HALL LUX Counsel OFFICE OF THE PUBLIC COUNSEL/OMBUDSMAN PO Box 94604, State Capitol Lincoln, Nebraska 68509 (402)471-2035 Toll free - 800-742-7690 Fax (402) 471-4277 ombud@leg.ne.gov November 19, 2013 MEMORANDUM To: Senator Brad Ashford, et. al. From: Marshall Lux, Ombudsman Re: Nebraska Correctional System - Programming Approximately one month ago, the Ombudsman's Office received some statistics from the Department of Correctional Services relating to their programming component. These statistics were a "snapshot" of the number of DCS inmates who were in programming as of September 23, 2013. We had asked the Department for this information because of our concerns over the availability of programming in the system, and because we had been hearing complaints from inmates who were parole eligible, but who had not yet received programming that was needed to make them viable parole prospects in the eyes of the Board of Parole. We were also aware that the correctional system has a long waiting list of inmates who need to have programming, but who cannot get access to that programming. (Please see attached chart indicating that as of April 16, 2013, the Department had a total of 708 inmates on their waiting lists for various programming options.) The programming currently available to inmates in Nebraska's correctional system falls into three general categories: (1) sex offender programming; (2) anger management and/or violence reduction programming; and (3) substance abuse programming. As we examined the statistical information provided by the Department in relation to the current DCS programming structure, there were several issues that were immediately apparent. • The statistics reflect that 619 of the Department's total inmate population were in some form of programming at the time that the statistics were compiled (September 23, 2013). That would equal only about 13% of the Nebraska correctional population. Furthermore, it appears that of those 619 inmates about 450 are in the Department's substance abuse programs, which means that only about 3.5% of the total corrections population is in something other than substance abuse programming. page 2 • The statistics reflected that 92 inmates were in the out-patient substance abuse program at the Work Ethic Camp, however, there is, in fact, little in the way of programming being offered at that facility, and what is actually happening there in terms of programming is more in the realm of "continuing care." The reference to there being 43 inmates in the out-patient substance abuse program at "State OB" (State Office Building), and to 20 inmates in the out-patient substance abuse programming at "Trabert" are all actually receiving their programming in the community. • Thus, only 22 inmates were, in fact, receiving in-patient substance abuse programming while incarcerated. • The only programming being offered at the Women's Center is substance abuse programming, so if a female inmate is identified as needing some other form of programming, then that will be unavailable at NCW. • For reasons that are unclear, only 6 inmates were in the in-patient substance abuse program at LCC. • The total population at the Nebraska Correctional Youth Facility is 65 inmates, but only 10 of those 65 are receiving programming, yet this is a facility where the average cost per inmate per year is $90,03 9. • If we look at the programming statistics and isolate the number of inmates who are involved in the highest risk-related programs (Violence Reduction, In-patient Sex Offender, and Residential Substance Abuse), then the total is 333 inmates in those programs - that 333 inmates represent only about 7% of the total DCS population who are actually receiving the most advanced forms of programming that the agency offers. It is also important to understand that the rather limited programming opportunities available to DCS inmates is reflected in the long waiting lists for access to programs, particularly in the out-patient sex offender programming and the out-patient substance abuse programming. One of the more positive things that the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services has done over the last several years was to increase its resource commitment to substance abuse programming. On the other hand, if there have been significant resourcing enhancements in the other DCS programming areas, then we are not familiar with that development. As the Nebraska prison population now stands, we have reached a point where the Nebraska community corrections centers and male prisons are filled to about 150% of their design capacity. Clearly, more inmates necessarily means more programming demands, but as our prison population has gone up over the years, it is very likely that the Nebraska