TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Inter-Office Communication
TO: Distribution
FROM: Debbie Roberts, Director, Programs
and Services Division
DATE: August 26, 2002
SUBJECT: Division
Director’s Update
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Placed in HTML by Dr.
M.G. Maness –
See also TRUE
CHAPLAINCY MARKET DATA and the
Chaplaincy
Report by Prog. & Service Reports for ALL 2000-2002
During the months of July and August 2002, Access to Courts conducted
twenty (20) audits of units/facilities Access to Courts programs and responded
to 9,834 inquiries from unit staff, TDCJ representatives, court officials and
public citizens.
Based on July 2002 statistics, our records/expectations
indicate 30 indigent offenders will initiate “Payment Authorizations” over this
bi-monthly period to pay court ordered filing fees. This is far below the anticipated figure of 1,396 offenders that
will request "Records Release Authorizations" from the individual
unit/facility Access to Courts Program to proceed in forma pauperis.
During the two-month time frame, approximately 132,682 offenders will
attend law library sessions. As well,
it is estimated that 76,892 items of legal research material will be requested
by offenders with indirect law library access, this includes Administrative
Segregation, Close Custody, Trusty Camp, Work Camp and Death Row offenders.
CHAPEL
/ MULTI-PURPOSE PROGRAMMATIC
CONSTRUCTION
Capital
Improvements Review Committee (CIRC) provided the following updates regarding
current donor multipurpose building/chapel projects.
A
meeting was held at the Jordan Unit on August 12, 2002, with CIRC members,
Chaplain Schlewitz and members of the donor group to discuss the donor process.
The group is in the fund raising stage of the project.
The
shop drawings for the Wallace/Ware Unit Chapel were approved by the donor’s
architect. The manufactured building has been delivered to the site.
We are
in process of re-writing Chaplains job descriptions to provide separate
descriptions for Christian non-Roman Catholic, Christian Roman Catholic, and
Muslim chaplain positions.
The June meeting of the Religious Practice
Committee (RPC) agenda included questions regarding accommodations for
Messianic Jews, Church of God adherents, House of Yahweh adherents, Buddhists,
Native Americans, Freemasons and Pagans.
In July and August Chaplaincy staff attended
meetings and disseminated information regarding the decisions about these
accommodations and their implementation.
The Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) met June 27-28,
2002, and July 22, 2002. The MDT
reviewed 78 offenders and voted by majority to refer 11 offenders for an expert
assessment. Thus far in Fiscal Year
2002, the MDT reviewed 367 offenders and referred 64 for an expert
assessment. Thirty-nine offenders
assessed by an expert were subsequently referred to the Special Prosecution
Unit (SPU) for civil commitment consideration.
The SPU filed petitions on 12 offenders, and 10 were committed by trial
this fiscal year. Eight offenders are
currently pending a civil commitment trial.
FAITH-BASED
PRE-RELEASE PROGRAM -
“InnerChange”
On July
18, 2002, a formal presentation regarding the “InnerChange Freedom Initiative” was made to the Texas Board of Criminal
Justice. The presentation included an
update of program statistics and mention of the upcoming Criminal Justice
Policy Council “InnerChange” report which will be presented to the next
legislative session in January, 2003.
During
August 5-7, 2002, a children’s summer camp was sponsored by the “InnerChange”
program for children of the “InnerChange Freedom Initiative” (IFI) offenders
and other Texas Department of Criminal Justice offenders. Approximately one hundred fifty children
attended the three-day camp at Forest Glen Campgrounds in Huntsville,
Texas. This was the second year IFI has
sponsored the children’s camp.
July 1
and August 1, 2002, deadlines for receiving a formal response from Prison
Fellowship Ministries, Reston, Virginia, regarding “Appropriations Bill – Rider
75, IFI Enhancement” has passed. No
response has been received. The
deadline is automatically extended in 30-day increments.
The
Assistant Director for Programs and Services and Program Administrator attended
a working group, August 16, 2002, of the Texas Council on Family Violence in
Austin, Texas. The workgroup is
focusing on establishing curriculum for battered incarcerated females.
