Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Offender Treatment Program topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Committee forwards $963,198 Justice Assistance Grant to support Offender Treatment Program
Summary
The committee forwarded a resolution authorizing the Department of Public Health to accept $963,198 in federal Justice Assistance Grant funds to support the post-conviction Offender Treatment Program, which the department said serves about 378 unduplicated defendants per year.
The Budget and Finance Committee voted to forward to the full Board a resolution authorizing the San Francisco Department of Public Health to accept and retroactively expend $963,198 from the California Emergency Management Agency to support the Offender Treatment Program (OTP).
Craig Murdoch of the Department of Public Health said the grant comes through the Department of Justice and the California Emergency Management Agency to support OTP, which provides behavioral health services to eligible offenders as an alternative to incarceration. "The program looks to serve 378 unduplicated defendants per year," Murdoch told the committee, and staff work with the superior court, district attorney, public defender and probation to place eligible people in services.
Murdoch said OTP is a post-conviction program (formerly called Proposition 36) and that participation typically requires the participant to plead guilty; participants who complete services may later petition to have charges expunged. He outlined state eligibility rules cited by staff: nonviolent narcotics offenses with no violent convictions within a five-year window and other limitations tied to prior custodial sentences, parole or probation.
When asked about overlap with San Francisco’s pre-conviction behavioral health courts and reentry planning, Murdoch said OTP is used as a later-stage option for defendants who do not succeed in pre-conviction programs and that the department coordinates with behavioral health court and the Veterans Administration when appropriate.
Murdoch told the committee the Recovery Act–funded Justice Assistance Grant runs through March 31, 2011, and the department has no assurance of renewal beyond that date. Committee members moved the item forward with recommendation to the full Board.
The resolution authorizes retroactive acceptance and expenditure of the grant funds for the period 10/01/2009 through 03/31/2011; staff told the committee that renewal of these federal funds beyond the grant term is not guaranteed.
