Legislature(2015 - 2016)BELTZ 105 (TSBldg)
02/25/2015 12:00 PM Senate JUDICIARY
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Crime Summit | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE JUDICIARY STANDING COMMITTEE
12:03 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Lesil McGuire, Chair
Senator John Coghill, Vice Chair
Senator Mia Costello
Senator Bill Wielechowski
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Peter Micciche
OTHER LEGISLATORS PRESENT
Senator Johnny Ellis
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
Crime Summit
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record.
WITNESS REGISTER
CARMEN GUTIERREZ, Owner
Justice Improvement Solutions
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided an introduction and brief overview
of the Recidivism Reduction Plan.
JUSTICE ALEX BRYNER, Commissioner
Alaska Criminal Justice Commission
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed the work of the Alaska Criminal
Justice Commission.
RON TAYLOR, Commissioner
Department of Corrections
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed recidivism reduction and reentry
efforts DOC is undertaking.
SUSANNE DI PIETRO, Executive Director
Alaska Judicial Council
Alaska Court System
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed the work of the Alaska Judicial
Council.
Gary VanLandingham, Director
Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative
Pew Charitable Trusts
Washington, D.C.
POSITION STATEMENT: Described the Pew-MacArthur Results First
Initiative
KAREN FORREST, Deputy Director
Administration/Programs
Division of Juvenile Justice
Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed DJJ activities and programs.
AL WALL, Director
Division of Behavioral Health
Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed the apprenticeship program.
RICK SVOBODNY, Deputy Attorney General
Criminal Division
Department of Law (DOL)
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed the Department of Law's
perspective of recidivism and pre-trial services and offered
suggestions.
KAREN LOEFFLER, United States Attorney
District of Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed the federal government role in
crime reduction in Alaska and what it is doing with outreach
prevention and smart on crime.
MYRON FANNING, Deputy Chief of Police
Anchorage Police Department
Municipality of Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed four programs designed to reduce
recidivism.
TONY PIPER, Program Manager
ASAP Statewide and 24/7 Sobriety
Division of Behavioral Health
Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed the 24/7 Sobriety Program.
DENNIS JOHNSON, Director
Alaska Pretrial Services
Kenai, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented information about electronic
monitoring.
JANET MCCABE, Partners for Progress
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Described the Partners Reentry Center in
Anchorage.
DENISE MORRIS, President and CEO
Alaska Native Justice Center
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed ANJC programs and initiatives to
reduce recidivism.
NICOLE BORROMEO, General Counsel
Alaska Federation of Natives
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed AFN interest in and efforts to
reduce recidivism.
MARIE STEWMAN, Director of Planning and Grants
Southcentral Foundation
Family Wellness Warriors Initiative
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed SCF efforts to reduce recidivism.
QUINLAN STEINER, Director
Public Defender Agency
Department of Administration (DOA)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed the need for a long-term strategy
to measure the effectiveness of a program.
NANCY MEADE, General Counsel
Administrative Staff
Alaska Court System
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed the Court System's integral
partnerships, the important work yet to be done, and the
questions that still need answers so that more programs and
steps can be taken.
JEFF JESSEE, Chief Executive Officer
Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority
Department of Revenue (DOR)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Discussed the critical need for a central
data repository and analytical capacity that does not currently
exist in the criminal justice system.
ACTION NARRATIVE
12:03:24 PM
CHAIR LESIL MCGUIRE called the Senate Judiciary Standing
Committee meeting to order at 12:03 p.m. Present at the call to
order were Senators Ellis and Chair McGuire.
^Crime Summit
Crime Summit
12:03:45 PM
CHAIR MCGUIRE announced the opening of the Crime Summit and
discussion on ways state dollars can be put into the penal
system that results in better outcomes for human beings.
SENATOR ELLIS thanked the chair for her leadership and her staff
for organizing the summit. Noting that the process began last
year, he said there is much more to do on recidivism reduction,
justice reinvestment, and right on crime. The state can't afford
to build another prison, because of the human lives involved and
the state's budget.
CHAIR MCGUIRE said in 2003, it caught members attention when the
Alaska Criminal Justice Council recommended re-examining
probation and pretrial strategies, strengthening rehabilitative
programming to reduce recidivism, looking at new and restorative
justice possibilities, providing more community diversion
opportunities so that people actually heal and recover,
improving mental health practices, and re-examining the dollar
amounts applied to property crimes.
By 2007, Alaska had five times the prison population that it had
in 1981 and spending had doubled. SB 64 was a step forward, but
today the Department of Corrections is operating at 101 percent
of its capacity and in the last decade spending on corrections
increased by more than 86.6 percent.
She said today she is looking at how people who make mistakes
can receive help while incarcerated to hopefully stop the
revolving cycle of getting out and then returning to prison. She
wants to look at why people make mistakes - do they have mental
illness or an addiction? What happens within the corrections
system, who comprises the population, and what do people do when
they get out? She said the co-chairs of the Finance Committee
don't know how to absorb the costs of this particular budget.
CHAIR MCGUIRE said two weeks ago the committee had a mental
health lunch and learn offering information about drug therapy
using Vivitrol that treats opiate and alcohol addiction. Now
they want to look at what other places have done and best
practices to adopt, because what has been done is too expensive
and doesn't lead to the results people want.
12:12:12 PM
CARMEN GUTIERREZ, Owner, Justice Improvement Solutions,
Anchorage, Alaska, said she is on contract with the Alaska
Mental Health Authority to write the 2015 Recidivism Reduction
Plan. She highlighted her background as an attorney for over 25
years and service as a deputy commissioner to the Department of
Corrections.
She said the Recidivism Reduction Plan comes from House Bill 266
that passed last year. Intent language directed the Department
of Corrections (DOC), the Department of Labor and Workforce
Development (DOLWD), Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, the
Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), and the Alaska
Mental Health Trust Authority to work together gathering data on
substance abuse, mental health, employment, housing services
needed, and current services being provided to returning
citizens. They were to propose effectiveness and efficiency
measures and develop a plan for those who are being released
from correctional institutions that collaboratively address the
needs of those returning citizens. The goal was to assist the
main departments to improve treatment and outcomes for recently
released inmates.
She reviewed the reasons there is concern about recidivism
reduction in Alaska. In January, DOC was operating at 101
percent of its general capacity (not maximum). It cost the state
$250 million to build Goose Creek and the annual operating
budget is $50 million per year. The problem is that the prison
population continues to grow 3 percent per year. The Pew Public
Safety Project publication notes that Alaska has the 3rd fastest
growing prison population in the U.S., second to Wyoming and
Iowa.
MS. GUTIERREZ said the 3 percent growth rate exceeds the
population growth by four fold, despite crime rate decreases in
Alaska. According to FBI statistics, property crime rates have
dropped 40 percent and violent crime has dropped 9 percent.
12:16:43 PM
She noted that in 2007 and in 2008, states that faced the same
significant budget deficits that Alaska is facing decided it
wasn't realistic to think they could build themselves out of the
problem by building more prisons.
Today, DOC incarcerates more than 6,300 individuals, including
electronic monitoring (EM) and halfway houses. According to a
recent Judicial Council study, over 255,000 Alaskans have been
convicted of an offense since 1980 and 95 percent have been
released into Alaska communities. In 2014, 377 convicted felons
were released into Alaska communities each month. Of those, 63
percent, or 238 people, recidivated in 2011. At $158 per inmate
per day that cost is $37,762 per day. That is just the cost of
corrections; it doesn't include courts, police, prosecutors and
defense attorneys, or the cost of new victims.
12:19:33 PM
MS. GUTIERREZ said Alaska is at a crossroads. It will either
have to spend $300 million to build a new prison or recommit to
send inmates out of state or invest in cost-effective strategies
that target the actual factors that are driving Alaska's prison
population growth.
How are those strategies determined? Ms. Gutierrez said the Pew
Public Safety Performance Project offers free technical
assistance in identifying factors driving prison population
growth and helps come up with targeted evidence-based solutions
to address those drivers, not to be soft on crime, but to
meaningfully hold offenders accountable and improve public
safety in the process.
12:21:20 PM
MS. GUTIERREZ discussed the factors driving rising prison
population growth. The first is that the number of pre-trial and
un-sentenced inmates has increased from 27 percent in 2002 to 40
percent in 2014. This means that prisons are largely filled with
individuals unable to post bail who are awaiting the outcome of
their case. It is also significant that the number of non-
violent offenders has increased from 48 percent in 2002 64
percent today. She highlighted that the public overwhelmingly
believes that reformation trumps incarceration for non-violent
offenders. Prison is for the violent. Another driver is that the
increased average stay has more than doubled from 2002 to 2014.
Also, the number of probation violations has increased and has
become the second reason for felony incarceration in the state.
12:24:24 PM
MS. GUTIERREZ discussed a potential solution citing the
experience in Texas. The state most notorious for being hard on
criminals decided it could not afford to spend $900 million to
fill the projected 17,000 prison bed shortfall over five years.
As an alternative, they identified reformative programs that
targeted the prison drivers and invested $241,000 million in
evidence-based strategies to reduce recidivism. There were drug
courts, intermediate sanction facilities, residential treatment
programs, prison treatment programs, community based substance
abuse treatment programs for probationers and a PACE form of
probation. The recidivism rate dropped 25 percent; crime dropped
18 percent, the imprisonment rate dropped 10 percent, and they
have avoided nearly $3 billion in prison costs.
12:26:23 PM
She said that in 2007 the only reformative program in Alaska was
a federally-funded substance abuse treatment program. With the
legislature's support, programs on substance abuse,
educational/vocational and cognitive behavioral treatment were
instated over time. These are the three "gold standard"
reformative programs that have proven to address recidivism. But
as of 2014, only 2.9 percent of the DOC operating budget went to
these programs. Recidivism was at 66.03 percent in 2007 and then
it started to drop coincidentally with the implementation of the
programs.
