Welcome to Corrections  209 Case Management
 

Please print this page and complete the required sections. There are few books in this area. The text for the course is “Probation and Parole in America” by Harry E. Allen, Chris W. Eskridge, Edward J. Latessa, Gennaro Vito, available from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble.  Publisher: Oxford University Press ISBN: 0195079051. Course Textbooks (and used books) can be obtained from the Rio Hondo Bookstore by calling 562.6998676 or via the web page at http://www.rhc.bkstr.com. There are no CD's/Audios Required!

Mail to:

Rio Hondo College
Department of Public Safety
3600 Workman Mill Road
Whittier, CA 90608

Course Description:  Caseload management is the process of managing correctional caseloads.  This course is designed to provide the student with caseload management skills to supervise youth and adult ex-felons.  

Course Assignments

Unit 1- Submit a  self introduction to your instructor. The introduction will include the following:

Complete the Minimum Course Requirements: Click here to begin

Also answer the following:

1. What additional material would you like for this course?
2. What experience do you have with database systems that manage information such as a prison, parole, probation, or criminal justice database?
3. What kind of information is stored on a database for a parolee? (You can do a search for the Department of Corrections website to assist you)
4. Is it important to maintain accurate records in the database? Is it important to update information on the database? Explain.

Unit 2 - Classification System/Level of Supervision. 

Assignment:

Assign a supervision level to an ex-offender with a commitment offense, assault with a deadly weapon, causing great bodily injury, criminal history of violence, property offenses, and robbery, history of gang involvement, history of substance abuse, high school drop-out with limited academic ability, limited employment skills, transient, and good health. Explain how you arrived at your decision.   

Unit Overview  In order to manage an ex-offender population, there must be a process to access the ex-offender's probable risks to the community and the ex-offender's need for assistance to a make a successful transition to the community.  In a prison population this is often referred to as level of custody.  In parole and probation supervision this is referred to as level of supervision.  This Unit will focus on parole classification system known as a "Risk and Needs Assessment". 

A Risk Assessment is designed to evaluate the type, frequency, and severity of criminal behavior and provide indicators of the probability of further criminal involvement.  This is accomplished through review of the ex-offender's criminal history and experience with the following:

The Needs Assessment is designed to evaluate the ex-offender's past patterns of community adjustment and to determine the type or severity of problems that may affect the ex-offender's ability to succeed on parole/probation.  The caseworker includes a brief statement noting the type and severity of any problems or deficiencies with respect to the following:

Once the above process is reviewed a score is placed on each category for the Risk and Needs Assessment.  The score is used to determine the level of supervision.  The actual scoring system and classification differ depending on the authority and system used.  However in general terms they are classified as Minimum, Medium, and Maximum Supervision.  California parole uses the terms, Minimum Supervision, Control Service Supervision, High Service Supervision, and High Control Supervision.  The supervision level is assigned to the ex-offender prior to release to parole. 

Unit 3 - Developing the Case Plan. 

Assignment:

Write a Case Plan for an ex-offender using a case history of your choice.  Some of you taking this course are working in the correctional profession.  You may use a case from your employment as long as the case remains anonymous. Use John or Jane Doe as the name of the defendant and fictionalize the events. For those of you who do not work in the profession and need a case history, email the instructor for examples.

Unit Overview  The case planning process forms the basis for the ex-offender supervision.  The parole/probation officer develops it in conjunction with the ex-offender at the onset of supervision.  It reflects all the available and relevant information regarding the offender, including the special conditions of probation and parole.  This is not to imply that offenders determine how they will be supervised, rather, the most effective case plans are developed with full awareness and understanding on the part of the ex-offender regarding responsibilities during the duration of supervision.  The case manager of the ex-offender's supervision is the parole/probation officer who has the responsibility of directing the offender's activities while under supervision.  The pre-sentence investigation report is the operative time to set the groundwork for development of the initial case plan and to recommend the special conditions necessary for effective supervision.

The actual time frame when a case plan should be completed will differ from agency to agency and also the level of supervision determined through the classification process.  A good start is 30 days prior to the defendants release from custody.  This provides time for the casework to review the aforementioned material and prepare the case plan.

Unit 4 - Probation/Parole Conditions.  Post a response to the following questions to the instructor's email.

