Redirect New York

Re-Direct New York (A7872 & S5378)

Purpose:

Re-Direct NY gives counties across the state a fiscal incentive to divert youth from detention and incarceration settings into community-based alternative programs. A portion of the savings achieved would be returned to the county for reinvestment.

Community-based alternative-to-detention and alternative-to-incarceration programs effectively increase positive life outcomes and significantly decrease recidivism rates for court-involved youth. Currently, counties and NYS each contribute 50 percent towards the costs of detention and placement. However, there is no such cost-sharing mechanism for alternative programs.

The enactment of the bill would encourage localities to build a community-based infrastructure that will provide alternative programs, prevention, and early prevention options to youth and their families by establishing a sixty-five percent reimbursement rate for such programs.

Key Provisions

• 65/35 reimbursement mechanism for counties that reduce usage of detention and incarceration for juveniles by 25%.
• Accountability measures that ensure only successful alternative programs will be funded.
• Return of half of saved funds to the county for reinvestment in community-based alternative programs and community-based prevention and early prevention programs.

Benefits

Cost-Savings: Annual costs of placement in OCFS facilities range between $140,000 and $200,000 per bed. In NYC, secure detention costs nearly $215,000 per bed per year.

Alternative to incarceration and alternative to detention programs can cost as little as $5,000 per youth per year. Enactment of Re-Direct NY has the potential to save localities and the state millions of dollars.

Decreased Use of Detention: Other states have enacted laws similar in mission to Re-Direct NY. One of the best established funding initiatives is RECLAIM Ohio, which enabled the state to decrease its commitments to youth correctional facilities by nearly 43% from 1994 to 2004.

Improved Recidivism: Alternative programs significantly decrease rates of recidivism for youth. A new study conducted by OCFS found that eighty-nine percent of the youth leaving OCFS placement facilities are rearrested by age 28.