MS. GUTIERREZ said the recent DOC audit indicates that it is
running very high-quality and effective institutional and
community based reformative programs. The Alaska Criminal
Justice Commission's work, reentry programs operated by the
Alaska Native Justice Center in the Partner's Reentry Center,
PACE, Sobriety 24/7 and therapeutic courts are working, and the
DOC has a fabulous relationship with the Alaska Housing Finance
Corporation and the Department of Labor and Workforce
Development (DOLWD).
MS. GUTIERREZ stated that what isn't working is that Alaska has
no systematic method to collect and analyze criminal justice
data (addressed on page 39 of the Recidivism Reduction Plan).
This is what the state needs and what Pew would talk about in a
little while. Other than ad hoc studies that are mostly done by
the Judicial Council and University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA)
Justice Center, there is no way to report to the legislature on
the effectiveness of their programs or the trajectory of the
prison population other than from the masterful work done by the
DOC data analyst.
12:29:57 PM
MS GUTIERREZ concluded her comments saying the state needs an
effective reentry program that includes a reentry coordinator.
To improve reentry outcomes, community-based reentry efforts
need support and community-based substance abuse treatment needs
to be expanded. She said the report notes that it costs $105 a
day to provide treatment in the community. Clearly, there is a
significant savings to help people in their homes and
communities as opposed to uprooting them because they violated a
condition of probation, because they couldn't stay sober. She
said the next step is to hear from the legislature about whether
it wants to move toward evidence based strategies as an
alternative to incarceration. There is no reason why Alaska
should have anything other than better outcomes than those were
achieved by Texas.
12:32:35 PM
SENATOR ELLIS thanked Ms. Gutierrez for her ongoing efforts and
recalled a previous budget cutting exercise by the Senate
Finance Committee. They thought that getting rid of all the
substance abuse programs in the prisons was going to be a wise
financial investment for the State of Alaska, and it was exactly
the opposite. It was an "epic fail in terms of judgement in our
state budgeting."
He asked her to recap the cost difference between hard bed
incarceration ($158) and the average cost of community-based
substance abuse and mental health treatment services.
MS. GUTIERREZ said the cost of community-based services varies
widely throughout the state and depending on the program, but
according the Division of Behavioral Health the cost is $105 per
day in an urban community. It is higher in rural communities
that are attempting to serve women with children. She said the
good news is that community-based treatment is not only cheaper
but it is also addressing people's issues in their actual day-
to-day life circumstances. The Washington Institute of Public
Policy has found that the benefits of the program are going to
exceed the cost by 100 percent.
MS. GUTIERREZ said she didn't know the cost of treating
individuals in custody, but the acute psychiatric beds at the
DOC are extraordinarily expensive. Moreover, there are only 44
acute beds available in DOC and 168 sub-acute beds. The
department has a more limited capacity for serving mental health
needs than any other provider in Alaska.
She said she didn't know the cost of running the Anchorage
Community Mental Health Program but it is much less than the
cost of running the acute psychiatric beds at DOC. She stressed
that the capacity is in the community. She mentioned the two DOC
reentry programs - the Identify Institutional Discharge Program
(IIDP) and the ADAP Plus Insurance Continuation (APIC) Program -
that are very successful and provide significant cost savings to
Alaskans. The recent Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority/DOC
study shows that trust beneficiaries recidivate at a much higher
rate than do non-trust beneficiaries, and their cost to the
state is significantly higher in custody than when they are in
the community.
12:38:54 PM
CHAIR MCGUIRE recognized Justice Bryner and thanked him for his
work.
12:39:31 PM
JUSTICE ALEX BRYNER, Alaska Criminal Justice Commission, said
that the commission is a powerful group and discussed what it is
doing and what has been working. He reviewed the commissioners
and their experience in alternative sentencing and early
initiatives that worked that didn't rely on incarceration,
although none were evidence based. The fact that some of the
initiatives are still around means they do work.
He noted that over 30 states had undergone reform like Texas and
overall the evidence shows practices that work and those that
don't work. It corroborates the fact that incarceration, alone
as the main effort to handle criminal problems, spurs the growth
of recidivism. The bottom line is to ensure public safety, but
the question is how to do that while at the same time reducing
the vast prison cost.
JUSTICE BRYNER said the commission is made up of top level
members of the executive branch, people who know how to make
things work. Alaska has the resources to make these evidence-
based programs work and we know how much can be saved by
assisting reentry, he said. A lot of released prisoners are
charged with participating in a community program, but they
don't do it because they can't afford to participate after just
being released. They go back to prison.
Every state has to tailor its efforts based on evidence-based
practices in other states, but Alaska is unique because of its
large size and small population. Also, releasing a person from a
village into a large urban area like Anchorage sets the person
up for likely failure. The statistical development of those
programs is a very significant factor and a big cost and now the
Pew Commission specializes in preparing them. They have a
tremendous amount of proven information about what will work
that can be adjusted state by state. The Pew Commission does it
all for free and essentially ends up leaving the Alaska database
in the hands of Alaskans who will keep it up from that point on.
"So, how can we afford not to pay for that service when it's
free?"
He highlighted that the Pew Foundation was available at the
inception of the commission's work but because of a lack of
communication and misunderstanding they couldn't get what was
necessary to bring the Pew Commission in. Simply a letter of
intent is needed from each branch of government and
unfortunately that wasn't forthcoming last year. He expressed
hope that it would with the new governor. Yesterday, the
Criminal Justice Commission considered the issue and voted
unanimously to recommend to the legislature, the Judiciary and
the Executive branches to do what is necessary to request help
from the Pew Commission.
12:53:35 PM
CHAIR MCGUIRE said the Senate would work with the other body to
ensure that the letter is prepared by the Speaker and President.
JUSTICE BRYNER offered to answer questions and briefly discussed
the work on sentencing, probation and parole inconsistencies.
CHAIR MCGUIRE said the committee would like to have him discuss
the report at another time.
12:56:23 PM
At ease from 12:56 to 12:58 p.m.
12:58:23 PM
RON TAYLOR, Commissioner, Department of Corrections, Anchorage,
Alaska, said he will focus on the work that's done internally at
DOC. Ms. Gutierrez captured the work that is going on outside
the department with sister agencies. It is good for the public
to understand that a lot of the work related to recidivism
reduction and reentry is already being done and it has taken a
great deal of effort. He displayed the DOC mission statement as
a reminder that it is more than confinement. It is the
reformative programs piece that Ms. Gutierrez discussed. It is
also how to do a better job of successfully and safely
transitioning people from the institutions into the communities.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR reviewed the data from the unified system of
prisons. He said about 37,100 offenders are booked into DOC
facilities. This represents over 22,000 individuals. As of June
30, 2004, 6,200 persons were either in one of the institutions,
at a halfway house or on electronic monitoring. Another 6,000
some were on probation or parole. Addressing current trends, he
focused on older inmates and the rising medical costs. That
population continues to grow at an even faster rate than the
young population. Not only are they staying longer, but they're
getting older. This results in increased medical costs, because
DOC provides all their medical care while they're in custody.
The most troubling data point to him personally is the over-
representation of minority populations. Right now the
commissioner, the deputy commissioner, and an acting director of
institutions are African Americans. Someone recently pointed out
that considering the statistics, one of the three should be in
prison. That hits very close to home and he knows that's the
same for the Alaska Native community. What this says is that
something is wrong. We have to do a better job of reaching the
young men and women inside the institutions and making sure that
they stay out.
He discussed the FY14 annual and daily costs of having someone
in a hard prison bed versus community residential centers,
electronic monitoring, and probation and parole. It costs $142
per day for a hard bed; just under $90 per day in a halfway
house; $23 for electronic monitoring; and probation and parole
costs about $7.50 per day. The breakdown of the hard bed cost is
$103 for institutional confinement, $22 for healthcare, $8 for
statewide administrative direct costs, $5 for support, and about
$4.17 for reformative programs. Proportionally, the programing
costs are a very small part.
1:04:34 PM
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR said the reentry process is about getting
people ready when they come into the institution, helping them
transition out, and doing the job to keep them out. This model
involves seven phases and is based on transitioning from prisons
to the community model. He noted that a former DOC colleague
helped develop this model when he worked for the National
Institute of Corrections. He said it's interesting that
recidivism rates are in line with bookings. The curve of booking
rates and recidivism are about the same going back to 2003. In
2010 there was a high of 42,000 and now it's down to 37,000.
Bookings have dropped below the 2005 numbers yet there is now a
higher percentage of those that are un-sentenced than sentenced.
That is startling. The question is whether more should be done
in the pretrial phase so they aren't booked into the jails and
prison.
1:06:58 PM
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR said that in the first phase of the
assessment and classification, DOC has done a good job of
looking at the persons coming through the system and trying to
determine their risks and needs and strengths. The risks are not
only in terms of security for housing but also the risk to
reoffend. The needs, strengths, and motivations are assessed to
help them be successful inside the institution and as they
transition to the community.
The classifications were changed because DOC is risk averse.
They looked at the number of people that are over classified and
then made sure they were housed with similarly classified
persons. A greater emphasis was then placed on the behavioral
and programming pieces.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR said the LSI-R is the primary assessment
tool that they use. Turning to the LSI-R as the primary
instrument is a recent phenomenon inside the institution. They
had been using four or five different screening assessments
while they were inside the institution, but he learned that
limited staff was being overworked. So he decided to focus on
moderate and high risk people in rural areas and what issues
need to be addressed to help them be successful when they leave
the institution.
Making appropriate referrals is essential once the needs are
known. The department's performance review was noted for one of
the most robust and comprehensive programming in the nation,
which is really saying something - going from 2007 when there
was very little to no programming inside the institution. The
legislature gave DOC guidance on focusing on programming and
they put that into practice.
