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Monroe County:
Taking The Obstacle Course
Out Of Probation
Monroe County has been working on improving outcomes for people on probation for more than a decade and is considered a leader in Indiana for its work in reducing probation revocation.
For the uninitiated, probation revocation is a legal process that occurs when a person violates probation requirements that result in a return to court, and potentially a trip back to incarceration. Clearly, probation revocation is not good for anyone: It’s not good for the county, the state, and obviously not good for the individual.
Around a decade ago in Monroe County, 43% of those on probation were receiving revocation petitions and were seriously re-inflating the incarcerated population there, straining both space and the budgetary limits of the county. At the time, the average probation length was about 15 months and although most clients had one or two minor slip-ups, (think missed appointments or a positive drug test) 43% of them were being sent to court, with 40% of those who went to court, ending up behind bars—again.
Looking for answers, the Monroe Circuit Court Probation Department (MCCPD) began working with Indiana University researchers to join the national “Reducing Revocations Challenge” (RRC). By 2021, MCCPD had wrapped up Phase 1 of the challenge, and Indiana University researchers had dug into more than 4,300 cases, finding some eye-opening patterns like inconsistencies in how officers, supervisors, and judges handled decisions—including overly-strict “standard” requirements that, basically, set people up to fail. The group looked for ways to encourage and assist people on probation and made common sense changes they believed would interrupt the pathway to revocation and re-incarceration.
From late 2021 through September 2023, they moved through Phase 2, testing their changes as they rewrote probation requirements to make them more “realistic and purposeful.” They trained officers to better communicate, using motivational interviewing and helped their clients to connect with community resources like substance use support, housing, and more. All the while, the Community Corrections Advisory Board promoted evidence-based practices, focused on graduated sanctions and individualized plans for those on probation rather than automatic lockups.
Here we are three years later, did it work? According to Linda Brady, Chief Probation Officer for the Monroe Circuit Court, perhaps the most powerful change has been in the relationships between the clients and their probation officers. The list of probation rules has been edited down to nine standard conditions that are shorter and more easily understood, so people don’t get caught up doing something they didn’t realize was a violation. Most impressively, those on probation are surveyed after every meeting with their officer with questions like: Were you treated with respect? Did your probation officer really listen to you? Did your probation officer work with you on your case plan? Amazingly, the responses generally run from 76% strongly agree to 100% in both “strongly agree" and “agree” categories.
Unfortunately, the county could not fund the effort to continue to chase the data on how many probation revocations were filed, but from the looks of it, there has been a turn around in favor of the people who report to MCCPD. The probation officers themselves are more encouraging, and have been given more leeway to use their judgment to help reentrants in situations that deserve understanding. And, with new risk assessment tools and special problem-solving courts—including drug, mental health, and veterans court—Monroe County is setting a solid example for others in Indiana that are seeking a better, more humane way to handle reentry.
Nancy
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