1.1: Close Supervision
Defendants and offenders will be supervised and/or monitored at a level appropriate to their risk classification, so that
conditions of release may be enforced, swift and certain consequences imposed for violation of those conditions, and incentives
applied to improve compliance.
Other Information:
CSOSA dedicates approximately 55 percent of its annual resources to activities in this area, including: - Surveillance drug
testing; - Supervision contacts (office visits, phone contacts, and home or work visits); - Initial case planning with pre-parole
offenders residing in Federal Bureau of Prisons Halfway Houses; - Detecting and sanctioning non-compliant behavior, according
to CSOSA’s sanctions matrix (Accountability Contract) as guidance; - Monitoring compliance with specific interventions or
conditions imposed by the court or U.S. Parole Commission (e.g., treatment, community service, mental health care, etc.);
- Referral to programs and services as appropriate. Since its creation in 1997, CSOSA has been committed to implementing a
community-based approach to supervision, taking proven best practices and making them a reality in the District of Columbia.
Prior to the enactment of the Revitalization Act, supervision officers handled staggering caseloads from behind their desks
downtown, providing only minimal levels of contact to most offenders. Prior to the enactment of the Revitalization Act, the
average supervision caseload in probation and parole was 180-200 high-risk offenders to every supervision officer. The infusion
of significant resources into CSOSA has enabled caseloads to be reduced to the current average of 56 general supervision offenders
per officer, which is still somewhat higher than the target of 50, but much improved from past levels. Specialized high-risk
caseloads (mental health and sex offender) are lower, averaging 44 offenders per officer. CSOSA also adopted a new deployment
structure for its officers, abolishing the old designations of Probation and Parole Officers and creating the position of
Community Supervision Officer for line staff. Community Supervision Officers handle both parole and probation cases and increasingly
spend their time in District neighborhoods, performing supervision functions where offenders live and work. CSOSA has established
a total of six field units, and hopes to add a seventh in FY 2004. Re-Entry of Parolees into the Community For a number of
years prior to June of 1998, the District of Columbia did not uniformly transition inmates to parole by placing them in community
corrections centers, or halfway houses. This practices was contrary to standard practice in the entire federal system and
in most states. Often, individuals who had been incarcerated at Lorton for years were simply transported by bus on their parole
date to the D.C. Jail in Southeast Washington, and released to the street with instructions to report to a parole officer
downtown. Not surprisingly, without a system of community supports and supervision, many offenders resumed the cycle of crime
and drug use. In May 1998, the practice of transitioning parolees through halfway houses was reinstituted through a Memorandum
of Understanding between CSOSA, the D.C. Corrections Trustee, the U.S. Parole Commission, and the D.C. Department of Corrections.
Since this practice has resumed, inmates who are granted parole have been transitioned back into the community through halfway
houses, where they spend a final portion of their sentence (not to exceed ten percent of the total sentence). In July of 1998,
the agency started assigning Community Supervision Officers to work with halfway house residents. The Transitional Intervention
for Parole Supervision (TIPS) Program provides counseling services, release planning, and service referrals to the pre-parole
population in order to reduce the probability of continued criminal behavior and provide for a smoother transition back into
the community. During this program, the offender and the TIPS officer develop an initial supervision plan that remains in
effect for the first 90 days following release, while the offender becomes accustomed to general supervision. The TIPS program
carries the philosophy that each prospective parolee’s individual history and evolution of criminality or addiction must be
assessed to develop an effective transitional and treatment plan tailored to his or her specific risks and needs. Pre-parolees
must comply with conditions of drug testing, treatment and counseling, and frequent reporting. The program carries a zero
tolerance policy for alcohol and other drugs, and pre-parolees who test positive for alcohol and/or illegal substances are
returned to institutional custody immediately. In addition, there is strict case management, including tracking, monitoring,
regular reporting, random breathalyzer tests, counseling, and a urinalysis twice a week. The program also provides services
such as comprehensive needs assessment, job placement, referral to vocational and educational programming, mentoring, housing
release planning, and alcohol and substance abuse education along with a wide range of treatment resources. Over the past
several years, CSOSA has made great progress in establishing a more effective supervision model. However, the proof of whether
these resources are effective is in the outcomes: Does our program have an impact on public safety in the District of Columbia?
