Committee weighs changes to partial confinement: more time, expanded parenting eligibility, and SUD screening

The House Community Safety Committee heard Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5219 on March 18. The bill, an agency-request measure, proposes several changes to Department of Corrections (DOC) partial confinement programs — work release, graduated reentry (GRE), and the Community Parenting Alternative (CPA) — including aligning participation windows to allow eligible people to participate up to the final 18 months of their term of confinement and adding clinically appropriate substance use disorder (SUD) evaluation requirements before transfer.

Committee staff Lena Langer provided a detailed overview of the partial confinement programs and the bill’s four main changes: extending maximum participation from 12 to 18 months for work release and CPA in some cases; expanding CPA eligibility to include caregivers expected to assume day-to-day care of a minor child; permitting DOC to rely on “clinically appropriate evaluations” for SUD (rather than a comprehensive SUD assessment) and ensuring…