No single program can fully meet the varied needs of the offender. Employment, substance abuse, and family issues, for example, are all intertwined within the criminal lifestyle. The Lincoln County Community Justice Transitional Center (CJTC) is one community’s attempt to launch a project that will intertwine existing and original programming to consistently address the criminogenic factors first surfaced by Dr. Don Andrews from Carleton University and later implemented by the Canadian Correctional Services^[1]. Currently the Oregon Department of Corrections is using the same research to design state-wide transition services. Within the scope of our local resources, therefore, the CJTC will attempt to address, within each of the following topics, ways to teach ‘across the curriculum’. The primary criminogenic factors that can be modified are:

1.                  EMPLOYMENT

2.                  MARITAL / FAMILY

3.                  ASSOCIATIONS / SOCIAL INTERACTION

4.                  SUBSTANCE ABUSE

5.                  COMMUNITY FUNCTIONING

6.                  PERSONAL / EMOTIONAL ORIENTATION

7.                  ATTITUDE / HABITS

These are factors that research^[2] consistently shows a direct correlation between lack of mastery and criminal behavior. Also, these are factors that can be addressed and changed by the offender given the proper instruction and behavioral modeling.^[3] In this sense, they are not the static factors of race, poverty, gender, and age.

The following pages are an outline of programming designed to address these criminogenic factors within each subject matter. While the instructional course may be titled ‘Substance Abuse’, the course will attempted to address the above listed issues within its’ particular curriculum.  Keep in mind that the target population for all the programming outlined below is the entire parole and probation caseload (600-700 offenders) and any of their family members that would like to participate. Classroom space can be made available to community partners that need facilities. Therapy will not be replicated as the intent is to not compete with services in the local community, but rather to educate offenders about the availability of such services and/or offer programs on-site when this facility would benefit the provider.  The cognitive / behavioral  model that will be employed throughout will be the Franklin Reality Model. 

EMPLOYMENT 

Unemployment / Idle Time is the single greatest coefficient of criminal behavior.^[4] The CJTC would blend employment education throughout its’ entire curriculum. However, the specific employment section of the offender training will be a coordinated community model. CJTC staff will present ‘Employment Skills Classes’ These classes will focus on interview skills and resume writing. They will deeply explore the connection between offender attitudes toward employment and the ability to seek and maintain employment. Topics such as dress, enunciation, drug-free workplace policy, and hygiene will also be addressed. (6 hours / week)

Every week, the Oregon Department of Employment will present an overview of their services. No services currently being offered at the Employment Department will be replicated at the CJTC. Rather, instruction on how to access existing job search software, how to claim benefits, how to register for employment, introduction to existing classes, registration, and familiarization with paperwork will be presented to prepare the offender to efficiently access existing services within the community. The emphasis will be on transitioning the offender from the CJTC to the community. To that end, his familiarization and ability to deal with the agency will have a bearing on his level of success with their services.(2 hours / week)

The Lincoln County Health and Human Services Department will offer weekly ‘Food Handlers Certification’ courses. Each unemployed resident will thereby by certified to immediately accept employment in the hospitality / tourist industry that supports the local economy.(2 hours / week)

We also offer an opportunity for Local Temporary Employment Companies to present job opportunities, listings, and upcoming employment needs to this population each morning for the offenders who have successfully completed the ‘Employment Skills’ classes. (as needed)

MARITAL / FAMILY

Next in importance on the scale of criminogenic factors are issues about the family.^[5] As addressed in the CJTC, the family definition expands to encompass multi-generational, and non-traditional living situations. There is no doubt that a mobile, addicted, offender population affects their domestic partners, and the children of these partners, in ways that have negative impact in the local community. The incidence of domestic violence in the home and unruly behavior in the school system are two issues that immediately come to mind. Sorely lacking in the Lincoln County community are opportunities to teach, and model, pro-social behavior to absent, abusive, and / or addicted parents within the local criminal justice system.