    1. What type of special conditions of parole/probation is appropriate for the following:

•         History of substance abuse
•         Commitment offense of Spousal Battery convicted after 1997
•         Ex-Offender that has mental health concerns
•         Ex-Offender convicted of Grand Theft involving theft from the ex-offender's prior employer.

Unit Overview  In this unit we will review two types of probation and parole conditions, standard type that every person on probation and parole receive and special conditions that are tailored to a specific type of offender or crime.

Standard Conditions for California Parolee's

You waive extradition to the State of California from any State or territory of the U.S. or the District of Columbia.

When the Board of Prison Terms feels you pose a danger to yourself or others, based on psychiatric reasons, they may order your placement in a community treatment facility or revoke your parole and return you to Prison.

You and your residence and any property under your control may be searched without a warrant by an agent of the California Department of Corrections or any Law Enforcement Officer.

If another jurisdiction has lodged a detainer against you, you may be released to the custody of that jurisdiction.

Unless other arrangements are approved in writing, you will report to your Parole Agent on the first working day following your release.

Any change of residence shall be reported to your Parole Agent in advance.

You will inform your Parole Agent within 72 hours of any change of employment location, employer or termination of employment.

You will comply with all instructions of your Parole Agent.

You will not travel more than 50 miles from your residence without your Parole Agents permission.

You will not be absent from your county of residence commitment for more than 48 hours and not leave the State of California without written approval of your Parole Agent.

You shall not engage in conduct prohibited by law (state, federal, county or municipal).

You shall immediately inform your Parole Agent if you are arrested for a felony or a misdemeanor.

You shall not own, use, have access to, or have under your control any type of firearm or instrument or device which a reasonable person would believe to be capable of being used as a firearm. ( i.e. Plastic guns and replicas )

You shall not posses any ammunition that can be used in a firearm.

You shall not posses any weapon as defined in State or Federal statutes or listed in Penal Code section 12020.

You shall not posses any knife with a blade longer than 2 inches, except kitchen knives which must be kept in your residence and knives relating to your employment.

Specific Conditions of Parole

Special Conditions are specific restrictions that apply to the individual parolee and address a specific crime or behavior. For example, a parolee who has a history of substance abuse will receive a special parole condition for Anti Narcotic Testing.  The same applies for probation.  Anti-Narcotic Testing mandates that the probationer/parolee provide a random urine test under observed conditions.  A probationer/parolee may receive a special condition not to associate with gang members if he/she has case factors that merit this condition.   There are others that apply to crimes against children, property, persons, etc.  There can be a lot said about special conditions.  Special conditions can be over-done or too general. For example, placing special conditions that prohibit a behavior that is not relevant to the case.  They need to be specific to the case.   

Note that as you processed through the course you were introduced to a Classification System, Case Plan, and now parole/probation conditions.  Keep in mind that the aforementioned are generally completed prior to the defendants release from custody.  This is part of a process that some agencies refer to as a pre-release process.  This ensures that the caseworker understands the dynamics of the case and sets the tone for supervision.  The emphasis of this course is on caseload management.  Therefore it is imperative that the caseworker gets control during the early stages of supervision and does not lose control of the process. 

Unit 5 - Case Count Policy and the impact on workload.  Post a response to the following questions to the instructor's email. 

1.     What is the importance of an accurate case count?
2.     What is the importance of bringing closure to a case such as a discharge or termination of jurisdiction?
3.     Provide examples of errors that are found in a database that maintains a large population such as parole, probation, or prison population.

Unit Overview  Thus far in the course we reviewed important elements of case management with respect to organization and definition.  Now let us take a look at what makes the workload and what confuses many caseworkers when they are new to this profession.  The focus of this unit will be on California State Parole with reference to probation.

In Unit 1 we looked at the case count for California State Parole.  As you noticed there are about 117,000 active parolees divided into four regions.  This number is staggering when you think of how to manage these cases. There must be a means of accountability.  Accountability means who is responsible for the higher and lower end of this population.  This Unit will focus on the lower end, the individual caseworker.  I use the term lower end with no disrespect to the hard working caseworker that at times is overwhelmed with large caseloads but in reference to the staff responsible for direct supervision.   Now let us focus on some useful terms that we help you understand the entire population as well as the individual under community supervision. 

