Project FOCUS (Female Offenders Can Ultimately Succeed)

The Second Chance Act of 2007 provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of people who are released from prison and jail and returning to communities, including resources to address the myriad needs of these offenders to achieve a successful return to their communities. The FY 2013 Smart Probation Program (SPP) seeks to improve probation success rates, which would in turn improve public safety, reduce admissions to prisons and jails, and save taxpayer dollars. Funds can be used to implement evidence-based supervision strategies and to innovate new strategies to improve outcomes for probationers. The goal of this program is to develop and test innovative strategies and to implement evidence-based probation approaches that increase community safety and reduce violent crime by effectively addressing individuals' risk and needs and reduce recidivism.

The grant recipient will use the grant to support project FOCUS (Female Offenders Can Ultimately Succeed). Project FOCUS will provide intensive probation supervision with enhanced care management and linkage to medical, mental health, and substance abuse services to 140 adult, female offenders who present at medium to high risk on the Correctional Offender Management Profiling for Alternative Sanctions (COMPAS) risk assessment tool, have a history of violent behavior, and have been incarcerated for a period of time within the last nine months. This collaborative approach of specialized gender-based services will provide a system of care that addresses the trauma and resulting physical and mental health/substance abuse problems of these women. The funds will support 1) a Senior Probation Officer and Probation Officer who will coordinate the project and provide intensive probation supervision to the participants, 2) training, 3) overtime for the Probation Officers who will facilitate the cognitive behavioral groups, 4) care management, and 5) a research study.
CA/NCF