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DOC and lawmakers discuss Medicaid 11/15 waiver, reentry services and possible effects of CCC closures
Summary
DOC officials and legislators discussed an 11/15 Medicaid waiver to support pre‑release treatment and reentry services and debated whether closing two community corrections centers will increase pressure on private halfway houses.
The Department of Corrections told lawmakers it supports the 11/15 Medicaid waiver as a way to improve reentry outcomes, provide a Medicaid match for treatment in the 90 days before release and reduce overdose and recidivism risks, but said legislative changes are required to fully implement some waiver functions.
Deputies described four primary goals of DOC participation in the 11/15 waiver: improving warm handoffs to community providers at release, reducing overdose risk during the high‑risk weeks after release, concentrating services on vulnerable populations (substance use disorders, serious mental illness, autism spectrum) and expanding access to MAT (medication‑assisted treatment) with federal match dollars. “Ninety days, we can start to treat them with Medicaid dollars, have a federal match, and then we can expand,” one deputy said.
Committee members asked how the waiver would affect the DOC budget. DOC officials said any savings would be reinvested into treatment services; they also said the larger fiscal savings for Medicaid and human services would accrue to the Department of Human Services. DOC noted that some legislative changes are still necessary to maximize the waiver’s benefits, and lawmakers said they would reintroduce enabling legislation.
Separately, committee members asked about the governor’s proposal to close two community corrections centers (CCCs), including one in Warrnansville. DOC said it does not expect parole violator rates to rise because of the proposed CCC closures and said technical parole violator counts were actually down in the prior year (technical parole violators down 10%, criminal parole violators down 3%). Deputy EDS said DOC oversight teams will continue to monitor reentry placement and that contracted halfway houses remain part of the continuum of care. DOC staff also described contract facility coordinators (CFCs) who conduct weekly oversight visits of contracted facilities.
Ending: DOC and lawmakers agreed to continue coordination with DHS on waiver implementation and to follow up on whether CCC closures will reduce reentry infrastructure or shift demand to private halfway houses; DOC asked for written stakeholder feedback during Act 133.
