Idaho Juvenile Reentry Planning Grant

The Second Chance Act provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of incarcerated adults and juveniles who are released from prison, jail, and juvenile residential facilities and are returning to their communities. The FY 2013 Second Chance Act Juvenile Reentry Program helps ensure that the transition the youth make from secure confinement facilities to the community is successful and promotes public safety. A secure confinement facility may include a juvenile detention center, juvenile correctional facility, or staff-secure facility. Eligible juveniles must have been confined under juvenile court jurisdiction. CATEGORY 1: Planning Projects are targeted for jurisdictions that have demonstrated a commitment to establishing a juvenile reentry program and have made progress on the ten Mandatory Requirements of a Comprehensive Reentry Program but have not yet fully completed each step.

Gaps in programming at the community level to serve juveniles with co-occurring behavioral health issues result in longer lengths of stay in Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections (IDJC) facilities and higher recidivism of this population. A planning grant would allow a strategy to be developed for Idaho to leverage current efforts, promote collaboration and create a comprehensive range of services. The Idaho juvenile justice system serves over 6,000 youth annually. Over 96% of those youth are served at the county level. Only the most seriously delinquent juveniles are committed to the custody of the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections. Increasingly, juveniles who enter the justice system have specialized mental health and/or substance abuse needs. Over 63% of juveniles committed to the custody of lDJC suffer from either a substance abuse, mental health issue or both. An OJJDP Planning Grant would allow the following project goals to be accomplished: (1) expand knowledge-base and create an informed re-integration system of care and develop a foundation of evidence-based research informed by successful efforts in other states to guide the re-integration process in Idaho; (2) leverage current services and enhance integration of programming to identify existing services and connect resources to create a comprehensive array of services with engagement of partners that are involved in the reintegration process; and (3)develop a juvenile re-entry strategic plan to identify evidence-based community programming that will effectively engage families and community supports to promote success of the juvenile upon reentry. CA/NCF