A partnership would be established with the approval of the local domestic violence network to have CJTC staff provide anger education to the offenders. These sessions would not be the therapy that is already available in the community. These sessions, again, would follow the cognitive / behavioral model for self-change. The anger education, called aggression and control in Lincoln County, would be 15 sessions long. These sessions would be delivered on-site as part of the core educational experience and would be available to residents and non-residents alike.(22.5 hours / over 60 days)

The Domestic Violence Council would identify representatives to provide an overview of local services for males and females in the Lincoln County area. These services covered would include, but not be limited to, men’s groups, victim’s advocates, women’s groups, family sessions (as deemed appropriate for this population) and referral assistance to family services in the school district, faith community, minority culture and health and social service agencies. (2 hours / week)

Members of the local faith community whose operations include  family services would offer orientation to this population about additional assistance in the community. (1.5 hours / week)

Parenting classes, structured for an adult, mandated offender population, would be offered by both the CJTC staff and/or private providers as certified by the Children’s Services Division. These classes would follow a cognitive behavioral model based on the Franklin Reality Model. Parenting classes would offer pro-social behavior modeling and specific skills and tactics that are readily employable by this population. Training skills and education would be offered to both the offender and their family group, however it is defined. At this time it appears that the bulk of these classes will be offered on-site. (22.5 hours over 60 days)

ASSOCIATES / SOCIAL INTERACTION

Perhaps the most critical function of the CJTC will be to reintegrate to offender back into the community. In an attempt to forge this historically weak link to a non-criminal lifestyle the CJTC will rely heavily on the motivational, behavioral, educational, and mentoring components of the overall curriculum at the CJTC. The basic, cognitive-based curriculum will be comprised of (THINKING FOR A CHANGE?? MILKMAN ??) But will also lead to certain community contacts and associations that are specifically thought to lead to pro-social interaction.

Certainly, the local Community College staff would offer an overview of programming, application processes, funding, and prerequisites at their facility. This may go so far as to require field trips to the school and engagement in literacy testing. (2 hours / weekly)

An intensive literacy program would be offered by community volunteers , nightly, at the CJTC for those offenders preparing for GED or other testing (1.5 hours / daily)

Cognitive / behavioral programming would be an ongoing cornerstone of the CJTC. Again, this programming would be offered and/or mandated to the entire offender population in classes of 12 or less at a time. CJTC staff will be certified in the Franklin Model and licensed in the curriculum chosen for the ongoing sessions. (10 hours / weekly)

Cultural issues will be addressed for the Native-American, Hispanic and other populations. Staff from Centro de Ayuda would design and incorporate cognitive sessions, based on the Franklin Reality Model, for delivery to the appropriate minority culture attendees. They will also model pro-social behavior and introduce community resources by providing an overview of available services. (2 hours / weekly) 

Eventually and mentoring project would be established that would utilize both community volunteers and CJTC graduates to provide follow up pro-social modeling in the community that occurs even past the expiration of the formal probation supervision.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE

This project recognizes the pervasive extent, nature, and patterns of alcohol and/or drug consumption in the community will surely undermine any effort to modify offender’s thinking and behavior. There is simply no substitute for a strong educational component that weaves the availability of therapeutic services throughout the entire curriculum. This effort must be consistent, culturally competent, and reinforced at every opportunity. Again, this project is not designed to duplicate community programming. It is designed to educate and orient offenders about the existence of such programming, look for cognitive objections about such programming, model a sober and productive lifestyle and reinforces the treatment obligations originally ordered by the releasing authority.

Private substance abuse counselors would provide an overview of local services and register offenders at the CJTC site. A local consortium of providers already exists and this effort will increase communication among the providers as well as the CJTC partners, most notably, the parole and probation officers. Different curricula would be explained detailed treatment histories would be captured and compared with corrections records, to the extent allowed by confidentiality legislation. (2 hours / week)

Embedded in the cognitive curriculum at the CJTC would be a strong substance abuse piece. The CJTC staff will be offering the substance abuse motivational information, on site, to the entire offender population as well as to family members that may be interested. Urine testing is a routine function of this staff and the facility has been built to handle this function in a consistent and professional manner. (4 hours / week)

Screening for substance abuse issues will be conducted by utilizing the SASSI ^[6]. All Lincoln County offenders under the supervision of Community Corrections will be screened using this tool at the time of their original orientation. Those showing a substance abuse issue will be individually  assessed by staff from the Lincoln County Health and Human Services Department (HHS). Offenders will be referred by HHS to programs whose curriculum meets their needs for intensity, and duration. Therapy will occur in the community.  (20 hours / week)

COMMUNITY FUNCTIONING 

In order to operate as a truly ‘transitional’ facility the CJTC needs to maintain a strong (aftercare?) component. Issues such as housing, deportment, leisure, health, and finance need to be addressed, first at the educational level and, before release, at the practical level. To that end we have assembled a substantial community group that is willing to present information and follow-up services both to the residents of the CJTC as well as the general probation population and their families.

