Supervision narrowly conceived as monitoring of an individual's criminal behavior, without parallel efforts to plan for housing, treatment, health care, and other aspects of re-entry, is unlikely to promote a person's safe and successful return to the community. To achieve coordination (and, ideally, integration) of services and supervision; to manage potential conflicts among various service providers; to ensure that no aspect of the prisoner's return to the community is overlooked; and to implement the releasing authority's recommendations, each individual's supervision strategy should be developed by a team. This team should comprise people who collectively represent the agencies, organizations, and individuals whose support and assistance is essential to the successful implementation of the transition plan and supervision strategy.

Transition planning team members will vary, depending on the situation of the person approaching release, but could include representatives of the institution, community corrections, human service agencies, community-based services, housing providers, local law enforcement, and the court system - in addition to advocates for the victim and family members. Peers or mentors of the individual approaching release (from substance abuse support groups, faith-based organizations, or other initiatives) may also be effectively engaged in developing a supervision strategy. When possible, the transition team should include the specific program staff and other people who have worked with the individual during his or her incarceration and/or will work with him or her upon release.

Example: Case management teams, Missouri Department of Corrections

As part of its work under the Transition from Prison to Community Initiative (TPCI), the Missouri Department of Corrections is in the process of implementing a new re-entry planning process in its correctional facilities. Every individual serving a sentence will work with a case management team to develop a two-phase Transition Accountability Plan, which will include a programming plan for the period of incarceration (phase one), and a transition plan (phase two). The teams for each phase are distinct, though membership may overlap. In addition to Department of Corrections staff and the field probation and parole officer, the phase two team may include representatives from state agencies such the Department of Social Services and the Department of Mental Health, community leaders, staff from community-based organizations, and the individual's family members.

Including representatives of each stakeholder system on every transition planning team may not be practical, or even feasible, in some jurisdictions. In those cases, corrections administrators should consider establishing a committee that will oversee the transition system established for all inmates in the institution. Such a steering committee could advise and guide a prisoner's transition team that is missing one or more important perspectives. (See Policy Statement 5, Promoting Systems Integration and Coordination, for more on ways to ensure that information and commitment to re-entry goals are shared across systems.)

One member of the transition planning team should serve as the "team leader" and coordinate the team's activities. Sometimes a corrections system invests this responsibility in the corrections staff member with the most comprehensive understanding of the agencies and organizations represented on the team. Other jurisdictions designate a specialized staff person, such as a case manager with expertise in transitions issues and programs, to be the lead transition planner. In some systems, leadership of the team rotates periodically among the members, taking advantage of staff resources from the various organizations represented on the team when they are available. Alternatively, a designated community-based contractor or service provider could act as the primary transition planner, coordinating the overall transition strategy; this person could be employed by corrections or by another government agency represented on the team, or by some combination of the agencies.

Example: HIV Coordinators, Massachusetts Department of Public Health and County Sheriffs Departments

In Massachusetts, the Department of Public Health (DPH) and County Sheriffs each pay one-half of the cost of HIV Program Coordinators - specialized corrections-based staff members who coordinate transition planning services for people living with HIV/AIDS who are incarcerated at county correctional institutions. DPH provides oversight and training for these coordinators. HIV Coordinators contact and engage other stakeholders in transition planning where possible and appropriate.

While the community corrections officer assigned to the released individual will have responsibility for monitoring and ensuring compliance with conditions of release, the transition team should be enlisted to initiate the individual's connection to postrelease services. Prior to release, the team members should meet with the individual and with each other to develop a comprehensive strategy for balancing supervision and services in the community that is most likely to preserve public safety and promote the person's successful reintegration into the community.

Following release, if an individual fails to participate in those services that are prescribed in his or her transition plan or conditions of release, members of the transition planning team should be prepared to provide advice and help to the community corrections officer in addressing these gaps. When considering significant changes to the supervision strategy, the officer may wish to convene the transition planning team and have its members meet with the individual under supervision to remind the person of his or her accountability for the conditions of release. Although the transition team should never be a surrogate for the community supervision officer, it should be available as a resource to provide the officer with increased leverage. (See Policy Statement 26 for more on ensuring the implementation of the supervision strategy.)