On
August 17, 2002, the Assistant Director for Programs and Services discussed
aftercare needs of female offenders at the Restorative Justice Ministry Network
Awareness Conference in Dallas, Texas.
INSTITUTIONAL REMOVAL PROGRAM (IRP)
For the months of June
and July, 2002, the Huntsville Institutional Removal Program reports conducted
480 interviews for foreign born offenders in TDCJ-ID. There were 427 detainers
filed and 227 final orders for deportation issued. Ninety-two percent of all institutional division offenders for
whom an Immigration and Nationalization Service (INS) detainer had been lodged
had a final order of deportation at the time of their release.
The INS State Jail Removal Program reports
conducting 138 interviews, filing 89 detainers with 92 State Jail confinees
released to INS detainers during this same time period.
INTERSTATE COMPACT
During
the months of August and September, the Interstate Compact office will be
participating in the TDCJ Reengineering Project in Huntsville. During this time period, "user
testing" will begin for the new Offender Management System. Once the system is complete, parole officers
and administrative staff will be able to submit reports to the compact office
electronically. Additionally, data
related to active cases under interstate compact supervision will be available
for viewing by the Parole Division.
On
June 19, 2002, the 35th state adopted the new Interstate Compact for
Adult Offender Supervision. The new compact becomes effective throughout the
country as of that date. There are currently
38 states that have adopted the new law.
The first meeting of the new compact has been scheduled for November 18
– 20, 2002. The meeting will be held in
Scottsdale, Arizona and attended by all states that participate under the new
compact.
Until
the new compact is adopted by all 50 states, there will be two different
compacts dealing with offenders crossing state boundaries. It is, however, anticipated that most
states will become part of the new compact within the next few years. During the period between November 20, 2002,
and November 20, 2003, the exiting rules which govern the Compact will continue
in effect. Therefore, there should be
no disruption in transferring offender’s supervision to and from Texas.
MAIL
SYSTEM COORDINATORS PANEL
(MSCP)
During
the period of July 1, 2002, through August 21, 2002, the Mail System
Coordinators Panel (MSCP) completed the following activities:
On-site
audits of unit mailroom operations for the month of July were conducted at the
Beto, Boyd, Coffield, Connally, Gurney, Hobby, Johnston, McConnell, Michael and
Powledge Units. For the month of
August, on-site audits were conducted at the Allred, Darrington, Duncan, Ellis,
Estelle, Henley, Hughes, Murray, Plane State Jail, Ramsey I, Ramsey II and
Terrell Units.
There
were 725 publications reviewed which were intended for offender receipt and
rendered a decision as to approval or rejection.
During
the time period from July 1 through August 21, 2002, the Director's Review
Committee (DRC) held three (3) meetings in July and one in August. The DRC
reviewed 2,530 appeals of rejected correspondence, publications and packages,
as well as appeals of action in placing individuals on offenders' negative mail
lists or removing individuals from offenders' visiting lists. Also, the DRC rendered decisions to uphold or
reverse denials or action taken.
OFFICE FOR DISCIPLINARY
COORDINATION
During
July, four (4) unit operational reviews of offender discipline and counsel
substitute program were conducted.
During August,
four (4) unit operational reviews of offender discipline and counsel substitute
program were conducted.
PRE-RELEASE
THERAPEUTIC COMMUNITY (PRTC) -
BETO UNIT
The Bridges to Life program continues to be well
received. NBC-56 Station sent a TV crew
to “cover” the program in action. The
NBC-56 staff requested an “expanded” report on the offenders participating in
the Bridges to Life Program. The most
recent Bridges to Life class began on August 14,
2002.
SEX
OFFENDER TREATMENT PROGRAM
(SOTP)
The Sex Offender Treatment Program (SOTP) and the
Sex Offender Education Program (SOEP) provides treatment and evaluation for
male and female offenders.
Hightower Unit 251 212 84%
Goree Unit 204 175 86%
Hilltop Unit
19 18 95%
Treatment
59 254 23
Civil Commitment
67 378 34
Risk Assessment 166 1177 107
Other Evaluations
80 381 35
Files Screened 528 2661 242
Evaluations
71 408 37
Presented to Multi-
Disciplinary Team
78 367 33
Closing Summaries 80 362 33
Unit Current Capacity Population Percent of Capacity
**Hightower 84 78
93%
**Building to a SOEP capacity of 168
during FY 2003.
