Title
Joint resolution accepting the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge Implementation Grant, approving staff augmentation, and authorizing an emergency appropriation in the amount of $700,000.
Staff Summary
• In February 2017, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) was awarded a $50,000 Jail Diversion High Utilizer Intensive Case Management Innovation grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) Innovation Fund. The LCSO served as the lead agency on the grant to reduce the reincarceration of persons with three or more jail bookings in twelve months referred to as jail high utilizers.
• In October 2018, Lake County was awarded a $700,000 SJC Implementation grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to implement key strategies to reduce the jail population by 10 percent in two years.
• The grant will fund one full-time employee (FTE) Coordinator/Analyst in Enterprise Information Technology (IT) for two years; and one FTE Pre-Trial Officer in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court Probation Department in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020. Pursuant to the County’s budget policies, both positions will be eliminated once the grant funds are no longer available, unless an exception is made and the specific policy conditions are met.
• Though the LCSO is the lead agency on this grant; this a collaborative effort among multiple Lake County partners. The following partners participated in the application and play significant roles throughout implementation: Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court, State's Attorney's Office, Public Defender's Office, Enterprise IT and the County Administrator's Office.
• The five key strategies of this grant include implementing 1) expansion of the Jail High Utilizer Program to serve 30 to 60 inmates each year; 2) a court date text notification system in the Public Defender’s Office; 3) education and training on racial and ethnic disparities; 4) pre-trial first appearance criminal background investigations; and 5) policy changes informed by examination of criminal case flow processes.
Body
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office recognizes the need to address the revolving door of re-arrests of high jail utilizers; over utilization of the jail; and the racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system; and
WHEREAS, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office received a two-year Safety and Justice Challenge Implementation Grant in the amount of $700,000 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and
WHEREAS, The grant will fund one full-time employee (FTE) Coordinator/Analyst in Enterprise Information Technology (IT) for two years; and one FTE Pre-Trial Officer in the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court Probation Department in Fiscal Year (FY) 2020. Pursuant to the County’s budget policies, both positions will be eliminated once the grant funds are no longer available, unless an exception is made and the specific policy conditions are met; and
WHEREAS, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office serves as the lead agency on this grant to implement strategies to reduce the jail population by 10 percent within two years. Other partners participating in and playing significant roles throughout the implementation of the application include the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit Court, State’s Attorney’s Office, Public Defender’s Office, Enterprise Information Technology and the County Administrator’s Office; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, by this County Board of Lake County, Illinois, that the Chair of Lake County is hereby authorized to enter accept the Safety and Justice Challenge Implementation grant and that an emergency appropriation in the amount of $700,000 be approved.
DATED at Waukegan, Illinois, on February 12, 2019.