November 15, 2012 JDAI Committee Meeting Minutes

I. Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order at 9:50AM

II. Roll Call:

Chairman Velasquez, Commissioner Ben Roe, by phone: Commissioners Rod Ahitow, Dana Weiner, Chairman Timberlake; Staff Present: Rob Vickery, Jeff Bradley, Ron Smith, Lin Ferguson; guests present by phone: Susan Witkin, Dr. Miguel Lewis, Quorum declared present.

III. Approval of Minutes:

Commissioner Roe made a motion to approve the September 2012 minutes. The motion was seconded by Chairman Velasquez. All in favor. None opposed. Minutes of the September 13, 2012 meeting were approved.

IV. Coordinator’s report:

No report.

V. Chair’s Comments:

No report

VI. Compliance Report:

Ron Smith reported that we are a little higher on DSO than last year. Vermilion had 28 violations and 26 were week enders, but the week enders have been stopped. Right now we have 50 compared to 24 last year, but we can go up to 180 before we will be cited for a violation. Ron receives monthly reports from each facility. He reviews them and requests record checks to assure accuracy. DSO and sight and sound follow federal, state and local guidelines. An annual site visit/audit in Chicago is scheduled. Jail removal is the only area where we allow a longer period of time for ages 12 and over across the board. There are caveats surrounding weekends and holidays.

Chairman Velasquez asked Jeff Bradley to prepare a briefing on the bifurcation of the state and federal statutes. We will then make a presentation to the Commission and let them decide if this would be an area of interest for them. 

VII. Old Business

A. IJJC Transportation Grant Review:

Jeff Bradley reported that Chairman Timberlake, Chairman Velasquez, Commissioner Roe, Ron Smith, and himself met on October 4, 2012 at the Franklin County Detention Center with 2nd Circuit Judge Sawyer, Mike Abel, and Sean Freeman from the local jurisdiction. The Committee voted previously to phase-out the Transportation grants over a three year period. Franklin County asked us to reconsider eliminating their Transportation grant. The review of local practices and possible consequences were discussed. The detention center serves about one-third of the state and transportation issues are a concern in rural areas. A question was raised on how warrants are counted in the data. Susan Witkin clarified that the warrants are sorted into categories to shorten the report. Chairman Velasquez added that the length of stay data does not include meth treatment beds. The data being reviewed are those in secure detention only. Chairman Velasquez emphasized that we don’t want to micro-manage, but there are systems that can be improved such as data that can be used to make decisions to help assure that they have high-utility data. Chairman Velasquez asked if there is anything else we want to add to the report.

Clearly there is a need for Franklin County to continue to receive the Transportation grant. There is room for improvement by using the data. There is a risk to Illinois of increasing non-compliance with jail removal. The site visit team’s general consensus is that we reverse the decision of the Commission and restore the funding to the Franklin County Detention Center for a period of time, not indeterminately, but look to legislative efforts and restore them to previous level of funding. The contract will stipulate the requirements outlined from the findings of the site review team.
Conditions Data – Jeff Bradley and Susan Witkin can to help them develop what we need in this area. Jeff Bradley will ask to be a part of the local governance structure.

Chairman Velasquez polled the members asking them if they want to recommend to restore funding to Franklin to the full Commission: Commissioner Roe – yes, Chairman Timberlake -yes, Chairman Velasquez – yes. All in favor, passed.  Chairman Velasquez requested Chairman Timberlake to add this topic to the agenda for the November Commission meeting.

B. JDAI Conferences

  1. Report on 1st Conference: The first conference was held on Tuesday, November 13, 2012, and it was a success with 49 in attendance representing all of the JDAI sites including three judges and three states’ attorneys, probation staff, law enforcement, State Police and service providers. The session evaluations were good. The total cost of the conference was approximately $6,000. We have an additional $10,000 for the next conference.
  2. Planning for 2nd Conference: Planning on March 12, 2013 for the next conference. Commissioner Velasquez asked Jeff Bradley to develop a data element for each jurisdiction that highlights the weaknesses/strengths about each jurisdiction to aid in planning of the 2nd conference.

VIII. New Business:

Commissioner Roe was appointed to the Circuit Judge in Ogle County. The Committee congratulated him and we look forward to his continued work on the Commission.

Jeff Bradley will be presenting at the State’s Attorneys Conference and the Illinois public defenders invited him to speak at their conference in the spring.

Commissioner Roe was involved in risk assessment to cover the entire country for Models for Change. He will be presenting at the conference in Washington, DC. He will distribute the report among the Committee.

IX. Adjourn:

Commissioner Roe made a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Chairman Velasquez. All in favor. None opposed. The meeting was adjourned at 11:10AM.