This Body-Worn Camera Partnership Program is for law enforcement agencies, including tribal law enforcement, seeking to pilot, establish, or enhance body-worn camera policy and implementation practices. BJA’s Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program (BWCPIP) addresses how to develop and implement these policies and practices for effective program adoption, including the purchase, deployment, and maintenance of camera systems and equipment; data storage and access; and privacy considerations. BWCPIP funds are to be used to purchase or lease camera technology, and program stipulations require that the devices be deployed in a deliberate and planned manner. Before receiving the bulk of their funds, award recipients must first demonstrate a commitment and adherence to a strong body-worn camera (BWC) policy framework. BWCPIP also stresses requisite training, tracking the impact of BWCs, sound digital evidence management practices, and internal and external stakeholder input. Correctional agencies are eligible to apply for BWCPIP funding, provided they are publicly funded and perform law enforcement functions. BJA also provides competitive microgrants to small, rural, and tribal law enforcement agencies seeking to initiate or expand a body-worn camera program. BJA provides all grantees with training and technical assistance which is also available to the field. For more information, visit: https://bja.ojp.gov/program/bwc-partnership-program/overview
The purpose of the Patrick Leahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP) Program is to reimburse states, counties, federally recognized tribes, cities, and local jurisdictions up to 50% of the cost of body armor vests purchased for law enforcement officers. The term ‘Law Enforcement Officer’ means any officer, agent, or employee of a State, unit of local government, or federally recognized tribes authorized by law or by a government agency to engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, or investigation of any violation of criminal law, or authorized by law to supervise people who have been sentenced. This includes full, part- time, and auxiliary personnel, whether paid or volunteer.
Since 1999, over 13,000 jurisdictions have participated in the BVP Program, with a total of $548 million in federal funds for the purchase of over 1.4 million vests. Since FY 2015, protective vests were directly attributable to saving the lives of at least 272 law enforcement and corrections officers (based on data collected by the Office of Justice Programs). Thirty-nine of those vests were purchased, in part, with BVP funds. For more information, visit: www.ojp.gov/program/bulletproof-vest-partnership/overview
The Child Friendly Family Visiting Spaces in Jails and Prisons Program provides federal funds, and training and technical assistance to correctional facilities to construct, renovate, or modify child-friendly family visiting spaces. It also provides funding to review, modify, and implement visiting policies, procedures, staffing, training, and implementation plans to support family strengthening and the best interests of child visitors. The results should comply with the Model Practices for Parents in Prisons and Jails guide, available at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/static.nicic.gov/Library/033094.pdf. BJA received a one-time appropriation for this program in Fiscal Year 2021.
The Collaborative Crisis Response Training Program funds the implementation of transdisciplinary crisis response training to educate, train, and prepare law enforcement and corrections officers so that they are equipped to appropriately interact with people who have behavioral health conditions (including mental health and substance use) and intellectual and developmental disabilities while completing their job responsibilities. The program supports states and local law enforcement, and correctional entities to plan and implement training, engage in organizational planning to deploy trained officers in times of crisis, and sustain a best practice crisis response program. This program supports site-based awards, training, and technical assistance, which can be found at: https://www.informedpoliceresponses.com/
The Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) aims to reduce the impact of opioids, stimulants, and other substances on individuals and communities by supporting comprehensive, collaborative initiatives. COSSUP funding provides necessary resources that allow communities to respond to illicit substance use and misuse to reduce overdose deaths, promote public safety, and support access to treatment and recovery services in the criminal justice system. COSSUP supports units of state, local, and tribal governments to plan, develop, and implement comprehensive efforts that identify, respond to, treat, and support those impacted by illicit opioids, stimulants, and other drugs. Allowable uses of funds include: front end diversion; overdose response; overdose mapping; data collection and research; overdose fatality review; jail-based programming; access to treatment and peer recovery services; drug take back and disposal; court and prosecution diversion; child welfare; and harm reduction efforts. The program also promotes cross-system planning and coordination to deliver a broad range of evidence-based, culturally relevant interventions. More information can be found at: https://bja.ojp.gov/program/cossup/about
Recognizing that institutional and community corrections officers and staff face many challenges, threats, and stressors, the Corrections Officer and Staff Safety and Wellness Program offers training and technical assistance and builds upon the knowledge base of what works to continually improve their safety and wellness. In addition to offering training, the Corrections Officer and Staff Safety and Wellness Center serves as a repository of corrections policies, protocols, and innovations that work to improve corrections officer and staff safety, wellness, resilience, and retention. In addition, the Center will focus on what works to identify and prevent suicide risk among corrections officers who are lost to suicide at a rate much higher than that for the general population. For more information, visit: https://bja.ojp.gov
