MONTGOMERY COUNTY PRE-RELEASE SERVICES

PRRS Chief's Report

July 31, 2008 - October 30, 2008

Highlights

• DOCR Annual Awards Program for 2007: DOCR Recognition Ceremony was held at the Public Safety Training Academy on May 7th. This ceremony was to honor DOCR staff members, other agencies' personnel, and community members who have demonstrated outstanding performance, individuals who have received special recognition, appreciation, or special commendations, Divisional employees of the year, and the Department employee of the year. County Executive Ike Leggett and Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine presented the awards. The following are staff and volunteers from PRRS who received awards:
  • Divisional Employee of the Year (PRRS): Correctional Specialist IV Patricia Braun
  • Outstanding Performance Awards: Case Manager Nichole Davis, Case Manager Kendra Jochum, Correctional Screener Tina Michaels, and Assessment Manager Teresa Still
  • Outstanding Performance Certificates: Case Manager Tyrone Alexander
  • Special Appreciation Certificates (Non-Departmental): Peggy Bradley, Carol Buhl, and Dudley Warner (Health and Human Services), William Cimino (Federal Bureau of Prisons)
  • Special Appreciation Plaque (Non-Departmental): Lt. Henderson and the Fugitive Section (Montgomery County Sheriff's Office)
  • Special Appreciation Certificates - Volunteer: Julia Albrecht (Archdiocese of Washington Welcome Home Program), Daniel Kimes and Kathleen Nardella (PRRS Graduate Student Interns), Faith Coordinator Mary Mulholland (Archdiocese of Washington Welcome Home Program), Bob Tenney (Archdiocese of Washington Welcome Home Program).
     
• National Association of Counties Annual Meeting (July 13th): DOCR Director Arthur Wallenstein presented the Department at the National Association of Counties Annual Meeting and accepted three major awards on behalf of both DOCR and Montgomery County. The Archdiocese of Washington's Welcome Home Program and PRRS' Career Resource Center received achievement awards. The Welcome Home Program Coordinator Mary Mulholland has an office in PRC and has brought in many volunteers to assist residents in various ways. The Career Resource Center is open when staff, interns, and volunteers are available to assist residents in job searching on the internet and resume writing.
   
• Meeting with State's Attorneys Office Staff: On June 11th, Chief LoBuglio and Assessment Manager Teresa Still met with 40-50 State's Attorneys Office staff regarding how PRRS conducts its selection, screening, and transfer decisions. This was a spirited meeting as many of the SAO staff raised objections of allowing some offenders to transfer to PRRS. We were very direct in explaining that our role is to transition as many sentenced offenders as possible and out belief that this contributes directly to public safety. PRRS assist in managing the County's correctional beds and ensure that a jail bed is always available to the truly dangerous offender. Over the past month, PRRS has had extensive discussion with the judiciary and the SAO to let them know we are trying to be very careful to take into consideration concerns by the SAO and the victims/victims' families while preserving our authority to determine eligibility for the PRRS program.

Update: Some recent discussions that we have been having with the judiciary and the State Attorney's Office - In several meeting attended by the Director, Assessment Manager Still, and myself, we learned that the judges and prosecutors were not fully aware of the ramifications of the change in statute last year that now allows us to work with individuals who are within 12 months of release. As a result of the meetings, we are providing the judges and all criminal justice stakeholders with a one-page laminated "cheat" sheet that provides an estimated timetable of transfers to PRRS based on sentence length, and on the other side, a program description. We have also redone our blanket agreements and the letter that was sent individually to all judges in the circuit and district court system. PRRS retains the authority to determine eligibility for our program, but we need the consent of the sentencing judge to allow the transfer. We are trying to develop a transparent process that will ensure that we follow the intentions of judges with regard to the use of pre-release services.

With regard to the SAO, we have developed a protocol whereby we solicit information on cases that we plan to transfer and will hold up a transfer for two weeks if they request more time to provide us with additional information. The information that we have indicated would be helpful to our consideration speaks to issues of judicial intentions, community dangerousness, institutional management, and facts about the case that are not in our files. We have not surrendered our ability to the SAO to approve transfers, but we want to develop a sensible practice that does allow them the ability to share additional information with us. Later this month, we will also provide the 70 attorney's of the SAO who process 40,000 cases a year, and provide an overview of PRRS guidelines and transfer policies.

