Arkansas Legislative Recidivism Reduction Task Force

Um, I see Mr. Magnus joining us via Zoom. Um, so thank you. Uh, I do want to point out I got a friend and colleague, Senator Matt Stone, just sitting in with us today. Appreciate his interest and, and concern and and working on some of these issues. Um, so with that, I will say that my colleague and counterpart, Senator Tucker had a death, his grandmother passed away, so keep him in your thoughts and prayers so you actually have the funeral today, and I think if I remember correctly, she was 103, uh, so yes, uh, she's seen a lot of life in her, in her long life. So, um, anyway, just keep him in your thoughts and prayers today and his family. So with that, I will call this meeting to order and entertain an adoption of the minutes. I have a motion. Second, all in favor, please say aye. Uh, motion carries. All right, so I think we're going to have a discussion on statewide data efforts. So if we can have those that are going to be speaking on that, go ahead and move to the table and then ask you to introduce yourself for, uh, the record, um, and then we'll get sort of an update and, and then if you would be open to taking a few questions from, um, the task force members here. Uh, good morning. My name is Robin White. I'm with the Department of Corrections. Uh, I am an IT project manager and I'm joined today by Mr. Robert McGo. And with the Department of Transformation and Shared Services and the state's chief data officer. All right, so we've been asked to speak today really about statewide data efforts and how it all ties into this initiative to reduce recidivism. Um, My job in particular with the Department of Corrections, I am over our offender management system, so it's just a big statewide database, uh, full of data and, um, I really kind of see the entire data process for the department. So part of my job is to help manage how data gets entered on the front end, how to design things on the front end to make sure we're capturing the data that we need to do our processes. And on the back end, I'm in charge of the folks that have to query the data and pull all the information out of it for analysis and for use in decision making. So it's kind of a cradle to grab thing and At Department of Corrections, and I, I think this is probably an issue around the state really. We, we have a glut of data. We have a lot of data, but the problem is you get so much sometimes that it's hard to look and see the forest for the trees. Um, I don't know if any of y'all have ever grown zucchini, but if you grow a zucchini, you know, you get a lot at first and it's great. Everyone loves it. You're baking zucchini bread, you're, you're eating zucchini all the time and then your family starts to hate it. And so then you turn into that person who in the middle of the night. Grabs a Bag of zucchini and it goes and sneaks to your neighbor's house and leaves it on their porch. Um, I feel like we kind of get that way sometimes we have all of this data, but it does put us in a position to where we need better ways to use it, better ways to find the right outlets for it. So today we want to address um Evidence-based practices for leveraging data to support reducing recidivism. So this is us trying to use this data that we have to make sure we're using it in the proper way and for the right means and right ends. I don't want us to get too techy today because Robert and I are both data nerds and we could absolutely geek out, but we'll try, we'll try to make sure it's, it's not boring and we don't put you to sleep, um. We do want to show you how we are trying to use these, these evidence-based practices here in the state and When I say it in space, I mean, these, these are proven to work. These are proven practices to work, and we are trying to make sure that we are following them with due diligence and applying them here. The first one I would like to talk about. I predictive analytics for targeted interventions, which is just a fancy way of saying risk assessments. Uh, that's all it is, uh, so the Department of Corrections is in the process of moving from um. One risk assessment tool to the ORRA, which is the Ohio Risk Assessment System. Uh, and I say system because it's, it's a multitude of risk assessments designed for different types of populations, so we're going to use several of the tools in that system to make sure we address people at different parts, uh, different areas in our system. Uh, one thing I want to say about it is it's validated and it is kind of an all encompassing approach. It evaluates the risk of each individual's chance of reoffending. And it uses static and dynamic risk factors. Um, every item on this tool is. Proven to be predictive of new crime. And I really want to impress upon you that that portion, um. We are actually doing RS training currently at Department of Corrections. It was, I was in it yesterday. It's ongoing today. And they made the statement in class when we were learning about how to, how to apply this tool. That it changes over time because as new research comes out and shows, well, maybe this item isn't quite as effective in reducing recidivism as we thought, they will move that item off. And replace it with something that research shows to be better. So it's an evolving thing and they are using