The memorial honors all correctional officers. However, special tribute is given to those who sacrificed their lives in the performance of duty. Today, the names of almost 600 correctional professionals appear alongside police officers, State troopers, special agents, and other heroic members of America’s law enforcement family. How will your agency honor its correctional professionals this coming May?
 
American Jails magazine would like to know. We are inviting jail facilities across the country to submit a news brief (up to 250 words) and a photo of their 2012 recognition activities this coming May. These will be published in our September/
October 2012 edition of the magazine. Deadline for copy and photos is June 30, 2012. For more information, including photo resolution requirements, please call 301–790–3930, ext. 13 or ext. 20.

Two thousand years ago the Roman senator and historian Tacitus wrote the words “Spes in virtute.” Today, we say, “In valor there is hope”— the words inscribed on that memorial in our Nation’s Capital and on each of our hearts.

If your company receives one of these letters, you will see in small print at the bottom that "The FAIR Guide" will invoice you $1,717 in USD every year. In order for them to stop invoicing, a vendor has to send a certified letter requesting that the company cease billing. Unfortunately, the company moves from country to country, which makes it almost impossible to track them down.

We wanted to make sure all our advertisors and conference vendors were aware of this scam before signing anything sent by "The FAIR Guide."

If you have additional questions or concerns, please contact Chris Anderson or Leslie Broznak at 301-790-3930, extensions 12 and 14, respectively. An Internet search on "The FAIR Guide" will also turn up information about this company's scam.

Perroncello was appointed by NCCHC Chairman Carl Bell to lead the panel that reviews audits of more than 450 jails and detention centers nationwide that are seeking health care accreditation. “This is one of the most humbling experiences in my career,” Perroncello says. “It will be a great challenge to deal with America’s incarcerated public health care issues.”
   
An AJA Certified Jail Manager and Certified Correctional Trainer, Perroncello began his career in corrections with the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office in 1976 as a part-time correction officer. He moved up through the ranks and eventually left Norfolk County to become a superintendent with the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office before returning to Norfolk County in 2007 as superintendent of jail operations.
   
Perroncello notes that the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office health care system has been accredited by the NCCHC since 1989, and the agency’s complex in Dedham was chosen as the Correctional Facility of the Year in 1996.
 
For more information, e-mail David Weber at dweber@norfolksheriffma.org.

In an e-mail this past September, Mr. Rosenberg shared some compelling information. The hypothetical scenarios he provided illustrate a few ways in which coverage through Medicaid for the jail population pending disposition could make a critical difference in the way health care is provided or withheld, as well as the resulting outcome on personal lives and on overall expenditures.

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Dear Friends,

I’m writing to you on behalf of COCHS for two reasons. First, I want to give you an update on recent developments regarding health care reform that affect the criminal justice system. 

Second, I strongly encourage you to review and submit formal comments on proposed regulations from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding Medicaid expansion and the new state health insurance exchanges. The public comment period ends on October 31, 2011. More on the proposed regulations later in this note. As explained below, we will also be following up with you soon with draft comments to facilitate your submissions. Please be on the lookout.

Background

As you know from COCHS’ conferences and working groups, health care reform creates new opportunities to advance connectivity between correctional health care and community health care by extending universal eligibility to all people living below 133% of federal poverty level. This “expansion population” will include most childless adults circulating through local corrections systems. That’s approximately 10 million unduplicated individuals, only 10% of whom have had any health insurance prior to arrest. Currently, most of these people are getting their health care in jail or in hospital emergency rooms. 

This situation of fragmented and coordinated care is extremely costly and merely perpetuates the revolving door of non-violent, low-risk offenders—many of whom have mental illness and substance abuse problems—who cycle in and out of jails. Access to Medicaid coverage would go a long way to achieving continuity of care for this indigent, costly, and highly vulnerable population by creating medical homes.

Moreover, the experience in Washington State demonstrates that access to substance abuse treatment lowers overall medical costs. We have termed this the “Mancuso Effect” in the working groups, because Dr. David Mancuso has documented that evidence-based drug abuse treatment for people on general assistance lowers emergency room use, progression to disability, arrest rates, and criminal-justice costs; it also improves employability and raises income levels. This is a “win-win” for everyone, assuming that Medicaid coverage includes a robust package of services for treating substance abuse.