The Bureau of Justice Assistance Crime Analyst in Residence (CAR) Program is designed to help law enforcement agencies expand their use of data analysis and analytics to manage their operations and practices. Using a hybrid approach of onsite and virtual technical assistance, the CAR Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Team helps law enforcement agencies integrate tailored crime and data analysis practices, products, tools, and information more fully into their daily operations and crime reduction efforts. The CAR TTA Team works closely with the program participants to assess and build their capacity to solve cases, identify crime patterns, develop problem-solving approaches, and implement crime-reduction strategies. For more information, visit: https://crimeanalystinresidence.com
The Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA; Public Law 113-242) requires that states provide information regarding the death of any person incarcerated at a municipal or county jail to the Attorney General on a quarterly basis. Municipal and county jails or lockups are to report this information to their State Administering Agency (SAA) according to the process determined by their state. The Justice Information Resource Network (JIRN) Death in Custody Reporting Act Training and Technical Assistance Center (DCRA TTA Center), with funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), offers training and technical assistance (TTA) to SAAs to support DCRA data collection and reporting. TTA can be delivered onsite or virtually and includes web-based learning resources, a searchable database of informational resources, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities via online discussion boards/communities of practice. More information about BJA’s DCRA Data Collection Program can be accessed here; the TTA Center can be found here; and the TTA Center can be contacted at DCRA@jirn.org.
The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP) supports innovative cross-system collaboration to improve responses to and outcomes for individuals mental health and substance use disorders who are in the justice system or reentering the community. JMHCP also supports courts, prosecutors, and community supervision with training, technical assistance, and tools for the early identification of people with MHDs who may need behavioral health system interventions. Together with the Connect and Protect: Law Enforcement Behavioral Health Program, JMHCP promotes cross-discipline training for justice and treatment professionals, and facilitates communication, collaboration, and the delivery of support services for people with behavioral health needs. Tobe eligible, states, tribes, and local governments must partner with their mental health authority. BJA provides technical assistance to grantees and the field at large. The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program Website provides information, resources, and successful examples of JMHCP programs at: https://jmhcp.org/. To learn more about the program, visit: https://bja.ojp.gov/program/justice-and-mental-health-collaboration-program-jmhcp/overview
Justice Counts envisions a more fair, effective, and efficient criminal justice system by providing policymakers with actionable data to make policy and budgetary decisions. Justice Counts helps agency leaders adopt the Justice Counts metrics, make the data available, and help policy makers use them. It has supported a broad coalition to reach consensus around a set of metrics for each part of the system—law enforcement, prosecution, defense, courts, jails, prison, community supervision. States will develop a plan to engage agencies and localities, organize their data in the Justice Counts tool, and engage policymakers to use the data. For more information, visit: https://bja.ojp.gov/program/justice-counts/overview
This Justice Reinvestment Initiative State-level Technical Assistance uses a data-driven process to help states improve the fairness, effectiveness, and efficiency of their criminal justice systems. The initiative works in partnership with states to address public safety challenges, including people who have mental illnesses in the justice system, high rates of recidivism, and the high cost of corrections, all while trying to improve services for victims and increase opportunities for people returning to communities from jail and prison. BJA provides training and technical assistance experts to collect agency-spanning data that spotlight the most pressing trends and drivers of crime, recidivism, and costs; meet with a range of stakeholders and assess statutes, policies, and current practices; deliver findings and identify solutions for state leaders and stakeholders in clear, compelling, and actionable presentations; help address implementation challenges once changes are adopted; and establish an ongoing data monitoring process. To learn more about the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI), visit: https://bja.ojp.gov/program/justice-reinvestment-initiative/overview