Transitioning:
He was embarrassed to say the final management plan was
developed inside the walls by institutional probation officers
and wasn't shared with the field. So, stakeholders, probation
and parole officers weren't getting anything to help them
continue to work that was being done inside. So, the new
management plan is the guide for the inmate; it captures all of
the programming that the person has been involved in, all the
assessments that have been done with their results. It will help
transition that person into the community whether to a community
provider or to probation and parole.
The community image is going to be the biggest focus. He said
DOC needs time to implement some of the things it has put in
place. But as outcomes are reported people want you to do more.
So, please let the department put in place what it has been
asked to do in terms of pace, risk assessment, and in terms of
the huge prisoner reentry initiative that is being worked on
right now that involves getting the community to recognize their
part in it, more than just housing and employment, looking at
identification and benefits, and tapping into the available
Alaska Native/American Indian resources.
He added that the department had done an incredible job of
outreach to the Alaska Native Justice Center and the Bristol Bay
Health Corporation, but more needs to be done. Including a
better understanding of available resources that are already in
the communities.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR said the third phase of the transition is
inmate release preparation. People from the institution are
released to the CRC (halfway houses), electronic monitoring or
some other community placement, and then probation and parole
are discharge. DOC is working with probation officers to
streamline that process.
He said about 13,000 people are released a year, but less than
25 percent actually get released to probation and parole. Over
half are being discharged without any supervision, any reporting
requirements or structure whatsoever. Another 22 percent are
released to informal probation; nothing happens to them if they
stay out of trouble over a certain period of time, whereas
probation and parole is active supervision. This all means that
75 percent of persons being released from the system will have
no active supervisions whatsoever. That is why it is so critical
to ensure that all partners are coming to the table to work on
this.
In November DOC kicked off of its prisoner reentry initiative
and invited stakeholders and community coalitions to the table
to start seeing the real challenge. "We want our Alaska Native
communities, our African American communities coming inside our
institutions to help us deal with people and transition people
prior to their release, so that we're connecting them to
services and resources well before they are being released from
institutions, and that they understand that they have a
responsibility." Should they go home connected to resources and
a supportive environment, or just get dropped off?
1:16:57 PM
He said probation and parole caseloads have increased by almost
40 percent, and since 2002 the Alaska Native population has
grown by almost 30 percent and non-Natives by almost 40 percent.
The same is true for probation and parolees that are age 45 and
older. The trend inside the institutions is occurring in the
field.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR said probation and parole violations
continue to be near the top of those persons coming back into
the institution. In fact, he was concerned that they are getting
people to just waive their parole and not necessarily go through
a formalized process. They would rather do their time in jail
than stay out in the community. Something is wrong with that
picture if that is the message they are sending.
He was grateful for the work done on probation and parole in
terms of changing supervision strategy from monitoring and
surveillance, but looking at how to do a better job of
collaborating with their partners and focusing on success.
This shift has to also occur inside the institutions, but moving
from an enforcement or secure confinement to allowing people to
come in to work with them and focusing everyone on success will
be a big job. The job of every person in the Department of
Corrections should be when that person comes into the door, our
job does not end until they are discharged completely out of the
system.
Future efforts should be focused on graduated sanctions, so that
the number of people coming back on technical violations that
really should not be in the system are in an alternative
sanction or alternative placement and being linked to the level
of risk they pose to reoffend and to the community.
1:19:44 PM
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR said DOC will continue to work towards
reducing recidivism and continue to use every effort with the
prisoner reentry initiative to bring all partners to the table.
They want to work in line with what is already working and what
is culturally relevant for their community.
CHAIR MCGUIRE thanked him for his presentation.
1:21:40 PM
SENATOR COGHILL asked him to discuss the pretrial population.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR said that population needs more scrutiny at
every level. He said we need to look at bail and some sort of
risk assessment to get an idea if a person will pose a
significant enough risk to warrant placing them in an
alternative place, or to keep them in the community on
electronic monitoring or something else. DOC, legislators,
judges, the public defender agency, and the Department of Law
all need to get involved and address that issue comprehensively.
SENATOR COGHILL said he'll ask the Department of Law the same
question because someone may be presumed innocent until proven
guilty but they're still in jail.
1:24:26 PM
SENATOR COSTELLO and Senator Wielechowski joined the committee.
SENATOR COGHILL observed that the members clearly heard that new
reforms can be instituted slowly, but the body is under pressure
to find ways to keep the public safe and not overfill prisons.
1:26:12 PM
SUSANNE DI PIETRO, Executive Director, Alaska Judicial Council
(AJC), Alaska Court System, Anchorage, Alaska, said AJC takes
its responsibility seriously and has conducted many studies to
improve the administration of justice and make reports to the
legislature. The criminal justice arena is now the most
important issue they are working on.
MS. DI PIETRO said in 2007 the AJC released the first Recidivism
Report in Alaska looking at a sample of people who had been
charged with a felony in 1999. They followed these people for
three years and found that about 66 percent were rearrested,
remanded, or convicted of another crime. This means they weren't
reformed by their contact with the criminal justice system.
To its credit, the state took that number as a wakeup call and
the legislature formed and funded the Alaska Criminal Justice
Working Group, an interagency group of executive and judicial
branch leaders who come together once a month or so and talk
about operational issues and efficiencies within the criminal
justice system. The legislature also strengthened therapeutic
courts and funded through the Institute for Social and Economic
Research (ISER) a report called "The Cost of Crime in Alaska."
That report was first presented at a Crime Summit in 2009 and it
is the report that is cited in the Recidivism Reduction Plan
that Ms. Gutierrez authored.
In 2011, Ms. Di Pietro said, the AJC released a follow-up report
that looked at not only felons but also misdemeanors. Since
there are more misdemeanants than felons, they had to look at
about 20,000 records of people who had been released back into
the community in 2008 and 2009. They found that during the first
year after return to the community about 27 percent of felons
and 35 percent of misdemeanants were rearrested. Interesting to
think that the ones who committed the less serious crimes were
actually the ones who were recidivating at a higher level. At
the end of two years following return to the community the gap
had widened with 39 percent of the felons and 48 percent of the
misdemeanants rearrested. Most re-arresting happens within the
first six months or a year after release. So, it really starts
to look as though catching those people when they first come out
is the best chance of moving the recidivism rate down.
1:30:29 PM
MS. DI PIETRO discussed the types of offense saying that sex,
driving, and drug offenders had surprisingly lower recidivism
rates than those convicted of violent non-sexual offenses and
property or other types of offenses. One way to look at it is
that maybe something is being done with sex offenders that is
helping.
1:31:22 PM
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked what people are doing to get
rearrested.
MS. DI PIETRO replied their definition of recidivism is quite
expansive. It's re-arrest, which may lead to nothing; remand,
which is where you go back to jail but you may not stay there
very long; or reconviction. It's actually the people who are
coming back on technical probation violations, not ones who are
coming back on new crimes. For people who committed a new
offense, it's whether they committed the same offense but
whether they committed any new offense. She offered to follow up
with more information.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI said he'd like that, because he thought
there were some issues with parole and probation and how people
are dealt with when they are out.
SENATOR COSTELLO asked if funding is a problem.
MS. DI PIETRO confirmed that finding funding for research is a
struggle. They have used grants and RSAs from other state
agencies that have an interest in the research being done. The
sentencing study is being done with existing resources and it is
moving depressingly slowly. She highlighted that research is the
most valuable resource the council can offer state policy
makers.
The council studies also found more attention is needed for
young offenders (less than 35 years old), those with prior
criminal records and racial disparities. She elaborated that the
council had examined sentencing practices for evidence of racial
disparities, but one of those studies had not been done in a
while. But generally, people come into the criminal justice
system at disproportionately high rates of racial minorities,
particularly Native American and African American. They come
through the system, but there are not significant sentencing
disparities for them with a couple of exceptions. They are
called unjustified disparities because they can't be explained
by any legally recognizable means. However, they discovered that
many other things have a bigger impact on sentence length than
race. For example, whether you were incarcerated pretrial.
MS. DI PIETRO said the news is not all grim. The Mental Health
Trust Authority with the DOC released a report in 2014 that
found recidivism had gone down about 9 percent among trust
beneficiaries; they also used a slightly different definition of
recidivism than the Judicial Council had. The build up in the
DOC programing that the commissioner just spoke about could be
the reason for the drop. Those programs were being built right
before the rate dropped. It is known, but can't be proven, that
on a national level substance abuse treatment and certain kinds
of robust evidence-based programming that occurs within
institutions can decrease recidivism.
1:38:12 PM
Therapeutic Courts also reduce recidivism, more particularly for
misdemeanants than felons if they complete the programs. It also
turns out the people convicted of less serious felonies are more
likely to recidivate than those convicted of more serious
felonies. The obvious thought is to focus on the most serious
offenders, but she thought they should focus on the less serious
offenders, the ones slipping through the cracks. Along those
lines, the Division of Behavioral Health is working with the
Alaska Court System on the Misdemeanant Access to Recovery
Program. The AJC has been engaged to evaluate the results of
that program. It looks at people who have two DUI convictions,
but are out of compliance with some of their requirements and,
therefore, thought to be at risk of a felony offense. The idea
is to assess and provide appropriate substance abuse treatment
for them. Then see if that helps decrease the recidivism rate
for that type of offender.
MS. DI PIETRO closed by saying that the Judicial Council
welcomes the opportunity to be of assistance in any way.
1:40:49 PM
SENATOR COGHILL thanked her and said there is an access to
justice question with a kid in Nenana who can't drive to a
specialty court whereas someone in Fairbanks using a public
system can get there. There is also a question in Anchorage of
the willing participants being greater than the ability of the
courts to perform. He asked who gets left behind in this
particular arena.
MS. DI PIETRO said the Criminal Justice Working Group hadn't
looked at that although there is a therapeutic court in Bethel,
which serves people from the YK Delta. The Criminal Justice
Commission is looking quite seriously at those services for
people who don't live in hub communities.