Due to the two-tiered structure for health care expansion, some low-income individuals and families will qualify for Medicaid, while others with income above 133% of federal poverty level will qualify for state-operated health care exchanges. We anticipate that a portion of the population will move back and forth between these two benefit categories as their income fluctuates. This would be particularly common in the corrections population when employed adults lose their income as a result of incarceration while pending disposition of charges.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 specifies that persons in custody “pending disposition of charges” are qualified to enroll in state-operated health care exchanges and in Medicaid. COCHS has been following the issue of enrollment and coverage “pending disposition” closely, working with the National Association of Counties (NACo), the National Health Law Program, and George Washington University. 

Updates

• It is still unclear whether Medicaid enrollment while in custody “pending disposition” will translate to actual coverage of services for eligible beneficiaries while they are pending disposition. Nevertheless, we have had some indications that this might be the case.

It appears that CMS has the authority to extend “pending disposition” language to the Medicaid expansion population, which would be similar to the coverage for the population enrolled in state-operated exchanges. 

CMS Notice of Public Rule-Making

CMS has issued a notice of proposed rule-making (NPRM) on both Medicaid and the state exchanges. Public comment on those NPRMs is open until October 31st, 2011. It is urgent to review these proposed regulations immediately in order to initiate conversations and to prepare formal comments. The NPRMs may be accessed at:

• http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-17/pdf/2011-20756.pdf
• http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-17/pdf/2011-20776.pdf

We have been fortunate to obtain the assistance of Sara Rosenbaum, JD, and Sarah Somers, JD, MPH, in these conversations with NACo. Sara Rosenbaum is Chair of the Department of Health Policy, School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University, and is a recognized expert on Medicaid law and regulations. Sarah Somers is Senior Attorney at the National Health Law Program and has prepared an overview of these issues, available at the link below:

• http://www.cochs.org/pending_disposition_01

In addition, Sarah Somers is preparing a more specific legal analysis and draft comments in reference to the NPRMs that we will email to you separately in early October.

To facilitate comments on the CMS regulations referenced above, we have also proposed some hypothetical scenarios to illustrate a few ways in which coverage to Medicaid for the jail population pending disposition could make a critical difference in the way health care was provided or withheld, as well as the resulting outcome on personal lives and on overall expenditures.

Scenario 1

A heroin addict has been stabilized on buprenorphine for several years, but is arrested on shoplifting charges. Prior to his arrest, he was employed and participating in the state-operated exchange. Under current circumstances, while incarcerated pending disposition he typically would be offered a “kick kit” in the jail to moderate withdrawal symptoms. Even though his withdrawal symptoms from buprenorphine would be mild, he may soon begin craving heroin. Upon release, he might have access to Medicaid due to his drop in income, but there would likely be a waiting period before he could access buprenorphine again. Or he might even be barred from using opioid replacement therapy as terms of probation.
 
Experience shows that a typical outcome in this scenario would be a relapse to heroin use and the criminality that typically accompanies heroin addiction. Moreover, he would increase his risk of contracting HIV, which would complicate his already existing Hepatitis C infection. It would also cost the public a great deal of money to provide him with HIV medication. Finally, he might even find access to heroin in the jail, in which case this process of decompensation would accelerate.

But, what if: When the individual is arrested, he could be enrolled directly in Medicaid. If he lives in a state where Medicaid pays for buprenorphine, he could resume buprenorphine maintenance in the jail and be released—already enrolled in Medicaid—to resume buprenorphine treatment at a community health center (CHC). In some jurisdictions, this transition would be facilitated by a health information exchange (HIE) operating between the jail and the community health center, and he could obtain a prescription for bridge medications prior to leaving the jail, which he would then be able to fill at a local pharmacy.

Scenario 2

A family is enrolled in a health plan through the state-operated health care exchange, “State Care”, which contracts with a local community health center. The family has a son with sickle cell anemia who is in juvenile detention pending disposition on the 29th of the month. On the 30th of the month, the father is arrested for assaulting a co-worker and does not have the funds to post bail, so he is also held in custody pending disposition. The family income drops below 133% of FPL, and the family now qualifies for Medicaid. If the father is not enrolled in Medicaid in the jail on the first of the month, the insurance status of the son in juvenile detention shifts to uninsured. If he develops a sickle cell crisis while in juvenile detention, his lack of insurance may require hospitalization and enrollment in Medicaid at the point of hospital admission. Corrections staff would be required to accompany the son throughout the hospitalization.

