Indiana Community Corrections Programs

Establishment:

• The Community Corrections Act was established in 1979 under IC 11-12-1-2 for the purposes to encourage counties to develop a coordinated local criminal justice system in order to divert from imprisonment which would be funded, at least in part, by the state

Community Corrections Overview

• Community Corrections is a community-based supervision agency used for the primary purpose of providing sentencing alternatives for felony offenders in lieu of incarceration. In addition to diversion, Community Corrections serves an important role in rehabilitation through transitional programming and as an intermediate sanction for Parole, Probation, Courts, and other community-based supervision or programs.

• Community Corrections serves 3 critical roles in the criminal justice system

Sentence Alternative: Community Corrections is a community-based supervision that serves as a sentencing or placement alternative to incarceration, while allowing restricted privileges to access the community while providing evidence-based interventions to establish long-term behavior change.

Intermediate Sanction: As an important element of best practices, Community Corrections serves as an intermediate sanction for Parole, Probation, Courts, and other community-based supervision or programs. The Levels of Supervision within a Community Corrections agency are often the basis for a graduated sanction process by phasing into more restrictive Levels of Supervision in lieu of a revocation, jail, or return to prison.

Re-Entry & Transitional Services: Community Corrections is also able to contract with the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) in order to provide re-entry services for IDOC’s Work Release program and the Community Transition Program.

Community Corrections Administration and Advisory Board

Since each county has different resources and priorities within their criminal justice system, the Community Corrections agency is overseen by the established Community Corrections Advisory Board.

• The Community Corrections Advisory Board members are a statutory group of local criminal justice stakeholders under IC 11-12-2-2.
• The community-based board is comprised of local criminal justice department heads or designees and stakeholders of the local criminal justice departments in addition to a victim, former Community Corrections participant, and local treatment/service providers.
• The Community Corrections Advisory Board’s primary duties consist of:
  • Appointing the Community Corrections Director
  • Formulation of a Community Corrections Plan which is a comprehensive operational overview of the structure, administration, program elements, and program capacity
  • Formulation of Eligibility Criteria and Violation Criteria
  • Formulation of Program Rules, Policies, and Procedures
  • Administration of the program budget and expenses including:
    • Applying for and administration of the Community Corrections and Justice Reinvestment Grant Funding provided by the Department
    • User Fee Schedules
  • Support, monitor, and evaluate the Community Corrections Program on its effectiveness of the programs and determine if the program should continue

Placement into a Community Corrections Program

The Community Corrections Advisory Board establishes the program’s eligibility criteria and collaborates with their criminal justice partners to ensure the target population is placed and participants are appropriate for the program.

Cases are referred through:

• Community Corrections sentence under the Direct Placement statute IC 35-38-2.6-4.2

• As a condition of a Probation sentence

  • Monitoring

  • Graduated sanction due to a violation in lieu of jail

  • Collaborative resource efforts for services, programs, or classes

• As a condition of a Parole

  • Monitoring

  • Graduated sanction due to a violation in lieu of prison

  • Collaborative resource efforts for services, programs, or classes

• Community Transition Program

• The IDOC State Work Release Contract

Program Components

Community Corrections programs vary from county to county based on the program budget, community resources, technological capabilities, human resource policies, and staffing support.

Community Corrections programs throughout the state have:

• 24/7 Monitoring or supervision
  • GPS monitoring device that tracks the participants whereabouts and alerts the Community Corrections program if the participant removes the device, enters a victim zone, or any established restricted zone
  • Home Detention monitoring device which allows the participant limited access to the community for job searching, employment, programs, treatments, services, errands, or incentives.
    • The device is zoned to the participant’s residence and the participant is only able to leave with an approved schedule acknowledged by the device
    • The Community Corrections program is alerted if the participant leaves the home unscheduled or does not return by the established curfew
  • A Residential Center is a secure facility which allows participants limited access to the community for job searching, employment, programs, treatments, services, errands, or incentives.
    • The participant has limited access to the community through an approved schedule 
    • The Community Corrections program monitors if the participants do not return within the designated curfew or is unaccounted for in the facility

• Public Safety Accountability
  • Field visits are conducted to ensure that the participant is working, living, or visiting where they are approved to go
  • Home visits are conducted to ensure that the participant is abiding the program rules by ensuring there is no risk for criminal activity through verification of the residents of the home and that there are no weapons or drugs accessible
  • Random Drug Testing either conducted in-house or referred out to an external agency to ensure the participant is abiding by the program rules and not engaging in criminal activity
• Case Management
  • Risk Assessment through the IRAS (Indiana Risk Assessment System) which drives decisions made on a participant’s supervision level, program, treatments, and services needed
  • Case plan with personalized goals while on the program

• Graduated Sanctions and Incentives
  • The disciplinary process is progressive and allows for time to correct the behavior through community service, programming, treatment, or a cognitive intervention instead of an immediate court violation or jail placement
  • Executed sentences allow for the ability to have credit time earned or lost based program performance
  • Incentives may include treats, bus passes, reduced fees, modifications, or passes for family events
• Programs, Treatment, and Services
  • Cognitive-Behavioral Programs and interventions
    • Examples: Thinking for a Change, Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT), Moving On
  • Treatment
    • Mental Health or Substance Abuse Treatment either in-house or referred to a local provider
  • Educational Programs
    • GED
  • Skill Building
    • Examples: Resume Classes, Mock Interviews, Job Searches
  • Stability Services
    • Assisting with obtaining a driver's license, ID, or social security card
    • Housing Assistance
    • Access to medical care through a Recovery Works Navigator
    • Transportation assistance with Bus Passes or ride share

FAQs

What's the Department's role with Community Corrections?

• The Department's Community Corrections Division provides state aid through the Community Corrections and Justice Reinvestment Funding as an annual grant under IC 11-12. While the division provides funding support, the programs are administered locally. The local Community Corrections Directors report to their local Community Corrections Advisory Board and Community Corrections staff are county employees. Community Corrections programs are separate from the Department and therefore its program staff are not state employees. In addition, participants sentenced or referred to Community Corrections are not supervised or managed by the Department, nor do we determine who is placed or removed from the program.
• The Community Corrections Division, in partnership with state and local criminal justice agencies and the Community Corrections Advisory Boards, works collaboratively to develop community corrections programs utilized by the local courts and IDOC to supervise, sanction, and treat offenders in the community as an alternative to incarceration. The division's role is to provide oversight of the grant funding through compliance monitoring and program performance. We ensure that the services are provided in accordance with the proposed plan and best correctional practices.

What's the difference between Community Corrections and Probation?

What are the benefits of a Community Corrections program?

• Contemporary research has demonstrated that prison incarceration and supervision alone has little impact on long-term behavior change for offenders. Indiana Community Corrections programs create a more economical and sustainable strategy for combating high costs of incarceration. It provides immediate sentence alternatives and provides long-term results by focusing on evidence-based practices through programming and treatment to support behavioral change.
• Community Corrections provides an opportunity for the participant, by following their case plans and programs, to demonstrate that they can safely and effectively be managed in a community-based setting and ultimately, become a productive member of society.