FALL RIVER DISTRICT COURT LAUNCHES INITIATIVE TO BETTER
TRACK OFFENDERS AND ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS

The Fall River District Court Probation Department began a new initiative this month that is expected to enhance efforts to track offenders who serve a split sentence at the House of Corrections which includes time spent in jail followed by a period of probation.

This new initiative evolved from Probation's involvement with the Fall River Task Force to End Chronic Homelessness. It was designed to assist offenders, who face housing issues and other challenges, locate housing and necessary resources such as drug treatment, mental health care, and job training, said Fall River District Court Assistant Chief Probation Officer Lourenco A Lopes Jr., who was assigned to work with the Task Force by Fall River District Court Chief Probation Officer James Flannery.

This effort, which has no formal name, is a joint partnership between Probation and the Bristol County Sheriff's Department, and was devised by Lopes and Bristol County Sheriff Re-Entry Coordinator Jodi Hockert-Lotz.

Under this initiative, a Probation Officer goes to the jail twice a month and meets with inmates who have been classified as Pre-Release and are generally within 30 to 60 days of being released. The inmates are then individually apprised of their probation conditions and obligations. They must provide a valid address in the community where they will reside and are given a copy of their probation conditions and business card of their assigned Probation Officer.

"Once released, if the offenders do not report to Probation within the allotted 48 hours, the respective Probation Officers will have more than ample evidence to bring the matter back before the court and successfully argue for detention," said Lopes.

Fall River District Court Probation Officer II Donelle Gomes, who was also assigned by Flannery to work with the Task Force, recently conducted the first meeting with pre-release inmates and said of the offenders, "We thoroughly reviewed the conditions of probation with each person and told them what is required of them."

Lopes said he hopes to expand the effort to probationers, serving split sentences, at Department of Corrections facilities.