The Oregon Administrative Rules contain OARs filed through January 15, 2010

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

291-078-0005

Authority, Purpose, and Policy

(1) Authority: The authority for this rule is granted to the Director of the Department of Corrections in accordance with ORS 179.040, 423.020, 423.030, and 423.075.

(2) Purpose: The purpose of this rule is to:

(a) Establish a level of statewide consistency to the classification of offenders;

(b) Classify offenders based primarily upon risk of recidivism;

(c) Operate on the principle of limited risk control and utilize an objective risk assessment tool for making classification decisions;

(d) Quantify workload, including both investigative and supervision services;

(e) Assign levels of supervision;

(f) Provide the data necessary for policy decisions, program planning, effective utilization of resources, research, and evaluation;

(g) Enhance corrections system credibility by providing a means of accountability through established auditing methods; and

(h) Provide workload data which may be used for resource allocation.

(3) Policy: It is the policy of the Department of Corrections that:

(a) Offenders will be classified according to the risk they pose to the community;

(b) Data on offenders will be routinely gathered and utilized for ongoing decision-making;

(c) The Oregon Case Management System will provide a framework of standards and expectations for the delivery of statewide basic services;

(d) A continuous effort will be made to balance statewide system needs with local community needs.

Stat. Auth.: ORS 179.040, ORS 423.020, ORS 423.030 & ORS 423.075
Stats. Implemented: ORS 179.040, ORS 423.020, ORS 423.030 & ORS 423.075
Hist.: CD 15-1991, f. & cert. ef. 6-14-91; CD 12-1997, f. 7-23-97, cert. ef. 8-1-97

291-078-0010

Definitions

(1) Agency: The Department of Corrections/Community Corrections or county community corrections agencies.

(2) Offender: Any person under the supervision of local community corrections who is on parole, post-prison supervision, or probation status.

(3) Risk of Violence: The identified potential of an offender to engage in or threaten to engage in behavior that constitutes physical force and/or the inflicting of injury on another person.

(4) Risk of Recidivism: The likelihood of an offender committing new criminal behavior while under supervision.

(5) Supervision Intake Date: The date upon which the agency supervisor assigns a new case offender to a supervising/intake offender.

(6) Supervision Period: The period of time an offender is under the supervision of an agency or agencies. The period of supervision may involve multiple cases and is interrupted only by: Department of Correction incarceration, transfer of the offender out of state, case closure due to absconding, or legal termination of the final chronological case.

(7) Supervision Termination Date: The date established by the releasing/sentencing authority when the offender is no longer legally subject to community supervision.

Stat. Auth.: ORS 179.040, ORS 423.020, ORS 423.030 & ORS 423.075
Stats. Implemented: ORS 179.040, ORS 423.020, ORS 423.030 & ORS 423.075
Hist.: CD 15-1991, f. & cert. ef. 6-14-91; CD 12-1997, f. 7-23-97, cert. ef. 8-1-97

291-078-0015

Applicability

(1) All agencies are required to utilize the Oregon Case Management System (OCMS) in order to access designated field services funds.

(2) OCMS shall apply to all offenders being supervised or investigated due to a felony conviction and to offenders being formally investigated as part of the court process prior to actual conviction and/or sentencing. OCMS does apply to diversions and Psychiatric Review Board cases, but not to game violations or any other non-conviction cases.

(3) OCMS Manual: An Oregon Case Management System manual will be provided by the Department and include all instructions related to the ongoing responsibility of the Department to ensure that manual contents are updated as needed.

Stat. Auth.: ORS 179.040, ORS 423.020, ORS 423.030 & ORS 423.075
Stats. Implemented: ORS 179.040, ORS 423.020, ORS 423.030 & ORS 423.075
Hist.: CD 15-1991, f. & cert. ef. 6-14-91; CD 12-1997, f. 7-23-97, cert. ef. 8-1-97

291-078-0020

Classification

The classification component ensures the classification of offenders according to risk and their assignment to specified levels of community supervision.

(1) New Case: Any offender received for community supervision who is not already under community supervision at the time of the referral shall be considered a new case. An initial risk assessment must be completed.

(a) The offender shall be considered a new case for a period of up to 30 days commencing with the supervision intake date. Authorization to extend the new case status an additional 30 days may be granted by the supervisor when extenuating circumstances warrant such extension. Approval for the extension may be documented in the case file.

(b) An absconder shall be considered a new case upon return to supervision if he/she has been absent from supervision for a period of six months or longer.

(2) Risk Assessment:

(a) Classification will involve the use of risk assessment tools which are objective instruments that group offenders according to their likelihood to re-offend.

(b) Initial Risk Assessment: The initial assessment of risk will rely primarily on historical factors to predict the likelihood of recidivism. The initial risk assessment instrument will be completed as part of new case procedures.

(A) The instrument will be scored according to the Department of Corrections instructions. The computer score will then place the offender in one of four risk levels: high, medium, low, or limited.

(B) Upon completion of the initial risk assessment instrument, the officer will sign and date the form.