PRRS Count:

• While our overall count fell in June due to a combination of events: a large number of releases, a smaller pool of sentenced candidates, and revocations, PRRS is making every effort to ensure that our Home Confinement program is fully utilized. Screening is attempting to scour the sentenced population for appropriate candidates, and over the next several months, our federal count will rise significantly. Our demonstrated ability to keep our program full has proven very helpful to our overall correctional agency and our division, and we will do all we can to ensure that maximum utilization of our program. In recent weeks, I have received very nice comments from judges, SAO staff, public defenders about PRRS tremendous relevance to the criminal justice system and admiration that we do not shy away from the tougher cases to manage given that all the individuals we serve are returning home.

Welcome Home Program:

On behalf of the Division and the Department, I want to thank Mary Mulholland for her many contributions to our reentry work. On July 3rd, Mary resigned from the Welcome Home program to take a new job that would make full use of her clinical social work skills. Welcome Home has been of tremendous value at PRRS and DOCR, and I thank Mary for making the vision of the founders of the program - Father Bryant and Father Kuehner - a programmatic reality. We are all pleased that the Department had the opportunity to recognize Mary for her work at the DOCR Annual Awards Program.

As Program Coordinator of the Archdiocese of Washington's Welcome Home Project, Mary Mulholland had surpassed all expectations in developing an effective mentoring program for individuals returning from incarceration. She began her work in December of 2006, and her mentoring program started in earnest in March of 2007. Over the course of the year, she had recruited and matched over fifty volunteers from local parishes who have served as mentors to the participants of the Pre-Release Center. These mentors have contributed over 1,800 hours of services. The services provided include literacy instruction, assistance with job preparedness, conducting computer classes, and other areas aimed at meeting the needs of the PRC participants. Her work demonstrated the value of a correctional agency and a faith-based organization working together to support the reentry goals of individuals. The good news is that Mary has built a solid foundation that will enable us to continue the program, and that based on the positive performance outcomes, the County Council has agreed to provide a second round of funding. The Welcome Home Program has been of tremendous value to us at PRRS.

 

Programmatic Changes and Updates:

• Spanish AA and Sponsor Group Meetings at PRC: The Spanish Sponsor Group has moved from Monday to Tuesday nights. Starting May 15th, PRRS began holding two Spanish Speaking AA meetings. These meeting are held on Thursday and Saturday nights. Thursday's format will be open step study/traditions and Saturday's will be open discussion.
   
• GED Classes: Congratulations for five Pre-Release Center residents who earned their GEDs and two residents who earned their high school diploma.
   
• New Work Release Brochure: The Work Release Co-Coordinators, Angela Talley, Debbie Lyons-Prince, Hillel Raskas and Chris Johnson, in conjunction with Unit Manager Pat Braun, have written and designed a new work release brochure. It will be used by residents when they go on job interviews to help explain the benefits of hiring a PRC resident, and by staff to distribute at community events. The brochure will replace an older version with updated information and a more contemporary look. It is now in the process of final revisions.
   

Drug Court:

• For the past year, Debbie Lyons-Prince has been the PRRS liaison with Drug Court Staff. Drug court represents the combined efforts of justice and treatment professionals to actively intervene and break the cycle of substance abuse, addiction, and crime. The liaison is responsible keeping lines of communication open and establishing and maintaining mutual understanding and cooperation between the two programs for the benefit of our mutual clients. To accomplish this Debbie attends a weekly meeting with Drug Court administrators, managers, therapists and case managers to review the progress and coordinate service delivery to Drug Court participant's under the supervision of PRRS.

Winning Fathers

• Program: Ed Powell and Gail Pettis of health and Human Services continue to provide classes at PRC for the Winning Fathers' Program. Each session has a five week curriculum and the program is now in its fourth week of this five week session. The program currently has about seven to nine male and female residents participating. They just completed "Exploring Relationships and Marriage with Fragile Families" with thirteen couple participating.

