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Missouri has been engaged in NIC’s Transition from Prison to Community (TPC) Initiative since 2002. The initiative, known as the Missouri Reentry Process (MRP) began under the leadership of former Director of Corrections, Gary Kempker, and is now supported and continues to move forward via the leadership of the current Director of Corrections, Larry Crawford.

Team Leadership Structure

A Cabinet Level Leadership group spearheads the effort. Eight state agencies: the Departments of Corrections, Social Services, Mental Health, Revenue, Health and Senior Services, Economic Development, Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Office of the State Courts Administrator, along with representatives from the community have partnered to strengthen offender reentry practices.

Directly under the Cabinet level group is the MRP Steering Committee. The membership of this committee includes top level staff from the aforementioned state agencies as well as representatives form private service providers and community members.

A leadership committee exists to ensure that implantation plans are being successfully executed and provide additional guidance, direction, and assistance to the Steering Committee.

Early Targets of Change

Early targets of change in Missouri included the creation of Transitional Housing Units (THU’s). The Department of Corrections has established these units in 12 correctional institutions. A Transitional Housing Unit (THU) is a housing unit or wing in the institution. Within 180 days of an offender’s release, the offender is moved to a THU. While in the THU the offender works on goals outlined in their Transitional Accountability Plan (TAP) and receives intensive case management focused on the offender’s seamless transition home. Programming offered in the THU includes but is not limited to Employability Skills/Life Skills, cognitive skills training, parenting classes, substance abuse education. All offenders in the THU are registered in the “GreatHires” system and linkages are made to community resources to ensure continuity of care upon release.

Other changes include:
  • Development of an employability screening and rehabilitation plan process for each offender.
  • Revision of DMH Institutional Substance Abuse Treatment Certification Standards to place emphasis on discharge planning, transition practices, and successful linkage to community providers for continuity-of-care.
  • Institutional mental health services providers now complete formal mental health discharge planning, allowing offenders to make direct linkage to community providers for continuity-of-care. In February 2005, D5-8.12 Mental Health Discharge Planning policy was finalized. This policy established guidelines for preparing offenders with serious mental illness for discharge to the community.
  • Implementation of evidence-based programs for enhancing offender motivation, problem solving ability and thinking process. Contract services have been secured for provision of these services and an implementation team will oversee the utilization of cognitive skills programming in correctional facilities, treatment centers, supervision districts and community supervision centers statewide.
  • Links have been established with the division of workforce development and workforce investment boards for services to offenders prior to release.
  • Development of a targeted educational effort for prospective employers that demonstrates the benefits of hiring offenders following release from prison along with a partnership with one-stop career centers where appointments are scheduled for offenders prior to release from prison.

Assessment Strategy

The Missouri Department of Corrections uses three major assessment processes and tools, one for the institutions, one for parole decision making and one for supervision in the community. All three tools have been validated and revalidated on the Missouri offender population. However, the time has come for Missouri to move to a single, ongoing dynamic assessment process with a single assessment tool for the three aforementioned areas. Significant initial work on this project is underway.

Survival Needs

Ensuring all offenders have a social security card, birth certificate and state identification card when released from prison will directly impact the ability for an offender to obtain employment within the first 60 days after release. To address this barrier to employment all THU’s are assisting offenders with obtaining replacement social security cards through an informal agreement with their local Social Security office. The Department of Corrections and the Department Health and Senior Services have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to assist offenders in obtaining birth certificates before release. The Department of Corrections and the Department of Revenue are working together to provide state identification cards to offenders before release. To obtain a state identification card, offenders must have a social security card and birth certificate. All identification documentation will be scanned at the institution and electronically sent to DOR along with an electronic application and picture. This process will be piloted at Algoa Correctional Center and Women’s Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center.
During FY2002, approximately 30% of the 6,650 of violators returned to prison did not have a known stable address at the time of their re-incarceration. To begin addressing this barrier, Probation and Parole staff are now members of Regional Housing Boards across the state. They are working with these boards to identify additional housing resources for reentering offenders.

Pre-Release Planning

The Transition Accountability Plan (TAP) in Missouri begins when an offender is initially placed under the purview of the Department of Corrections. As the offender’s assets and liabilities are determined, a detailed individualized plan is formulated and key mentors are identified and assigned to the offender’s case management team. This plan lays the groundwork for success.
Over the period of incarceration, the offender, their families, staff and community resources work together to address past issues and to ensure the offender continues to work toward achieving their goals in preparation for release. As the offender successfully completes a goal, the plan is modified.

Case Planning and Management

The use of the Transition Accountability Plan (TAP) strengthens the Department’s ability to hold offenders accountable for their actions, provides offenders with the tools necessary to identify and address liabilities that contribute to criminality, and provides concerted department and community resources to support offenders’ goals during incarceration, upon release, and during supervision within the community.

Innovative Partnerships

In order to offer individualized, community-based treatment programming that helps offenders succeed in both employment and substance abuse treatment without one interfering with the other, MRP has fostered a partnership with the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. This has resulted in a restructuring of all of the Division’s primary recovery treatment to include multi-level of care along with flexible vocational programming. This was initiated in 2004 and was effective April 1, 2005. This model incorporates employment as a treatment goal, offers employment interventions, and does not interfere with existing employment.

Much work has been done at the state level to ensure that the implementation of MRP is efficient and effective: however, it is critical that the same work be accomplished at the local level. In order to address local needs, over 15 Local Steering Teams have been established to lead, guide, direct and manage MRP at the local level. These teams include representatives from the same entitles that are on the State Steering Team, plus additional key local stakeholders.

Performance Measurement

An initial outcome study has been completed by the Missouri Department of Corrections Research Unit on offenders released through the Missouri re-entry process. The initial results are encouraging. The study found that offenders released from a Transitional Housing Unit (THU) had a recidivism rate after six months that was 6.8% lower than for a comparable group of offenders who had been released from institutions without THUs. For offenders who had been released from a THU for at least 12 months the reduction in recidivism was 4.7%. If the reduction in recidivism is maintained as both the number of offenders who go through the re-entry process increases and as the time from release increases then the re-entry process will significantly reduce the number of offenders being returned to prison.

Technical Assistance from NIC

Since Missouri’s participation in the TPC Initiative began, NIC has been providing technical assistance through its Cooperative Agreement Partner—the Center for Effective Public Policy. CEPP provides orientation on the TPC model, information, cross-site communication, periodic workshops for participating sites, and expert consultation from a site coordinator assigned to support MRP.

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