Chapter IV: Incarceration and Reentry
Policy Statement 21: Development of Transition Plan
Recommendation a: Identify transition planners in each institution and charge them with coordinating a case management process, which incorporates representatives of institutional corrections, community corrections, social service agencies, and community-based mental health providers.
The position charged with transition planning varies among corrections systems. In some jurisdictions, correctional staff provide both transition planning and case management services. The most common arrangement is for prison staff to assume the lead role in transition planning, with some assistance from community corrections staff; once the inmate is released, community corrections staff assume the case management responsibilities. Regardless of the specifics of the arrangement, collaboration between the various agencies and service providers who will be involved in the release, supervision, treatment, and support of the releasee is essential to a successful transition planning process.
Example: Forensic Transition Team, Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
The Forensic Transition Team program was established in 1998 to provide transitional release planning services for offenders about to be released from correctional custody. The Forensic Transition Team conducts client interviews of inmates identified by mental health staff and coordinates appropriate community mental health resources. Team members work with offenders at least three months prior to their release, providing them with case coordination and consultation to community providers for up to three months after release to address any obstacles to client community adjustment. Arrangement of programs, treatments, and social support services is done in coordination with criminal justice officials to address public safety concerns. The team collaborates both with institutional corrections authorities and with probation and parole officials to coordinate the linkages for offenders with mental illness to receive community-based services upon release. The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health maintains a statewide database to track the progress of offenders served by the program, as well as to inform further program development and research efforts. [1]
One particularly promising, albeit uncommon, strategy is to have the transition planner working with the inmate during the last months of his or her incarceration continue as a case manager (coordinating the delivery of services and facilitating the person's compliance with conditions of release) after the offender's release to the community. As part of such a strategy, community-based agency staff, who will eventually provide postrelease case management, can be brought into the institution to work with institutional-based discharge planners in devising and carrying out a comprehensive case management plan.
Example: Women's Discovery and Safe Release Programs, Rhode Island Department of Corrections
The Women's Discovery Program is a voluntary substance abuse treatment program offered to all women incarcerated in Rhode Island state prisons. All inmates who spend at least 30 days in the Discovery Program are eligible for an additional component called Safe Release. The Safe Release Program provides mental health treatment services and specialized mental health discharge planning services to inmates with mental illness. Case managers from a local community-based mental health provider, the Providence Center, work with corrections staff to oversee the discharge planning for these inmates as well as providing post-discharge case management services for up to one year, thus ensuring continuity of care.
Regardless for whom the transition planner works, it is essential that he or she be required to coordinate a team of people who, collectively, represent the agencies and organizations whose support and assistance are essential to the successful implementation of the transition plan. [2] These agencies usually include, at a minimum, corrections, parole (or releasing authority), mental health agencies, housing, employment, health and welfare agencies and private providers of treatment and support services all have a part in the individual's life.
The collective participation of representatives of the community in the development of treatment plan - and their subsequent investment in its success - serves many purposes. First, it encourages coordination between local outpatient services and correctional facilities. Second, it promotes the mutual accountability of correctional administrators and mental health treatment officials for the treatment of offenders with mental illness. Third, it facilitates the sharing of important information regarding the treatment history of the individual and his or her progress following release.
Missouri employs multidisciplinary teams to assess clients, plan interventions, and carry out services for parolees both in the institution and in the community.
Example: Multi-disciplinary Team, Missouri Parole Board
The Missouri Parole Board has a staff person who sits on a team with institutional staff to develop a continued care plan for persons with mental illness.The continued-care plan is holistic in nature, addressing all areas of persons with mental illness offenders' life connected to his/her success in the community. Once planned, the multidisciplinary team oversees the parolee's progress and the delivery of services. The program consists of both an institutional and a community release center phase. The institutional phase lasts for four months and selected inmates spend two months in the community phase for a combined minimum of six months. The program is used by the parole board as a prerelease requirement as well as an alternative to revocation for those who are parole violators.
Successfully coordinating each of these teams and developing a transition plan that addresses the complex needs of people with criminal records who have a mental illness requires careful work and is extremely time consuming. Accordingly, the ratio of individuals conducting discharge planning and case management services to releasees should be low, ideally with caseloads no higher than 20 releasees per supervision officer.
-
Stephanie W. Hartwell, Donna Haig Friedman, Karin Orr, "From Correctional Custody to Community: The Massachusetts Forensic Transition Program," New England Journal of Public Policy, Spring/Summer, 2001, pp. 73-81.
back -
Individuals who are able to coordinate cross-systems activities such as transition planning are often referred to as boundary spanners. Boundary spanners must be able to understand and work within the different cultures, policies, and procedures of multiple areas (e.g., corrections, parole, and community mental health) and successfully bridge the gaps between different services systems that individuals with mental illness often fall through. For more on boundary spanners see Henry J. Steadman, "Boundary Spanners: A Key Component for the Effective Interactions of the Justice and Mental Health Systems," Law and Human Behavior 16:1, 1992, pp. 75-86.
back