1998 ANNUAL REPORT

Our Mission:

To ensure that all members of our community, regardless of race, gender or economic status, obtain equal justice before the law. O.A.R. provides support and advocacy to inmates. We provide bail loans to inmates who meet our strict criteria. Also, O.A.R. assists ex-inmates in the process of transition from the jail toward restoration to the community.

Tompkins County Jail, 1998

The jail population remained high. Jail admissions were over 1,200 total for the year. The monthly average number of inmates in the jail was about 74, ranging from a low of 60 to a high of 87. Many inmates continued to be boarded out to other counties with a monthly average around 12. In the spring, the jail implemented "double-celling", placing two people in a cell designed for one. As in the past, over 75% of those incarcerated were pre-trial detainees.

OAR Program Services: Volunteer Program

OAR volunteers provided the agency, the inmates and the community with valuable services. Our 43 Visitors participated in 97 visitor-inmate partnerships providing 1,035 hours of visits. These ongoing relationships link inmates to the community and provide them with time for stress-reduction and reflection. This helps to mitigate the inmate's isolation and despair while it increases community understanding and makes for a safer jail. Of inmates surveyed, over 90% felt that "having a volunteer to talk to made it easier for me to deal with my cellmates and the guards". In addition to our visitor volunteers, another 39 volunteers assisted in the office and in other activities such as fundraising.

Client Services: Immediate Assistance, Office Assistance, & Drop-In Center

The Immediate Assistance Program keenly felt the high jail population. Our staff, ably assisted by our skilled interns, made 2,460 cell-block visits to discuss inmate requests for services and for assistance with these and other contacts. Together, these requests and their follow-up activities yielded 11,922 service units in this busy program.

Office Assistance provides information and referral in response to inquiries by the public. The Drop-In Center serves ex-inmates with information, a message board, a local phone line and staff help in job and housing searches and other service acquisition. Together, these programs served 363 clients, an increase of 33% over 1997. Of our clients in these two programs, youth comprised 18% while 28% were female and 32% were from racial-ethnic minorities.

Client Services: Transition Services

Begun in 1997 our program involves pre-release assessment and planning for jail inmates, especially youth. In 1998 the Transitions Coordinator and clients completed 31 interviews and Transition Plans. Staff assisted with intensive facilitated referral.

Assigned Counsel Assistance
Since the need is so immediate, staff in both programs provide inmates with Assigned Counsel forms and assistance in completing them. 421 forms were completed and forwarded (95% within 24 hours) including 91 for youth.

Bail Fund Program

O.A.R. staff conducted 408 Intake Interviews with newly incarcerated inmates. Of these 126 were youth and 282 were adults. These interviews provide client information and serve to inform inmates about available services within and outside the jail; appropriate referrals are then made.
Since incarceration is especially challenging for youth we prioritize services for them, providing 130 Crisis Counseling sessions with incarcerated youth.
In order to promote equal justice, O.A.R. provided 55 interest-free bail loans to carefully screened inmates who did not have the means to make their own bail. Of these 21 were for youth.
During the year we experienced only one forfeiture.
In the process, incarceration "days saved" for our bailees numbered 2,302 as of 2/15/99. (This includes only the cases disposed of by 2/15/99; the final tally will be higher.) Avoiding this unnecessary jail time saved the county taxpayers at least $172,650 (to 2/15/99) if calculated at the $75/day board-out rate, or $214, 086 if calculated at $93/day, a more comprehensive and perhaps more accurate figure. (These amounts will also increase as the full "'days saved" number is known.)

Budgets and Funders

Our 1998 expenses were 87% for personnel and 13% nonpersonnel. Our revenues totaled $145,717 and were comprised as follows:

Changes, changes

We embark on our 23rd year with some noteworthy changes. In September, we welcomed our new director, Regi Teasley, who was previously a college teacher of sociology and criminal justice. For several years, she served as a faculty member and administrator in the college program at the Elmira Correctional Facility, Also, Toni Sunderland assumed the position of Volunteer Coordinator while continuing her work with Transition Services.

On the electronic front, we are converting our data collection and analysis to MS Access. With the aid of a Human Services Coalition grant, we received two new computers and software which will make our new recording system viable. We are also working with representatives of the Criminal Justice Information System and look forward to participating in it as information is shared across agencies.

O.A.R. Staff

Regi Teasley, Executive Director

Michelle Putney, Program Director / Client Services Coordinator

Kate Chason, Bail Fund Coordinator

Toni Sunderland, Transition Program & Volunteer Coordinator

Chris Ogden, Administrative Assistant

O.A.R.
403 N. Plain St.
Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 255-7885

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