evidence-based data to inform the evolution of that tool, and that's what we're going to be implementing across Department of Corrections. So once someone has undergone this risk assessment, we've looked at their, their criminogenic risks. I've identified their criminogenic needs. We use that data to then inform a case plan. Now this case plan is tailored to each individual because that's what evidence shows we need to have tailored plans. You can't do a one size fits all. You're going to end up doing more harm than good with that approach. Uh, what I really like about it is that because it is a system of tools. It is. Uh Something we can apply no matter what part of the system they meet the Department of Corrections and whether it's community supervision, whether it's incarcerated, whether it's reentry, it will follow them throughout all of those phases, and that case plan will modify along the way, so there's more of this warm handoff between the prison side and community supervision side because that case plan is overarching. Anything you want to add to that? Awesome. All right, so the next one. I want to talk about data-driven decision making based on enhanced data sharing across agencies. Uh, I don't know. Can't really see that, can we? It's all good. So I don't know if you've heard much about the Arkansas Data hub. But it is a statewide longitudinal database which again is just it's a fancy word for A hub of data that can track somebody track data over time. That's all longitudinal means is it's over time. So we can look at data sets in the past and look at them now and use metrics to measure what has changed, how things are evolving, all that good stuff. What I like about it, it allows us to do individual matching, so we can match really quick, I'm sorry to interrupt. I think we're having some issues with it being on the screen. I'm, I've text staff, but I, I don't, for whatever reason, I don't think the laptop's communicating the screen, so just continue, but there may, we may be working on it, so not a problem. Um, So you can do individual matches between one person, so if we have someone who's been in the jurisdiction of Department of Corrections, we could match up with. Their record when they were at youth services. We know that they're the same person, and we can make sure that there's continuity between The care they received there and the care they receive with us. But beyond that, we can also kind of zoom out, so to speak, and look at a A large scale sort of aggregated data perspective, so it's aggregated, it's de-identified. We're just zooming out and looking at numbers basically looking at counts and that allows us to look at more trends and patterns across the state as opposed to looking how one individual person proceeds through a system. The vision really is that agencies around the state will participate more in this data sharing so that we can do more as a state to address someone's progress, not just within Department of Corrections, but address their social service needs address their education needs, address their workforce needs, all of those things. All of these agencies serve the same populations. We serve the same populations, and it's understanding that. And realizing that that makes all the data sharing more important. I will say historically there has been some Silos across state agencies when it comes to data. Uh, there's been, you know, um, we've got some, some static population reports that we will send to child support or to division of youth services, things like that that have evolved over time. Uh, there's still some manual processes, and paper processes that happen between different state agencies. But taking those existing use cases and making them more productive through this data sharing and through this data hub, but also growing that scope to use cases we haven't even dreamed of yet. I would. Enhance policy and strategy and practice around the state, not just for department of corrections, but for other state agencies as well. Uh, I do want to talk a little bit about, um. I mentioned individual tracking versus sort of that zoomed out aggregate tracking. Uh, so with individual tracking just as an example, uh, Department of Corrections, we are tasked with making sure that anyone who comes into our custody has at least a GED. If they do not, then we are, we are tasked with making sure that they pursue education while they are in our in our custody. Uh, one of the processes in doing so is we have to make sure that what they're telling us when they say they have a high school diploma or GED is accurate. Um, I don't know if you realize this, but sometimes people lie to us, so one of those, one of those mechanisms is really a manual process of school district staff picking up the phone, calling school districts, and checking with them to say, Hey, did, did John Smith graduate in this year with your school district? Being able to hook up our system through the data hub with education and K through 12, um, would provide a lot more of a seamless flow in that it would save a lot of time. We would make sure that our data is a lot more correct and make sure that we're reaching the population that we're supposed to in a in a Faster manner. On the flip side, it really is a bidirectional thing, so not only would we be receiving