Napa County

Challenge

Responding to budgetary shortfalls, rises in average length of stay and average daily inmate population and overall crowding at the 264-bed jail, Napa County created the Napa County Criminal Justice Committee to address emerging concerns in 2006. The group looked for cost-effective, evidence-based solutions that could increase public safety, reduce overcrowding, cut offender recidivism and lower the county’s long-term costs.

Solution

In 2008 the Napa County Board of Supervisors selected BI Incorporated to:

• Open a Community Corrections Service Center (CCSC), which would offer day reporting supervision, treatment and training. BI’s programs are cognitive behavioral treatment programs operating under evidence-based principles. Individuals referred to the CCSC go through a multi-phase program that lasts up to 180 days. Participants report daily at first, then less frequently as they comply with program guidelines. In addition to daily check-ins, participants are monitored closely for alcohol and drug use, meet with case managers, and participate in a series of treatment and training classes.
• Open an in-custody jail program that would deliver cognitive behavioral treatment programs for inmates to address criminal thinking and prepare them for release.
• Separately, in 2009 the Napa Department of Corrections asked BI to set up a unique program called JEEP – Jail Education Employment Program – to prepare inmates for gainful employment upon release. This program involves about 32 inmates at a time.

BI Incorporated was selected to operate these programs based on the company’s experience operating evidence-based programs that focus on reducing recidivism.

Results

Napa County won a Merit award from the California State Association of Counties for its innovative approach to reducing recidivism in 2010. In its first 14 months, 167 offenders — probationers, pretrial defendants as well as jail inmates soon to be released to the community — participated. Up to 60 individuals participate in the community-based program at one time, which is open seven days a week, and another 50 can participate in the in-jail segment at any one time. More than 65% of offenders participating in the program exit the program employed, and most had lower LSI-R risk scores upon program exit. Since the implementation of these practices, the county Adult Probation Department’s overall caseload has decreased by approximately 250 (11%) and the average caseload per Probation Officer has decreased from 150 to 98. By implementing these strategies, Napa County has systems in place to remain flexible with changes that AB 109 will require.