criminal justice oversight council · council of state governments justice center | 13 staffing...

Criminal Justice Oversight CouncilMarch 21, 2018

Sara Friedman, Senior Policy Analyst, State InitiativesCouncil of State Governments Justice Center

Overview

01 Background

02 Prison population trends

03 Supervision population trends

Key takeaways and next steps04

Challenges in Montana when state leaders embarked on Justice Reinvestment

Jail and prison overcrowding as well as increased arrests, district court case filing and length of time between arrest and disposition

Increased community supervision revocations accounting for 74 percent of prison admissions

Lack of risk based decision-making at the front end and back end of the system

Council of State Governments Justice Center | 3

The Council of State Governments Justice Center, “Justice Reinvestment in Montana: Report to the Montana Commission on Sentencing,” January 2017

Goals for Justice Reinvestment to increase public safety

Reserve prison space for the most serious and violent offenders

Reduce recidivism by changing offender behavior

Improve decision-making at the front end and back end of the system


CSG works with stakeholders in each state to identify key metrics and establish benchmarks for monitoring progress


Collect Data

Analyze Trends

Adjust to improve

outcomes

State monitoring is the process of collecting, monitoring, analyzing and using data about a state’s criminal justice system in order to improve outcomes and inform technical assistance.

Overview

01 Background




Montana’s package of legislation is projected to avert prison population growth by 13 percent by FY23

Source: Montana Department of Corrections, “Adult Population Summary Actual – FY2008 to 2014; Projected FY2015 to 2025”; CSG Justice Center analysis based on projections from DOC

FY2016: 2,605

2,981

2,598

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

14% forecasted increase FY2017–FY2023

Projected population with legislation

-13% from forecasted populationFY2018–FY2023

ACTUALDOC Population

$69million

in averted costs

in prison than forecasted

FY2023 population

on supervision than forecasted FY2023

population

383 fewer

people

2,639 fewer

people


Montana’s prison population has increased by 57 people since JR enactment

Source: Montana Department of Corrections, “Adult Population Summary Actual – FY2008 to 2014; Projected FY2015 to 2025”; CSG Justice Center analysis based on projections from DOC; MDOC Monthly JR Tracking spreadsheet, 3-13-2018

FY2016: 2,605

2,981

2,598

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

ACTUALDOC Population

$69million

in averted costs

in prison than forecasted

FY2023 population

on supervision than forecasted FY2023

population

383 fewer

people

2,639 fewer

people

Population at enactment (May 2017)2,627

Current Population (Feb 2018)2,684


The pressure from county jail backlogs has been easing up since July 2017


Source: Montana Department of Corrections email communication with Justice Center staff, 3-20-2018

432

377358

334301

209 204

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

Jul '17 Aug '17 Sep '17 Oct '17 Nov '17 Dec '17 Jan '18

Average Daily Population in County Jailsunder MDOC Jurisdiction

Prison admissions are outpacing releases, contributing to an increased prison population


Source: Montana Department of Corrections Monthly JR Tracking spreadsheet, 3-13-2018

Admissions

Releases

1100

1150

1200

1250

1300

FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 FY18

Prison Admissions and Release Trends*

* Estimated based on 8 months of data

FY2018 Prison Admissions and Releases*

* Q3 Estimated based on 2 months of data

Admissions

Releases

275

300

325

350

375

Q1 Q2 Q3

Population in alternative facilities has increased


Source: Montana Department of Corrections “ADP History thru FY2014.xlsx” and communications with MTDOC staff

1,819

1,972 2,009 1,9632,085 2,106

FY 2012 FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016 FY 2017

Montana Alternative Facilities Population

Increase in alternative facility population has put pressure on county jail beds

FY2012

FY2017

FY2012

FY2017

FY2012 FY2017

FY2012

FY2017

New Commitments(no prior DOC history)

Returns of Former Offenders(not under supervision)

Revocations for Technical Violationsof Supervised Population

New Convictions ofSupervised Population

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

An increasing number of people in the stock prison population had no prior involvement with DOC



Composition of Prison Population by Prior Criminal History by Fiscal Year

Prior to 2017, there were a number of challenges related to board staffing and decisional practices


Staffing

Board members were 7 volunteers

Parole analysts were essentially making decisions related to release, revocation, clemency

Decision-Making

Not trained in decision making

Parole interviews focused on underlying crime

Practices

Set offs could be for up to 6 years in all cases

11 FTEs including parole analysts, clerical, media staff

Parole reports contained extraneous informationData show increasingly

delayed parole releases

Process was not transparent

SB 64 created sweeping changes for the board, with aggressive implementation timelines


Staffing

Board members were 7 volunteers

Parole analysts were essentially making decisions related to release, revocation, clemency

Decision-Making

Not trained in decision making

Parole interviews focused on underlying crime

Practices

Set offs could be for up to 6 years in all cases

Largely a paper-based system

11 FTEs including parole analysts, clerical, media staff

Parole reports contained extraneous informationData show increasingly

delayed parole releases

5 full-time, professional board members and 3 full-time support staff

Trained in best practices and using guidelines

Set offs limited to 1 year except for sex/violent cases

Process was not transparent

Pilot sample of 136 cases shows many people are scored as “likely to parole” but the Board uses it’s discretion in addition to the guidelines tool


0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Distribution of Guidelines Pilot Scores

Guidelines Score

Granted Parole

-------------------- Recommend Grant -------------------- --------- Recommend Deny ---------

The Board of Parole decisions aligned with guidelines recommendations 74% of the time

Average score: 5.4

Source: CSG Justice Center analysis of guidelines pilot data

Where does the Parole Board deviate from guidelines recommendations?