data, but when we have uh inmates who then are able to get these credentials, get these diplomas or GEDs while they're in our care, we will have that ability to not. have to go into extra systems and report that but just report it in our system and pushed that back to the appropriate sources so that they have that information there. So as far as a Broader, more zoomed out version. I want to talk a little bit about the workforce data quality initiatives, and I might lean on Robert a little bit more here, um. So this data quality initiative linked to administrative data from workforce and education programs over time so that leaders can understand what works and what doesn't, um. Allows them to build tools to help students and workers learn new skills and forge better careers. What that meant for corrections, what that means for corrections is it allows us to understand trends in the workforce. To help understand what Career fields are growing. What skill gaps exist in the states. What industries need more workers. And then that allows us to change what programs and career tech programs that we offer within the Department of Corrections. To then be able to allow. Our population to learn the skills they need to actually go find a job, so we're we're making sure that we can address the needs that exist within the state. By targeting our own programs. Uh, and making sure that our population can actually find skilled and meaningful labor and meaningful employment when they released from prison. Employment is one of the Main factors for reducing recidivism. And By following this model, we can definitely affect it. All right. um. Briefly touching on the Public safety side of the data sharing, that is still in progress. It's not as robust as the workforce piece yet, but that one is currently in progress. Historically there has always been some communication issues when you're dealing with justice involved populations, so for instance, I know we've had situations in the in the past where we've had people within our care get um failure to appear warrants issued by the court. While they were in custody with us, and it's simply a matter of the court system was not aware that they were in ADC custody. So Imagine if that person releases to supervision, they're immediately arrested and picked up on that warrant that shouldn't have existed because of a lack of communication. That that rearrest in Arkansas counts as a recidivist event. So you could have an immediate recidivist event based off of a a warrant, a failure to appear warrant that didn't necessarily need to exist. So being able to use this data hub to really hook up the justice involves. Agencies to better communicate about our populations is proven in other states to reduce recidivism because it reduces a lot of those warrants and items that don't need to exist. So that's something we are working towards. You go ahead and talk about. Credentialing and just again I'll interject if you don't mind, would you share that slide deck out with the rest of the committee at, you know, upon adjournment, that'd be helpful. OK, Tony, Tony can get that out. Thank you. that one Like that one. so. The next piece that I want to talk about is re-entry programs supported by data. Uh, there's, there's a lot of moving pieces in this one as it's, it's really critical for success and for reducing recidivism. Uh, one of the items that is shown to work around the nation is the use of automated notifications and behavioral nudges, and I'm, I'm happy to say that this is something the department's been doing for several years. We send out text message reminders a day in advance for any office visits with the community supervision officer. Uh, that we actually did a research study alongside that to show how effective it was and we showed that it reduced the amount of missed office visits by 48% when we instituted those text message reminders. Um, those low level technical violations stack up. So if we can address some of those. On the front ends and make sure that people show up, then we can address all the rest and it's it's a vital piece. It's a very basic piece, but it's vital to making sure that things don't escalate. We're currently doing a research study with the University of Central Florida, uh, involving incentives and achievement messages through our mobile application. And hopefully we'll have some research and some statistics. In the next couple of months on that hopefully we'll have some good news to report for that, but basically as someone does well on supervision, we're trying to actively get better about telling them they're doing well in multiple ways. Evidence shows that you should be doing that, um. At least 3 to 14 to 1, um, so. Historically as an agency we have not been the best at it, and that's something that we are actively pushing to do because it has been shown to reduce recidivism. OK. Uh, these next three are all components of the Arkansas workforce strategy that have much broader overall relevance to the state, but particularly as we're thinking through personas we're we're definitely looking at Justice involved individuals as a population of interest, um, the first one is, um, digital credentialing of skills and experience and kind of what that means is, um, making sure that individual that's getting work experience