1:43:53 PM
GARY VANLANDINGHAM, Director, Pew-MacArthur Results First
Initiative, Pew Charitable Trusts, Washington, D.C., discussed
two initiatives. The Results First initiative is a partnership
between the Pew Charitable Trust and MacArthur Foundation; their
job is to help states make better choices recognizing that there
is a lot of evidence out there about what works. The challenge
is getting that information into a usable and understandable
format.
Results First builds the capacity within states to access that
information and not only look at what the good programs are but
what would happen if they were done in Alaska; things done in
the Lower 48 don't always work well here. This initiative builds
tools that states can use to look at what makes the most sense
to fund, using a return on investment approach like businesses
do.
MR. VANLANDINGHAM said the policy challenge is that everybody
wants to do the right thing, to invest in programs that will
have the biggest impact on the citizens of the state and to do
things that work, and when times are tough to cut programs which
aren't particularly effective and to preserve the programs that
are the best performers. The question then is which ones are
which, because no state has the comprehensive information about
all the programs it administers, how much is being spent on
them, what the performance rates are, and to be able to compare
those programs. Without that information it's tough to make
strategic budget choices. States have traditionally done the
easy thing, which is cut across the board and hope agencies can
figure it out because they are closer to the situation.
1:47:41 PM
MR. VANLANDINGHAM said the solution is to bring systematic
evidence into the system on an ongoing basis. The Results First
approach finds all of the national research and builds it into a
decision model that states can use to inform the process. It
focuses on programs that are out there, what their effectiveness
is and then asks if they are worth putting money into. Are there
other alternatives that would be a better investment for the
state? The goal is to equip lawmakers to make the best spending
choices they can and to achieve policy goals by spending money
that is already in the system.
First they ask what is being funded now and come up with a
program inventory, a budget and the percent of the budget going
towards those programs. This is useful information, but it
doesn't tell what the best programs are. By using the national
research base, they can look at what is known about those
programs by building sort of clearing house and putting the
research in one spot. The database ranks the highest rated
programs in green; yellow programs are promising; programs in
grey are ones that sounded good but didn't work. Red programs
sounded good, but actually tended to make things worse when
implemented. Staff can be directed to evaluate programs or track
outcomes, things that would put beginning programs on the same
competitive basis for funding as other programs.
1:52:40 PM
MR. VANLANDINGHAM explained how the approach works applying
Alaska specific data to the national research base of about
30,000 evaluations. He displayed a slide showing meta-analysis
of Washington State's Functional Family Therapy Program that
serves deep end juvenile justice offenders. Traditionally when
kids start getting into serious trouble, they're taken away from
the community and put in a secure facility for a long period of
time. They are provided intensive services - educational,
counseling, drug treatment - to turn their life around. When
they've reached that point, they will be released back to the
community. All states do this, but there are a couple of
challenges; first, it is really expensive ($60,000 to 200,000
per client per year) and, second, it doesn't work that well.
After about six months the kids are back in trouble again and
back into the system. On an investment basis, it is very
expensive and doesn't have the best outcomes.
MR. VANLANDINGHAM discussed other options. He said Functional
Family Therapy is an alternative that many states are starting
to experiment with; it keeps the kids in the community and
provides intensive services to the youth and their family. If
parents can be taught how to discipline their teenager, it
doesn't have to be done for them; research indicates that
recidivism rates are reduced by 22 percent compared to the norm.
He displayed Washington specific costs and savings which equated
to $29,000 in benefits for the criminal justice system, because
kids aren't coming back into the system. The cost of arresting,
prosecuting, and defending the youth is saved as well as the
cost to the community for the cost of the crime. National
research has good information on the costs of different types of
crime. For example, a robbery traditionally has an impact of
$250 to society; higher level crimes have a higher cost. The
$29,000 represents both the cost to taxpayers as well as the
cost to society for that recidivism reduction.
MR. VANLANDINGHAM said it's a fact that kids who stay in school
have better employment outcomes and become taxpayers instead of
tax consumers. And kids who go through this program in the
community tend to have better educational outcomes and tend to
graduate from high school more than kids who don't. About
$10,000 comes into society because the program is more effective
at helping kids complete their education in the community than
sending them off to a residential commitment bed.
Also, public health costs tend to go down. The kids are less
likely to get into trouble and show up in the ERs and more
likely to become employed and have their own health insurance -
$300 on average. But if the benefits are added up, that 22
percent equates to $37,000 for an investment of about $3,300.
Looking at this on a taxpayer return investment ratio,
Washington State is getting $11 for every $1 that it puts into
this program. It's a pretty good buy.
1:57:25 PM
MR. VANLANDINGHAM said it is good to know that is a good
program, but it is more important to do this on a portfolio
basis asking what the investment choices are and comparing the
return on investment for adult and juvenile programs. They
typically find there is not a strong correlation between how
much a program costs and what it delivers, but by viewing the
analysis, some things can be identified as best buys - adult
programs, cognitive behavioral therapy programs don't have the
biggest benefit for clients but on a dollar for dollar basis
about $25 for every $1 that Washington State put into the
program. On the juvenile programs, aggressive replacement
therapy helps kids deal with stress positively rather than by
criminal offending. It has a $37 return on investment.
By contrast, "Scared Straight" is a program that sounds good and
has its own TV show, but research shows it's very ineffective.
Kids going through the program are more likely to commit
offenses and more likely to commit more serious offenses than
kids that are left alone. Sending them to prison for a day to be
yelled at doesn't really scare them to stay on the straight and
narrow. Rather, it tends to be a university for crime.
Washington State lost about $200 for every youth put through
this program before it was dropped.
1:59:20 PM
MR. VANLANDINGHAM stated that Results First is four years old
and is working in both red and blue states across the country.
At the end of the day everyone agrees that tax dollars should be
spent on things that work.
He provided examples from Mississippi and New Mexico. In
Mississippi the legislature has really adopted Results First as
the way they want to start doing business. They focused on
criminal justice and started to build this approach into other
policy areas. First, they established a statutory policy for
standards of evidence and directed agencies to inventory
programs and match them against the evidence base and to come
back to the legislature with the analysis. They are completing
the return on investment analysis to the criminal justice system
and this session they are focused on replacing a program which
they found isn't getting what they want to do and putting that
money towards something that will have better outcomes for their
citizens.
New Mexico implemented the model in all the policy areas
including criminal justice, substance abuse, mental health, drug
programs, early childhood education programs, and prevention
programs. That state is starting to build into areas such as K-
12 education and Medicaid. Over the last two years, that
legislature has directed about $50 million towards evidence
based programs that their analysis shows will have good
outcomes. They have also looked at the cost of doing nothing,
and determined that the inmates that they let out of prison in
2012 will cost the state over $300 million over the next 12
years if they don't do anything differently. Policy makers have
started thinking about having more money in the future for
things they care about and turning some of those cost drivers
around by investing in programs that work.
2:02:32 PM
MR. VANLANDINGHAM said the Public Safety Performance Project is
another initiative of Pew that is a sister project to the
Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI). The difference is that
the Justice Reinvestment Initiative process really works with
states to identify the policy drivers that are contributing to
growth in the criminal justice population and its costs. It
typically looks at sentencing, community control programs, and
then helps create a package of reforms that would be considered
by the legislature next year.
Results First is more of an investment advice portfolio
approach. They would work with Finance and Budget staff to build
these models with the idea that this would be an ongoing
resource going forward as part of the budget element process.
2:03:44 PM
He explained that Results First is a partnership between Pew and
MacArthur and a state. They look for three things from a state.
The first is a commitment to being open to evidence-based policy
making and a letter of invitation from the legislative presiding
officers and the governor to move forward. The second is to be
able to provide the necessary data, which they have determined
is doable for the state. Third is a willingness to dedicate the
resources to doing this.
There is no cost for the services; Results First provides the
econometric models and databases and technical assistance, but
it requires some bandwidth. Folks who supply the data would have
to be told it is a priority. A policy working group would need
to be appointed to shepherd through the process; the current
stakeholders would be very good for this. The University of
Alaska has volunteered to house this in Anchorage and get it
going. States have been doing unique things that are very
innovative and that information is being shared. Results First
would provide the software free of charge and technical
assistance to help staff learn how to analyze the data and put
it into the model. They provide ongoing technical assistance and
will continue building these tools out into other policy areas.
2:07:02 PM
CHAIR MCGUIRE asked what happened last year.
MR. VANLANDINGHAM said there was an election coming up and it
got caught up in that process.
SENATOR COGHILL said Governor Walker supports this and he
believes legislative leadership will support it, as well. He
then asked what unique challenges he sees with gathering data.
MR. VANLANDINGHAM responded that every state struggles with
bandwidth. But it is an educational process. It takes a while to
get people thinking about it.
SENATOR COGHILL said Alaska geography "kicks the feet out from
under us" on a lot of issues, especially with bandwidth and
transportation. He expressed gratitude for the work already done
in other states and then articulated potential challenges.
Litigation is part of the American culture and mediation is one
of the things that "just has to work better."
CHAIR MCGUIRE expressed support for moving forward.
SENATOR COGHILL said the Judicial Council attended a conference
in California and gathered a lot of valuable data.
2:14:05 PM
KAREN FORREST, Deputy Director of Administration/Programs,
Division of Juvenile Justice, Department of Health and Social
Services (DHSS), Juneau, Alaska, said with corrections facing
the rising population, she was here to share what is being done
in juvenile justice in the hopes that it can enlighten and
provide some opportunities for learning their challenges and
successes that might help in the adult system, as well.
The successes over the last 12 years from the time they started
their system improvement effort are ones that all Alaskans can
share in, because it's been a collaborative effort across
communities, partner agencies, and the support of the Judiciary
Committee.
MS. FORREST said they began the system improvement effort in
2002, recognizing that having the data was critical to
understanding how to move forward. They created a Juvenile
Offender Management Information System that has been
foundational to their success.