85

4

31

13

-4

16

36

56

76

96

116

Guidelines recommend parole release Guidelines recommend deny parole

Parole Board Pilot Decisions that Agreed or Disagreed with Guidelines

Granted parole


Denied paroleGranted parole

Denied parole

What are the primary reasons cited for denying parole?



20

16

8

5

Failed to successfullycomplete programming

Currently enrolled inprogramming

Misconducts Other factors

Reasons for Parole Denial (N=44)

Of the 44 people denied, 16 (36%) were on waitlists for programming

Overview

01 Background




9,546 9,564 9,709 9,775 9,803 9,816 9,849 10,025 10,129 10,248 10,333

1,044 1,041 1,045 1,045 1,063 1,062 1,077 1,090 1,101 1,111 1,123

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

Jan '17 Feb '17 Mar '17 Apr '17 May '17 Jun '17 Jul '17 Oct '17 Nov '17 Jan '18 Feb '18

The supervised population has grown 8% since January 2017


Source: Montana Department of Corrections, Spreadsheet emailed 3/20/2018. Data unavailable for August, September, and December 2017

End of Month Adult Supervised Population

Adult Interstate Probation & Parole

Adult Probation & Parole Population

10,59011,456

From Jan 2017 – Feb 2018:

+866 adults on probation and parole

Placements to probation have increased slightly over FY18 while releases have remained steady, contributing to an increasing probation population

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

Jul '17 Aug '17 Sep '17 Oct '17 Nov '17 Dec '17 Jan '18 Feb '18

Probation Placements and Releases

183



245

FY18 projected total placements: 3,312

FY18 projected total releases: 2,715

Placements

Releases

Similarly, placements to parole are also outpacing releases from parole in FY18, contributing to an increasing parole supervision population

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100


Parole Placements and Releases

45



Placements

Releases4851

76

FY18 projected total placements: 831

FY18 projected total releases: 644

Conditional discharges from supervision (CDFS) were increasing as a result of JR policy in SB 63, but then declined significantly



11 1215

1615

0

10

20

30

40

50

FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17

Historic Trend of Monthly Average Conditional Discharges

15

10

17

50 5147

38

9


Monthly Conditional Discharges FY18

Currently, 4,890 probationers are potentially eligible for conditional discharge based on their length of time on supervision


Source: Montana Department of Corrections CDFS by Time Only spreadsheet, received 3/19/18

Not Eligible

37%

Probationers Eligible for Conditional Discharge Based on Length of Time, by Risk Level

Low Risk41%

Moderate Risk18%

Medium RiskHigh Risk

2%2%

Currently eligible for CDFS based only on length of time spent on supervision

The majority of individuals eligible for conditional discharge based on the length of time they have already been supervised are low or moderate risk.

However, a portion of these people may not be eligible due to their behavior on supervision.

Nearly half of probationers who reoffend do so within the first 12 months of supervision

Source: Montana Department of Corrections Admissions & Offense History Data

Justice Center

Number of FY 2012 New Probationers Resentenced over 36 months, and

Proportion of Those Resentenced Who Were Resentenced Each Year


0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

0 months 6 months 12 months 18 months 24 months 30 months 36 months

15%

36%49%

41% of new FY

2012 probationers

were resentenced

within three years.

Of those, 49%

were resentenced

in the first 12

months.

Overview

01 Background




Key takeaways from current data

1. Montana’s prison population is still slightly increasing, while at the same time some system pressures are easing as the number of people in MDOC jurisdiction who remain in county jails decreases.

2. The Board of Parole successfully piloted decision-making guidelines but programming remains a challenge.

3. The number of people on community supervision is increasing.4. This increasing probation and parole population is placing additional strain on

corrections resources. Recent challenges to the CDFS policy are delaying impacts for low risk offenders.

5. More data is needed to do a full scale analysis of the impact of justice reinvestment policies.


Next step: track the impact of reinvestment spending


Bill Recipient Purpose FY 2018 FY 2019

SB 59 JudiciaryDevelop and administer a pretrial program for felony defendants $780,000 $780,000

SB 59Department of Corrections (Directors Office)

CJOC implementation accountability* $100,000 $100,000

SB 60Department of Corrections (Probation and Parole)

Creation of presentence investigation unit $360,000 $360,000

SB 64Board of Pardons and Parole

Transition to full-time,professional Board of Pardons and Parole $29,878 $59,755

SB 65 Board of Crime ControlSupportive housing grant program $200,000 $200,000

Total Funding $1,469,878 $1,499,755

Justice Reinvestment Appropriations

*SB 59 CJOC appropriations are a part of MDOC’s budget mitigation plan

Next step: shore up data resources

Convene researchers from multiple agencies to discuss impact tracking

Evaluate options for using current court disposition data

Use federal justice reinvestment implementation funding to improve MDOC’s data systems


The impacts of justice reinvestment policies will take years to be fully realized

Implementation is an ongoing process. It will likely take several months after policy effective dates for Montana to see impacts in data metrics and resulting reductions in system pressures


In the meantime, state leaders can look at process metrics to evaluate how implementation is moving forward

Sara Friedman, Senior Policy [email protected]

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This material was prepared for the State of Montana. The presentation was developed by members of the Council of State Governments Justice Center staff. Because presentations are not subject to the same rigorous review process as other printed materials, the statements made reflect the views of the authors, and should not be considered the official position of the Justice Center, the members of the Council of State Governments, or the funding agency supporting the work.

Thank You

criminal justice oversight council · council of state governments justice center | 13 staffing...

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