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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRISON BOARD MINUTES February 2023 FRANKLIN COUNTY PRISON BOARD MINUTES Franklin County Administration Building February 14, 2023 Present: Dave Keller, Commissioner John Flannery, Commissioner Bob Ziobrowski, Commissioner Harold Wissinger, Controller Dane Anthony, Sheriff Hon. Shawn Meyers, President Judge Carrie Gray, County Administrator Christopher Schell, Warden Doug Wilburne, Probation Chief Geoffrey Willett, Probation Deputy Chief John Thierwechter, Assistant County Administrator Benjamin Sites, Deputy Sheriff Sheena Baker, Communications Coordinator Ellen Eckert, Pre-Release Supervisor Jeffrey Scott, FCJ Deputy Warden Heather Franzoni, FCJ Deputy Warden Michelle Weller, FCJ Deputy Warden Dr. Robert Orth I. The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Flannery at 8:30 AM. II. Public Comment A. There was no public comment III. Minutes for the January 2023 meeting were discussed. A. Controller Wissinger moved to accept the minutes, Judge Meyers seconded the motion and the minutes were unanimously approved. IV. Warden’s Report A. There were 134 commitments and 121 discharges in January. B. The average daily population was 256 with an average of 219 males and 37 females. C. The recidivism rate was 40% when looking at all new commitments that had been incarcerated at FCJ within the past three years. The recidivism rate was 51% when looking only at those commitments being held for trial only. D. At a snapshot view at the beginning of February there were 100 sentenced and 166 unsentenced inmates. There were 11 inmates on Approved Temporary Absence status. Thirtenn were pending transfer to SCI. E. There was $6,621 collected in total revenue for January. F. The average length of stay (ALOS) for those discharged in January was 53 days. G. There was one inmate housed in Centre. H. A breakdown of the demographic statistics for January indicated that males made up 74% of the population, 66% of the population were white, 37% of the population was between the ages of 25-34, 74% were single, 1% were military veterans and 84% had at least their high school diploma or GED. I. PrimeCare’s medical report was presented. There were 1026 sick calls. There were 18 outside medical appointments and 12 trips to the ER. There were 4 hospital admissions. There were 792 mental health contacts. There were 42 inmates on suicide watch. There was one inmate that required 1:1 observation. There was one inmate at Torrance State Hospital. There were four participants in the Sex Offender’s Treatment Program. There were 42 in the Medication Assisted Therapy (MAT) program. There were 174 on the MH caseload and an additional 48 with SMI diagnoses. There were 65 commitments placed on detox protocol. There were two pregnant inmates. Five inmates were given the COVID vaccine. J. Judge Meyers moved to accept the Warden’s report, Controller Wissinger seconded the motion and the report was unanimously approved. V. Intermediate Punishment report A. The Pre-Release department received 31 intakes and 41 discharges. B. There were 10 inmates placed into employment. C. There were 1400 hours of community service completed. D. The Pre-Trial Release program had 53 offenders. E. The Drug and Alcohol RIP/DCIP program had 61 offenders. There were five successful discharges. F. The Sex Offender Program had 44. G. There were 39 offenders on the Mental Health caseload. H. The Electronic Monitoring Program had 14 offenders. I. There were 19 offenders detained in January and there were 12 that were given alternative sanctions. J. There were 118 jail days saved by using the alternative sanctions of electronic monitoring (484 days), DCIP/D&A RIP (1576 days), intensive supervision (101 days) and pre-trial release (1370 days). K. The Work Release program collected $17,591 and the Probation Department collected $208,402 in January. VI. Dr. Orth gave the presentation “Baselining Recidivism in Franklin County” A. The study looked at 1419 Franklin County offenders that began supervision in 2016 and 1239 inmates that were released from FCJ in 2016. B. The key findings were that supervised offenders had lower recidivism rates, the youngest offenders had the highest recidivism rates and that the majority of recidivating offenders from either study group were not escalating their criminal behavior towards more serious charges upon rearrest. C. Commissioner Ziobrowski said that we may want to look at jail alternatives for those under 26, since the numbers showed more charge escalation after incarceration in that age group. D. Judge Meyers asked if any of the findings were tied into the size of the Probation Officers’ caseloads. Dr. Orth answered that caseload sizes were not measured in this study. Judge Meyers suggested that future studies break down the examination of offenders rearrested from supervision into the categories of those who had also been incarcerated and those who had not, and that the examination of offenders rearrested after incarceration be further broken down into those being released to supervision and those being released on no supervision. VII. Old Business A. DW Weller provided a pandemic update. There are currently no staff and five inmates on COVID protocols. B. DW Weller provided a staffing update. There are currently 79 officer positions filled, 25 officer vacancies and two pending hire. VIII. New Business – Appointment of FCJ Warden A. Christopher Schell introduced himself to the Board and discussed his experience in corrections. B. Commissioner Flannery offered the Board the opportunity to go into Executive Session to further discuss, however there were no requests to do so. C. Commissioner Ziobrowski moved to appoint Christopher Schell, Controller Wissinger seconded the motion and his appointment as FCJ Warden was unanimously approved. IX. The next meeting is scheduled for March 14, 2022 at 8:30AM at the Franklin County Judicial Center. Controller Wissinger moved to end the meeting, Sheriff Anthony seconded the motion and the meeting was adjourned.