CSOSA’s goals in this area therefore focus on the most meaningful outcomes: rearrest, the imposition of sanctions, and technical
violations. Meeting these goals will contribute to a significant reduction in recidivism and a significant increase in public
safety. General Goal: - CSOSA will decrease the proportion of the population under supervision that is rearrested (from a
baseline measurement established in FY 2002). Rearrest is a commonly accepted indicator of criminal activity within the supervised
population. Although in itself rearrest does not constitute recidivism, it is a useful predictor of recidivism. If offenders
are following their case plans—complying with their conditions of release, maintaining employment, and refraining from drug
use—their chances of rearrest should be reduced dramatically. While CSOSA cannot eliminate rearrest, successful implementation
of its program should reduce it. Over the past several years, CSOSA has been working to establish baseline rearrest rates
for the probation and parole populations. Little data exists on rearrest prior to CSOSA’s establishment, and until recently
tracking rearrest was a labor-intensive manual process. Through the implementation of SMART, CSOSA’s automated case management
system, and linkage with Metropolitan Police Department computer systems, tracking rearrest has become much easier and more
reliable. Baseline measurements have been established. Means and Strategies. The achievement of this goal depends on CSOSA’s
continued implementation of a supervision model that stresses accountability and close monitoring. A number of operational
strategies directly contribute to this goal: reduction in caseload, placement of officers in the community, partnership with
the Metropolitan Police Department, and regular reassessment of risk. The deployment of additional Community Supervision Officer
positions received in FY 2003 will bring the agency’s general supervision caseload to the target ratio of 50 cases per officer
and will directly contribute to this goal. General Goal: - CSOSA will increase the percentage of recorded violations for which
a timely sanction is imposed and implemented (from a baseline measurement established in FY 2004). A system for addressing
non-compliant behavior is at the heart of CSOSA’s program model. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of graduated
sanctions in both supervision and treatment. Offenders whose behavior is closely monitored, and whose non-compliance is subject
to swift and certain consequences, are more likely to follow with their case plans and avoid criminal activity. Therefore,
CSOSA has developed, and is seeking to expand, a range of sanctions up to and including residential placement. By consistently
implementing these sanctions, we believe we can contain more offenders safely within the community, reducing the instances
in which revocation for technical violation becomes necessary—although revocation must always be presented as the ultimate
sanction. CSOSA’s sanctions are defined by policy and captured within a sanctions matrix, or Accountability Contract. This
document defines the consequences for non-compliant behavior in clear, certain language. The offender signs the contract,
and it becomes part of the case plan. Sanctions currently include such measures as: officer reprimand, increased drug testing,
increased supervision contacts, attendance at a sanctions group, increase in supervision level, and residential placement.
When CSOSA’s Re-Entry and Sanctions Center is fully operational, our capacity to impose residential sanctions will be significantly
increased. Prior to the implementation of automated case management, CSOSA had no reliable mechanism to track the recording
of violations and imposition of sanctions. The case management system is currently being modified to capture the disposition
of each recorded technical violation, including the date, duration, nature, and success of the sanction. This information
is essential in the preparation of Alleged Violation Reports. In formulating this goal, CSOSA chose to emphasize the appropriateness
of the sanction and timeliness of its imposition rather than the number of recorded sanctions. To be effective, a sanction
must be both calibrated to the seriousness of the behavior and executed quickly and reliably. CSOSA does not seek to decrease
the number of recorded violations or sanctions. Means and Strategies. This goal is dependent on full implementation and consistent
enforcement of the Accountability Contract, as well as continued availability of residential sanctions for more severe violations.
In addition, supervision officers must receive adequate training in the imposition of sanctions, and whether sanctions are
imposed in a timely manner must be tracked through the automated case management system. General Goal: - CSOSA will decrease
the proportion of the population who receive three or more violations from separate incidents in a single year (from a baseline
measurement established in FY 2004). While violations are an expected part of most offenders’ supervision, if CSOSA’s program
model is succeeding, the proportion of the population who violate multiple times each year should decrease. More offenders
should be adhering to their case plans, succeeding in their program placements—in short, not engaging in the behaviors that
constitute violations. Therefore, the proportion of the population that violates multiple times in any given year should decrease.
As noted above, CSOSA does not seek to reduce the number of recorded violations, but rather the proportion of the population
who violate repeatedly in a given year. It should be noted that CSOSA will count each separate incident, not each separate
violation resulting from a single incident. A single incident may result in multiple violations—an offender may miss a drug
test and fail to report for an office visit, for example, because he has smoked marijuana. That would constitute two violations
(the missed test and the missed office visit) but one incident. Means and Strategies. Timely detection of non-compliant behavior
and equally timely imposition of appropriate sanctions are essential to achieving this goal. To that end, caseload ratios
must remain low enough for officers to monitor offenders closely and respond quickly to signs of trouble. General Goal: -
CSOSA and the U.S. Parole Commission will develop standards for the format and content of Alleged Violation Reports (AVRs)
by the end of FY 2004, and staff will receive training in these standards by the end of FY 2005. CSOSA’s Community Supervision
Officers provide documentation of alleged violations to the U.S. Parole Commission, who then determine whether the offender’s
release status should be revoked and the offender returned to incarceration. These reports must be complete, comprehensive,
and appropriately documented. They must also contain sufficient evidence that the office has attempted to address the offender’s
non-compliance through sanctions, and that revocation is being sought either because other strategies have failed or because
the violation is so serious that no other strategy is appropriate. CSOSA and the U.S. Parole Commission are collaborating
on joint staff training and joint drafting of standards for these reports. In addition, CSOSA’s case management system will
incorporate an AVR module by the end of FY 2003. This module will automate production of the report and minimize the possibility
of omissions. Means and Strategies. This goal will be achieved primarily through collaborative effort, deployment of the automated
AVR module, and staff training. This goal must be achieved to enable CSOSA to shift its focus to ensuring that revocation
is requested appropriately.
Indicator(s):
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