Restrictive Housing Reform Implementation Assistance Program

Community Resources for Justice, Inc.'s Crime and Justice Institute (CJI) proposes a project design that includes the technical aspects of restrictive housing reform implementation, and places equal emphasis on the leadership and organizational development needed to sustain the policy and practice changes. CJI will begin its work by selecting four state correctional agencies to provide intensive training and technical assistance. Once selected, CJI and its partner, Alliance for Community and Justice Innovation (ACJI), will work with sites to build leadership and implementation capacity and complete implementation plans that consider leadership, implementation team, and organizational readiness and strengths as wells as the policies, program or overall approach the state is prioritizing to reduce its use of restrictive housing. Once these plans are in place, implementation assistance will be provided over a 1.5-year period.

To leverage implementation assistance, site experiences and the convening, CJI will document the outcomes of the sites’ implementation efforts and specific activities to promote and sustain buy-in for restrictive housing reform, and articulate the practices or models used for data collection, analysis and reporting. This documentation and the lessons learned will form the basis for the following deliverables: a brief on how to prepare for reform and gain staff buy-in, a checklist on organizational readiness and culture, a roadmap for successful reform with tips and lessons learned, an implementation plan template, a case study publication on use of data and analysis, and a how-to guide for agencies on how to use data as a management tool.