(3) Risk Reassessment: The ongoing reassessment of offender risk relies on a combination of both historical and current behavior factors in order to predict likelihood of recidivism.

(a) The risk reassessment instrument will be utilized in all cases subject to reassessment.

(b) Offenders will be reassessed a minimum of every six months for high, medium, and low level cases. Cases that are at the limited level need to be reassessed only as circumstances would warrant.

(c) The risk reassessment instrument will be scored according to the Department of Corrections instructions. The computer score will then place the offender in one of four risk levels: high, medium, low, or limited.

(d) The officer will sign and date the risk reassessment instrument upon completion.

(4) Override:

(a) The override feature is intended to address risk factors that may not be included in the objective risk assessment instruments. These factors are based upon:

(A) Offender-specific issues which, in the professional judgment of the officer, appear to impact the risk the offender poses to the community; or

(B) Crime-specific risk issues, especially those involving demonstrated violent behavior; or

(C) Policy and/or value statements on the part of the Department of Corrections or agency regarding the delivery of correctional services.

(b) The override feature provides for either increases or decreases in the level of supervision from that determined through the risk assessment score.

(c) All override must be based upon one of the following categories;

(A) Assault offender;

(B) Sex offender;

(C) Offender needs;

(D) Extreme criminal record;

(E) New criminal record;

(F) Major non-compliance;

(G) Officer discretion;

(H) Conformance to conditions;

(I) In custody status;

(J) Unavailable status; or

(K) Associations.

(d) The assessing officer must indicate the single most appropriate category on the risk assessment form.

(e) Approval of override requests by the officer's supervisor is not required; however, the agency may elect to require this level of approval. The risk form includes a location for the signing and dating of the approval by the supervisor.

(f) In accordance with the Department of Corrections instructions, overrides must include a succinct justification statement which shall relate the information basis for the override of the offender risk to the community. In addition, overrides shall include a reference to the sources from which the applicable information was obtained.

(g) Supervision level changes due to override shall remain in effect until:

(A) A change in circumstances warrants a reassessment and subsequent adjustment in the level of supervision;

(B) The removal of the override is warranted and consistent with the Department of Corrections instructions; or

(C) The next regularly scheduled reassessment.

(5) In order to ensure a baseline of statewide consistency in the supervision of offenders, four basic levels of supervision have been established: high, medium, low, and limited. Completion of the scoring portion of the risk instrument shall, in most cases, determine which supervision level is appropriate. The county community corrections manager will establish minimum contact standards for high, medium, low, and limited supervision levels for new cases.

(a) Standards will be in writing with the policies and procedures of the field office.

(b) The county will notify the Department of Corrections of the contact standards so that they can be coded into the computer integrated system (ISIS). The management reports generated by ISIS will reflect the actual standards set in the county.

(c) All persons convicted of a sex offense or assault offense shall be supervised at no less than medium level for the first six months of supervision.

(A) An offender found to be sexually violent dangerous as defined in ORS 144,635 shall be subject to intensive supervision for the full period of the offender's parole and post-prison supervision.

(B) Intensive supervision for the purposes of this rule means an enhanced level of supervision exceeding a county's high risk level supervision standards. Intensive supervision may include, but not be limited to, electronic monitoring, house arrest, curfew, day reporting, supervised housing, multiple supervising officers, adjunct surveillance by law enforcement or other specialists, increased face-to-face offender contacts in the community, increased collateral contacts (such as with family, therapist and employer), community notification, geographic restrictions, offender mileage logs, medication monitoring (such as depo provera, psychotropics, antabuse), intensive outpatient or residential treatment programming, urinalysis, and polygraph.

(6) Forms:

(a) All agencies shall adhere to the prescribed Department of Corrections format on applicable forms.

(b) Completed risk assessments forms shall be retained in chronological order on side two of the standard four-sided file.

Stat. Auth.: ORS 144.637, ORS 179.040, ORS 423.020, ORS 423.030 & ORS 423.075
Stats. Implemented: ORS 144.637, ORS 179.040, ORS 423.020, ORS 423.030 & ORS 423.075
Hist.: CD 15-1991, f. & cert. ef. 6-14-91; CD 12-1997, f. 7-23-97, cert. ef. 8-1-97; DOC 4-2001, f. & cert. ef. 2-7-01

291-078-0045

Validation/Evaluation

(1) The Department of Corrections will subject the classification risk instruments to periodic validation in order to ensure that the instruments are predicting risk within acceptable ranges.

(2) Evaluation of the case management system will occur through:

(a) The ongoing assessment of operations through the operational review system;

(b) The ongoing informal feedback of users and recommendations of the OCMS Advisory Committee; and

(c) The formal written evaluation of the system to determine operational effectiveness and accomplishments of identified purposes.

(3) A formal evaluation will occur at no more than five-year intervals.

Stat. Auth.: ORS 179.040, ORS 423.020, ORS 423.030 & ORS 423.075
Stats. Implemented: ORS 179.040, ORS 423.020, ORS 423.030 & ORS 423.075
Hist.: CD 15-1991, f. & cert. ef. 6-14-91