When that system was implemented, they learned that Alaska has
one of the highest secure confinement rates in the nation for
juveniles. So, they implemented the detention assessment
instrument, an objective screening tool that went along with
probation officers' judgement to reinterpret and determine which
youths needed to be securely confined and which could be served
in the community. In doing that, they worked with community
partners to build alternatives to detention, and began to use
electronic monitoring and provided grants to communities to
provide non-secure shelter beds. They also implemented a risk-
need screening assessment, similar to adult corrections, to
begin to understand the reoffending risk. This is important if
you take a low risk offender and put him through the court
process, the outcome can be worse. The intervention needs to be
targeted to the risk to reoffend.
MS. FORREST said they also heard the Washington Institute of
Public Policy share some information around the aggression
replacement training and took it to heart. They investigated it
and it has been implemented in the long-term secure
institutions. It has a favorable cost benefit ratio.
She said they worked hard over the last 12 years to address
behavioral health needs of youth in the juvenile justice
population. Being able to determine whether or not a youth has a
mental health or a substance abuse problem has taken quite a lot
in terms of implementing screening tools, collecting the data
and beginning to develop targeted interventions for them. With
help from the legislature and Trust Authority they went from
having one mental health clinician position in 2002 to 14
positions across their 8 facilities. They are also screening
youth almost throughout the system. A high rate of youths in the
system have mental health and substance abuse needs and programs
are being developed to address those not just in a facility but
in the community with community partners.
2:20:47 PM
SENATOR COGHILL asked if risk assessment is transferable to the
adult system because of the confidentiality nature of most
hearings.
MS. FORREST confirmed that it is transferable to the adult
system.
SENATOR COGHILL said he thought some of their success comes from
the fact that the LSI-R is done earlier.
MS. FORREST replied yes; they use a screening version of that
tool with all youths that come into the system. About 25 percent
of the youths go through the formal court process and then they
use the full assessment for them. They inform the disposition of
the case.
She shared that they interviewed former DJJ clients who were
currently in DOC facilities and asked what they could have done
differently to help them avoid where they are now. The results
were very clear; they said it would have made a difference to
get help with their substance abuse problems and help learning a
skill so they could find a job.
SENATOR COGHILL asked if there is outreach to workforce
development and if it's taken root since that survey.
MS. FORREST answered yes and yes; they are focused on five areas
of improvement: reducing the general recidivism numbers, working
with Alaska Native youth, improving outcomes for youth
behavioral health needs, focusing on employment outcomes, and
focusing on educational outcomes. Youth in the system show
significant improvement in math and/or reading skills. They have
been working the DOLWD the last couple of years through the
Workforce Investment Act Project and working with community
businesses. For example, developing jobs where youth will leave
the facility during the day and work and come back in the
evening.
SENATOR COGHILL said substance abuse would be an immediate
barrier to entering the workforce. He asked how the retraining
programs have worked and if it is too voluntary.
MS. FORREST said most youths are already in the community and if
they are not in school, job skills need to be developed that
will help them be successful. Substance abuse treatment is
really key, she said, and they are in the process of
implementing a program in long-term institutions that is
transferable and applicable in detention and community based
settings. They wanted something that could be expanded and built
upon. The state has a lot of different programs and it would be
helpful if the good ones could be identified and replicated.
2:28:53 PM
AL WALL, Director, Division of Behavioral Health, Department of
Health and Social Services (DHSS), Juneau, Alaska, said the DOC
apprenticeship program in the adult population is successful and
they are discussing how substance abuse treatment can be linked
better to the participants of that program so that it follows
them while they are in the program and after they leave.
MS. FORREST said the juvenile crime rate in Alaska has dropped
by 56 percent in 12 years along with a small drop in the
population of juveniles which averages out to 51 percent. The
average daily population of facilities has dropped by 33 percent
in that same amount of time. Lessons have been learned and
information can be shared that may be helpful as the state goes
forward in the adult system.
One of the challenges in the adult system is the same Alaska
Native youth are overrepresented throughout different points in
the system. DJJ is looking for any new opportunities to
collaborate with tribal entities and other rural providers to
strength those parts of the system.
She said recidivism rate for youths released from deep end long-
term secure programs was about 60 percent for FY2014 and 45
percent for those released from formal probation services. This
says that those in the very deep end have the highest likelihood
of reoffending. This is what one would expect and if it was
different she would be concerned.
On any given day DJJ serves about 1,000 youth and only about 165
are in an institution; the bulk of youth are in the communities.
2:32:19 PM
MR. WALL said part of the responsibility of Behavioral Health is
to provide the reentry population with efficient and effective
treatment at the lowest cost possible to provide them with every
opportunity to succeed as they go out into the general
population. The Sobriety 24/7 Program is new but it is having
tremendous results. He reviewed two programs that have worked
well: therapeutic courts and community based treatment plans.
Fourteen Therapeutic Courts are running in six different
communities and Kenai is currently building one. The models have
been so successful that a tribal court has been talking about
starting one. Community-based treatment programs are the
backbone of treatment for the mentally ill or substance abuse
population, and a very high percentage of the reentry population
falls into this category. Much of the treatment being provided
after a person is released from prison is done at these
community behavioral health centers. Because the treatment
occurs in their own community with the supports around them, the
youths have an opportunity for employment and education; they
have the support of family or friends to keep them straight.
Statistics show they have been very successful.
A couple other programs are the Misdemeanor Access to Recovery
Program and the Partners for Progress.
SENATOR COGHILL thanked Ms. Forrester and Mr. Wall for their
work.
MR. WALL said he would pass the compliment on to the providers.
2:37:06 PM
RICK SVOBODNY, Deputy Attorney General, Criminal Division,
Department of Law (DOL), Juneau, Alaska, said prosecutors are
opposed to recidivism and would like the rate to be zero. He
offered some important considerations for the committee to think
about; pre-trial services was the first. He explained the
average time to a felony trial in Anchorage was over 600 days,
whereas criminal rules suggest it should be 120 days. The delay
of years is a big problem for institutions. It would be better
to move those people out of pre-trial where they aren't getting
the correctional services that have been described for those
people who have been sentenced.
He said Ms. Di Pietro said there was a disparity in sentencing
for those who were held in custody pretrial and the sentence
that they received post-trial. That sounds bad, but it's an
indication that the system is working. He explained that a
judge's decision to set bail is set by rule and statute. The
rule says the court is to make a determination about conditions
of release based on 1) whether the person a flight risk or
likely not to appear for court, and 2) whether the person is a
danger to the community. So, it actually indicates that judges
are making good decisions in the beginning about bail.
He explained the statutory provision that deals with bail. The
judge looks at whether the person is employed, whether they have
family ties, and whether they have prior convictions. It's not
called an assessment tool, but that is what it is. He voiced
support for having a more evidence based assessment tool that
could be given independently either by corrections or the court
system. That is how the federal courts deal with it.
MR. SVOBODNY suggested another consideration is to expand the
ability of corrections/probation officers to include some type
of supervision pretrial. He explained that electronic monitoring
(EM) doesn't stop criminal behavior; it just indicates where the
person is at a particular time. A good share of the pretrial
programs are privately run and have no standards, and
prosecutors are skeptical of several of the entities that offer
the service. So, corrections should have the ability in
regulations to set standards for electronic monitoring that
would make people feel safer in making decisions about releasing
people on EM.
MR. SVOBODNY turned to mental health issues, describing it as
the biggest block in the system. It used to be that most
misdemeanor cases were resolved within a week or two of the
person being charged with an offense. There were local mental
health programs that defense council could get their clients in
to and the cases were dismissed as long as the person was in the
treatment program. In the 1970s the state chose a mental health
model that promised to decrease the Alaska Psychiatric Institute
(API) in favor of funding local treatment programs. Mental
health lands were sold, the trust model was funded, and the
resources were supposed to be put in the community. The problem
is that community mental health really never evolved. For
example, Juneau had two mental health programs that would take
people involved in the criminal justice system and today it has
zero.
This has created serious issues with prosecutors whose job is to
protect the public. They're going to bring people to trial even
when they know they have cognitive issues that will make it
difficult to understand a trial. He cited the example of someone
raping a little girl in the village for the third time. Each
time the court finds the person not competent, that competency
can't be restored, and they're let go. He stressed that
something has to be done with people who are not competent
either to stand trial or weren't competent at the time of trial
while meeting the prosecutor's goal to protect the public.
2:51:37 PM
MR. SVOBODNY said a "final rock in the road" is data collection.
No one disagrees that it needs to be done and it needs to be
shared. This could be an easy fix for the legislature that
doesn't cost money. Title 18 has a provision for a data
governance committee housed in the Department of Public Safety
(DPS). It wasn't designed properly. It was designed to bring all
the players to deal with data that was "kind of police data." It
needs to be "just data" and it needs to be a body that has
sufficient governance authority to compel participation from the
state agencies.
2:55:48 PM
KAREN LOEFFLER, United States Attorney, District of Alaska,
Anchorage, Alaska, said she wanted to address two things: where
the federal government fits in and what it is trying to do with
outreach prevention and smart on crime. She noted that the
packet has a pie chart summary of the types of cases her office
does. It shows for the last three years that 70 percent of their
work is violent and drug related crimes (listed as Organized
Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF)) that are
connected to big organizations in the Lower 48. Law enforcement
agencies sign on and it gives some money to pay overtime to the
state and locals working on big organizations. The people
committing these crimes fail the recidivism test.
She said she is very understaffed. A verdict came in yesterday,
and she typed up the press release for a recent case to
illustrate what the federal court gets when the state programs
fail. These were individuals of a violent drug related gang;
they were convicted of kidnapping, fire arms charges, home
invasions, drug trafficking, money laundering, sexual torture of
one of the victims over a drug debt, and HIPPA violations. She
said she wasn't trying to shock the committee, but when the
first set of programs with the state fails, this is who her
office gets. They do this in partnership with all of their law
enforcement partners: DEA, FBI, the Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms Anchorage Police Department, Valdez Police Department,
Alaska State Troopers, the Crime Lab, the postal inspectors,
Homeland Security, Providence Hospital, and Marshalls. When they
do these cases, one of the best in the Alaska is that they work
"very collaboratively with our partners."
