PROBATION SYSTEM: Key Player in Re-Entry Planning
By Linda Brady, District 7, Chief Probation Officer, Monroe Circuit Court Probation Department

Monroe County Probation
Probation is the most common form of criminal sentence in the U.S. More offenders are sentenced to probation than to prisons and jails combined. Probationers include adult offenders whom courts place on community supervision generally in lieu of jail or prison. Probation includes court-mandated stipulations and prohibitions on certain activities. Probation often includes other conditions such as substance abuse treatment, payment of victim restitution, completing educational requirements, and obtaining/maintaining employment.

According to Indiana law, “Probation officers shall serve at the pleasure of the appointing court and are directly responsible to and subject to the orders of the court.” The Monroe County Probation Department is a division of the Monroe Circuit Court. The Adult Division is located in The Justice Building, downtown Bloomington. The Juvenile Division, Drug Court and Community Corrections Program are located in a satellite office at 405 W. 7th Street.

Probation is often confused with parole. Parolees include those adults released from prison to community supervision. Indiana parole services are provided by the Department of Correction. There are eight parole districts in the state with each district office being responsible for the monitoring of offenders transferred from prison to the parole system. Monroe County is in Parole District 5 located in Columbus. There is no Monroe County parole office, therefore District 5 parole officers often meet with parolees at the Monroe County Correctional Center.

Role of Probation in Re-Entry Planning
Re-entry is not a program, it is a process. Joan Petersilia, a well known professor of criminology, writes that prisoner reentry “includes all activities and programming conducted to prepare ex-convicts to return safely to the community and to live as law abiding citizens."

The Indiana Probation Standards require Probation Officers to develop a Probation Plan with objectives based on the individual's needs and special conditions. Probation Officers have both the authority and the opportunity to assist probationers in achieving constructive change.

Indiana law permits a court to sentence offenders to a “split sentence,” which means that the offender is sentenced to prison or jail for a period of time, but upon release the offender is supervised by probation, not parole. Therefore, Probation Plans must also include re-entry planning.

The reasons for the increasing use of probation are clear: probation can be provided at more than five times less cost than jail and nearly 19 times less cost than state prison. At yearend 2004, in the U.S. over 4.9 million adults were under Federal, State, or local probation or parole jurisdiction; approximately 4,151,100 on probation and 765,400 on parole. Among offenders on probation, 50% had been convicted for committing a misdemeanor, 49% for a felony, and 1% for other infractions. Monroe County’s probation statistics reflect national trends; since the year 2002, 50% or more of our adult probation caseload has been comprised of felony offenders.

Probation Officers are ideally placed to provide re-entry planning and other re-entry services. Probation Officers are required by law to cooperate with public and private agencies and other persons concerned with the treatment or welfare of persons on probation, and assist probationers in obtaining services from those agencies and persons. In order to fulfill this duty, Probation Officers must develop networks and foster close relationships with local treatment providers, employment agencies, and other sources.

Successful re-entry planning must be active rather than passive, with the goal of fostering compliance with probation conditions rather than waiting for a violation. Our success will be measured by how many offenders succeed in refraining from further crime, compensate their victims, and become productive members of society.

Links:
http://www.in.gov/indcorrection/facility/pd5/general.htm
http://www.co.monroe.in.us/probation

The mission of the Monroe County Probation Department is to promote a safer community by intervening in the lives of offenders, holding them accountable, and serving as a catalyst for positive change.