Rethinking Custody Management: It’s Time for a Revolution
Your custody management system should cut through chaos, not add to it. You need to make data-driven decisions right now, rely on a solution that’s compliant with reforms, and know for certain your operational capability will never be compromised. That’s why we recently launched a new way of working: Northpointe Suite Custody Management.
Scaling Up for the Need: A Drug Court Judge’s Story
During her first 20 years in criminal justice, working as a prosecutor and then a defense attorney, Judge Christine Carpenter saw how closely drugs and alcohol connect to crime and justice outcomes. She knew it was time to start treating substance use and abuse differently, and she became a pioneer in what we know today as Drug Courts. In the latest episode of Scaling Justice, host Sue Humphreys sits down with Judge Carpenter to hear her story.
Why didn’t you know?
How do jails effectively manage their already scarce resources? By knowing who needs them. Assessment tools can help you screen inmates for everything from mental health to medical well-being, suicidal tendencies, PTSD, and even potential PREA concerns. When you screen inmates at intake, you know right away what treatments, housing, and programming will be most effective for each individual, and you can make decisions that appropriately allocate resources and keep everyone safe.
Mental Health: A challenge beyond our reach?
Placement in restrictive housing is often an attempt to protect inmates, but it can have the opposite effect, particularly for those who suffer from mental illness. The problem is twofold: not only can solitary and restricted conditions exacerbate mental health conditions, the lack of access to treatment and programming further disrupts existing issues and can even create new ones.
The Fine Art of Case Planning
Case planning: It’s an art. It’s a science. It’s a tough job. Pulling together a plan that sets the right goals on the right timeline supported by the right programming sounds as elusive as painting the perfect crooked smile on the Mona Lisa, and in a way, it is. But with skill, experience, and supportive programming, it can be done.
Future-Proofing Your CMS? Here’s What to Look For
In the CCM, a network of components work together to power the business of your court, and each component accomplishes a specific function. This gives courts the flexibility to mix and match components based on their needs and easily swap them out as needs evolve. To future-proof, courts need a strong foundational case management system that will fully meet their needs now and be component-ready for the future.