Case Managers' Roundtable

• : Due to vacations, the Case Managers have not been meeting on a regular basis the last few months. The last couple of meetings involved a sex therapist discussing sexual trauma and crisis intervention and two meetings with Ed Powell of HHS discussing the Winning Fathers' Program and healthy relationships.

Security/Safety

• Critical Incidents:
  • On June 11th and July 8th two incidents occurred at the Pre-Release Center. Each incident occurred at the Center and required PRRS staff to contact outside authorities for assistance. Both of these incidents meet "critical incident" as defined by PRRS Policy and Procedure 2000-7, Fire and Emergency Procedures, dated December 21, 2007. The first incident involved the escape of a resident and the second incident was an altercation between two visitors. On July 23rd, a Debriefing Meeting for staff was conducted by Acting Unit Manager Patricia Braun. .

PRRS Staff

•  Selection of PRRS Unit Managers:
  • Chief LoBuglio was extremely pleased to announce the selection of Patricia Braun and Chris Johnson as Unit Managers for Pre-Release and Reentry Services. PRRS is enthusiastically looking forward to Pat and Chris -  start date next week on August 3rd. A diverse and experienced panel was put together to conduct a comprehensive and competitive interview. This panel which was composed of staff that had experience in all of the Department's operational divisions included Gale Starkey, MCCF Reentry Coordinator; Carl Furr, Pre-Trial Services Supervision Manager; Kendra Jochum, PRRS Case Manager; Teresa Still, PRRS Assessment and Classification Manager, and myself. Patricia and Chris were selected as the consensus choices from a group of highly competitive candidates who all performed extremely well under the rigorous scrutiny of this panel.
     
  • Patricia Braun brings over 20 years of experience at PRRS including primary counselor (now called case manager), life skills instructor, case worker, screener, community release coordinator, and since February 2008 as the Acting Unit Manager of Unit 2. She has played a leading role in infusing our program with evidenced-based practices and spearheaded the development of Tools for Change along with other staff. Pat has her Master of Social Work from the University of Maryland at Baltimore and is a licensed certified clinical social worker.
     
  • Chris Johnson joined the DOCR in April 2003 and spent almost four years developing the successful Bakery Job Training Program know as Sweet Release. In February 2007, she joined PRRS as a Work Release Coordinator on Unit 3. She came to the Department after having managed two programs for the D.C. Central Kitchen which was designed to help rehabilitate ex-offenders, the homeless, adults recovering from addictions and emotional disorders, plus other "traditionally unemployable" men and women by getting them back into the workforce. In her career, Chris has had extensive management and supervisory experience at different levels within the food services industry, television production, and human resources. She earned her Bachelor's Degree from Old Dominion University.
     
• New PRRS Staff:
  • Ivain Ngue started as a Public Administrative Intern (Underfill for a Resident Supervisor) on June 9, 2009. Ivain completed his Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland at College Park in 2007 and served in the Marine Corps from 2000 to 2004. He started at the Pre-Release Center in January 2008 as an Intern.
     
  • Richard Austin was promoted from a Correctional Dietary Officer (CDO) to a Resident Supervisor and began working in Unit IV on July 21st. Richard joined the Department in April 2007 and has vast experience in overseeing correctional food services including at state penitentiaries.
     
• Staff Achievements:
  • Resident Supervisor Wendy Qassis received her Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland in December 2007. She is currently taking a seventeen week course in Arabic at the Berlitz Language School.
     
  • Case Manager Sylvia Hernandez is working on her Doctorate at the School of Social Work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus, and will graduate in December 2008.
     
  • Home Confinement Monitor Paola Zapata is a full-time student working on her Bachelor's degree at the University of Maryland, Collage Park Campus. She expects to graduate May 2009.
     
  • Work Release Coordinator Hillel Raskas completed the certification process to be designated as a Global Career Development Facilitator through the Center for Credentialing and Education, Inc. This designation recognizes training and competency in a series of career development components.
     
  • Unit Manager Jim Shannon has been named Chairman of the University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus, for the School of Social Work Advisory committee. Jim's term as chairman for this Advisory committee is for two years and he was appointed in May 2008

PRRS Event/Activity Chronology

• Secretary Maynard, DPSCS, and Guests Visit (April 25th): Secretary Maynard and guests visited MCCF, had lunch, met with senior staff, and toured the facility. They visited the Pre-Release Center around 3:00 P.M. The meeting at PRC was a good time to revisit the issue of State offenders being allowed to go on Home Confinement, which is currently a State restriction.
   