while under incarceration, getting the GED, working with Arkansas Correctional School District, getting other educational attainment and that they're fully equipped to understand what that means in terms of competencies, what they know, what they can do, and can clearly articulate and demonstrate that for connection with employment opportunities during reentry and this started with Arkansas Correctional School just district was the first to publish into Arkansas's Credential registry. They took all 22 of their credentials and fully mapped out the learning opportunities all the way down to 601 competencies that really kind of translates that HVAC certificate or other credential in into all of the very specific skills represented and that that's digital, that's linked to open data, it's interoperable across state lines and across sectors. The next piece of that is that we define, well, what is that HVAC certificate mean being able to digitally say this individual holds this HVAC certificate in a way that can be connected to learning and opportunity and also working to make sure that there's a way that Arkansas Department of Corrections can issue a record saying in this this is sort of under the ProTECT Act, not the implementation, but the basic spirit of it, um. Verify that this individual has this work experience. They were working in a commercial kitchen feeding 3 dozen people that were driving $500,000 tractor. They have these skills experience. They gained through work assignments while in custody. In order to the next piece is in order to connect that to employment opportunities post release, the state has a new skills base, learning, employment, and advancement platform called Launch that has a few different personas. One is for job seekers, and that can be used, um. In the incartial experience, it's not on the the the tablets. Yeah, but uh for under supervision it could be actually like used um. In the very near future. Um, it allows for career exploration, career awareness, and planning all based on skills and connection with job opportunities where they can seek jobs based on the skills they have and their preferences, and then as it continues to mature interest and aptitude on the employer side, employers can put in uh required skills, skills they're willing to train for, building skills-based job descriptions and actually search across that pool of talent and reach To those individuals to connect for job opportunities. It's, it's all, um, de-identified. They see sort of an anonymized skills-based resume presentation including verified. So if Arkansas Correctional School District issues, yes, we verify this individual has this credential, and that means that they are verified too. It's a mastery of these skills, then that's something that the employer can see, and it's not just simply based on The offender's ability to articulate or, you know. The exact words on job descriptions. The other piece of that is the connection to wraparound services so that the states Recently launched a common in service discovery and intake platform that really allows for intake into multiple different state and community services from the same sort of no wrong door portal based on needs, so there's, you know, a needs screener, it goes against program eligibility rules and allows Very quick and easy entry of the different application criteria and it pushes it into the state system, so it's cuts down on time and abandonment because it's a laborious process and trusted intermediaries such as like Goodwill with their reentry program or Restore Hope could have a separate role to assist people with it whether it's a digital literacy barrier or not being very comfortable with government forearms or, you know, um. Whatever, so we're working to build that system out and that's something that could even, you know, happen at any point during that reentry intercept, even, you know, like planning for that warm hand off like prior to re-entry. Very good. I believe that's all we have. Does anyone have any questions? Thank you, informative and uh a lot there. So I opened up for any questions. Do you? Hi, very good presentation. Thank you so much for sharing all the detail. Um, I'm really interested in mental health is your database system able to track different therapy tools, types of therapy, and what works and what's not so we can have a better understanding of kind of that recovery phase in healing phase of someone going through the system. We do have mental health data in our system. It really needs to be evaluated on a planned and organized way, uh, to really look at those kind of outcomes and that has not happened yet. Oh Um, also, I would suggest to um kind of an assessment tool for mental health. They all are tracking that also so even on the beginning side on the assessment that what is working, what's not working, um, before they even enter in therapy and uh and, and really take a look at. Who qualifies for therapy and what type of therapy I think that is a huge component of just what I've been hearing in the last several months in this meeting and like tracking that a bit. I would love to see the data on all of that, but thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Magnus, you're recognized. Yeah, you'd like to see him, you're gonna have to turn around and view