The Second Chance Act National Reentry Resource Center (NRRC) was established in 2009 and serves as a primary source of information and guidance in adult and juvenile reentry, advancing the use of evidence- based practices and policies by creating a network of practitioners, researchers, and policymakers invested in reducing recidivism. The NRRC serves as a centralized online location for reentry information for dissemination to the field and includes a mechanism for online technical assistance. It also serves as a clearinghouse for reentry- related learning and funding opportunities, and provides resources for various audiences, including state, local, and tribal governments; service providers; nonprofit organizations; corrections institutions; individuals returning home to their communities from incarceration and their families; and other stakeholders. For further information, visit: https://nationalreentryresourcecenter.org
The Bureau of Justice Assistance National Training and Technical Assistance Center (BJA NTTAC) facilitates the delivery of training and technical assistance (TTA) to the criminal justice community. By providing rapid, expert, coordinated, and data driven TTA, the BJA NTTAC team supports practitioners in their efforts to reduce crime, recidivism, and unnecessary confinement, making communities safer. Utilizing a vast provider network, the BJA NTTAC team connects state, local, and tribal justice agencies with subject matter experts to address their communities’ specific public safety needs. Learn more at: https://bjatta.bja.ojp.gov/
Under the Prison Industry Enhancement Certification Program (PIECP), BJA certifies that local or state prison industry programs meet all the necessary requirements to be exempt from federal restrictions on prisoner-made goods in interstate commerce. PIECP programs place people who are incarcerated in realistic work environments, pay them prevailing wages, and give them a chance to develop marketable skills that will increase their potential for rehabilitation and meaningful employment on release. BJA provides technical assistance to all active state and county-based certified correctional industry programs that manage business partnerships with private industry and provides the latest information and strategies on prison industries to enhance certificate holders’ prison industry programs. For more information, visit: https://bja.ojp.gov/program/piecp/overview
BJA’s Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Management Office is responsible for supporting PREA implementation nationwide. In addition to administering the PREA Site- based Grant Program, this office also directs the PREA Resource Center, articulates the instrumentation and methodology to be used for PREA audits, trains and certifies PREA auditors, provides oversight for PREA audits, and communicates with governors’ offices about their annual statutory obligations under PREA. More information about PREA can be accessed here: https://bja.ojp.gov/program/prea/overview. Additional information, and access to training and technical assistance can be accessed here: https://www.prearesourcecenter.org/
The Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) Program is a formula grant program that enhances the capabilities of state, local, and tribal governments to provide residential substance use disorder (SUD) treatment to adult and juvenile populations during detention or incarceration, initiate or continue evidence-based SUD treatment in jails, prepare individuals for reintegration into the community, and assist them and their communities throughout the reentry process by delivering community-based treatment and other recovery aftercare services. It encourages the establishment and maintenance of drug-free prisons and jails and development and implementation of specialized residential SUD treatment for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. The program also encourages the inclusion of medication-assisted treatment as part of any SUD treatment protocol. Further information is available at: https://bja.ojp.gov/program/rsat/overview. BJA offers training and technical assistance to RSAT Program recipients and subrecipients. For more information or to request support go to: https://www.rsat-tta.com/Home
The purpose of this Safeguarding Correctional Facilities and Public Safety by Addressing Contraband Cellphones Program is to assist state and local governments, including federally recognized Indian tribes that have detention capacity, to protect against contraband cellphone use in correctional facilities. It provides grant funds and training and technical assistance (TTA) to grantees, and it develops tools and resources on contraband cell phone interdiction systems for the corrections field. Site-based awards are for governments to operationalize effective and secure contraband cell phone interdiction systems in correctional settings to prevent, detect, seize, and stop the presence and use of contraband cell phones by people who are incarcerated. Jurisdictions test, implement, and document changes to policy, practice, and tactics as they relate to preventing, detecting, seizing, and stopping the presence and use of contraband cell phones. For more information, visit: https://bja.ojp.gov/program/piecp/overview
The purpose of the Second Chance Act Community-based Reentry Incubator Initiative is to build programmatic, financial, and organizational capacity in community-based organizations and faith-based institutions to provide sustainable and transitional services to people leaving incarceration that focus on community and family reintegration, building strengths-based assets, and reducing recidivism (including reducing arrests, new charges, convictions for new offenses, and reincarceration). For more information, visit: https://bja.ojp.gov