• National Law Enforcement Week (May 3rd): DOCR again fully participate in the annual wreath laying ceremony at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial located on Judiciary Square in Washington, D.C. The program included the Wreath Laying Ceremony and Honor Guard Competition.
   
• Congressional Forum on The Impact of Reentry from Local Jails (May 7th): The Urban Institute and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice held an event at the Library of Congress to announce the release of some new resources that are available to jail professionals. DOCR Director Wallenstein was among the other prominent practitioners and political leaders to describe the important of focusing on the role that jails can play as community institutions to better prepare released inmates. Chief LoBuglio and other staff members attended.
   
• Maryland Commission on Correctional Standards (May 29th): The Montgomery County Detention Center (MCDC) received a perfect score for being in compliance with all standards of the Maryland Commission on Correctional Standards. During the review, special comments were made regarding the healthcare delivery and the professionalize of staff within the Montgomery County Correctional system was mentioned.
   
• The Maryland Apprenticeship Seminar (May 30th): Community Release Coordinator Debra Lyons-Prince and Work Release Coordinator Hillel Raskas attended this seminar at the National Labor College hosted by the State of Maryland Division of Labor and Licensing. The speakers include Lt. Governor Anthony Brown, other state officials, and leaders of several major trade and construction unions.
   
• Middle Atlantic States Correctional Association (June 8th-11th): MASCA held its Annual Conference in Ocean City, Maryland June 8, 2011, 2008. The theme of this year's the conference year is "The Road to Reentry and Reunification". Chief Lobuglio was one of the workshops presenters on the subject.
• Grand Jury Visit (June 17th): The Grand Jury, made up of 23 individuals, visited the Pre-Release Center on June 17th. While they had lunch, several staff members provided a program overview. Assessment Manager Teresa Still discussed the screening and selection process of the program, Case Manager Kendra Jochum gave an overview of the programs and case management services, and Work Release Coordinators Angela Talley, Christine Johnson, and Hillel Raskas discussed the work release program. Unit Managers Jim Shannon and Carla Johnson put together a resident panel for the Grand Jury to discuss the program with. As the members of the Grand Jury left for MCCF, they expressed the appreciation for the opportunity to tour the program and were very complimentary of our work. These visits are a statutorily requirement that provides the Grand Jury with the opportunity to inspect DOCR facilities and report on their observations.
   
• White House Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Conference (June 26th): Work Release Coordinator Hillel Raskas attended the opening meeting where several members of the President's Cabinet spoke. The Secretary of Labor and the Attorney General discussed the Prisoner Reentry Initiative. Later Hillel read that President Bush's remarks recognized the importance of faith-based groups in working with offenders preparing for reentry (as our Welcome Home program).
   
• Sex Offenders Registration Meeting (July 9th)
  • University of Maryland (Baltimore Campus at Shady Grove (July 10th): Correctional Screener Tina Michaels and Unit Manager Jim Shannon were invited to be part of a panel for an orientation for new Social Work field supervisors. Tina's insights as a coordinator of interns of multiple disciplines (versus social work only) was invaluable and well received by the participants.
     
• Federal Bureau of Prison Monitoring Inspection (July 15th):
  • Acting Community Corrections Manager Bill Cimino conducted PRRS "Annual FBOP"s Inspection on Tuesday, July 15th. On the day of the inspection, PRRS had 32 Federal cases in-house and two on Home Confinement. The monitoring team met with Chief LoBuglio and several Unit Managers, reviewed ten federal resident files, discussed resident employment concerns, reviewed accountability procedure, conducted a sanitation inspection, and received copies of life safety documents. On July 23rd, the FBOP Full Monitoring Inspection report was received. PRRS had one deficient and four concern items noted by the inspection team. The one deficiency pertained to significant water damage in a resident's room. PRRS must respond to the FBOP in writing within thirty days indicating the corrective action that has been taken to repair the ceiling and tile. Concerns included subsistence waivers and the reduction for federal offenders, home confinement rates, employment opportunities for female offenders, and the storage of unlabeled cleaning supplies. Items of concern do not require a written response as do deficiencies.
     
