Increasing Correctional Agencies Capacity to Protect Vulnerable Populations During Incarceration

Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center (Urban), in collaboration with The Moss Group (TMG) as a proposed subrecipient, proposes to identify and select approximately 25 state, local, and tribal confinement agencies across the United States and competitively award up to $50,000 of supporting funding in the form of two-year microgrants to each confinement agency for improving practices to protect vulnerable people during incarceration and reduce the use of overly punitive or restrictive approaches traditionally used to do so. The microgrants will focus on supporting interventions that address the following vulnerable populations: 1) survivors of crime, violence, and victimization; 2) people diagnosed with a serious mental illness; 3) youth incarcerated in adult confinement facilities; 4) people who identify as LGBTQ+; and 5) the aging population. Once microgrants are awarded, the project team will conduct needs assessments to create specialized training and technical assistance (TTA) plans for each grantee and support them directly, while also providing TTA to non-micrograntees and developing knowledge products for the field at large based on the lessons gleaned from this microgrant program.