3:01:16 PM
MS. LOEFFLER said she just requested funding for a staff person
to partner with state and private entities to try to reintegrate
fairly hardened criminals into society. "If we can turn them
around, we're taking 100 crimes off the street." Her office
isn't as far along as the state, but she is trying to work up a
reentry court. She explained that some of the penalties have
been reduced in 18 USC 35.82 for people who have long drug
sentences. In November 15, 2015 about 30-40 Alaska defendants
will be released into Alaska, and she wants things in place to
provide services. She expressed hope that in a year they would
have more of a program to reintegrate these people and give them
a chance.
She said her office does a lot of sex trafficking prosecutions
and victim outreach. Victims are often young Native women who
are brought from rural areas into Anchorage, picked up by pimps,
and turned onto drugs. She said her office is always available
to talk about the problem, but it doesn't always result in
solutions. They are in the schools talking about the heroin
problem. That type of outreach is very important and is taken on
in addition to other duties.
CHAIR MCGUIRE thanked Ms. Loeffler and asked her to return later
to talk about sex trafficking.
MS. LOEFFLER said it's a passion of hers, but she can't advise
the legislature on law.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if she would talk about marijuana.
MS. LOEFFLER replied no, she wouldn't talk to the legislature
directly about marijuana, but she would work with the executive
branch. She reiterated that she can't advise the legislature on
law.
SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI asked if the federal government intends to
prosecute people for marijuana.
MS. LOEFFLER said her office does major cases involving public
safety, but the Cole memorandum is not a law; it doesn't bind
anybody and doesn't create any rights. If the state protects
public safety that's one thing and if it doesn't, she has the
authority to step in. She is focused on cases like the ones she
describing.
SENATOR COGHILL expressed gratitude for her collaboration on
child pornography issues.
At ease from 3:10:41 p.m. to 3:20:42 p.m.
3:20:42 PM
MYRON FANNING, Deputy Chief of Police, Anchorage Police
Department, Municipality of Anchorage, briefed the committee on
the four major programs to reduce recidivism. These are the
Probation Accountability and Certain Enforcement (PACE) program,
the 24/7 Alcohol and Substance Abuse Monitoring Program, the
Alaska Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault intervention Program
(ADVSAIP), and the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT). He noted that
the MOA's director of DHSS was online to answer specific
questions about the municipality's very effective recidivism
reduction program. He would also discuss APD's CIT and its
recidivism reduction statistics.
He explained that the PACE program is an intensive probation
program where every violation is dealt with immediately and
sanctions are imposed. APD was part of the pilot project in
2010, partnering with agencies throughout the state. Warrants
are issued for any probation violation such as failed drug
testing or missed meetings with probation officers. APD's
primary role is to make the PACE warrants a priority and serve
them quickly.
MR. FANNING advised that APD was part of the 24/7 pilot project.
In that program participants are required to provide daily in
person alcohol or drug tests. APD's primary role is to respond
to the testing facilities and arrest participants for a failed
test.
He said the Alaska Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
Intervention Program (ADVSAIP) is an extremely effective
program. It holds violent offenders accountable and provides a
safety net for the victim. This program, which started in 2006,
created the first database in Alaska that provides offender bail
conditions to any police officer in the state through the Alaska
Public Safety Information Network (APSIN). In Anchorage, police
officers conduct compliance checks and warrant services for both
misdemeanor and felony cases upon request. The program provides
emergency funds to victims for rent, security, transportation,
medical care, and relocation. The ADVSAIP partners are the
Anchorage Police Department, the State of Alaska, the Anchorage
municipal prosecutor, the Anchorage Department of Health and
Human Services, Standing Together Against Rape (STAR), Abused
Women's Aid in Crisis, and Victims for Justice. He displayed a
list of the 38 communities throughout the state that have been
assisted by ADVSAIP. APD's role in the program is twofold. They
meet with a municipal prosecutor to do an extensive background
investigation on possible participants in an effort to identify
those that are likely to reoffend. Those cases are turned over
to the compliance officers for close monitoring.
MR. FANNING displayed a bar graph showing the effectiveness of
ADVSAIP. Between 2006 and 2012, the recidivism rate of
participants in the program dropped 48.3 percent, from 65.8
percent in 2006 to 35.7 percent in 2012. He also displayed a
graph showing the number of arrests for violations of conditions
of release (VCOR) between 2006 and 2012. Arrests for VCOR
increased 393 percent throughout the state. The primary reason
was that officers knew the bail conditions because of the
database.
3:27:00 PM
Over the same 2006-2012 time period, the average number of
domestic violence (DV) arrest warrants served per month in
Anchorage increased 67.1 percent. Because of the real-time
information, the number of days to serve a DV arrest warrant
decreased from 62 days to 10 days, or 70.4 percent. Compliance
increased 46 percent. He reviewed the FY2015 funding for
ADVSAIP. $850,000 or 45 percent of the funding was requested
from the Department of Public Safety and $1.033 million or 55
percent is from other sources. He noted that just today he saw a
federal funding request for this program in excess of $1 million
for this year.
3:28:00 PM
MR. FANNING discussed the APD Crisis Intervention Team (CIT). It
offers a trained police response that focuses on de-escalation
and resolution. APD currently has 90 sworn police officers and
30 unsworn personnel trained in CIT techniques. This has reduced
the need for patrol officers to respond to chronic mentally ill
offenders. CIT officers coordinate treatment for chronic
offenders in an effort to divert them from the criminal justice
system and into a proper program. This is better for the
community.
3:29:52 PM
MR. FANNING described the Anchorage Youth Court as an extremely
effective juvenile diversion program for youths in grades 7
through 12. Data from 2008 showed that 89 percent of the youths
that completed their Youth Court obligations did not reoffend.
It is a program that is run by juveniles for juveniles with
adult oversight. The cost per defendant is $457 with $50 paid by
each defendant. The program involves community service and
restitution.
3:31:25 PM
SENATOR ELLIS asked what happens to low income kids that can't
afford the $50 fee to participate in Youth Court.
MR. FANNING said he believes the fee can be waived, but if it
isn't he'll work toward that and suggest more community service
as the offset.
3:32:29 PM
TONY PIPER, Program Manager, Alcohol Safety Action Program
(ASAP) Statewide and 24/7 Sobriety Monitoring Program, Division
of Behavioral Health, Department of Health and Social Services
(DHSS), Anchorage, Alaska, provided an update on the pilot ASAP
Statewide and the 24/7 Sobriety Program. He reported that the
department partners with a lot of the groups present today. This
includes APD on the 24/7 program, the Alaska Native Justice
Center on substance abuse programs in rural areas, Partners for
Progress for help with reentry, the Wellness Court for
therapeutic activities, the Mental Health Trust, and the
Department of Law.
MR. PIPER said his focus today is to discuss the 24/7 Sobriety
Monitoring Program, which was implemented after the last
legislative session with the passage of Senate Bill 64. It is
one of the Smart Justice programs, an evidence-based initiative
that is designed to ensure public safety by testing participants
twice a day, roughly 12 hours apart, for alcohol. People who
come in for drug testing call and come in on a random basis for
a test. If a participant tests positive, the sanction is
immediate. Law enforcement is called and the person is arrested
and probationers are immediately remanded.
He explained the process. Attorneys, with judicial agreement,
refer people to the program that likely will benefit. These
people are either on release conditions prior to their hearings
or they are under probation conditions. The program could also
be used in Child in Need of Aid (CINA) cases so that parents can
be reunited with their kids under sober conditions. For testing
they partner with Alaska Pretrial Services in Anchorage. There
are two testing locations along the bus route and some in-house
testing devices for people that have limited mobility for some
reason. Since inception over 20,000 portable breath tests have
been administered with just 21 failures. Twenty of those people
were reassigned to the program and compliance has been 100
percent so far. Over 2,300 drug tests have been administered
with 26 failures. Twenty one of those people were reassigned to
the program and 16 have been successful to date.
The cost for alcohol testing is $2.50 per test or $5 per day,
which is paid by the participant. The cost of the drug tests
range from $10 to $50 depending on the drug. The division is
preparing to open programs in Fairbanks and then Kenai. The
intention is to spread it throughout the state. He closed his
comments briefly highlighting other potential applications of
the program such as license applications.
At ease from 3:39:58 to 3:42:39 p.m.
3:42:39 PM
DENNIS JOHNSON, Director, Alaska Pretrial Services, Kenai,
Alaska, described pretrial release solutions. He displayed a
visual to illustrate the key to the 24/7 Program, which is a
swift and immediate response to test failures. He described the
evidence based pretrial electronic monitoring and stressed that
monitoring needs to be real time and used in combination with
curfews, help with housing, and reentry for employment. He
recommended incorporating in HB 15 some type of credit in
sentencing for participating in the 24/7 Program and staying
drug and alcohol free. It rewards the desired behavior and saves
money. He opined that incorporating electronic monitoring with a
heightened 24/7 would be advantageous. He reiterated that
elective monitoring needs to be active and real time. He
displayed a visual to illustrate the every 60 second tracking
capabilities. It is the only evidence-based system that's used
by the federal government under the National Sex Offender
Registry Act. Integrating electronic monitoring into the 24/7
program costs $22-$28 per day, which is about the national
average. It's an 82 percent reduction in hard bed costs.
MR. JOHNSON highlighted the FY2013 grant-funded pilot program
that helped people get into jobs and housing. The program cost
was $250,000 and it resulted in a $1.27 savings for that fiscal
year.
At ease from 3:54:07 p.m. to 3:55:39.
