I. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 9:03AM
II. Roll Call
Chairman Timberlake, Commissioners Griffin, Jacobs, Rodriguez, Straza, Commissioner Biehl by phone. Quorum declared present. Staff present: Julie Stremlau, Karrie Rueter and Lin Ferguson. Guests: Heather Henreckie. Commissioner Rodriguez recused herself from the Reentry discussion.
III. Approval of Minutes
No minutes from the last meeting, since there was no quorum.
IV. DJJ Funding Proposal
The Department is working toward a more comprehensive plan for screening assessment, case planning and service delivery to present us with a more complete picture of what they are trying to do and what resources would be required to complete their plan. Models for Change resources members along with some members of Commissioner Biehl’s staff and other national resource stake members and representatives from the Models for Change reentry and coordinating council met to assist with the screening and assessment. One of the priorities is to get the screening, assessment and case planning plan in place.
Models for Change resources members along with some members of Commissioner Biel’s staff and other national resource stake members and representatives from the Models for Change reentry and coordinating council met to offer more comprehensive national resource members and to assist with the screening and assessment work group, if that is going to be the main driver. One of the priorities is to get the screening and assessment and case planning plan in place. The most progress has been made on MAYSI (Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument) but they want to consider how to respond to the results. Next step is to get people together who know CANS (Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths measure), YASI (Youth Assessment and Screening Instrument) and MAYSI very well and compare the differences in what data each program can provide and best possible uses. There may be some costs involved in using the data packages. She encouraged them to provide details of the resources for data we will be using that are available at no cost. Commissioner Rodriguez added that we need to make the point that we need build community services to be successful and these services also should be documented in the data base. Commissioner Jacobs will facilitate these conversations and Commissioner Griffin would like to be present.For DJJ to access DCFS data, there will be some costs involved, probably $100,000. This will be a one-time cost, but there are some recurring costs and that issue will have to be readdressed. Commissioner Biehl added that if this is correct, it should be part of the recommendation section of the plan. Karrie Rueter stated that she didn’t think there was a cost to access the statewide provider data base. Commissioner Griffin responded that they want to get DJJ staff lap tops, Internet and IT access to the DCFS online system and for DJJ to update their system. Commissioner Jacobs said the Department will be ready with this broader proposal in May and will be presented to Planning and Grants Committee meeting on May 11, 2 011. It will then be presented to the Full Commission on May 19, 2011. Commissioner Straza has a concern that there is an increase in the DJJ budget. Chairman Timberlake explained that the increase is due to head count from DOC and DHS transfers. There was a $7,000 increase in their budget if you remove the transfers. They are still working on getting the V-Disk running again, since there was a hiatus due to Columbia funding issue.
V. Parole Study Recommendations
Commissioner Biehl gave recommendations for the study. Commissioners Jacobs, Franco-Payne, Biehl and Heather Kollman met with DJJ to discuss their response diagram of their data system. Ron Smith provided all of the information on how their current data system works. In addition, Commissioner Ander and staff from CCPRD and Chapin Hall were in attendance. The plan moving forward is to diagram the way the information that DJJ gets on kids, what they create while they are in and when they are going out. Commissioner Jacobs and Heather Kollman met with Sharon Lipinski to discuss their AMS System which tracks kids while on parole. We are going to work with CCPRD and Chapin Hall to describe the deficiencies and recommend how to make it an accurate tracking system that tracks the information we are interested in and what the outcome measures should be. Chapin Hall provided outcome measures for this population and Heather Kollman has done further research on these measures. Hopefully, we will have a draft report ready by May 19, 2011 to give to the Commission. They are trying to write the report with a simple statement of their findings and recommendations.
