Drafter
Clerk 12/23/2014
title
A MOTION accepting the Improving Programs and Services for Incarcerated Veterans Report, as required by Motion 14125.
body
WHEREAS, in May 2014, the metropolitan King County council required the executive to develop and submit for council review and approval a report on improving programs and services for incarcerated veterans in the department of adult and juvenile detention jail facilities in compliance with Motion 14125, and
WHEREAS, in May 2014, the department of community and human services offered to assist the department of adult and juvenile detention in convening an incarcerated veterans work group to identify program and service improvements for incarcerated veterans, and developing and submitting the report to council, and
WHEREAS, the motion defined the following ten deliverables for improving services for incarcerated veterans:
1. Recommendations and options for providing veteran-specific services and programs to incarcerated veterans, including dedicated veterans housing options in jail facilities or other forms of veteran-only programming;
2. Recommendations and options for creating a veterans housing unit, or a predominantly veterans housing unit, at each county detention facility serving adults;
3. Recommendations and options for veterans to not lose existing veterans administration benefits;
4. Recommendations and options for facility arrangements to accommodate veterans' programs and services;
5. Recommendations and options for either new or restructured, or both, staffing models to provide veterans focused programming and on the utilization of department of adult and juvenile detention personnel who are veterans to provide supervision in incarcerated veteran housing;
6. Recommendations and options on methodologies for collecting veteran status of incarcerated veterans, whether collected at time of booking by correctional staff, through jail health services, or through other means;
7. Recommendations and options for ongoing training opportunities for jail and jail health staff on working with veteran-specific populations and understanding military culture and military trauma informed care;
8. Recommendations and options for addressing the identified gaps in services for veterans in King County jails;
9. Any other recommendations or options to improve and better coordinate services for incarcerated veterans; and
10. A work plan and implementation timeline detailing when the recommendations will be implemented, and
WHEREAS, the motion established an overarching goal of developing recommendations and options that lead to the following five objectives:
1. Reduction in recidivism by veterans;
2. Consistent and accurate data on the population of veterans in King County jail facilities;
3. Improvement in the coordination of services provided in King County jails for incarcerated veterans;
4. Advance successful veteran reentry into the community after incarceration; and
5. Coordination and collaboration across county departments and agencies around veterans' issues, and
WHEREAS, each of those recommendations and options was developed in collaboration with the multiagency-represented incarcerated veterans work group during the summer of 2014, and
WHEREAS, the department of community and human services in collaboration with the multiagency-represented work group conducted data gathering and analysis upon which the recommendations and options in the report are based, and
WHEREAS, the report on improving programs and services for incarcerated veterans in department of adult and juvenile detention jail facilities has been reviewed and approved by the incarcerated veterans work group and the department of adult and juvenile detention;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT MOVED by the Council of King County:
The Improving Programs and Services for Incarcerated Veterans Report, attached to this motion, is hereby accepted.