3:55:39 PM
JANET MCCABE, Partners for Progress, Anchorage, Alaska,
explained that the Partners Reentry Center was initiated by
community nonprofits and supported by state agencies. It's a
grassroots approach to reducing recidivism through community-
based collaborative reentry programs. She highlighted that
recidivism is twice as likely when the person reentering the
community is homeless. She said that in the community setting,
closing the revolving door requires three keys: stable
employment, safe housing, and positive social support.
MS. MCCABE reviewed the role of the Community Reentry Center in
the DOC reentry process. Prior to release, DOC probation
officers arrange housing with center staff and provide essential
information on individual risks and needs. The center provides
employment assistance for DOC halfway house residents. The goal
is to give individual support so each person can become a
productive member of the community and begin to look at
themselves that way.
She said the Anchorage Partners Reentry Center opened in August
2013 in collaboration with the Department of Corrections, the
Alaska Native Justice Center, Nine Star Education and
Employment, and the Department of Labor and Workforce
Development (DOLWD). To accommodate different needs requires a
variety of temporary housing types, of employment assistance,
and supporting programs. Culturally specialized referrals are
available. She reviewed the obligations of participants, which
includes getting a job and paying rent, and the obligations of
staff and volunteers, which is based on respect. She displayed
an extensive list to illustrate that the center has developed a
broad network of partners and referral resources.
MS. MCCABE said that through weekly case coordination meetings
with all who work directly with participants, services are
tailored to fit individual risks and needs. She reported that in
January the center assisted about 51 people each workday. A
proud achievement is that more than 340 employers have hired
program participants.
CHAIR MCGUIRE thanked Ms. McCabe for the work she'd done of over
the years.
4:06:26 PM
DENISE MORRIS, President and CEO, Alaska Native Justice Center,
Anchorage, Alaska, said that ANJC recognizes the enormity of the
recidivism problem and that it will take collaboration to find a
solution. She related that the Alaska Native Justice Center
(ANJC) receives its tribal authority through Cook Inlet Region,
Incorporated (CIRI). It was established in 1993 as the direct
consequence of the section of the Alaska Native Commission
Report that dealt with justice, social, economic, and other
issues. The report indicated that Alaska Natives represented
about 14 percent of the population, but almost 50 percent of the
incarcerated population. In its role as a catalyst and convener,
ANJC has been working on this issue since then. She recalled
that in 1995 ANJC and Sheldon Jackson College hosted the first
Justice Conference and most of the participants are represented
today.
ANJC has been working in reentry programs since about 1996 and
has been providing formal reentry services since 2005. They have
provided reentry services to about 2,500 people. The wraparound
services start 180 days [pre-release] and continue for as long
as the services are needed. They partner with South Central
Foundation for behavioral health, medical care, dental care,
optometry care, and behavioral health; Cook Inlet Tribal Council
for housing, job placement, and behavioral health.
MS. MORRIS described the program as a promising program that is
also a best practice. All the work has been done with no funding
from the state, but the hope is that there will be support as
federal dollars shrink. She noted that ANJC recently received a
federal grant under the Second Chance Act. The services are
available to anyone that asks, not just Alaska Natives. She said
the peer to peer component of the program makes it successful.
Participants are required to check in with their case manager on
a weekly basis, attend weekly support group learning circles,
and attend weekly peer to peer meetings. The goal is for
individuals to come full circle. Giving back 40 hours of
community work service is a requirement for graduation. Program
graduates include small business owners that hire and mentoring
the next cohort. Some graduates return to volunteers. They are
productive members of the community and they're giving back to
society. These programs save dollars and build lives.
MS. MORRIS expressed gratitude to Commissioner Taylor for
opening DOC's door to the Alaska Native Justice Center and
giving support whenever they were asked.
4:13:42 PM
NICOLE BORROMEO, General Counsel, Alaska Federation of Natives,
Anchorage, Alaska, said AFN is the largest Alaska Native
organization in the state. It represents 165 federally
recognized tribes, 141 village corporations, all 12 regional
corporations, and the 12 nonprofit consortia that contract to
run federal programs. Their mission is to enhance and promote
the cultural, economic, and political voice of the Alaska Native
community.
She said AFN is interested in recidivism primarily because of
the significant overrepresentation of Alaska Natives in the
prison population. Alaska Natives make up just 20 percent of the
state population yet 40 percent of the prison population. This
is unacceptable and AFN wants to be a part of the collaborative
effort to develop an effective and efficient reentry system to
solve the problem.
MS. BORROMEO said the Alaska Native community believes that the
collaboration is working. Inviting the Alaska Native community
to participate in the Crime Summit is a step in the right
direction. Tribal governments and organizations should be
utilized to develop and implement programs on the local level as
alternatives to incarceration. They have capable entities that
are willing and able to do so. The Alaska Native Justice Center
is one. In terms of what's not working, we need to take this
beyond consultation and move to active collaboration, she said.
It needs to be an ongoing dialog. We can't just have one and be
done. This will take "all hands on deck" to solve this problem.
We're prepared to be a participant and to help you do so.
MS. BORROMEO concluded her comments highlighting that nonprofits
in the Native community have a proven track record of working on
the problems of recidivism and reentry. She referred to page 36
of the 2015 report that details the $600,000 allocation to one
nonprofit, and suggested that nonprofits in the Native community
could benefit from those funds as well.
4:17:39 PM
MARIE STEWMAN, Director of Planning and Grants, Southcentral
Foundation (SCF), Family Wellness Warriors Initiative, explained
that SCF is an Alaska Native rural nonprofit healthcare
corporation that serves 65,000 Alaska Natives and American
Indians throughout the state. Their mission is to achieve
wellness through health and related services. The corporate
objective is to reduce the rate of domestic violence, child
abuse, and neglect. This objective is incorporated in
Southcentral Foundation's 80 programs.
The Family Wellness Warriors Initiative (FWWI) is one of those
programs. Working within the prison system TWWI has provided a
culturally relevant Transformational Living Community at the
Palmer Correctional facility since 2004 and the Highland
Correctional facility since 2012. A SCF employee works with TLC
inmates in the prison, and provides monthly reports. An
intensive 40-hour training is offered with follow up after
release. Graduates of the program receive a generous care
package of behavioral and medical services.
MS. STEWMAN said this reentry model includes culturally relevant
programs. The Four Directions outpatient program offers
substance abuse and mental health counseling and the Quyana
Clubhouse [blends medical services with Alaska Native tradition
and structure for adults with severe and persistent mental
illness.] She said the people that enter these programs don't go
back into prison.
MS. STEWMAN said the Southcentral Foundation is finding that
their 80 programs are working. She emphasized that these
programs and the work the Alaska Native Justice Center and the
Alaska Federation of Natives are doing is part of the solution.
MS. MORRIS added that while the Alaska Justice Commission report
has good recommendations, the Alaska Native community as a whole
is concerned that it mentions just one program as a promising
practice and it mentions just one program for funding. There was
no mention of the extensive work that has been done in the
Alaska Native community related to recidivism. The Native
community wants to be a part of the collaboration to find a
solution and the AFN passed a resolution supporting ANJC
involvement in this issue. As a result of this report, the AFN
has designated that reducing recidivism is a number one
priority. Right now they are participating in the National
Congress of the American Indian soliciting national support for
the issue.
CHAIR MCGUIRE shared a story from a constituent about his
growing concern that discrimination in the justice system is not
being addressed. He suggested more training is needed for parole
officers and corrections officers about cultural awareness and
perceptions about race. He also advocated to have in-house
programs for Alaska Natives to rebuild their identity. He feels
that young Native men in prison are more susceptible losing
their identity and they are more susceptible to rape.
SENATOR COGHILL discussed the importance of improving
communication, dovetailing tribal authority and state
government, providing victim services, and maintaining public
safety.
MS. MORRIS noted that the Southcentral Foundation and the Alaska
Native Justice Center both provide comprehensive victim services
programs, including legal representation. Responding to an
earlier question from Senator Ellis about what happens to those
who can't afford a program, she relayed that ANJ offers the
Prime for Life program that is entirely free for individuals
that have been detained for a minor consuming alcohol charge.
4:31:43 PM
QUINLAN STEINER, Director, Public Defender Agency, Department of
Administration (DOA), Anchorage, Alaska, echoed the need to
focus on programs to reduce recidivism combined with a long-term
strategy for measuring their effectiveness. He pointed out that
certain policies and strategies have increased costs
substantially from year to year and haven't necessarily had the
intended effect. "It's worth paying attention to the policies
that result in incarceration in the first place." Over the years
the state has increased penalties with limited judicial
discretion. And there is good data that shows that increasing
penalties and increased incarceration is not actually impacting
recidivism. It's simply incarcerating people for longer periods
of time. It may be counter intuitive but there is good data that
shows that short periods of incarceration for individuals who
are at low or moderate risk of committing another crime actually
increases recidivism. There are certain crimes that are listed
as misdemeanors that could easily be dealt with as violations
and get the same effect at a significantly reduced cost.
Pretrial incarceration is a really important issue. There are
longer and longer periods of pretrial incarceration. We're
seeing a lot of cases where people are getting out right at the
plea. They are unable to get out of jail on bail because of
stacked conditions, monetary bail, third party custodian, 24/7
which may all individually be good ideas and good programs but
when they're stacked and prevent people from getting out of jail
it has an effect that undermines their very intent. There is
good data that shows that even a little bit of incarceration can
increase recidivism rates.
A lot of the pretrial work that can be done, we're a little bit
inflexible on, he said. There's programs for deferred
prosecution that we could use or deferred sentencing and provide
incentives to participate in programing rather than spend that
time in jail. Much of that gets back to the programs themselves.
They are insufficient programming available that we could use to
help deal with some of the issues that are leading to people
ending up in jail and driving up the cost.
