Justice Reinvestment in Wyoming

REINVESTMENTS: Through the enacted Justice Reinvestment legislation, the state has already allocated $1.6 million in FY2020 to the WDOC to improve sanction-related programming and increase the department’s ability to swiftly implement sanction changes. CSG Justice Center staff recommend continued reinvestment each fiscal year through FY2024.
POLICY OPTION 3: Hold people on probation and parole accountable with swift, certain, and proportional sanctions and provide treatment and programming necessary to promote positive behavior change and increase success on supervision.
Background
• Between FY2013 and FY2017, the number of people admitted to prison in Wyoming for supervision revocations spiked 27 percent, an increase of 123 people. Probation and parole revocations accounted for 54 percent of prison admissions in FY2017, compared to 47 percent in FY2013. People who have been revoked from supervision constitute 30 percent of the prison population.
• People in Wyoming who are revoked from community supervision and sentenced to prison serve long sentences. After allocation of good time, people who are revoked to prison from probation serve an average of 19 months in prison, and people revoked from parole and reincarcerated serve an average of 11 months.
• From FY2013 to FY2017, 84 percent of prison admissions due to supervision revocations did not include a new felony conviction. Available data and WDOC audits show that reasons for supervision violations typically involve patterns of repeated technical violation behavior, often related to substance use.
• Wyoming spends an estimated $30 million annually incarcerating people who are revoked from supervision.
• The cost of enforcing sanctions in the community is significantly lower than revocations to prison. The average cost per person for a sanction and placement in an ACC facility or the ISP is $2,014 or $5,658, respectively, while the average cost of revoking someone from probation or parole and sending them to prison is $71,136 or $41,184, respectively.
• The sanctions and rewards matrix that is currently in use is limited in scope. Although WDOC probation and parole agents use the Positive Rewards Incentives Sanction Matrix (PRISM) for incentives and sanctions, it lacks controls to limit deviations and ensure that high-level responses are not used for low-level behaviors. ACC facilities do not have a matrix that includes incentives.
• The majority of people on ISP are not at a high risk of recidivating. Sixty percent of Wyoming’s ISP population is low or moderate risk—29 and 31 percent, respectively, which suggests that the people who could most benefit from ISP are often not the ones on it.
Policy Details (Enacted as HEA 53)
• Require the DOC to revise its incentives and sanctions system, provide training to supervision staff and information to stakeholders, collect data on placements, and submit reports annually to the JJC. Sanctions permitted under the revised system are designed to be swift, certain, proportional, and cost-effective.
• Allow jail sanctions of up to 15 consecutive days for serious supervision violations that warrant a period of incarceration. Extend the continuum of sanctions available before a revocation from supervision occurs in order to hold people accountable in the community while reducing supervision failures and avoiding cost.
• Allow an incarceration sanction of up to 90 days during which people would receive cognitive behavioral programming and other services based on risk of reoffending. Imposed sanctions will be served in a consenting jail, an ACC program, or prison. Placements will be determined by a sentencing court or the Board of Parole. Sanctions of up to 90 days will include appropriate programming based on needs and will minimally have available substance addiction treatment and cognitive behavioral programming to address needs and promote positive behavior change.
• Prioritize admission onto ISP for people beginning supervision terms who have been assessed as being at a high risk of reoffending, unless good cause is identified by the judge to require ISP for people who are not high risk. Research has shown that to reduce recidivism, intensive supervision and programs should focus on people who are at a high risk of reoffending and have high needs.
• Allow a person who violates parole and is revoked to prison to receive credit for the portion of time served on parole during which the person was compliant with conditions of supervision. This creates the presumption that people will receive credit for successful time on parole supervision and reduce the length of time a person will serve on revocation to prison.