Organization comes into play when the caseworker understands the process within the agency to differentiate an active case from an inactive that determines an accurate count and how to move cases to closure.  This is not an easy task because each agency has different rules that determine case count policy.  It is imperative that the caseworker understands policy relative to the agency.

Unit 6 - - Specialized supervision and the impact on workload and community safety.  Post a response to the following questions to the instructor's email.

1.     What is the importance of specialized supervision?
2.     What do you think might be a criticism of banked caseloads?

Unit Overview  Many agencies are now moving to specialized supervision for designated offenses.  For example, some agencies now provide specialized supervision for sex offenders, second strikers, and the ex-offender population that are identified with psychiatric problems.  The impact on a caseworker's workload will be lower caseloads with the expectation of more frequent contact with the ex-offender and a more concentrated effort to interrupt the cycle of recidivism.  There are some schools of thought that say lower caseloads do not significantly impact recidivism.  However, at the time of this course more effort is being directed towards specialized supervision.

Each agency has a mission statement that to some extend allows the caseworker discretionary decision-making that is consistent with the agencies policy and procedures.  This allows some freedom for the casework to exercise creativity in the profession that is consistent with public safety.  Specialized supervision focuses on ex-offender populations that represent a significant risk to the community and have a high probability of return to custody.  Now let us take a look at specialized supervision.

Supervision of the Sex Offender:  For those of you who have taken Corrections 265, "Supervision of the Sex Offender", will be familiar with this topic. Carefully and thoroughly assessed, many sex offenders can be treated and effectively and safely supervised in the community as an alternative to incarceration and upon release from prison.  This requires techniques and methods to help correctional staff and treatment providers to determine whether a sex offender is appropriate for probation and community treatment.  Once the sex-offender is committed to state prison and released the community, the process of supervision becomes more restricted with more controls focused on prevention and public safety.  This is not to say that probation supervision for the sex offender is less restrictive.  However, once committed to a state prison, the offense is more severe that mandates more control. 

Second Striker:  This term is more commonly used in the State of California and is referred to those offenders who have two felony strikes on their record.  A third strike or another felony conviction means a long prison sentence.  There is much controversy over the law "Three Strikes" law in California that will not be reviewed in this unit.  It is appropriate to know that Second Striker caseloads are now being developed with the emphasis on lower caseloads to provide specialized supervision to protect the community and interrupt the cycle of recidivism.  This will be a difficult group of offenders to supervise, given that they have two felonies it is very likely that they have an extensive criminal history with limited employment skills and other limitations that become work intensive for the caseworker.

Ex-Offenders with Psychiatric Problems: Without a doubt this is the group of ex-offenders that are the most work intensive for the caseworker.  Work intensive because they require a lot of time and patience on the part of the caseworker.  Some agencies require that the releasing institution or custody facility work closely with the community supervision staff so that there is a plan in effect when the inmate is released to community supervision.  For example, the inmate with psychiatric problems will be released to a board and care that the caseworker has developed prior to release to supervision.  The caseworker can follow through with referrals to agencies that specialize in providing services to this group of ex-offenders.  Often the caseworker will have to provide direct services such as transportation and contact with the agencies providing service due to the limited capacity of the person under supervision.  The emphasis is to lower the caseload whereby the caseworker can provide more intensive services to provide stability.

Banked Caseloads:  This is not a form of specialized supervision, however it is worth mentioning in order to understand how large populations under supervision are managed.  Probation is more familiar with this term due to the large caseloads.  Note that state agencies also have banked caseloads referring to large groups of the ex -offender population supervised without contact.  For example, there is a large group of undocumented aliens in the prison population.  They are not released to community supervision but released to US immigration service that deports them to their country of origin.  Monitoring their case status to see if they illegally return to the USA and follow-up action is the method of supervision provided.  If an illegal return is detected, follow-up action is required for return to custody.  Depending of the agency, after a period of supervision the case can be discharged.  As the term implies large caseloads lends itself well to this group. 

Note that specialized supervision may mean smaller caseloads, however the workload may be more intensive justifying a smaller caseload and the emphasis will be on community protection through providing more intensive supervision that interrupts the recidivism cycle.  