However, if the father is enrolled in Medicaid on the first of the month while in jail, then the son, who is in juvenile detention pending disposition, would be covered by Medicaid while in juvenile detention, and his sickle cell crisis might be managed without hospitalization.

Scenario 3

A woman is found to have Chlamydia while in jail, but she is released by the court before the lab report reaches the medical service staff in the jail. Several months later, she is admitted to the hospital through the emergency room with pelvic inflammatory disease and completes a four-day course of IV antibiotics. Contrast this scenario with one in which the woman is enrolled in a community health center that participates in a regional health information exchange. The lab report from the jail is shared with the CHC, which initiates treatment for Chlamydia with oral antibiotics before the woman develops PID. The woman’s partner also receives oral antibiotics, and the cost is greatly reduced. Other cases of Chlamydia may also be prevented in the community by treating these two people.
 
Scenario 4

A construction worker is undergoing treatment for Hepatitis C with interferon and Ribavirin at a community health center. He contracted Hepatitis C as an adolescent experimenting with heroin, but never became “hooked.” However, he would drink a six-pack of beer most nights until he showed early signs of cirrhosis. He is arrested for DUI and is unable to post bail. Under currently prevailing circumstances, the treatment for Hepatitis C would usually cease while in custody pending disposition. All the costs and benefit of the treatment prior to arrest would be lost, and he would have to restart interferon and Ribavirin at a later date. Contrast this scenario with what might happen under health care reform and the man were enrolled and covered by Medicaid upon entry into the jail. If the jail and CHC share access to an HIE, he could continue interferon and Ribavirin while in custody pending disposition. The cost of treatment would not be borne by the county, and it could improve the medical outcome for the construction worker and his family.

We offer these scenarios to promote discussion and to help organize comments for the CMS regulations. Please feel free to propose other scenarios that illustrate concrete circumstances encountered in your county, state, or institutions. Send them to me at COCHS (srosenberg@cochs.org) and we will post them on our website.

We hope you will respond to these proposed regulations during the comment period, which ends on October 31, 2011. Again, we will follow-up soon with more resources to facilitate your responses. COCHS will send further updates on this and related matters over the course of the deliberations. 

Sincerely,

Steven Rosenberg
President
Community Oriented Correctional Health Services (COCHS) 

The package is available both in English and Spanish and includes a training video, facilitator's guide, and brochure. More information about these products can be found HERE. Use Key Word Search: Prisoner Re-entry Program, prisoner or parolees. The promotion of this new free tax education training program is vital and the IRS is asking you and your organization to help share the announcement through your partner networks. 

The keystone of this realignment is the reversal of the State's tough-on-crime approach, to what State corrections officials say is a "smart-on-crime" strategy. To access the complete broadcast, click HERE.

Signed into law on April 9, 2008, the Second Chance Act (P.L. 110-199) was designed to improve outcomes for people returning to communities from prisons and jails. This first-of-its-kind legislation authorizes federal grants to government agencies and nonprofit organizations to provide employment assistance, substance abuse treatment, housing, family programming, mentoring, victims support, and other services that can help reduce recidivism.

As correctional facilities know, this is a difficult time to get and keep Federal funding, and if the Second Chance Act funding is eliminated, it will be very difficult to get it back in subsequent years, and efforts to reauthorize Second Chance will be seriously undermined.

For more information about support initiatives for the Second Chance Act, visit the following resources:

• Reentry Issues (FAQs).
• Second Chance Act.
• Contacting Members of Congress Online.
• Signing the National Sign-On Letter.
• National Reentry Resource Center.

More Americans receive mental health treatment in prisons and jails than in hospitals or treatment centers. In fact, the three largest inpatient psychiatric facilities in the country are jails: Los Angeles County Jail, Rikers Island Jail in New York City, and Cook County Jail in Illinois. To access this news report, click HERE.

Highlights include: 

• Specific strategies, including action planning checklists, to help jail leaders improve recruitment efforts, employee retention, and leadership development.
• Discussion of strategic initiatives supported by findings from the landmark National Jail Workforce Survey—the first nationwide survey of both jail administrators and line staff to focus on workforce-related issues.
• Generationally-relevant approaches that recognize expectations and motivational needs of the newer members of the jail workplace.
• Application of relevant workforce data and information from across the country to the specific needs of sheriffs and jail administrators.
• Pragmatic ideas and helpful hints from the field and the literature that can positively impact the jail workplace.
• An annotated bibliography of workforce-related publications providing opportunities for further exploration of these issues.