correctional system has not been adequately supplementing its programming resources to deal with the increasing demand. In fact, there are some very important "deficits" in the Department's programming structure, including the following: • The Department's out-patient sex offender programming, called OHelp, is only offered at OCC andNSP; • The Department's in-patient sex offender programming, which consists of a programming regimen of from 24 to 36 months in length, is only offered at LCC; • The Department's Anger Management Program, which involves participation in what amounts to a regimen that consists of twelve session of group therapy, is not offered to inmates who are institutionalized, but is only available to those in community settings (the one exception being the young offenders at the Youth Facility in Omaha); • The Department's Violence Reduction Program, which involves intensive programming over a period of twelve months, has in the past only been open to twelve inmates per year, and is only offered at NSP (however, the Department has recently indicated that the term of the program is being cut to nine months, with two cohorts running simultaneously, which should increase the number who can be exposed to the programming to more than 12 per year); • No programming of any significance is being offered to the Department's most troubled, and potentially most dangerous, inmates who are in segregation. Considering all of the points raised by the statistics from DCS for late September of 2013, we would suggest that the whole situation relating to DCS's programming availability and resources needs to be examined, in detail, to determine whether the Department's programming resources are sufficient to meet the current needs. The standard practice in DCS at the present time is to have inmates fully programmed by the time that they reach a point where they are two years away from their Tentative Release Date. At one point very recently, we were told that DCS had over 1,000 inmates in the system who are eligible for parole, but who are still occupying DCS beds. Presumably, many of these 1,000 inmates are among those who are more than two years away from their Tentative Release Date, and have not yet received their needed programming. In fact, State statute (Neb. Rev. Stat. §83-110.01) provides that: The department shall provide substance abuse therapy required by section 28-416 prior to the first parole eligibility date of the committed person. Based on the recommendations, if any, regarding psychological treatment of the committed person pursuant to section 83-179, the department shall provide the person with adequate access or availability to mental health therapy prior to the first parole eligibility date of the committed person. So the expectation of State policy is that inmates will have their programming completed by the time that their parole eligibility dates arrive. In fact, this is a goal that the Department is not meeting, and when they are asked about it, (as we have done many times), the agency's only answer is, in effect, "well, the Board of Parole could go ahead and parole them anyway." Clearly, this is not realistic. The fundamental principle involved here is this: If we want the Board of Parole to maximize the number of inmates that it can reasonably parole, then DCS needs to optimize its programming, and maximize the number of parole-worthy inmates it brings to the Board, and do so as quickly as possible (i.e., by the time that the inmate is legally eligible for parole). That is certainly not what is happening now. When DCS is pressed on this issue, their response is based on the proposition that the Board of Parole will not parole offenders who are further than two years away from their Tentative Release Date. But page 4 there are several things wrong with that assumption. First of all, it is the Board of Parole, and not DCS, that is supposed to decide when the inmates are at a point where they have "a realistic opportunity for parole." The Board of Parole could very easily decide to change its approach to the timing of paroles, in particular if the Board starts to see more inmates who have completed their programming earlier in their sentences, at a point more than two years away from their Tentative Release Date. Secondly, the idea that the Board of Parole is only going to parole inmates who are at the point of being two years away from their Tentative Release Date may be one of those "self-fulfilling" propositions - if the Board is doing things that way now, then it may be because DCS is only bringing fully programmed inmates to them who are at the two years away from Tentative Release Date threshold. Third, an inmate who is eligible for parole is...well, eligible for parole, and it is unrealistic (and