The Issue

The plan developed to prepare a person for safe and successful transition from prison or jail to the community must be based on comprehensive information about that individual’s strengths, risks, and needs. Such information is typically collected through a series of screenings, assessments, and evaluations conducted prior to sentencing and immediately after a person is admitted to a correctional institution. Ideally, this information is updated periodically throughout the person’s incarceration and until his or her period of community supervision concludes. And, it is used to make informed decisions about how to manage risk, deliver services, treat the individual, and allocate resources efficiently.

Even when a correctional jurisdiction decides to conduct in-depth programmatic assessments, they often encounter several challenges. The most common of these challenges include:

• Each issue and treatment area (e.g., substance abuse, mental health, and job skills) includes its own battery of tests that require distinct skills to administer.
• Assessment tools used in correctional settings are not always scientifically validated for use with a designated population or proven culturally competent.
• Information collected at intake is not systematically updated throughout a person’s incarceration.
• Local jails, state departments of corrections, and community corrections agencies each employ distinct assessment procedures and maintain independent information systems, impeding the transfer of information from one corrections agency to another.
• Weak or limited relationships, different cultures and orientations, concerns about confidentiality, incompatible data systems, and other factors limit the ability of corrections employees and community-based service providers to draw on each other’s information about an individual when conducting assessments or making programming decisions.

The Response

The Justice Center is developing a toolkit of resources that corrections administrators and practitioners can use to improve their assessment processes. The toolkit will allow policymakers and practitioners to follow an individual through the corrections system, collecting the most critical information at key intervals to better inform programming decisions and prepare the person for release. The two part toolkit consists of the following:

• Improving Assessments of People Incarcerated and Released from Prison and Jail - Policy Guide and Case Studies (Coming Soon) This publication will help policymakers and practitioners develop a strategic plan to ensure that the strengths, needs, and risks of each person admitted to a corrections facility, released from prison or jail, and supervised in the community are assessed periodically. The guide will assist policymakers and practitioners in analyzing existing policies, procedures and information systems; and in identifying the challenges and the gaps that impede a comprehensive and streamlined approach to conducting assessments from intake through completion of sentence. The case studies provide examples of ways in which policymakers and practitioners have navigated these challenges in their jurisdictions.
• Assessment and Risks/Needs Determination Tool: This online interactive tool enables policymakers and practitioners to focus on particular assessments issue areas, such as: risk and security classification, mental health, substance abuse, education, employment, housing, family relationships, and financial status. Within each of these issue-areas, users will find descriptions of the types of information to gather, examples of validated assessment instruments, potential corrections and non-corrections sources of information, recommendations on prioritization, and suggestions as to who should be charged with collecting each type of information.

Contact:
Shawn Rogers
Policy Consultant
Council of State Governments Justice Center
srogers@csg.org
tel: (212) 482-2320
fax: (212) 482-2344