Mendocino County Probation and BI host open house for Innovative Day Reporting Program for Probationers

Mendocino County and BI Incorporated, the operator of an innovative criminal justice program for non-violent adult probationers, will host an open house on Thursday, July 26, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Mendocino County Day Reporting Center, located at 579 Low Gap Road. Local probation and other criminal justice agencies and political guests will attend; members of the media are invited. Guests can learn about classes and training programs participants undergo.

The Mendocino County Board of Supervisors selected BI to open the Day Reporting Program, which opened on May 25, for medium- to high-risk probationers released to community supervision. The program holds offenders accountable when they are released to community supervision, provides classes to change criminal behavior, and links to other services focused on reducing recidivism and jail crowding. The center is co-located in the probation department to facilitate collaboration between BI and supervising officers as well as to increase efficient referrals to other services.

“This is very important to our community, our clients and to the Probation Department itself,” said Probation Division Manager Tricia Guntly. “It furthers our efforts to re-engage the broken lives that we need to repair and help those clients enter our society once again.”

The program will include a case manager and a therapist. A key component of the program is the use of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Up to 50 probationers will participate in the program at one time, and each will move through three phases:

• An Assessment and planning phase that includes reviewing criminogenic risk and needs and developing a behavior change plan for each participant.
• A treatment phase that includes weekly cognitive skills training classes that focus on changing criminal behavior, one-on-one case management, and referrals to community-based resources for issues such as employment and housing.
• An Aftercare component that includes relapse prevention elements, periodic check-ins with the case manager, and a long-term plan for succeeding in the community.

As completion of this program is behavior based, an average timeframe for completion could be as little as 180 days. Failure to comply with rules and guidelines of the program results in increased sanctions such as restricted curfews, additional classes, more frequent reporting or re-incarceration.

About BI Incorporated (www.bi.com)
Established in 1978, BI Incorporated is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The GEO Group (NYSE: GEO), a global leader in the delivery of correctional, detention, and residential treatment services to federal, state, and local government agencies. BI provides a full continuum of offender monitoring technologies and community reentry services for parolees, probationers, pretrial defendants and illegal aliens involved in the U.S. immigration court process. BI also owns and operates an ISO-certified national monitoring center, providing 24/7 expert support supervision services exclusively to governmental agencies. BI works closely with corrections officials to cost effectively reduce recidivism, promote public safety, and strengthen the communities they serve.