unfair to the Board) to assume that the Board of Parole would not parole anybody who is only a few weeks or a few months beyond his/her Parole Eligibility Date. I believe that the Board of Parole is more responsible than that, and that the Board would parole more people, if it were given more thoroughly programmed inmates who were decent candidates for a parole at an earlier point in their sentences. The fundamental point in all of this is that if the Nebraska corrections system has a over-population issue, then part of the reason is likely to be a shortage of programming resources in the system. There are, in fact, probably a number of back-end-of-the-system factors contributing to our population issue, but one of them is that there are many inmates in the system who simply have not gotten their needed programming, and therefore are not being paroled at the optimal time. At the very least, I would say that this "programming-resources" issue is something that needs to be investigated, as the State looks for factors contributing to our prison population difficulty. ATTACHMENT 1 - Inmates Currently Awaiting Treatment/Programming 4/16/2013 Table A: Total jjtimberpf Inmates Awaiting Treatment/ProgrammlnE by Facility Sex Offender f reatment Substance Abuse •Anger Anger with Review CCL ceo DEC LCC NCW NCY NSP occ TSC WEC Total 11 3 4 4 6 31 i 1 1 22 92 6 1 4 3 1 Residential cvP: 1 1 E, 2 1 6 1 5 2 1 12 12 2 16 Ndn, Resfdpntia 103 66 3 1 2 9 21 1 23 1 5 13 1 3 12 17 4 22 11 2 6 15 6 3 54 28 36 48 36 11 8 2 10 51 32 98 10 20 1 94 75 11 61 4 15 203 45 23 10 128 4 78 131 2 179 70S Table B: Subset of Inmates wtthfn 2 years of Tentative Release Date4 Sex OffenderTreatment Substance Abuse Residential ceo 6 8 DEC 6 LCC 7 NCW 0 0 25 18 15 CCL NCY NSP occ TSC 1 WEC Total IS 13 11 17 86 '.Vote: Includes inmates who have been on a waiting list for longer than six months or whose substance abuse treatment was recommended more than 6 months ago. •ce: NDC5 Inmoie Mental Health Records (4/12/2013) By T. Hank Robinson and Abby L Vandenberg STATE OF NEBRASKA OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES MtelHHt L- Keniejl : TC October 15i 2013 James Davis, Deputy Ombudsman for Corrections Ofrtbttdsman's Office FROM: Dawn-Renee Smith, Legislative and Public information Cbordlnata Nebraska Department of Correctional Services RE Ydttr Request for Information. According to Steve King, you requested information ori avaDabfe mental health and substance abuse. prajgrammfng/ screejitng of inmates prior to their parole eligibility date (PHD), aftd the number of irtntates: whoare parole pending* ! wifl respond to your request below. o Please see the attached sheet entitled, "Attachment^ - Recommended Treatment/Program Description? 9/25/2013" for a listing of each program and Us corresponding description* Each description Includes the length of the program. Please note the Violence Reduction Program'^RP) is changing from a one-year program-to a 9month program and will nm two "staggered" cohorts at all times. Also, continuing care for sex offenders has no setrmmber of sessions - participants attend as long as is needed. Anger Replacement Training (ART), consists of groups three times per week for 10 weeks. o The attached.spreadsheet entitled, ^Behavioral Health Positions by Institution.and Area ^-27-13" will identifythe positions at each facility. Some; Stafftraye multiple assignments and work in more than one program, so this is the fcest way to identiryihe. behavioral health -staff an$ generally where they are located e> The rrumfaer of treatmentslots, is only set for fnpati&nt prpgrgms. Resfdential Substance abuse has 316 slots, VRP has #2 slot?, at present (two groups of 12 will be in place in January 2014 for a total, of ;24 slots) and the mpatientHeahfty lives Program (iHELP) has 52 slots. Please see the attached sheet entitled, "Number of Inrjsatesln Treatment as of 09/23/2013" for numbersIn; eiach program. o With regard to screening Inmates prior to their parole eligibility date (PCD), all inmates are screened for substance abuse and mental health issues within the first 14 <&ys of arriving at NpCS, The Clinical Sex Offender Review Team (CSORTj Is currently reviewing, eases with PEDs of November and December 2015, The Clinical Violent Offender Revfew Team, (CVORT) is screening most cases prior to FED. inmates with very short;$e;ntenees Impact the ability to screen others prior to their PED. o As of September 30,2013, there were 114 inmates who were parole pending. The breakdown Is as follows: • • • " • • • 19 pending programming completioh (typically WEC or RTC) 16 pending Interstate Transfer 5 pending rescission hearings 3 pending ICE or other detainer 39 pending residence verification (most commonly this is because the original