NCJ Number
72759
Date Published
1979
Length
154 pages
Annotation
Based on a comprehensive 3-year examination of California's Parole and Community Services Division (PCSD), this manual describes the new model of parole and presents guidelines for its implementation by the State's 16 parole districts.
Abstract
In April 1975, the Director of the California Department of Corrections charged the newly appointed PCSD director with evaluating the system's methods of delivering controls and services to paroled felons and narcotic addict outpatients and recommending improvements. The findings of this 3-year program which involved experimental projects, as well as other research, are summarized, as are corrective measures undertaken by the division. This document then details the programmatic and management principles that form the basis for the new model; these principles emphasize frequent assessments of parolees and updating action plans accordingly, differential supervision responding to the risks and needs posed by individual offenders, and case outcomes rather than processes. Field staff will be placed in functional specialties, and field managers will assume greater decisionmaking responsibilities. The following eight organizational options which can be used singly or in combinations by field offices are outlined: integrated unit, extended geography subunit, basic rural, functional specialist, team supervision, district supervision, case management, and resource specialist. An overview of the processes that accompany the new model considers risks and needs assessment, action plan development, decisions regarding the type of supervision assigned, implementation of the action plan, reassessments, and updates. Procedures for implementing the new model are described, along with problems that can be anticipated. Other topics covered by the manual include types of information that offices will need to collect and present regularly and standardized forms to be used statewide during the operational shakedown phase. Changes in the felon and nonfelon procedures manuals that the model may require are discussed. The last section identifies analytic studies that can be initiated after the model's implementation. The appendixes list field staff activities that are necessary to perform individual parole functions and provide instructions for writing implementation plans.