To order this publication, click HERE.

Nationwide, over 10 million children have parents who have been imprisoned at some time in their lives. And the numbers are growing. In fact, the amount of children with a father in prison has grown by 77 percent since 1991. In examining the prisoner population, you will find that on average, 92% of incarcerated parents are fathers. In order to foster connections between father and child, it is imperative that fathers be given:

• A context to heal from their “father wounds”
• A powerful, compelling, and motivating vision that they have a unique and irreplaceable role in their child’s life.
• Skills that help them succeed in this role—“it is hard to be what you didn’t see.”

This is precisely what the Connections Project seeks to accomplish. The Connections Project was funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and administered by the National Fatherhood Initiative. For more information, click HERE.

In response to this upcoming crisis, the Center for Innovative Public Policies, the American Jail Association, and the Correctional Management Institute of Texas, Sam Houston State University have been working together on the National Jail Succession Planning and Leadership Development Project. Desiged to create tools to assure competent jail leadership through user-friendly products, this project will help increase knowledge and give agencies data and tools so they can develop their individual plans to transition mid-managers to leadership. Products include the Mentoring Jail Leaders Program, Core Jail Competencies, and Resource Library.
 
For more information on these products and about the National Jail Succession Planning and Leadership Development Project, click HERE. This project was supported by Grant No. 2009-D2-BX-K006 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.

So, who would find Reentry Mythbusters helpful?

• Jail, prison, probation, community corrections, and parole officials who want to ensure individuals can access Federal benefits, as appropriate, immediately upon release to help stabilize the critical first days and weeks following incarceration.
• Reentry service providers and faith-based organizations who want to know how to access the laws and policies relating to housing, SNAP benefits, veterans benefits, Social Security, etc.
• Employers and workforce development specialists who are interested in the incentives and protections involved in hiring formerly convicted individuals.
• State and local agencies that want to understand, modify, or eliminate certain bans on benefits (TANF, SNAP) for people who have been convicted of drug felonies.

For more information about Reentry Mythbusters, click HERE.

Since 1999, 38 CFR 17.38(c)(5) had barred the VA from providing “hospital and outpatient care for a veteran who is either a patient or an inmate in an institution of another government agency if that agency has a duty to give the care or services.” 

Government agencies typically have had a duty to provide medical care to inmates who have been released from incarceration in a prison or jail to a temporary housing program, such as a community residential reentry center or halfway house. Veterans who were in these circumstances often have little or no access to needed health care services. As a result of this final rule, which is effective April 1, 2011, the VA may now provide hospital and outpatient care to Veterans released from prison or jail to temporary housing programs, such as community residential reentry centers and halfway houses.

The Congressional Budget Office is working with Veterans Justice Outreach Program in developing a directive to provide further guidance on this change to the Medical Benefits Package.

The Justice Department released a proposed rule that aims to prevent and respond to sexual abuse in incarceration settings, in accordance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act ( PREA ). Based on recommendations of the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission ( NPREC ), the proposed rule contains four sets of national standards aimed at combating sexual abuse in four types of confinement facilities: adult prisons and jails, juvenile facilities, lockups, and community confinement facilities.

A 60-day public comment period followed publication in the Federal Register, after which the department will make revisions as warranted and the standards will be published as a final rule. The department expects the final rule will be published by the end of the year. The standards seek to prevent sexual abuse and to reduce the harm that it causes when it occurs. Each of the four sets of standards consists of 11 categories: prevention planning; responsive planning; training and education; screening for risk of sexual victimization and abusiveness; reporting; official response following an inmate report; investigations; discipline; medical and mental care; data collection and review; and audits.

• To read AJA's response, click HERE and then open the PDF file on the page.
• To read the Justice Department’s complete rule, click HERE.

American Correctional Association
2012 Winter Conference
January 20-25, 2012 in Phoenix, Arizona
For more information, visit HERE or contact Kelli McAfee at kellim@aca.org
 
American Correctional Association
142nd Congress of Correction
July 20-25, 2012 in Denver, Colorado
For more information, visit HERE or contact Kelli McAfee at kellim@aca.org

The National Reentry Resource Center is a project of the Council of State Governments Justice Center, with key project partners: the Urban Institute, Association of State Correctional Administrators, and the American Probation and Parole Association. The Center is also guided by Advisory Committees which help coordinate support and services for Second Chance Act grantees and the reentry field. Its mission is to advance the reentry field through knowledge transfer and dissemination and to promote evidence-based best practices.