him on the big screen. OK. Um, Thank you for the Zoom today. Uh, see, I didn't have to shave as you can tell, um, to, uh, to participate today if I'd have drove to Little Rock, I would have had to shaves, but, uh, still on the I'm glad we could spare you that, but, uh, nonetheless, we still see your face, so that's right. All right. Well, probably worse now than it would have been. Um, I have a question and if at liberty of the chair, I have a couple of comments, but first I have a question that, um, in your presentation, Robin, I want to thank Y'all, for what you do, uh, both of you, uh, it's vital to, for us to manage, uh, programs for the inmates in the system. But one of the, the questions I had was the, when you said provide data to youth services, um, I wondered what kind of questions They had, uh, they would have that we would be sharing with youth services since we're, uh, an adult. I know you take some, uh, underage people that get, um, convicted as an adult, but tell me what is an example of what you service would be requesting from our EOA system. Certainly, uh, so with youth services we provided a population snapshot to them. Uh, they use that to essentially track outcomes for their populations to see um how The folks that they've had in in their jurisdiction, um. Move through the system if they do, uh, so we do end up getting several from youth services over time and their interest is in tracking that to see. The outcomes from from their own programming. Interesting. I, that's something that, uh, I, I wanted to know when you brought that out. Um, I, uh, at, at the OK, if the uh Chair, I'd like to make a couple of comments that Mr. I reserved the right to cut you off at any point, but absolutely, Mr. Chair. All right, listen, um, Uh, two things that she was, it's so important about these warrants on failure to appear. This happens. I, a lot in the system where as soon as they get out, there's a warrant. For fade or pier, and it does create a problem not only for the inmates but our staff because our focused just as soon as they come in, they have to serve a warrant on them from failure to peer when they know. So I don't know at some point I realized these meetings, uh, this task force is to look at things that, uh. Uh, can reduce recidivism, and that really needs to be looked at, but at the same time, it needs to be looked at that A lot of times we release people from probation or something prior to. The getting all their fines or restitution pays paid, and that also needs to be looked at, um. At some point, and I know that a lot of times that We said the payments, the courts do, let's say sometimes more than. The might might ever have the ability to pay. And so that's those three things because she mentioned that I wanted to bring out. The other thing, and she can comment on Ms. White and her colleague Eric and, uh, comment on if they want to is, um, But I think it's, uh, 4 years ago, something like that when we were combined up to about 4 years ago, uh, career tech and Votech, if you wanna call it that, were separate from the school district, and we combined them by the legislatures, um, Helping us get it done, that, uh, they combined them and it's made huge difference. For career tech and I think it's we're Expanding our services and our ideas to help. Uh, the inmate population with career tech all the time, and I think it's going to make a huge difference in the in the future, and I, I'd like for her to comment if she has seen an uptick on those type of career tech advantages. I haven't done a lot of work looking at data and outcomes for the career tech, um, but I have worked closely with Tracey Dowell, the superintendent of the Arkansas Correctional School District, and she's doing a phenomenal job. Um, they've got two more certification programs that they're going to be adding in the next several months, so things are progressing well. Thank you. And, and I just want to add on to what Chairman Magnus had to say about the, I think, specifically the fines and fees. I think it's a great point. I think we need to look at that for, um, inmates coming out of incarceration, trying to get back into, um, daily life can be difficult, especially if they're required to pay all of the, the fees associated, not talking about restitution, I think that's a different thing to discuss entirely, but when it comes to fines and fees, I know several myself and several colleagues are looking at that and trying To figure out um. Really had to make that work because what may not be well aware, and I think it's a problem needs to be addressed, is a lot of times those fines and fees are associated with actual funds that fund certain um You know, things like courthouse technology and other things and, and may I just say I think it's a bit of a, um, negative incentive, if you will, if you're tying fines and fees to funds that fund things in the criminal justice system. So anyway, that being said, I think there's, there is something to look at because we do want people to be successful. So, uh, I echo that, um. Did I see any other, I saw Mr. Shu, did you have your hand up or are you scratching your head? OK, fair enough. Yes, ma'am. You're recognized. I also want to thank you for your presentation. That's very interesting information. I want to touch on the warrant issue