Partnership Resource Network
Project Name: Project Renew
Applicant: Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office
Applicant Type: County
Application Number: 2012-H1995-FL-RW
Funding Request: $599,182
Focus: Corrections and Reentry, Reentry/Release
Location: FL
Areas Covered: Pinellas County, FL
Summary: An ex-offender faces numerous barriers upon reentry into the community based solely on the stigma of being labeled an "ex-con." Without assistance many of these barriers may seem impossible to overcome, resulting in a return to criminal activity and ultimately a return to jail. Ex-offenders with a history of substance abuse and mental health disorders face additional obstacles when released into the community and are extremely vulnerable to resuming the illegal activities they were involved in prior to incarceration and/or to experience a mental health crisis. Studies have shown a connection between illegal drug abuse and crime and transitioning back into the community from incarceration is a task that involves the whole person. Many offenders have never received treatment for existing substance abuse and/or mental health disorders prior to incarceration and the factors that may have contributed to these issues in the first place do not disappear upon release from incarceration. Female offenders are more likely than males to have been addicted to drugs and to have mental illnesses before their incarceration and females face additional barriers associated with their gender which may also hinder a successful reintegration. The best time to begin addressing the issues of substance abuse and mental health disorders in the inmate population and the subsequent obstacles faced upon reentry into the community is before the offender is released. If these issues are not addressed prior to their release through a comprehensive program concentrating on substance abuse and mental health/cognitive and evidence-based therapy coupled with services to address needs of job skills, education, pro-social and social services assessment followed by a continuation of services upon release, the obstacles of release may be too difficult to overcome and the likelihood of a return to jail increases.
Target Population, Program Design, Objective Assessments Used, Collaborative Partnerships and Priority Considerations: The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office’s planned project, Project Renew, proposes to expand its delivery of services to sentenced female inmates at the Pinellas County Jail (Jail) through the development and delivery of a comprehensive program with the primary focus being inmates with a co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorder. The program will enroll sixty (60) females and begin during the last 6-months of incarceration followed by 6-months of aftercare upon release. Annually 600 female inmates reenter the community after serving a county sentence at the Jail and of those females 70% served time for narcotics charges. Females are more likely than men to have had drug addiction problems and mental health issues prior to their incarceration. The target population was selected due in part to the unique issues faced by female offenders but also because Pinellas County exceeds the national average of females in county and city jails by 42%. The Jail’s average daily population of 3,100 is made up of 83% males and 17% females. Each year, approximately 600 females are released into the community from the Jail after serving their county sentence. The majority of those women are serving time for narcotics offenses or violation of probation charges.
Potential participants will be assessed using reliable and validated screening and assessment instruments to match individuals with the appropriate level and type of treatment and reentry services. Participants will be assessed for recidivism using the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R); the Global Assessment of Individual Needs (GAIN) assessment instrument to determine the participants need for substance abuse, mental health and/or cognitive based services; and the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI) to assess for trauma and the need for trauma based services.
Project Renew’s program design, a comprehensive community-based wrap-around case management approach will be delivered in a Modified Therapeutic Community during the 6-month in-jail phase. Motivational Enhance Therapy/Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Seeking Safety treatment are the evidence-based therapy models to be used. The in-jail phase will consist of individual case management, substance abuse/mental health/cognitive-based counseling, pro-social skills, education, mentoring, job skills and assessment for social services needed upon release. Upon release, the aftercare phase will consist of: continuing substance abuse/mental health/cognitive-based counseling, recovery support services, pro-social skills as well as addressing social service needs specific to release and referrals to job workforce services and ex-offender support groups and peer counseling to help with a successful reentry. Case plans developed for each participant will be continually evaluated and adjusted as needed during bi-weekly staff meetings of tthe collaborating partners- the Jail’s Program Services Section (PSS), grant coordinating partner, Operation PAR (PAR), the clinical partner, and WestCare, serving as the discharge planning and aftercare partner.
The priority considerations addressed in the Project Renew proposal are: target higher-risk female offenders; provide services as described in the Consensus Project; partner with a research organization, and provide a baseline recidivism rate for the proposed target population.
For Further Information:
Kathleen Corr
Grants Administrator
10750 Ulmerton Road
Largo, FL 33778
kcorr@pcsonet.com
(727) 582-6447
Application Submitted in Response to Solicitation: Second Chance Act Reentry Program for Adult Offenders with Co-Occurring Substance Abuse and Mental Health Disorders
Grants.gov Assigned Number: BJA-2012-3153