Technology Driven Community Intervention

A 2018 report indicated that in Ohio, approximately 330,000 individuals were under some form of criminal supervision. The Ohio Adult Parole Authority (APA) supervises individuals released from Ohio prisons with supervision, courtesy supervision for 18 counties, and interstate compact cases. While officers work 40 hours a week they are only able to dedicate a fraction of that time to any one specific offender providing much needed criminogenic interventions. The challenge we are facing is due to the high number of individuals under supervision, the APA has found it difficult to provide the degree of supervision and immediacy required to help guide an individual's use of services and programs to facilitate positive behavior change and reduce recidivism.

During the pandemic, the way services are provided to individuals under supervision has changed dramatically and quickly. This has resulted in us reevaluating these practices due to the officers and offenders’ positive response to technology and alternative intervention options. Officers need a mechanism to continue helping individuals on their caseload have success in the community, learn in the style of generation Z, immediately address risky behaviors and provide tools to enabling the offenders to self-correct, cope with COVID-19 guidelines, manage barriers, and mitigate future risk of reoffending all while maintaining fidelity.

A project team would be created to address the problem. Because of our significant numbers, the APA needs assistance to develop and implement interventions that can be immediate and situational based. This need is critical given limited resources available to focus on targeting offender need. Also, the recent health and economic crisis have posed barriers to effectively supervising offenders in the community.

The APA would like to convert the structure and tools from Core Correctional Practice into an interactive application-based system. The system will be available via a mobile cloud-based platform and through an app. The primary goal of the system will be to provide APA officers and offenders with a tool kit filled with the CCP suite of tools. The system would allow for step-by-step instructions, video demonstrations, and interactive feedback to teach and learn specific strategies shown to help reduce recidivism. The system will allow communication between users so that officers can identify specific tools that align with the person under supervisions’ needs, review work completed by the person, and allow individuals’ and their support network to share tools and strategies while enhancing safety and potentially expanding the interventions rehabilitative reach.