SEX OFFENDER MANAGEMENT
GRANT INFORMATION
On
September 30, 2000, TDCJ Programs and Services Division was awarded $250,000
from the Violence Against Women Office of the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice issued an
extension to the grant period thereby extending the grant until March 31,
2003. Contract modifications have been
made to provide treatment to eleven additional rural counties. The new counties including Hidalgo, Goliad,
Jackson, Calhoun, Matagorda, San Patricio, Aransas, Webb, Medina, Wood and
Grayson counties.
SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT
PROGRAM (SATP)
The Houston Intergroup donated $989.02 in Alcoholics
Anonymous literature to the Substance Abuse Treatment Program.
The New Women Alcoholics Anonymous group donated $24.00
in Alcoholics Anonymous literature.
The clients at the Kyle Unit were able to
watch the Narcotics Anonymous World Wide Unity Day by television.
VOLUNTEER COORDINATION COMMITTEE
The
revised Volunteer Program Automated Information tracking system has completed
the 90 Day Post-Implementation phase and is currently in use by program staff.
WINDHAM
SCHOOL DISTRICT (WSD)
Participants
enrolled in Windham programs on July 31, 2002, are as follows:
Vocational 4,522
Special
Education 1,352
CHANGES 4,406
English as a
Second Language 1,037
The WSD Administrators’ meeting was held July 17-19, 2002,
at the Hyatt Regency on Town Lake, in Austin, Texas. The meeting began at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 17th
with Mike Morrow, Superintendent of Schools, making a presentation on
“Remarkable People”. Richard Yawn,
Director of Operational Support, followed with a presentation on “Catch the
Vision”. At 4:15 p.m. with appropriate
introductions, greetings were brought from each of the WSD Board members, Mr.
Johnson, Ms. Cockrell and Ms. Roberts.
Afterwards, WSD staff had the opportunity to mix and mingle with
everyone. Principals from each of the
exemplary campuses were also recognized during the board member reception. On
Thursday, July 18th Mr. Morrow gave a presentation on
“Tested.Trusted.On Target.” Mr. John
Moriarty, TDCJ Inspector General gave an update from the Inspector General’s
Office. After lunch the principals
participated in breakout sessions. On
Friday morning, July 19th, Richard Yawn made a presentation on
“Keeping the Vision”. The Honorable Pete Sessions, member of the U.S. House of
Representatives, gave the keynote address.
Overall the meeting was a great success.
Windham School District staff and
teachers have been receiving professional development training throughout the
state this summer. The Office of Inspector General made a presentation at each
of the regional trainings. The
Superintendent and each of the five WSD Division Directors gave an overview of
the district’s operations in each of the WSD regions, and teachers received
training in victim awareness, security issues and a variety of classroom
teaching strategies.
The 2001-2002 school year will end on August 31. Personnel records show that 58 employees
will not be returning for the 2002-2003 school year. Of that number, 36 will be retiring from the profession.
During our staff development conferences held in
each region, service awards were presented.
The following list shows the number of years of service to Windham and
the number of staff members who received each award:
Service Awards
3 year 96
5 year 52
10 year 52
15 year 24
20 year 16
25 year 3
30 year 3
YOUTHFUL
OFFENDER PROGRAM (YOP)
The
Clemens Unit hosted a “Therapeutic Community Experiential Training”,
facilitated by TDCJ Substance Abuse Treatment Program training staff and
included 19 employees in attendance.
A YOP Program Administrator visited the Prairie
View A & M University School of Juvenile Justice & Pathology and spoke
about the Youthful Offender Program as it relates to the future of Texas
Criminal Justice.
Within
the Therapeutic Community there was the initiation of a “Gavel Club”, sponsored
by Toastmasters. There are 17 initial
members in the club.
The Program Director was guest speaker for the
National Institute of Corrections in Nashville, Tennessee. She provided information regarding juveniles
in the Criminal Justice System.
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