The Second Chance Act: Community-based Reentry Program provides funding and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations and Indian tribes to provide comprehensive reentry services to individuals who have been incarcerated. Funds awarded under this program support individuals at moderate to high risk for recidivism. These services include both pre- and post-release programming and reentry support. Prior to release from incarceration, funded programs screen, assess, and identify individuals for program participation. Participants receive case management services and are connected evidence- based programming designed to ensure that the transition from prison or jail to the community is successful. Supports and services provided through this program can include: service coordination and tracking; gender-specific and trauma informed programming and services; individual and/or group mentoring, peer supports; educational, literacy, and vocational services; substance use and mental health disorder treatment and recovery services; connections to physical health care; family services to support family reunification and restoration; assistance in securing safe and affordable housing; civil legal assistance services; and staff training. For more information, visit: https://bja.ojp.gov/
The Second Chance Act: Reentry Program Evaluation Support Initiative supports training and technical assistance to ensure Second Chance Act (SCA) grantees complete rigorous evaluations and communicate learnings back to the field, and improves grantees’ capacity to sustain effective SCA-funded strategies. The SCA authorizes federal grants to government agencies and nonprofit organizations with the goal of increasing reentry programming and improving outcomes for people who have offended returning to their families and communities from prison or jail. Grantees conduct a variety of activities including making general system improvements and providing employment assistance, substance abuse treatment, housing, mentoring, and other services, as well as working with research partners to evaluate their efforts. Given the potential public safety and fiscal implications of a successful reentry into society, it is critical for correctional stakeholders to know which reentry initiatives are the most efficacious and to sustain them. For more information, visit: http://www.bja.ojp.gov.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) administers the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) in conjunction with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). SCAAP provides federal payments to states and localities that incurred correctional officer salary costs for incarcerating undocumented criminal aliens with at least one felony or two misdemeanor convictions for violations of state or local law and who were incarcerated for at least four consecutive days during the reporting period. More information about BJA’s SCAAP Program can be accessed here and the SCAAP Helpdesk can be contacted at SCAAP@usdoj.gov.
The purpose of the Swift, Certain, and Fair (SCF) Supervision Program is to provide state, local, and tribal community supervision agencies with information, resources, and training and technical assistance (TTA) to
engage in collaborative problem solving with stakeholders using data and research-informed strategies to assess and improve responses to client behavior in accordance with the principles of swiftness, certainty, and fairness; improve supervision outcomes; prevent recidivism; reduce crime in their jurisdictions; promote the fair administration of justice; and advance public safety. Learn more at: https://scfcenter.org
The Tribal Corrections Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Initiative program delivers on strategies to strengthen tribal correctional system capacity to enhance public safety and facilitate successful community reintegration efforts. It supports tribal communities in addressing their community supervision and training needs, as well as ensuring successful community reintegration efforts, for individuals returning to the community from correctional facilities. It focuses on using culturally appropriate programming; advancing criminal justice reform by providing TTA on implementing and/or enhancing alternatives to incarceration; enhancing tribal justice system capacity to identify and meet the rehabilitation needs of probationers, detainees, and inmates; and embracing victim-centered community supervision and reentry approaches to better serve victims of crime. For more information, visit: http://www.bja.ojp.gov.
The Comprehensive Tribal Justice Systems Strategic Planning Program provides federally recognized tribes and tribal consortia with funding and intensive technical assistance to help them develop a comprehensive and coordinated plan to address public safety and victimization. Through the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) Purpose Area 2, BJA provides funding for tribes to engage in comprehensive justice system strategic planning that will improve tribal justice and safety; develop, support, and enhance adult tribal justice systems to prevent crime related to opioid, alcohol, and other substance abuse; and renovate, expand, and/or replace tribal justice facilities to enhance facility conditions and/or add capacity for recidivism-reduction programming. For additional information on CTAS, visit: https://www.justice.gov/tribal
The Tribal Justice Systems Infrastructure Program provides federally recognized tribes and tribal consortia with funding to strengthen tribal justice system capacity by addressing physical infrastructure needs. Through the Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) Purpose Area 4, BJA provides site-based funding to federally recognized tribes to renovate or expand existing tribal justice-related facilities or build prefabricated or permanent modular tribal justice-related facilities. The facility types supported by this program include police departments, courts, detention centers, multipurpose justice centers, transitional living facilities, correctional alternative or treatment facilities, and domestic violence shelters/safe homes/transitional living facilities/advocacy programs. For additional information on CTAS, visit: https://www.justice.gov/tribal/grants