FY 2011 Second Chance Act Adult Offender Reentry Demonstration Projects: Evaluability Assessment Overview of the Johnson County (KS) Reentry Project

• NCJ Number: 243983
• Author(s): Janeen Buck Willison; Lindsey Cramer; Shelli B. Rossman; Danielle Steffey
• Date Published: September 2012
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2012-R2-CX-0032
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

This study conducted an evaluability assessment (determination of whether a project is a candidate for meaningful evaluation) of the Johnson County (Kansas) Reentry Project (JCRP), a FY 2011 Second Chance Act (SCA) demonstration site, whose grant-mandated goals are to increase reentry programming for returning prisoners and their families; reduce recidivism of program participants by 50 percent over 5 years, reduce parole violations, and improve reintegration outcomes.

Abstract

SCA year-two funding for the JCRP expired March 31, 2013. The JCRP reported the program did not receive SCA year-three funding. As a result, the program experienced almost immediate staff turnover and interruptions to operations; however, there is a strong commitment to the JCRP among many stakeholders, so the site has been involved in sustainability planning since October 2012. These efforts are described in this report. The difference in services being planned will be the level of case management, which will decrease due to the limited number of staff available to work intensively with program participants. These developments coupled with the uncertainty of future funding, precludes the development of meaningful recommendations for further evaluation. Although the EA site visit was ultimately canceled, Johnson County stakeholders engaged in EA site-visit planning and preparations; and they were enthusiastic about the possibility of additional evaluation. Stakeholders readily shared materials, including descriptions of services, aggregate numbers on program participants, etc. A history of the program was provided, including their experiences under SCA, lessons, learned, and challenges experienced. From these materials, the JCRP appears to have reflected the key elements of the SCA Reentry Initiative Logic Model, although staff noted several departures from the program's original structure. Additional modifications were anticipated with the imminent transfer of program oversight from the Sheriff to the county's Department of Corrections. JCRP activities at the time of these interactions of the EA team with Johnson County stakeholders are described. 3 references