Cook county is one of the largest and most diverse counties in the nation

The Cook County Sheriff's Department (CCSD) in Chicago, Illinois will receive $1.1 million under a Project Grant award from the Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance to enhance reentry services for detainees leaving incarceration. The grant funding, provided through the Second Chance Act Reentry Initiative program (CFDA 16.812), will be used to expand CCSD's performance-based and outcomes-based contracts with Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities (TASC) to provide individualized reentry services and community-based treatment. Specifically, CCSD will enhance existing contracts with TASC to deliver risk-based reentry services and manage associated performance monitoring, data collection, and outcomes validation efforts. CCSD staff and TASC providers will also receive training related to performance-based procurement and reentry best practices under the award ending March 2026.

The county has a population of 5.2 million, and includes over 130 different municipalities. The size of cook county and the breadth of different groups and communities within IT create a large assortment of treatment needs for the cook county sheriff's office to fill. To address these challenges, cook county department of corrections (ccdoc) offers programming to assist detainees with a broad range of behavioral health concerns and comprehensive reentry care coordination. In-custody programs such as thrive (women's substance use disorder treatment), mhtc (mental health treatment for men), save (antiviolence programming for men), and smart (men's substance use disorder treatment) were developed by ccdoc for detainees with non-violent drug-related charges who have a history of substance abuse, trauma and/or mental illness. Ccdoc constructed programming on the risk-needs-responsivity framework with an assessment taking place while in-custody followed by the creation of an individualized plan for reentry, based upon risk of recidivism and clinical and criminogenic needs. The ccso will collaborate reentry efforts with tasc, INC. (treatment alternatives for safe communities). Tasc is a not-for-profit organization that provides behavioral health recovery management services for individuals with complex health and social needs. The organization has provided and/or facilitated access to community-based treatment and recovery services for individuals who are involved in systems such as criminal and juvenile justice, corrections, child welfare, public aid, and public housing. Tasc collaborates closely with healthcare providers, policymakers, academic institutions, and family and community stakeholders to see that underserved populations are linked to the services they need while achieving the most efficient use of clinical and financial resources. The ccso will expand opportunities for support and therapeutic services for the diverse detainee population as they transition back into the community by 1) enhancing already established performance-based and outcomes-based contracts to provide individualized reentry services for people leaving incarceration who are identified through a validated risk tool as being at moderate to high risk to reoffend in the community; 2)manage the performance-based or outcomes-based reentry service contract, including data and report collection, regular performance and outcome reviews between governments and service providers, on- and off-site monitoring, outcomes validation, and incentive payment approvals; 3) ensure government staff and service providers have adequate training on performance-based or outcomes-based procurement, reentry services, data collection, and outcomes validation.