Unit 7 - Case assignments and how to prioritize assignments.  Post a response to the following questions to the instructor's email.

    What type of training have you received in your current career on "Time Management" and what impact has this had on your career?

Unit Overview  Prioritizing your time with a caseload is about controlling the use of your most valuable resource. When was the last time you scheduled a review of your time allocation?  Working under a multiple task operation means gaining control of the workload without allowing the workload to gain control over you. The absence of good time management skills is characterized by a workload that gets out of control, especially evident with the caseworker that does not prioritize assignments and does not bring closure to cases.

Casework requires multiple tasks that at times appears overwhelming.  Very seldom are fewer tasks required but on the contrary more are required due to the impact of new legislation as well as changes within the agency. Organization of a caseload is a systematic application of common sense strategies. It requires effort that promotes efficient work practices by highlighting wastage and it leads to effective use of time by focusing it on your chosen activities. Therefore, take control of your own time - how you use it is then up to you.

Unit 8 - Community supervision of ex-felons.  Post a response to the following questions to the instructor's email.

1.     Explain what you would do at an initial contact with an ex-offender at his/her residence?

2.     Explain how you would organize field contacts in the community to ensure the most effective use of your time?

3.     What are the advantages of an unannounced field contact over an announced field contact?

Unit Overview  Community supervision of the ex-offender mandates community protection and the casework process of reintegrating the ex-offender into the community.  Community supervision also known as field supervision of the ex-offender, is the process where the caseworker supervises the ex-offender in the community through a process of surveillance, networking with other public agencies, collateral contacts with significant others, and the actual contact with the ex-offender at his/her residence or community program where the ex-offender resides. 

Unit 9 - Organizational skills, caseload management, and community safety.  Post a response to the following questions to the instructor's email.

1. What is the importance of understanding the agency's mission statement in carrying out the caseworker's duty responsibilities?
2. What are some of the issues the caseworker has to be concerned about supervising ex-offenders in the community?
3. In your opinion, how can you prevent job burnout in corrections?

Unit Overview  This is the last unit for the course and I cannot emphasize enough on the importance of organization in casework.  A good organizational skill prepares you for advancement in your career, job satisfaction, and to some degree prevents job burnout.  Job burnout is high in the correctional profession especially among caseworkers.  Unit 7 emphasized the need to prioritize assignments and provided some good techniques for organization and time management.  At some point in your careers your agency will provide you with training on time management.  I cannot underscore the importance of learning good organizational skills at an early stage in your career.  Once I thought that organizational skill is something that is learned early in life and cannot be taught latter in life.  I found that I was in error.  Organization can be learned and bad habits can be undone.

Some agencies use a point system as opposed to a direct count system.  Direct count means that the caseworker receives credit for each person on the caseload at an equal value as opposed to a system that allows for extra points for cases that are more difficult to supervise.  From my experience in corrections, I believe that the caseworker prefers a point system that allows more work credit to supervise the more difficult cases whereas management prefers a direct count system that allows equal value for all cases.  The importance to the caseworker is not to become overwhelmed by the caseload.  Therefore it is important to bring closure to cases in a timely manner.

Safety of the caseworker is drawing more attention to agencies that supervise high-risk offenders in areas that are depressed with a high level of crime.  The area of supervision can be a hostile environment especially in the inner-city areas.  The caseworker that works the inner-city area is not given the extra compensation or lower case count that merits this type of work.  Inner city is a higher level of job burnout and a higher level of risk for the caseworker.  Often these caseloads are difficult to maintain and do not come to a successful closure not to mention the technical problems and lack of support.  Inner-city caseloads are characterized by one crisis after another that does not lend itself to successful casework but more often to crisis intervention, crowed lobbies, and high job burnout.  In order to avoid this, the caseworker needs to be organized and consider a transfer after the first two years.  Some agencies allow caseworkers to transfer after a two-year inner-city assignment.  Again this is a controversial issue between the work force and management.

It is important for the caseworker to understand the mission statement and the policy and procedures that guide the rules and regulations of the agency.  Each agency has a set of manuals and administrative bulletins that assist the caseworker in undertaking his/her responsibilities.  While it is a good idea to ask your fellow worker how to do things, it is a better idea to learn the policy directly from the written source and then ask questions.