects” are partially responsible for the higher rate of technical violations.
Lessons Learned
- Partnerships matter. Collaboration between all stakeholders is crucial to meet goals and make sure there is buy-in from all partners. Regular case management meetings and partner meetings help to establish good communications and trust with key stakeholders and improves responses to client behaviors.
- Ongoing training provides the fundamental blueprint for success of the program. A one-time training is not enough.
- Reentry program supervisors must provide ongoing supervision and hold staff accountable for using the evidence-based principles learned in trainings.
- It is important to document and evaluate the process. This enables future programs to learn from previous accomplishments and challenges.
- Reentry programs must incorporate responses to client behaviors that use objective risks and needs information and a menu of community-based interventions that are more effective and cost less than incarceration whenever possible (e.g. drug treatment, CBT and rapid attachment to work).
- Graduated responses and positive reinforcement work. The reentry program increased its use of treatment focused options including raising the level of care for individuals using drugs, one-on-one counseling with the Justice Center’s clinical staff, CBT-based interventions or group mandates, parole stabilization units and 45 day custodial inpatient treatment.
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