that you referenced, um, as a circuit judge and with a criminal docket, I see this all the time and the circumstances from our perspective when I'm on the bench, for example, in a plea and arraignment day or a criminal chambers day. There is a gigantic docket this individual's name will be on that docket. Prosecutor calls the name. We have court connect in front of us, which is, of course, the only, uh, technical data or information that I have in front of me when I'm on the bench, but we have that look to see that he was that that defendant was in fact ordered to be at that arraignment date name called 3 times, no response. Prosecutor says, Judge, we request a warrant, so ordered. And so that on our end is the only piece of that information that we have and so I wanted to, uh, State that and to suggest that there would be a very important tie in if we want to reduce that to increase someone's access to that piece of information and the way it's usually happening that I see is that these defendants are not just on the docket and pointset County, they may have also had a PTR in Woodruff County and they've been sentenced on that and no one knows that in Poinsett County, they may not have even met their public defender at that. point. The second piece of that, however, is on the other direction if you've got an inmate in ADC who is going to the re-entry process, it seems to me that it would be important for on that end for the individuals that are helping uh ready that inmate for release to be able to know where every single warrant is, and I feel like that there is a breakdown just within our counties looking at what the Cities may have done in the district court level, much less what the state courts are doing at the circuit level in order to combine all that information and make it easy to know on the front end before that warrant is served. This is an issue that we need to be able to resolve and as you indicated, could be fairly easily resolved, but not the court case itself, but the fact that there's an outstanding FTA and so I just wanted to make that comment from my perspective on the criminal bench. didn't agree more with all of that. No, I think that's well, well stated, Judge. Mr. Chapman, you're recognized. Judge, just as a point of reference, those warrants are nearly simultaneous, correct? with the new system, that those warrants are being issued once the judge says, hit the button basically. So same day warrants, correct? Yeah, they hold them for me and at the end of the day I sign them and then they issue No, I think that's well, well stated, Judge. Mr. Chapman, you're recognized. Judge, just as a point of reference, those warrants are nearly simultaneous, correct? with the new system, that those warrants are being issued once the judge says, hit the button basically. So same day warrants, correct? Yeah, they hold them for me and at the end of the day I sign them and then they issues and see if there's. Mr. Magnus, I see your hand. I think that, um, uh, prosecutors could, um, Can answer this question. I think, and, uh, Ms. Wyatt can't, I, I think all prosecutor's office have Access to s. And um. I don't, I probably pretty sure the, the judges don't, but prosecutors, I think, have access to he almost to be able to find that name either in as an inmate or somebody on probation and parole, but somebody can answer that question if that's. If that's true, and, and I know prosecutors might have that answer, but I know in my judicial district, I know that, that they, they look at information up a lot of times. We, we do not have that ability and going on what Judge says, I mean, in order a speedy trials running. And the only thing that stops that oftentimes is the issuance of that warrant that stops the speedy trial. Um, I don't know the solution, but from our perspective at the front end, um, it's, it's important that those warrants are timely. signed and then also timely served. And you know, try to resolve everything as much as you can and it's not just with it. I mean, I'm a one county district, but um It's, I don't know the solution to that problem. what is Is there a chance, Lindsay, that you could look into that with Ms. White, and I'm fairly sure that Our judicial district has Access to illness. That's why I was curious to see Mr. Sho there, uh, prosecutors you to see if that was. The case everywhere, but So I, I think, I think it really needs to be where each prosecutor has access to, I believe, to Eomas. I know the sheriff's departments do. Yeah, I was about to say I think maybe with some, some, you know, investigators within maybe some prosecutors prosecutor's offices have that access, I think, from what I've understood, but Miss, Ms. Wallace, do you or Jim Cheek. I'm going to let Robin. Robin is over the EOS development, so any new users that we add to the system, she should be able to give you a pretty good and accurate idea of who has access. We do, we do have a lot of prosecutors that have access. It's always been on request, so if anyone in your court would like access. I've got the form tree to fill out, um. Beyond that, we do also have sheriffs and local city police that have access. It's we consider it's a criminal justice database. So anyone in local law enforcement and other criminal and criminal justice involved agencies can ask for