Community corrections department and jail form winning combination.

In 1987, Marion County, Ore., combined its community corrections department and its jail into one County Department of Corrections. This major decision helped the county develop a comprehensive range of adult corrections sanctions and services for offenders.

The move was prompted in part by a 1984 National Institute of Corrections monograph titled, "Community Corrections in the 1990s," by Vincent O'Leary and Todd Clear. This paper spawned a discussion and eventual redraft of the agency's mission and vision of the future.

It became our overall position that risk control--reducing the probability of crime--should become our chief goal. As prescribed in the NIC monograph, our fundamental aim is to develop a fair system of community protection in which incarceration and other intermediate sanctions and services are employed rationally. We have adopted three related objectives in our pursuit of risk management:

Humaneness. Intervention in offenders' lives must be limited to the least intrusive action necessary to get the job done. Before we combined the jail and the community corrections department, an offender's probation or parole revocation meant a trip to jail or prison. Today, most violations result in sentences of intermediate sanctions such as community service or electronic supervision.

Effective use of knowledge. Risk control of offender conduct is a complicated task. Knowing what works is extremely valuable.

Our management approach to a pregnant drug offender offers a recent example of this priority. By placing the offender in our intensive supervision program, where she was able to participate in private treatment programs, the newborn entered life drug-free. A research study from Canada pointed the way toward a balanced approach of supervision and treatment as offering the best chance for offender success.

Cost containment. All else being equal, we should pursue choices that are least expensive for the citizens. Combining the jail and the community corrections department has led to several cost savings. Management overhead is now shared; we use one offender data base; we have one coordinated training operation for all staff; and we have one consolidated food service contract that has reduced costs for our community work center and jail food programs. In addition, community service workers from our work center provide groundskeeping for the jail campus. In return, jail inmates provide laundry services for the work center program.

These three objectives helped us refine the department's mission statement. Our current mission is to "provide a corrections organization, programs, custody and services which will make the most effective use of available resources to protect the public, enhance the integrity of the law, and maintain the offender as a contributing member of the community."

Combining the jail and the community corrections department has provided several important benefits that have improved the department's overall service to the community.

Better medical treatment. Medically unstable cases are staffed and moved to the sanction best suited for stabilization and cost containment.

A recent case demonstrates this point. A drug-dependent, pregnant offender was sentenced to the jail. A case management meeting revealed that if we modified her sentence to the community work center (a community corrections minimum security facility), she would remain eligible for publicly assisted medical care and the county would avoid the liability of having a drug-dependent baby born in jail. The programming at the work center also accommodated her drug treatment regimen, which would have been difficult to do if she had remained in jail. Before we integrated our program, the jail probably would have released the woman early to avoid the financial liability of the birth. This would have served only to dump the case back to the community.

Better classification. Since we combined our operations, local judges have given us more discretion in offender placement. We now have more latitude in moving offenders to sanctions and services that fit their risk and needs classification.

Improved career opportunities for staff. Employees now have a broader career ladder from which to choose and progress. Also, the agency's larger size means there is more opportunity for specialization of line and management services.

More efficient contractual services. Contractual services, such as food, programs and treatment, can be more economically delivered. Before the combined agency, community corrections and the jail contracted separately with the same vendors for supplies and equipment, food, training, GED classes, and alcohol and drug services. Unifying these purchases dropped the unit cost of the services and reduced the administrative overhead to manage the contracts.