Department of Community Justice
Adult Transition Services
421 SW 5th Ave Portland, OR 97204
MAIN: 503.988.4054 ** FAX: 503.988.4898 ** TTY Relay Service: 711

Liv Elsa Jenssen
Community Justice Manager
503.988.4054

TSU Offender Services provides a comprehensive system of services designed to prepare, equip and sustain an offender upon community re-entry from prison or jail within the first 90-180 days. TSU actively works to build partnerships with community organizations to provide the necessary support and structure that is needed for community safety and reduced recidivism.

Transition Services-Offender Services is responsible for linking recently released offenders to services (i.e. pre-release planning, case coordination, housing, transportation, medical and benefit assistance). These services include planning prior to release that is required to meet their immediate need to ensure they are not at risk of entering homelessness and decreasing the risk of recidivism. TSU focus is on offenders with special needs including mentally, developmentally and physically disabled, elderly and predatory sex offenders.

TSU offender services provide transition planning up to 120 days prior to release for special needs offenders from every Oregon Department of Corrections Prison. Pre-release planning includes arranging for an array of community services, suitable housing and scheduling initial appointments. The pre-release plan is appropriate to risk and needs, ranging from most restrictive to least restrictive supervision requirements.

TSU-offender services provides the following services for a daily average of 35 recently released offenders from jail, prison, treatment (TX), or at risk of entering homelessness:

• Locate and access safe and suitable housing
• Identify and make initial appointment for medical and/or mental health needs
• Medication assistance
• First appointment for federal and Oregon benefits including escorting offender if needed
• Employment referral
• Clothing
• Case coordination with Probation/Parole Officer (PPO) and other service providers

Currently, the following prioritizes housing: Prison/Local Control/Jail who is considered dangerous, has sex offender conditions, and/or has disability (physical, mental illness, and/or mental retardation developmental delay (MRDD) ). Due to female offenders vulnerability, every attempt is made to house them.

TSU-Housing provides (contracted/subsidy) housing for 279 offenders each day who have no other resources or support. For every offender housed in transitional placement, TSU-Housing in conjunction with community providers develops a long -term housing plan.

Transition Services-Housing in partnership with other community agencies and county departments is responsible for developing and accessing resources for long-term housing resources for all special needs offenders. Offender Special Needs profile for 2003-2004 includes the following:

• Mental Illness –32.1%;
• Sex Offenders –42.2%;
• Offender with a Violent History-13.9%;
• Developmentally Disabled – 4.2%;
• Medical Disability –8.9%;

To provide stabilization and a venue for long term housing placement, we offer the following services for the recently released, as well as for those that need continued support.

Breakfast Club

The target population receiving breakfast is adult offenders under supervision in Multnomah County who are enrolled in the Transition Services Unit Daily Solutions Program and/or referred by PPO. On average, up to 35 clients attend the Breakfast Club daily, Monday through Friday.

Housing – Case Plan Review

TSU meets every Wednesday at 1pm, 6 th floor conference room, Mead Building for weekly staffing. We request that providers contact us the Tuesday before the Wednesday staffing with clients of concern re: housing and transition issues including addressing the long tern housing needs for hard to place client. Our objective is to provide an opportunity for PPO’s, community and housing providers to review resident cases and to plan for ongoing & long term housing assistance for our Post Prison and Probation Clients.

Reach In Coordination Effort

Facilitator/Coordinator for committee is TSU Reach In PPO. The reach in coordinating committee is comprised of current (and past) PPO’s and Corrections Counselors (CC’s) (Intake, Sex Offender Supervision Team, Gang, SO, Mental Health, Local Control, Family Services Unit (FSU), Gender Specific and African American Program (AAP)) who visit institutions and interview inmates. Committee will meet once a month or as needed. The committee addresses issues including coordinating institution visits, questions to ask inmate, needs/risk assessments, forms to be completed and chrono summary format for inmates interviewed.