access. It won't be quite the same access that perhaps, you know, I have or or probation parole officer has, but it is, it is still accessed nonetheless, but I think more to the judge's point is, even if you have that access, do you still deal with it. Zucchini problem. You still have this glut of information that you're looking at inomis, um, and finding a way to distill that down to the people that you need to know about is the other half of the problem. Well, Mr. Shearer, it looks like you just got yourself access to the point with my office does not have investigators. What happens is Through the process it goes to the sheriff. Sheriff has access and they, they can find out that they're in the department of corrections. Again, then the issue becomes getting them back from the Department of Corrections to try to resolve the matter. Yeah Something to look into, I think Miss, Miss Wallace was taking, uh, copious notes. So, all right, uh, any additional questions, Ms. Clifton, you're recognized. Hi, so forgive me if I got lost. I know about Eomis and then the Arkansas Data hub. Is that something that the department uses already. So we are already hooking up, uh, EMS, our database into the data hub. Robert could speak more to the hub as it as it exists, but that is something that we are starting to move some of the most important pieces of data into and hook it into that hub so that we can then start to share across other agencies, OK, so who puts in the information or who's, I guess, go back, who, whose system is Arkansas Data Hub? It's a statewide shared service. It's managed by the Department of Transformation and Shared Services. OK. And then so who would it be somebody within the department that inputs that information or it just automatically links. And whereas Ellis is a transactional system where there are screens where people can input information then the data hub really sits behind the scenes really just as a glue across the different systems, the physical type sharing and integration and a secure and governed way across the different systems. So then for like this problem we're talking about, how would, how would Arkansas data hub. Help like this warrant problem, like with every court have to get Locked locked into it and then you see what I'm saying, or is it a one-stop thing or there are a lot of different ways to get the information out, just maybe one example if if um. And was it connect or court connect is what you're already looking at and there was a way to say from a governance standpoint because a lot of this is making sure everything's compliant and everything, um, that that, you know, that record we can pick that up out of EMS and surface it in court connect like that it can facilitate the technical part of that sharing in real time. We just have to work through the the proper governance controls to allow that information to flow. OK. OK, thank you. Any other questions? Ms. Wallace, I saw you hit your button. Now, now you're waving me off, OK. No, I'm sorry. Mr. Xu and I were talking about maybe it wouldn't solve the underlying issue of the failure to appear warrants. He's still not present in your, your courtroom for you to proceed in some capacity with this hearing, but if we could figure out a way to connect with the counties with that inmate and know that they're in custody, then Zoom opportunities so that you get what you need on your docket, um, for this person to show up and continuing the criminal process. Um, he's talking about perhaps pleading concurrent Something, you know, I don't, I don't know what the, what the option is, but that's less staff intensive for us or the counties driving folks back and forth, but there's a potential that if we can just identify who it is that you're not seeing anything about on Court Connect, but we know that they're in our custody. Somehow we might be able to bridge some sort of gap. Some great ideas. I think we need to, we need to look at some of those options. All right, any additional questions? All right. uh, thank you for being here, very informative. Um, if you would share that, that presentation with, uh, Tony over here, Ms. Hamp, and she'll get that out to all of us. Um, and then one thing really quickly, I'm gonna put some folks on the spot here, um, this wasn't on the agenda, so I'm going to ask for a motion to suspend the rules to take up an agenda item, and I'll tell you what that is specifically. I would like to hear from the Department of Corrections related to the medical contract But specifically, I think the mental health component to that, which is a little bit new and so I think it would be helpful to hear why that's important. I mean, I, I have some ideas as to why that's important. I've vocalized some of those, um, but I think it's, it's important for us to understand what that contract entails, not to get into the weeds per se on the contract, um, you know, you can go read read newspaper articles regarding that if you want more information, but, um, So with that, I'd like to entertain emotion. Uh, I have a motion for Mr. Chapman. I'll second that from Mr. Xu to suspend the rules to take up, uh, an agenda item related to the medical contract. So with that, Ms. Wallace and your team, I think we need Chad and Wade and everybody at the end of the table. I've been threatening