• Parole and Probation Visit (July 16th):
  • Agents from the three P&P office in Montgomery county visited the Pre-Release Center for a tour and discussion. Invitations were extended to all agents and supervisors. PRRS staff involved were Chief LoBuglio, Assessment Manager Teresa Still, and Correctional Screeners Tina Michaels and Scott Gunnison and Case Manager Dan Keener. The Parole and Probation Agents asked a lot of good questions and staff were more than willing to participate in answering. Case Manager Dan Keener spoke about the Tools for Change and GED classes. Ed Powell described the Winning Fathers' program to the Agents.
     
• Silver Spring Interfaith Housing Meeting:
  • Case Manager Kendra Jochum attended the July 21st meeting of the Silver Spring Interfaith Housing Coalition. The new Executive Director, Ashley McSwan, greeted the attendees. Refreshing the coalition for women housing with HOC and other community support systems was the main topic.
     
• Virginia Governor's Workforce Development Office Visitors (July 28th):
  • Visitors from the Virginia governor's Workforce Development Office toured MCCF and the Pre-Release Center. The group consisted of seven staff members. Unit Manager Jim Shannon gave them a tour of the facility and the PRC Work Release Coordinators Angela Talley, Chris Johnson, and Hillel Raskas spoke with the group as they were interested in how we handle offender employment with a particular focus on internet connectivity.

Upcoming Events

• The National Prison Project of the ACLU will tour PRRS and MCCF on August 6th. The group will begin their tour at PRC and then will be transported to MCCF for lunch and a tour. The group will include approximately 15 to 17 members which will be their own staff, summer semester interns and law clerks, and possibly some staff members from the ACLU of Maryland.
   
• ACA Accreditation Audit (October 27th and 28th):
  • PRRS Division is one of the few community correctional programs in the country to commit to this voluntary accreditation process. PRRS has remained accredited since 1983 and this is a point of great pride to staff and the Department. Having a clean, safe, and orderly working environment, having a program that strictly adheres to its own policy and procedures, and having a program that meets the dozens of accreditation standards that govern such areas as hygiene, medical services, key control, and chemical distribution is the way that we must continue to run our program. This audit, although not required, ensures that we run our facility in accordance to the highest professional standards in the field for the benefit of the program, the residents, and staff. Accreditation Manager Teresa Still explained to staff how the process works and our plans to address the number of issues at an ACA Accreditation Kick-Off meeting on May 23rd.

Escapes/Court Dispositions

• Escapes in 2008: Three Escape Dispositions- Pending Cases:
  • Lisa Lawrence, who escaped from the Pre-Release Center on February 13th, has pled guilty to escape and will have a sentencing hearing in the near future.
  • Joe Randolph escaped from the Pre-Release Center on June 11th. Although staff searched for him and spoke to family member, he was at large until taken into custody in Washington, D.C. on July 8th. Several members of our Sheriff's Department are members of the U.S. Marshal's Taskforce or the Eastern Region and have apprehension powers throughout the United States. He will be extradited to Montgomery County.
     
• Sentenced Escape Cases:
  • James McNair was convicted of 1st Degree Felonious Escape and was sentenced on June 12th by Judge Ronald B. Rubin to five to ten years in the State Division of Correction (this sentence was also due to his extensive criminal record).
  • Eric Irving was sentenced on July 24th to eighteen months with eight and a half years back up time for Escape by the Honorable David A. Boynton. Mr. Irving is a career criminal who has been arrested over fifty times since the early 1990's.
  • Horatio Silva escaped from the Pre-Release Center on October 27, 2007. He was apprehended on December 14, 2007 in Prince George's County where he faced charges for Burglary and Destruction of Property. These charges were dropped and Mr. Silva was extradited to Montgomery County. On July ___, 2008, Mr. Silva was sentenced by the Honorable Eric M. Johnson to ten years, suspend all but four years, to be served in the Maryland Department of Correction. Judge Johnson also sentenced Mr. Silva to an additional eleven months for Violation or Probation to be served consecutive with the Escape sentence. Mr. Silver will do approximately five years for his escape for PRC with an additional six years back up time.