MR. STEINER said a more flexible approach could benefit all
parts of Alaska, particularly rural Alaska. Centralization has
its benefits, but one of them is not flexibility. Collaborating
with communities and tribal courts and other community
organizations that can assist in helping clients go from
incarceration in the justice system to out is necessary to make
advancements in some of the issues we're dealing with here
today, he said.
MR. STEINER said the justice system is not simply about moving
cases along. There is strong indication that procedural justice
reduces recidivism. There's an individual assessment of the case
so that there is a fit between what clients understand is
happening and the response their getting from the system as a
whole.
He said that without addressing these things we have increasing
pretrial incarceration, increasing percentages of individuals
who have been convicted of nonviolent offenses who are in jail,
longer sentences and increased costs. Though there is indication
that the efforts of corrections has done some to reduce
recidivism, there needs to be a longer and more intense
strategy. In this climate it might not be popular, but this
requires attention and funding. Those programs will produce
benefits in the long run, not just in costs to the system as a
whole but human costs. The latter are harder to measure but
they're significant.
CHAIR MCGUIRE asked why the numbers of nonviolent offenders in
Alaska prisons have increased.
MR. STEINER replied in part it's because of the number of
nonviolent crimes that have been ratcheted up to a felony and
the habitual offense strategies where the third offense becomes
a felony. Those are designed to deal with individuals who are
getting into trouble repeatedly, but if there is no work on the
front end at that misdemeanor level, that strategy just produces
longer incarceration.
CHAIR MCGUIRE asked what percentage of the nonviolent offender
population has mental health issues and what percentage has an
addiction to drug or alcohol.
MR. STEINER deferred to Mr. Jessee.
CHAIR MCGUIRE said she'd like more information about the large
nonviolent population, including the number of crimes that were
committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
MR. STEINER said anecdotally he can say that a significant
portion of the public defender cases involve drug and alcohol
addiction and somebody with a mental health diagnosis.
CHAIR MCGUIRE asked if he had an opinion about why the
percentage of older inmates is increasing.
MR. STEINER replied he didn't know the answer.
4:41:38 PM
NANCY MEADE, General Counsel, Administrative Staff, Alaska Court
System, Anchorage, Alaska, stated that the Court System is an
integral partner with many of groups that are looking at
programs that have been implemented, the important work yet to
be done, and the questions that still need answers so that more
programs and steps can be taken. She summarized some of what the
committee heard today. As former-Justice Bryner testified, the
knowledgeable and experienced Criminal Justice Commission is
trying to find answers to some of the questions that have been
raised. The committee also heard about the [Pew-MacArthur
Results First Initiative] and the offer to help look at case
files and data to identify some of the factors that are
confounding people right now. Some of the steps that group is
taking are probably the same steps that the legislature will
want to take in the future, she said.
MS. MEADE related that the Court System is an active member of
the Criminal Justice Working Group. She described this as a step
toward interagency cooperation, highlighting that the Department
of Corrections (DOC), the Department of Labor and Workforce
Development (DOLWD), the District Attorney's Office, the Public
Defender Agency, and the Court System work cooperatively to
address a lot of different criminal justice issues. That helps
the conversation work smoothly. She also noted that the Court
System was very involved in the Recidivism Reduction Plan Work
Group that Ms. Gutierrez discussed.
MS. MEADE conveyed that the Court System has been and will
continue to be very active in the efforts of all the different
groups, and is eager to implement any new smart justice programs
the legislature chooses to adopt. There is considerable
enthusiasm among individuals within the Court System to get new
practices in place with regard to changes in bail or probation
or sentencing.
CHAIR MCGUIRE thanked Ms. Meade for the work she does
interfacing with the Judiciary Committee.
CHAIR MCGUIRE asked Mr. Jessee to discuss mental health,
traumatic brain injury, and the percentage of poverty and
homelessness of inmates within the Department of Corrections
(DOC).
4:45:47 PM
JEFF JESSEE, Chief Executive Officer, Alaska Mental Health Trust
Authority (AMHTA), Department of Revenue (DOR), Anchorage,
Alaska, reported that 65 percent of the inmates in the
Department of Corrections are AMHTA beneficiaries, and 54.8
percent have co-occurring disorders. These people recidivate at
a higher rate than other inmates and spend longer times in
corrections.
CHAIR MCGUIRE asked him to follow up with the data sorted by
male, female, single mothers, single fathers, education
brackets, mental health brackets, addiction brackets, and any
other relevant factors.
MR. JESSEE expressed appreciation for the request because it
points out the need for a central data repository and analytical
capacity that does not currently exist in the system. Somebody
has to collect the data from the various sources to inform the
strategies to make intelligent decisions. He suggested that the
Justice Center at the university could assume that role. He
pointed out that people have been working on recidivism for
years, but organizations change and historical knowledge is
sometimes difficult to maintain.
He said a lot of what happened last year in House Finance was to
look at recidivism in the context of the cost of building
another prison or recommitting to send people to a prison in
another state. The committee was encouraged to expand its
thinking on the subject beyond state agencies, to include things
like housing, employment, and support for recovery. He observed
that the body wasn't really aware of how those things were
connected. He commented on the intent language that focused on
state agencies getting things moving. He pointed out that on
page iii of the Recidivism Reduction Plan, the first
recommendation was to partner with Alaska Native entities. He
discussed talking to Ms. Morris with the Alaska Native Justice
Center about this missing piece and the proposal to House
Finance that the next phase involve an actual implementation
plan. It would have specific strategies, the outcomes of those
strategies, the cost, the timeline, the outcomes, and the long-
term savings to the state. He opined that direction would be
forthcoming to put together an implementation plan. Using
resources like Pew and others makes this doable, he said.
MR. JESSEE said he'd be remiss if he didn't touch on the third
rail. He pointed out that a lot of the people coming out of
corrections are single males between the ages of 18 and 65.
If you want somebody else to help pay for this, you
need to start thinking about Medicaid expansion,
because that's a really powerful tool. And Behavioral
Health, as far as our beneficiaries, is where the
greatest impact of expansion is going to be and enable
us to access a funding source for a lot of the
substance abuse support that we just can't fund right
now. And we don't see the state in a position to
generate additional grant dollars - 100 percent GF -
in order to provide that support for sobriety in the
community.
He said he understands that a lot of questions need to be
answered, but Medicaid expansion would be a major factor in
being able to carry out an implementation plan for reducing
recidivism.
CHAIR MCGUIRE asked what the cost savings would be.
MR. JESSEE replied he didn't have a specific number but it would
be in the millions. Figuring that out would be part of the
implementation plan.
Responding to the concern about singling out a single program in
the [Recidivism Reduction Plan], he explained that the point
wasn't to give it preference over all other programs. It was to
not lose ground on a program that was working. He reiterated the
commitment to work with tribal partners, hopefully with guidance
from the finance committees about an implementation plan.
CHAIR MCGUIRE thanked Mr. Jessee and all the other participants.
She noted that the meeting was televised and recorded as a
follow up resource, and that she and the committee would work
with the House Finance Committee to keep from replicating
efforts.
4:58:33 PM
SENATOR ELLIS said it was a magic moment last year when Senate
Bill 64 passed unanimously. Progressives like himself and
conservatives like Senator Coghill put political and partisan
differences aside and found common ground to do the substantive
work that is continuing here. He said it appears that everybody
is pulling together, seeing the inner-connectedness of these
efforts and how to build on the synergies between
nongovernmental agencies and the agencies of government to make
a difference in people's lives, to provide hope and redemption
and rehabilitation.
He recalled the constitutional amendment effort a few years ago
to remove the words "rehabilitation" or "reformation" as one of
the purposes of Alaska's penal system. It was partisanship run
amok just as it was when a particular legislator directed his
staff to cut all treatment programs in the prison system. He
said it's taken over a decade to achieve a bipartisan consensus
to say that wasn't a wise idea and we're building back those
programs because they're cost effective.
He expressed appreciation for Chair McGuire's efforts to put the
state on the path of developing an Alaska model that will be
emulated across the country or across the world.
CHAIR MCGUIRE recalled the effort he referenced and the notion
that bad people that have done bad things should not be rewarded
by rehabilitation. She stated agreement with Senator Coghill
that the best thing that could happen for a victim of a crime is
that the perpetrator could return to the community as a reformed
person.
5:02:43 PM
SENATOR COGHILL recognized the significant contributions of
Senator Ellis, former Senator French, and former Senator Dyson.
He commented on healthy pathways and ongoing work and observed
that prison is a good place to keep people when they need to be
kept, but it is not the best place to rehabilitate.
CHAIR MCGUIRE remarked that this topic has been on this
committee's radar for a long time, and this is a start toward
looking at the issue in a different way.
5:06:54 PM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Chair McGuire adjourned the Senate Judiciary Standing Committee
meeting at 5:06 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| Crime Summit Agenda 2 25-Final.pdf |
SJUD 2/25/2015 12:00:00 PM |
|
| 2015 Crime Summit - DJJ Rec Reduction Input.docx |
SJUD 2/25/2015 12:00:00 PM |
|
| Alaska Federation of Natives Resolution.pdf |
SJUD 2/25/2015 12:00:00 PM |
|
| ANJC Packet Documents.pdf |
SJUD 2/25/2015 12:00:00 PM |
|
| FY07-FY22 DOC Projected Institutional Inmate Population and Funding-LFD.pdf |
SJUD 2/25/2015 12:00:00 PM |
|
| Notable VIVITROL Program.docx |
SJUD 2/25/2015 12:00:00 PM |
|
| APD Recidivism v1.ppt |
SJUD 2/25/2015 12:00:00 PM |
|
| SAMHSA VIV for OPD 2012-02-15.pdf |
SJUD 2/25/2015 12:00:00 PM |
|
| PfP_ReentryinAK_Presentation_Feb2015.pptx |
SJUD 2/25/2015 12:00:00 PM |
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| SCF Recidivism Reduction Support FINAL.docx |
SJUD 2/25/2015 12:00:00 PM |