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Community corrections director details care closet, staff trauma supports and caseload trends
Summary
The county’s community corrections director gave a semiannual update describing a care-closet program for people leaving jail, secondary-trauma counseling for staff, quality-assurance audits and reported caseload numbers including regional juvenile violent-offense trends and local pretrial activity.
Michelle, the director of community corrections, told the Ottawa County commissioners she launched a care closet to supply clothing and hygiene items to people released from jail and said staff have donated new clothing used as incentives for clients. She said the office collects large numbers of UA (urine-analysis) cups and stores them for testing; she described a deliberate approach to accepting donations to limit bed-bug risk and to protect staff.
"We have initiated what we call the community corrections care closet," Michelle said in her semiannual report, listing the items and procedures staff use to manage donations. She outlined staff-support measures, including remote one-hour sessions with Dr. Viana Goff to address secondary trauma among officers and supervisory staff. The department also engaged Community Solutions Incorporated to do quarterly quality-assurance audits of files and case planning.
Michelle provided caseload and program numbers for March: 396 adults on intensive supervision (3 Ottawa County cases), 97 pretrial services clients (3 from Ottawa County), and 88 juvenile-services clients (2 in Ottawa County). She said the agency sees an upward trend in violent juvenile offenses statewide and is working on a regional 'crossover youth practice model' to improve coordination among DCF, schools and law enforcement.
On funding, Michelle said KDOC regional and state initiatives are reviewing the funding formula — an analysis budgeted at about $750,000 statewide — and that the department had submitted its comprehensive plan early. Michelle warned commissioners that statewide funding changes could require local adjustments but said the agency will attempt to absorb some impacts through attrition if necessary.
Why it matters: the report flagged higher-acuity juvenile cases and described investments in staff well-being and case-fidelity checks, both of which affect local operations, budgets and jail-to-community transitions.
What’s next: commissioners asked for follow-up on funding implications and welcomed details about the quality-assurance audits and the pretrial program's local footprint.
