Shawnee County selects BI Incorporated to operate Day Reporting Center Program

Shawnee County Community Corrections has selected BI Incorporated to operate an innovative Day Reporting Center for adult probationers in Topeka. Funding for the Center was secured through a SB 14 grant.

Topeka, Kan. (Issues Wire / PRWEB) March 7, 2008 -- As a part of its continued effort to increase public safety and reduce recidivism, Shawnee County Community Corrections has selected BI Incorporated to operate an innovative Day Reporting Center (DRC) for adult probationers in Topeka. The Shawnee County DRC includes a wide range of community-based supervision, treatment and training services for medium- and high-risk offenders who typically recidivate. BI is a leading national provider of offender supervision and reentry services.

The Center, located at 516 SE 29th Street, serves Shawnee, Jackson, Jefferson, Pottawatomie and Wabaunsee counties. Funding for the Center was secured through a grant from the Kansas Community Corrections grant program governed by 2007 Senate Bill 14, an initiative implemented to reduce revocation rates by at least 20 percent and enhance public safety.

"Kansas has shown real leadership in corrections for looking at innovative community-based alternatives to incarceration that include evidence-based practices," said Tom Hurley, BI Midwest Regional Reentry Manager. "The Day Reporting Center provides a high level of supervision on a daily basis and the classes and counseling the offenders receive is designed to change criminal behaviors, a large benefit to the offenders' families and communities."

The DRC's approach to community-based supervision complements the Community Corrections Department's other supervision efforts. Classes are geared toward changing criminal thinking and building vocational, coping and life skills to reduce the risk of recidivism. By diverting offenders and defendants to the DRC, pressure is reduced on local and state correctional facilities and resources.

This is the fifth county-focused DRC award that BI has won recently, after receiving similar awards in Merced County, Calif., Franklin County, Penn., Sedgwick County, and Dutchess County, N.Y. Initial findings at these other DRC programs indicate those DRCs are helping to reduce jail overcrowding and recidivism among program participants. BI also operates a DRC in Topeka for parolees under the supervision of the Kansas Department of Corrections.

The Shawnee County DRC is open six days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday.

About BI Incorporated (www.bi.com)
Established in 1978, BI Incorporated is a leading technology and supervision company in community corrections today. BI has contracts with more than 1,000 governmental agencies nationwide, supporting them with a full continuum of intensive supervision technologies and community-based counseling, treatment services, and reentry programs for adult and juvenile offenders. BI's national monitoring center, owned and operated by BI, provides 24/7 expert support supervision services exclusively for governmental agencies. BI works closely with local public corrections officials to cost effectively reduce recidivism, promote public safety, and strengthen the communities it serves.

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