Bart O'Conner, Chief Juvenile Probation Officer of Vanderburgh County Submitted by Don Travis
Title: PresidentAugust 24, 2010 Bart O'Connor, 74, of Evansville, passed away at his residence, Friday, August 13, 2010.
He attended St. Meinrad Seminary for seven years and graduated from St. Benedicts College in Atchison, Kansas and received his Masters degree from St. Louis University in social work. Bart was a servant leader in his care and concern for the children and families in Vanderburgh County was evident from the many contributions that he made throughout his 49 years of service as Chief Probation Officer of the Juvenile Division of the Vanderburgh Superior Court. He was the first degreed social worker appointed as a probation officer in Vanderburgh County. He participated for the last 35 years on the Department of Child Services' Child Protection Team and local coordinating committees. Bart served on the Youth Service Board of Directors for over 35 years and was a member of the Indiana Correctional Association. He was a founding member of E.V.S.C. Community Council, serving on the steering committee at the time of his death. Bart was honored by Chief Justice Randall Shepard for his extraordinary work as Chief Probation Officer in Vanderburgh County. Bart was honored to serve as Chief Probation Officer under Judges Morris Merril, Robert Lensing, and Brett Neimeier. He was a member of Holy Rosary Catholic Church.
IDOC to Better Serve Marion County Offenders during Re-Entry Submitted by Linda Brady
Title: Vice-President
August 23, 2010 INDIANAPOLIS (August 12, 2010) – The Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC) is announcing plans to relocate offenders from the Indianapolis Men’s Community Re-Entry Center (IMCRC) located in downtown Indianapolis to the Liberty Hall residential facility.
Liberty Hall is a minimum security facility privately operated by Community Education Centers, Inc. Liberty Hall will provide all re-entry and educational services for approximately 150 IDOC work release offenders from Marion County and provide the Department with the option to expand work release to an additional 150 offenders if needed in the future. The new address for the Indianapolis Men’s Work Release will be 675 E Washington Street Indianapolis, Indiana.
In addition to this move, the Indianapolis Parole District 3 office which is now located at 512 East Minnesota Street Indianapolis, IN will be moving to the former IMCRC location at 448 West Norwood Street.
The move of IMCRC allows the Department to reduce its daily cost of housing by $17 per offender. The results of these measures will allow the Department to save the state approximately $1 Million from moving Parole District 3 and additional annual savings associated with housing work release offenders at Liberty Hall.
The changes involved with these two moves will result in no loss in employment. All employees who presently work at IMCRC will now report to other local IDOC facilities in the Indianapolis area.
“As always, the Department is working diligently to be efficient, while promoting successful re-entry to our Indiana communities. In completing this task, we strive to make changes that will ultimately make our local communities safe. The changes that are soon to be implemented both accomplish these goals and allow taxpayer dollars to be shifted to other areas of the agency where they can be better utilized”, stated IDOC Commissioner Edwin G. Buss.
These moves address the issue of expanding work release in Indianapolis and shift the services delivered by Indianapolis Parole to an area which is accustomed to male offenders commuting via public transportation and it is located away from any school operations.
The Department is looking at options for the building on East Minnesota where Parole District 3 is currently located.
Media Contact:
Douglas S. Garrison
Chief Communications Officer
Indiana Department of Correction
Phone: (317) 232-5780
dsgarrison@idoc.in.gov Indiana Justice Reinvestment Project Submitted by Linda Brady
Title: Vice-President
August 22, 2010 In early 2010, Governor Mitch Daniels, Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard, Attorney General Gregory Zoeller, House Speaker Patrick Bauer, and Senate President Pro Tempore David Long requested technical assistance from the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project (Pew) to use a justice reinvestment approach to reduce spending on corrections and reinvest in strategies to increase public safety in Indiana.
The Justice Reinvestment Initiative will provide Indiana policymakers with in-depth analysis of criminal justice data to determine why the prison population is increasing and where opportunities exist to increase public safety. To learn from people who work at all levels of the criminal justice system in state and local government, and to engage other stakeholders, including advocates and service providers, the CSG Justice Center will be conducting site visits to various counties and meeting with hundreds of individuals.
To guide the analysis of the state’s criminal justice system and the development of policy options, Indiana has established a Justice Reinvestment Steering Committee. This bipartisan group includes the designees of the governor, chief justice, and House and Senate leadership.
The Committee will review findings that the CSG Justice Center and Pew present and identify policy options to address the projected growth in Indiana’s prison population, generate savings and reinvest in strategies to increase public safety. MRNISO Announces Fall Conference Submitted by Christine Kerl
Title: Treasurer
August 18, 2010 The Midwest Regional Network for Interventions with Sex Offenders (MRNISO) is proud to present Derek VanLuchene at this year's Fall Conference on 10/1/10 at the Fishers Conference Center. Mr. VanLuchene is President and Founder of Ryan United, a company dedicated to his eight year old brother, Ryan, who was abducted and murdered by a repeat sex offender in 1987. Through this organization, VanLuchene offers support to victims, communities, law enforcement and legislative groups regarding sex offender issues. |
