New York State Interagency Re-Entry Task Force and Transition from Prison to Community Initiative (TPCI)
Consistent with the national focus on offender re-entry, New York State convened the Interagency Offender Re-Entry Task Force in 2003 to examine current statewide re-entry policies and develop recommendations for a coordinated continuum of services, programs, and supervision. The task force consists of representatives from both criminal justice and human service agencies including:
- Division of Criminal Justice Services
- Department of Correctional Services
- Division of Parole
- Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives
- Office of Mental Health
- Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services
- Department of Labor
- Division of Housing and Community Renewal
- Division of the Budget
- Department of Health
- Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance
- Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disability
- Office of Children and Family Services
The vision of the Task Force is “a safer New York resulting from the successful transition of offenders from prison to living law-abiding and productive lives in their communities.” To accomplish its vision, the Task Force is working to increase the number of offenders who successfully transition from prison to their communities through a coordinated statewide system that assesses and responds to offender risks and needs, supports offender accountability and reparation to victims and communities, promotes offender self-sufficiency and encourages family and community involvement in offender success.
In early 2004, New York State was awarded technical assistance from the National Institute of Corrections (NIC). Acceptance of this award has provided the State with the opportunity to participate, along with seven other states, in the Transition from Prison to Community Initiative (TPCI). Through this initiative, NIC is facilitating the enhancement of New York’s transition process to conform to national best practices. The goal of the comprehensive TPCI transition model is to increase the success of released offenders by promoting an effective transition process through the coordination of criminal justice and human service programming.
Following the TPCI model, the Interagency Task Force created the Research and Information Support Team (RIST) that is comprised of researchers from the 14 stakeholder agencies. The RIST (a) designs and conducts original statistical analyses of existing data to answer questions pertaining to re-entry issues, (b) summarizes findings from academic literature, government reports, and unpublished research previously conducted by participating agencies that are relevant to questions posed by the Task Force, (c) establishes working arrangements among partner agencies regarding how to share needed information, and (d) develops data infrastructure to facilitate efficient response to the information needs of the Task Force.
As a result of the NIC award, the Interagency Task Force is now operating as a federally-recognized re-entry model aimed at reducing recidivism by promoting the most effective programs for inmates and ensuring that offenders are employed, housed, healthy, and sober upon and after release. The collaborative model developed through the Interagency Offender Re-Entry Task Force is now being implemented at the county level.
County Re-Entry Task Forces (CRTFs)
County Re-Entry Task Forces – grant funds were provided to support the development of eight County Re-Entry Task Forces (Erie, Monroe, Nassau, Oneida, Orange, Rensselaer, Rockland and Suffolk). These task forces seek to: (1) provide coordinated services across a wide spectrum of needs to offenders returning to the community; (2) collaborate with state criminal justice and human service agencies to develop transition plans for high-risk offenders transitioning from prison back into the community; and (3) create local capacity to develop strategies to provide services and manage risk. The role of the CRTFs is to coordinate and strengthen the community response to high-risk offenders transitioning from prison back to the community with the ultimate goal of reducing the number who return to prison for new convictions.
Page Updated: November 2, 2006