Commissioner Rodriguez asked if this is an opportunity to get reporting from counties rather than just from DJJ. Commissioner Biehl responded that this will improve the reporting requirements. The statute only requires a social history report be obtained and we may want to have legislative change to get the information needed. Commissioner Rodriguez added that we also want accurate race and ethnicity data. Commissioner Straza stressed that it is important that we have standardized reporting statewide which will give us the necessary data needed. Commissioner Rodriguez brought up legislation introduced by Senator Hunter to create a research task force on race and ethnicity in the justice system. It is attached to a State Police Bill and addresses what Commissioner Straza’s point. The Bill has passed the Senate and is awaiting a vote in the House. Commissioner Straza said he will look into approaching the Chiefs of Police associations who have a large lobby. Once they are comfortable with the plan, in their departments and municipalities, it will be easier to get it through the General Assembly. He also recommended going to the top six counties and get the information they collect and use that as a base, add our own plan, make a recommendation and see who would be willing to accept it. Chairman Timberlake suggested that we are expanding the scope of the Parole Study; however, effective reentry is reliant upon the rest of the system which makes it difficult to find a stopping point. In making recommendations on the county data, a well constructed social history investigation includes all of this information. Commissioner Biehl wants to identify our needs relevant, accurate information about kids, race, gender, ethnicity, educational needs, etc. so the facility receiving the kid can help them. Chairman Timberlake surmised that the recommendation should be that there is further work needed on how to acquire this information, because as a result of the study we know the information doesn’t make it to DJJ. Commissioner Biehl stressed that this work should not end with this report. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to benefit the kids and move this study forward.
Chairman Timberlake and Commissioner Biehl met with Adam Monreal to discuss the parole board no longer having a role in reentry for DJJ. Once the recommendation is approved we will give him access to it prior to public distribution. Commissioner Biehl added that Mr. Monreal’s only retort was that it is very important to keep public safety in mind. Chairman Timberlake reported that there is a real disconnect between their thought of public safety and ours in regards to incarceration versus behavioral change. Commissioner Rodriguez commented that on the report, the last recommendation states “revocation hearings shall be conducted by a judicial authority”. This reads that all revocation hearings will be at the purview of a judge. Should we say “judge or administrative law judge or administrative hearing”, but this statement should be explicit. Commissioner Biehl replied that a sub-group met on this topic and decided not to give options on this but to word it this way. Clearly, if you are going to have a revocation hearing on a new charge it should be before a judge. The Committee and DJJ all feel comfortable with this. The issue is on technical violations and we want to protect their due process rights and using graduated sanctions. Commissioner Jacobs clarified that this applies to anytime the system is seeking re-incarceration. Commissioner Rodriguez agreed that since this refers to re-incarceration, she approves. Commissioner Rodriguez made a motion to approve the report, Commissioner Griffin seconded the motion. All in favor.Motion approved. Commissioner Biehl reported that this is her draft-recommendation document and she plans re-read and edit the report. Chairman Timberlake told her that the report was approved as is. If there are any substantive changes, she was asked to bring it back to the Executive Committee for re-approval.
Commissioner Jacobs wanted to report that there is a call set up next week with Phil Lee who is working on results based accountability (RBA) to help us develop release and implementation ideas to report back to the Commission. The report will reflect all of the work we have been doing with Phil to sketch out our system improvement goals, we will identify strategies to help move the report recommendations forward. We will test our RBA skills and get Phil’s guidance. Commissioner Biehl suggested that we should change the name of the Parole Study. The Committee decided on Reentry and After Care Improvement Initiative, which will make the Prison Review Board and Parole more comfortable.
VI. Reentry RFP
Commissioner Jacobs reported that we are getting closer to having a reentry proposal. The outstanding questions for us are still when it comes time to publish the RFP how much specificity do we give to eligible communities and dollar amounts. DJJ has provided information on only-mapping and information on where kids in Cook County are going when they come out of DJJ and where the overlay of services do and don’t match . Karrie is working on the paperwork to get this through DHS for our July 1, 2011, implementation date. This has to be ready for approval at the May 19, 2011, Commission meeting in order to meet that deadline. Commissioner Straza asked if they are looking at any other regions. Commissioner Jacobs said that this is a difficult question to determine whether we focus the Commission resources which are directed more toward direct services in Cook where they will have after care specialists instead of parole officers. That will give us the best chance of success that we can then report back to the General Assembly which would prompt more funds being directed at this project. Another strategy would be to spread the funds across the state, but if there aren’t direct services in an area and not enough other resources available for the youth to have success, we are diluting our impact.
