For Immediate Release: January 9, 2009
Contact: Carla Newman – 303.216.9455
cnewman@npipm.com

NEW MEXICO CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT SIGNS CONTRACT WITH NORTHPOINTE

Traverse City, MI – October 2008 – Northpointe Institute for Public Management has signed a contract with New Mexico’s Corrections Department (NMCD). The contract resulted from the implementation of a risk and needs assessment pilot project as recommended by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s Prison Reform Task Force. The initiative was developed to find solutions to potential problems that can be created by an ever-increasing prison population. On January 5, 2009, the NMCD embarked on the project using Northpointe’s custom software solution called COMPAS. The COMPAS tool will be used in the men’s and women’s reception centers and will help to assess incoming prisoner’s risk and needs factors using an evidence-based, scientific method.

“New Mexico is in a unique position to take a proactive approach to prison reform. Together, the work of the Task Force and the implementation of the COMPAS system will allow New Mexico’s Corrections Department to remain on the forefront – increasing public safety, controlling prison populations and decreasing recidivism,” said NMCD Reentry Bureau Chief Bernie Lieving. “The COMPAS system is at the core of our efforts and we are thrilled to be working with Northpointe throughout the implementation process.”

Northpointe is a nationally recognized correctional consulting and research firm providing offender risk and need assessment as well as inmate classification tools, training and implementation services to federal, state and local criminal justice systems and policy makers. Northpointe’s main offices are in Traverse City, Mich. and Golden, Colo. and are currently working with more than 200 local, state and federal agencies throughout the U.S.

Northpointe’s COMPAS system will enable New Mexico’s Corrections Department to develop staff training, capacity and infrastructure to effectively and accurately assess inmate risks and determine the appropriate treatment plans through evidence-based programming and intensive case management. COMPAS will help to increase institutional safety and decrease re-incarceration rates. The system can also be utilized as a forum for other internal programming tools, which will decrease staff workload.

“We look forward to working with New Mexico’s Department of Corrections,” said Dave Wells, Northpointe president and CEO. “We work hand-in-hand with the agencies we serve to help them navigate the process, make better decisions, formulate more effective practices and achieve successful outcomes.”

In conjunction with Northpointe, Dr. Paul Guerin at the University of New Mexico will also be working with the Department of Corrections to create a model for the New Mexico inmate population, based, in part, on the COMPAS assessment data, to explore issues of culture and the affect they have on the case management process.

“By working with Northpointe and the University of New Mexico, we will have an opportunity to conduct further research on our unique inmate population and remain in front of the issue of overcrowded prisons,” said Gail Oliver, New Mexico’s Corrections Department, Deputy Secretary for Reentry and Prison Reform. “Using the COMPAS tool will allow us to take a scientific approach to effectively assess the risk and needs of our inmates in a short period of time and determine how we can most effectively treat these needs to improve outcomes for our inmates and lower the chances of them re-entering the prison system.”