residence submitted was denied - they are continuing to look for new residences) 4 pending bed space (typically some sort of halfway house or transitional living environment in the community) 28 have been paroled effective upon their future RED (believe this should address the concerns you raised to Mr. King. If you need further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. Cc: Mike Kenney, Director, NDCS Marshall Lux, Ombudsman File Total Number of Inmates in Treatment as of 09/23/2013 Anger/Violence Reduction Sex Offender Treatment Substance Abuse KPStea ^^Msn'-iv SiilwisJiffi: 1 1 1 CCL 22 v$£ 0 $tO= DEC iJS9| 50 NCW NCY;:: ,v::;-;3 17 State O B Total ifflSS 123 3p£ 48 48 TSC Trabert 96 •^7 10 NSP SO 10 12 IF 12 10 12 11 51 54 "27T 20 43 92 177 92 619 Behavioral Health Positions by Institution and Area 9-27-13 ccc-o SA CDC CO ADMIN BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ADMINISTRATOR CO ADMIN SECRETARY 11 DEC MH CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST DEC MH MHPII DEC MH MHPII DEC MH PSYCHOLOGIST 1 DEC MH PSYCHOLOGIST 1 DEC MH PSYCHOLOGIST 1 DEC MH SECRETARY II DEC PSYCHIATRY NURSE PRACTITIONER DEC NRTS SA CDC DEC/LCC PSYCHIATRY PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT DEC/LCC SA CDC LCC MH VACANT CLINICAL PROGRAM MANAGER LCC MH CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST LCC MH CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST LCC MH Mental Health Nurse II LCC MH Mental Health Nurse II LCC MH MENTAL HEALTH SECURITY SPECIALIST LCC MH MENTAL HEALTH SECURITY SPECIALIST LCC MH MHPII LCC MH MHPII LCC MH MHPII LCC MH VACANT MHPfl LCC MH MHP SUPERVISOR LCC MH NURSE SUPERVISOR LCC MH SECRETARY II LCC MH STAFF ASSISTANT 1 LCC PSYCHIATRY PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT/NP LCC SA PSYCHIATRIST LCC SOS CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST LCC SOS MHPI tec SOS MHPII LCC SOS MHP SUPERVISOR LCC SOS MHPII LCC sw sw sw sw MASTER SOCIAL WORKER NCCW MH CLJNCIAL PSYCHOLOGIST NCCW MH CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST NCCW MH MHPII NCCW MH MHPII NCCW MH MHPII VACANT LCC Lincoln Lincoln MASTER SOCIAL WORKER VACANT MASTER SOCIAL WORKER VACANT MASTER SOCIAL WORKER VACANT VACANT Behavioral Health Positions by Institution and Area 9-27-13 NCCW MH SECRETARY II NCCW SA MHPI NCCW SA SECRETARY II NCCW SA CDC NCCW (NRTS) SA CDC NCCW (SAU) SA VACANT CDC CDC NCCW {SAU) SA NCCW (SAU) SA CDC NCCW (SAU) SA COGS NCCW (SAU) SA CDCS NCYF MH CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST NCYF MH MMPII NCYF MH MHP SUPERVISOR NCYF (SATOP) SA CDC NSP MH ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Id (MH)) NSP MH BH ASST. ADMIN. FOR MH NSP MH CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST NSP MH MHP II NSP MH MHP II NSP MH MHP SUPERVISOR NSP MH PSYCHOLOGIST 1 NSP MH SECRETARY II NSP PSYCHIATRY PSYCHIATRIST NSP SA CDCS NSP SOS BH ASST. ADMIN. FOR SO SERVICES NSP SOS CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST NSP SOS CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST NSP SOS VACANT STAFF ASSISTANT 1 NSP SW MASTER SOCIAL WORKER NSP (NRTS) SA CDC OCC MH CLINCIAL PSYCHOLOGIST OCC MH MHP II OCC MH MHP II OCC MH MHP SUPERVISOR OCC MH PSYCHOLOGIST 1 OCC MH SECRETARY 11 OCC SA CDC OCC SOS CLINICAL PROGRAM MANAGER OCC SW MASTER SOCIAL WORKER OCC (RSAT) SA CDC OCC (RSAT) SA CDC OCC (RSAT) SA CDC OCC (RSAT) SA CDC OCC (RSAT) SA CDC OCC (RSAT) SA CDC OCC (RSAT) SA CDCS OCC (RSAT) SA MHP II VACANT VACANT VACANT Behavioral Health Positions by Institution and Area 9-27-13 PO/SW SW MASTER SOCIAL WORKER PO/SW SW MASTER SOCIAL WORKER RTC SA AABH/SA RTC SA ADM. SEC. RTC SA ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT 11 {SA) RTC SA CDC VACANT VACANT (ON HOLD) SA CDC RTC SA CDC RTC SA CDC RTC SA CDC RTC SA CDC VACANT RTC SA CDC VACANT RTC SA CDC RTC SA CDC RTC SA CDCS RTC SA CDCS RTC SA CDCS RTC SA CDTS RTC SA CDTS RTC SA CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST RTC SA MHPIt RTC RTC SA SECRETARY II RTC SA STAFF ASST. 1 RTC SA STAFF ASST. 1 RTC SW director or Social Work RTC SW DUAL i MASTER SOCIAL WORKER SOB - Omaha VACANT MHPII SOB - Omaha SA CDC SOB - Omaha SA CDC Trabart Hall DUAL CDC Trabert Hall SA CDC Trabert Hall SA CDC Trabert Hall SA TRABERT MALI SOS VACANT CDTS MHPII TSCI MH CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST TSCI MH CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST TSCI MH MHPII TSCI MH MHPII TSCI MH MHP SUPERVISOR TSCI MH Staff Assistant! TSCI A CDC TSCI A CDC TSCI SA CDC TSCI SA CDC TSCI SA CDC TSCI SA CDCS TSCI SA SECRETARY II VACANT Behavioral Health Positions by Institution and Area 9-27-13 WEC SA CDTS WEC SA CDTS WEC SA CDC WEC SA CDC WEC SA CDC WEC SA CDCS WEC SA CDTS WEC SA CDTS WEC SA CDTS VACANT WEC SA CDTS VACANT VACANT <