Commissioner Straza suggested putting this in a specific locale, one that has had successes in the past. Chairman Timberlake stated the point of the RFP is to discover what works in a community without youth family specialists. Commissioner Biehl added that we need to decide where would our money be the most effective to demonstrate what will work for these kids, since our goal is to reduce the number of youth going back into the system. Where, geographically, can we demonstrate the most efficacy and what service types will give us the most information. Commissioner Jacobs said that the Department is working toward a more comprehensive plan which will include the resources needed for the plan.
VII. Annual Report
Karrie completed the report by answering questions that the Communications Committee sent to her. She made more revisions to structure than content. Karrie asked if AOIC is correct on page 6, fourth bullet. Commissioner Jacobs responded that it should be the Illinois Association of Juvenile Justice Councils (IAJJC). This is actually an update to the last report. Our next report is due in 6 months. Karrie feels that everyone is in agreement that they want the next report to focus more on what this group has been working on during the last 1 1/2 years. Because of that sentiment, Karrie deleted the paragraph on FDLA that was listed under DMC. DMC was the underlying reason that we took it on but in reality, it’s not the reason we have been moving forward on it. We actually funded it under an Access to Counsel Program. Our only focus on this report is DJJ and things specifically relevant to the Department of Juvenile Justice; therefore, we don’t have reentry or FDLA. We can discuss these subjects in the next report, it that is the decision of the Commission. Commissioner Rodriguez commented that on page 14, SB 1745 Parole Study title needs to be changed pursuant to this legislative act to “Reentry and After Care Improvement Initiative “. Commissioner Biehl will look at this section and get comments to Karrie by this Friday at noon. The guidance doesn’t specify what year we cover in the report, whether it is Federal Fiscal Year (FFY), State Fiscal Year (SFY), Calendar Year (CY), etc. This Committee can decide what to cover in the next report and when it will be submitted, as long as once every calendar year we put out a report. Commissioner Griffin made a motion to approve this report with minor revisions that may come in from Commissioners until Friday. Chairman Timberlake seconded the motion. All in favor. Motion approved.
VIII. New Business
Chairman Timberlake asked that “Attendance of Commissioners to committee meetings” be put on the agenda for the next Commission meeting. Commissioner Rodriguez brought up the issue of removing commissioners from committee membership and the Commission. Chairman Timberlake has made the request. Julie Stremlau will send DMC Committee membership/attendance list to Commissioner Rodriguez. Chairman Timberlake does not need to make decisions to terminate Commissioners from the Commission in a public meeting, but it does need to be sent to the involved Commissioners in writing. Chairman Timberlake will copy Karrie on all letters. Chairman Timberlake will ask Lin Ferguson for assistance with the letters.
Karrie received a letter from Coalition for Juvenile Justice (CJJ) to financially be a co-sponsor of their conference by donating $1,000-35,000. Chairman Timberlake received the same letter, and since Lisa Jacobs and Jeff Gress will be presenting at this conference, we will receive recognition as a Commission and having speakers at the conference. Chairman Timberlake and Commissioner Jacobs will be in attendance. Chairman Timberlake made a motion to co-sponsor the conference with a $5,000 donation. Commissioner Rodriguez seconded the motion. All in favor. Motion approved. We will seek confirmation of this motion at the full Commission.
IX. Adjournment
Commissioner Straza made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Griffin seconded the motion. All in favor. Meeting adjourned at 10:36AM.