Lincoln County HHS staff would screen offenders for AIDS, SIDs, TB, and hepatitis. (3 hours / week)

The clergy and volunteers of the faith community would offer education and orientation about their counseling services and congregation assemblies,. This will be presented in a culturally competent manner. (1 hour / week)

Local HUD officers would educate offenders about HUD rules and housing availability. (1 hour / week)

State Human Services representatives would register and/or enroll offenders for food stamp benefits and the Oregon health plan ( 2 hours / week)

Community Services Consortium employees would educate the offenders about employment, special training and re-training programs and alternative education services (2 hours /week)

Children Services representatives would educate this population about custody issues (1 hour / week)

DMV representatives would hold an outreach clinic to review drivers license status and barriers to the legal operation of motor vehicles (2 hours /week)

Local tribal and Centro de Ayuda employees would provide orientation about opportunities and services offered through their agencies 2 hours / week).  

PERSONAL / EMOTIONAL  ORIENTATION

A certain percentage of offenders are mentally ill or have co-occurring disorders. A certain percentage have un-addressed cognitive or behavioral issues. Some have anger, aggression and control issues. Some have disabilities limiting their intellectual capacity. The CJTC will be a clearing house to bring assessment and services to bear on this population so there can be a logical, consistent, and well-researched attempt to provide appropriate levels of sanctions and services to properly assessed offenders.

Part of the SASSI screening looks for mental health issues. Lincoln County HHS personnel would perform follow up assessment and complete court-ordered assessment, on-site. This service will also be offered to the families of the offenders as HHS searches for better ways to provide out-reach services for the entire local community.(10 hours / week)

Lincoln County HHS staff would also ‘in-reach’ to the local jail in attempting do deal with mentally ill offenders involved with the local criminal justice center. It is expected that it will be common practice to medicate and transition those appropriate offenders out of the jail and into the CJTC. (7 hours/ week)

Cognitive / Behavioral programming is the cornerstone of efforts by this project to link the community to the offender, and vice-versa. The offender, typically, has certain beliefs about his or her ability to function in the world as they perceive it.^[7]  Embedded in all attempts to reach the offenders will be a common language and common model designed to challenge belief systems and move the offender towards behaving it what he or she perceives to be the best interest of themselves and their families.  Every single CJTC staff as well as all partners certified to offer services to this population will be certified in the Reality Model and will implement the tenets of this model into every aspect of their presentations.  ‘Thinking Errors’, ‘Thinking for a Change’, ‘Breaking Barriers’ and ‘Belief, Motivation, and Change’ and other programs will be mixed and matched to the population, over time depending on the length of stay and the original assessment of offender needs.. This effort will occur both in the classroom and during any other interaction between staff and offender (10 hours / week)  

ATTITUDE

Attitudes about employment, law enforcement, drugs, children, relationships and a myriad of other issues sour the best attempts to launch a concerted effort at establishing a coordinated community response to the issues outlined, above. Early engagement in pro-social activities as been a failure in the histories of the bulk of this offender population. To address and modify these attitudes we will again rely on the cognitive curriculum. More than that, however, we will engage the free time of the offenders in a ever-changing menu of pro-social activities.

A Community Policing sub-station will be located at the CJTC. The Newport police personnel would be included in the orientation of the offender and their families and the services provided by the department would be explained. The officer would encourage this population to access police services when needed. (1 hour / week)

Parole and Probation staff will offer programming designed to show the offender ‘How to get off Probation’ and access services available through that department (2 hours / week)

The Community Justice Resolution Project staff would explain non-confrontation tactics to neighborhood and legal problems (2 hours / week)

CJTC staff would hold weekly residents meeting designed to model solutions that arise in and around the center (2 hours / week)

The South Beach Citizens committee would  identify and assist in neighborhood improvement projects for the facility work crew to implement. (4 hours / week)

The literacy project would host 1 on 1 tutoring sessions designed to improve comprehension and skills and model ways to offender can improve his education (6 hours / week).

A ‘former residents group’ would host a clean and sober social gathering each week at the center to model leisure activities that are pro-social in nature. There will be no broadcast television at the center. All videos will be approved for content by the residents using the skills they have learned. (4 hours / week)