The Intake and Resource Team (IRT*) was developed and is coordinated by the Transition Services Unit. The IRT includes staff from TSU, Intake, and Day Report Center (DRC.) The goal of this team is to staff subsidy/special needs cases of offenders who are being released into Multnomah County. Through assessment of previous programming, length of incarceration, supervision conditions, current convictions and subsidy needs, this team decides to whom the case will be referred upon release. Such information is then entered into the chronological report, making it available for Intake staff when they meet with these offenders. This team meets every two weeks utilizing TAP, SPIN Release Calendar and six-month release list by institution provided by DOC and sorted by TSU.

Joint Access to Benefits (JAB) is a joint project coordinated by Transition Services Unit and includes Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office, Multnomah County Aging & Disability Services, Health, Social Security Administration, and Oregon Department of Corrections. The goal of JAB is to initiate the application for Social Security benefits for those incarcerated individuals from Multnomah County prior to release so they can receive benefits as early as possible after release in order for stable housing and medical assistance to be provided. TSU organized this process and is responsible for initiation of the release lists for Multnomah County and identifies those who have had past Social Security benefits. They are the contact point for problems or questions. Multnomah County also reviews the packet of information for each inmate and submits it to SSA for processing. They escort them to their PO and take the ex-offender to the Social Security office to initiate benefits on release.

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Home for Good and No Where to Go

Multnomah County ,  Department of Community Justice, Transition Services   Unit  and City Of Portland, Office of Neighborhood Involvement   is interested in engaging community members in discussions about housing "hard to house" post incarceration clients. Using the State of Oregon, Department of Corrections, Home for Good model, which is based on partnerships with civic and faith based community groups, a series of roundtable discussions are being planned to:

• Provide information to community
• Hear concerns, questions and ideas     
• Engage community in ongoing roundtable conversation
• Provide a springboard for creating a countywide Home For Good committee including faith-based organizations that will meet quarterly to discuss and implement proposed ideas from the roundtables.
  

Case management for Offenders with Special Needs
The Transitional Services Unit (TSU) provides pre-release planning to offenders who are identified within State Correctional Institutions as:

• MRDD, low functioning adult (70-85 IQ)
• Medically disabled (limited mobility)
• High Profile Sex Offender
• Mental Health Disorder (Diagnosed with mental illness and receiving medication)
• Repeat/serious Offender (incarcerated more than 10 years).

The planning for this group of offenders could begin 120 or more days prior to release. Planning can include arranging an array of community services including housing (to be in place at the time of release), mental health services, A&D assessment, etc. The transition plan must be appropriate to risk and needs, ranging from most restrictive to least restrictive release requirements.

TSU also provides transitional services to newly released offenders in the form of Subsidy Housing, transportation assistance, clothing referrals, food referrals, assistance with Oregon Health Plan application, etc. In general TSU attempts to link offenders due to be released or just released to meet their immediate needs and connect them with services to assist in meeting long-term needs.

Our Transitional Services Unit provides support and resources for this population, but primarily focuses on special needs offenders, i.e., mentally ill, developmentally or physically disabled, the elderly, and high-risk, predatory sex offenders. In addition, this unit oversees all of the Department's housing resources and manages the placement of offenders in housing throughout the community.

The drug-use forecasting data from the Multnomah County jail shows that 54% to 76% of men and 51% to 88% of women test positive for at least one illegal drug when booked. Inmates with addiction issues are the most likely to have frequent incarcerations. The majority of offenders also have mental health issues and concerns. Currently, 75% of the prison population have been convicted of committing a crime against a person. Best practices, combined with data from years of research, clearly dictate the need to provide case management, safe and secure housing, assistance with employment, aftercare and ancillary services for those offenders transitioning into our communities. A recent statewide study indicates that criminal activity decreased by approximately 40% when stable housing and supportive services were available. The benefits of these services to the offender and the community are clear.

In line with the County's long-term benchmark of reduced crime, the goal of DCJ's Transitional Services Unit (TSU) is to ensure community safety by providing support and resources to assist offenders - specifically, special needs offenders - in their successful integration into community from residential treatment, jail, or prison. TSU actively works to build partnerships with community-based services and organizations, as well as other Multnomah County Departments to provide the continuum of care that is needed for recently released offenders, including transitional and permanent housing.

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