Assessment Processes

The Issue

Given the high rates at which people released from prisons and jails are reincarcerated, it is increasingly important to ensure that these individuals are prepared for reentry before their return to the community. Intake and assessment procedures in correctional settings typically focus on identifying security risks and immediate physical health issues, but frequently do not include an in-depth assessment of social, psychological, and economic strengths and needs that is required to develop an individualized plan for a person’s eventual transition from prisons or jails to the community. Furthermore, assessment instruments often have not been scientifically validated for use with a designated population, such as people under criminal justice supervision.

Information that is collected at intake to a jail or correctional facility is often not systematically updated throughout a person’s incarceration and frequently does not follow an individual during his or her criminal justice supervision. Local jails, state departments of corrections, and community corrections agencies each employ distinct assessment procedures and typically maintain independent databases, impeding the transfer of information from one corrections agency to another and reducing the utility of what has been collected. In addition, corrections employees and community-based service providers often do not, or cannot, share information that could be used in making joint decisions about what types of programs (e.g., education, substance abuse treatment or vocational training) an individual should receive to increase his or her likelihood of a safe and successful transition to the community.

The Response

• Improving Assessments of People Incarcerated and Released from Prison and Jail policy guide: The Justice Center staff is producing a policy guide that corrections administrators and leaders of community-based organizations can use to develop an efficient process for identifying the risks, needs, and strengths of people during key intervals of their involvement with the criminal justice system. This guide will help policymakers and practitioners ensure that the information collected is used to inform supervision, treatment, and program plans that maximize the likelihood of a person’s successful reentry. It also will provide detailed examples of ways in which policymakers and practitioners have navigated these challenges in their jurisdictions.
• Online Assessment Tool: The center’s staff is also creating an interactive, Web-based tool that describes what information should be collected about an individual’s risks and needs in particular assessment areas—such as risk/security classification, mental health, substance abuse, education, employment, housing, family relationships, and financial status—during the course of a person’s incarceration and community supervision. The tool will provide suggestions for who should be tasked with collecting this information and indicate potential sources. It will include a database of assessment instruments commonly used in corrections settings and short sections on related topics (e.g., sharing information and training staff).

Using the guide and tool together, policymakers and practitioners will be able to follow an individual through the corrections system, with access to comprehensive information that can better inform programming and other decisions that will improve the likelihood of a safe and successful return to the community.

Contact:
Shawn Rogers
Policy Consultant
Council of State Governments Justice Center
srogers@csg.org
tel: (212) 482-2320
fax: (212) 482-2344