The center provides a one-stop, interactive source of current, user-friendly reentry information; identifies, documents, and promotes evidence-based practices; delivers individualized, targeted technical assistance to the Second Chance Act grantees; and advances the reentry field through training, distance learning, and knowledge development.

To find out more or to sign up for the online newsletter, click HERE.

Our goal is for every jail in the Nation to complete the online survey form. By doing so, you will be contributing to the only national, searchable electronic database of its kind. Previously known as the "AJA Who's Who in Jail Management," this update will represent the launch of a totally online gathering and reporting mechanism.

All jails and detention facilities in the United States were sent instructions regarding accessing and filling out the online survey this past November. If your facility did not receive this mailing or you are unsure, please contact our Jail Survey Team at 301-790-3930 and request Chris (ext. 12) or Leslie (ext. 14) for assistance.

Don't be left out!  

Not all the bracelets have the handcuff keys in them. However, law enforcement and corrections officers need to be aware of that a bracelet may contain a key. is so you can check prisoners when you place handcuffs on them. The keys are plastic so they will not show up on x-rays. With a little practice, a handcuffed individual can access the key in the bracelet.

This atlas serves as an invaluable tool for policymakers, the media, researchers, and members of the public looking for neighborhood-specific criminal justice data. Drilling down to single ZIP codes, users can learn the number of people in prison, the number released from prison each year, the number on probation or parole, what share of the state's total population this data represent, and the total dollar amount spent on corrections.

To access the National Atlas of Sentencing and Corrections, click HERE. For more information about the Justice Mapping Center, click HERE.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals says searches are needed to prevent the smuggling of contraband into detention centers. The decision replaces a smaller panel's more critical ruling in 2008.Blanket strip searches of incoming jail inmates are constitutional and necessary to prevent the smuggling of contraband into the detention centers, a Federal appeals court ruled recently.

The decision by a full 11-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals replaces a smaller panel's ruling in 2008 that strip searches are so dehumanizing that they violate a person's constitutional rights if conducted without good reason to suspect the individual is carrying drugs or weapons.

The ruling undermined one of several civil rights violations that antiwar protester Mary Bull and eight others alleged in their class-action lawsuit against the city and county of San Francisco. The protesters alleged that they were mistreated by authorities when they were arrested during a November 2002 demonstration.

"This is not a final defeat at all. It opens the case to move forward," attorney Mark E. Merin said of Tuesday's fractured ruling, noting that the arrestees' complaint was headed for trial by jury in federal district court.

Writing for the majority, Judge Sandra S. Ikuta, an appointee of President George W. Bush, said the court had found the strip-search policy "reasonable under the Fourth Amendment." She pointed out that the searches had produced hundreds of caches of drugs, money, shanks, knives and other items that can pose risk to jail personnel and other inmates.

Four separate opinions were filed by the 11 judges, including a dissent written by Judge Sidney R. Thomas and joined by three fellow appointees of President Clinton.

Thomas had written the 2008 ruling against strip-searching without probable cause, saying that "the intrusiveness of body-cavity searches cannot be overstated."

In his dissent, Thomas recounted how Bull had been arrested at a peaceful protest, slammed to a concrete floor during booking, stripped and subjected to a body-cavity search, then left naked in a cell for 11 hours. She was subjected to a second strip search before being released without charges.

AJA is now part of the Corrections Online Training Collaborative, a partnership between the American Correctional Association, AJA, and Essential Learning, an established online trainingmanagement company. COTC members have joined together to bring high-quality staff training solutions to the correctional industry.

COTC offers correctional staff online training through its Learning Management System. Correctional agencies large and small have been adopting this online training to train correctional staff in a "blended training" approach. Courses are accessed through any computer with Internet access. The training can be started, stopped, and restarted again and again as the learner’s schedule requires. It also can help reduce training costs by saving on travel expenses, staff turnover, and overtime pay.

Other features include:

• Largest catalog of online courses for corrections.
• Testing and survey capabilities.
• Online management of your training program - robust reporting. Add your own courses (without limits) to your training system.
• Meet certification and AJA requirements.

To learn more, visit www.CorrectionsOTC.com; e-mail COTC@essentiallearning.com; or call Janice MacDonald, Corrections Online Training Collaborative, 800-729-9198, ext. 201.