Chad to get him at the end of the table. Not that I need to hear from him. I just want him at the end of the table. So I'm happy to share the spotlight with these two fellows, so I welcome them. All right, you're recognized Ms. Wallace. Thank you, Chairman. Um, so yes, in this iteration of the medical contract we have added mental health, comprehensive mental health services to that. Um, we have historically struggled with keeping those mental health positions filled in the Department of Corrections. You caught me off guard, so I don't have any of my materials, so I can't give you specific numbers, but we have a pretty significant vacancy rate in our mental health position. So, um, during the last tenure of the 10-year contract that we had with our existing provider. We built it into the East Arkansas Regional unit, um, suicides are a problem. East Arkansas, we have a pretty significant number of them, and so that specific facility. I think we had authorization for 9 FTEs, full-time equivalent positions there and we could hardly ever keep one or two filled. And so we entered into a contract, um, to get us through the end of the term with our medical vendor to see how things went with them and they almost immediately were able to hire 9 or so folks just simply because it's easier for them pay wise to bring the folks in. Um, so we built that into the contract and of course that's going to, I think that, that was an impact in the cost of the contract, and that is a significant amount, but But it's comprehensive. It's going to cover everything from your intake all the way through their tenure with us in the department and either those positions will transition to the contract because they choose to, um, or we're looking at, we don't have any case managers within the department to the point of the programming aspect and putting them out of prison in better shape than they came to us or while they were with us. Um, the goal is to look at for those folks that do not wish to transition. to the mental health portion of the contract to utilize those as sort of case managers to help with the programming component. Um, I'll let wait or Chad or Mr. Magnus piggyback onto anything that I said, but that's the goal and the hope is to improve mental health outcomes, um, to get us in better shape than what we are existing. All right, well, I don't see any of them just jumping up to speak. I really don't have anything to add, you know, like Secretary Wallace said this is something that is new to the medical contract. We tried to offer these services ourselves and and found that we just could not staff those positions and so that's why we added it to this contract. We don't see anything, uh, we're still providing that base level of service so that that hasn't really changed. If I can add one thing, it is covered in the community corrections under the current iteration of the contract, and it's been covered. Community correction centers have mental health that is provided by Wellpath, and I think they've had pretty good outcomes in community correction centers. So it's new to the division of correction side of things, your traditional prison setting. So those are where we have been providing the services historically. Any questions? I, I think it was a needed aspect. I mean, some of the testimony we've heard in here related to intake assessments and things of that nature, I think, um, I think this is responsive to some of that, and I appreciate that in addition to, you know, some of the suicides that we've seen, unfortunately, as a result of the population there, so I think again, responsive to a lot of those concerns, and I appreciate it. And someone, if I can if I have a little latitude, um, someone mentioned, I believe it was Robin talking about um utilizing tablets for furthering connectivity and things like that. We are working on pushing tablets out to our entire population. We have traditionally only given it to, um, inmates that were class 1 and 2, and we're looking at moving it to 3s and 4s so that we can expand opportunities for learning. They may not have access to all of the fun things, but to be able to allow them to, you know, access programming or any sort of apps that could further um further their well-being while they're incarcerated. We're looking at those avenues as well. Yeah Mr. Brown, anything to add? I hesitantly came today because of this, uh, so thank you for the invitation to the table, but no, I do not have anything to offer unless you have questions. He's the numbers guy, so you got questions on money, that'd be the guy, but I see no questions. Uh, thank you for the, the latitude and leeway from the committee. That was more of a without objection vote. So I appreciate y'all entertaining that. I think it is important to hear what's going on from that, from the department and the standpoint related to mental health. So, um, anything else for the good of the task force before we adjourned. Um, I will look at some dates and, and figure out what is, um, some other pertinent agenda items that need to be discussed and sort of figure out another meeting time and and send that out, uh, when we come up with a date, but I appreciate you all taking the time to be here. I know your lives and days are busy, so thank you for that. Um, anything else before we adjourn?