Worksite
Quick Facts

At thousands of arraignments each year, misdemeanor offenders receive sentences that when adjusted amount to fewer than five days of real jail time. Most of these offenders have served short sentences before, and most will do so again. At enormous expense, these offenders are transported to Rikers Island only to be released a few days later. CASES' Day Custody Program, in partnership with the New York City Department of Correction (DOC), offers a meaningful sentencing alternative that holds repeat offenders accountable while connecting these individuals to needed services. The Day Custody Program (DCP) is a sentence of three actual days of jail that includes community service, treatment readiness counseling, discharge planning, and referrals to community and government service agencies.

To be eligible for the Day Custody Program a defendant must have three or more prior misdemeanor convictions and cannot be classified as an Operation Spotlight defendant. Day Custody participants are sentenced to a ten-day term of intermittent imprisonment to be served during three eight-hour daytime periods. The period of custody begins immediately after the sentence is imposed or, when a defendant is sentenced at night or on the weekend, the next weekday morning. While in Day Custody, program participants perform community service within a DOC facility under the supervision of a CASES site supervisor and a DOC officer.

All participants engage in a comprehensive needs assessment, including a Brief Jail Mental Health Screen. These assessments determine service needs in the areas of substance abuse, mental health, healthcare, entitlements, employment, and housing. During intake, DCP staff encourage participants to disclose ongoing difficulties so that services can be as comprehensive and individualized as possible.

Based on needs assessments, the DCP Clinical Coordinator creates linkages between participants and needed services, including community-based drug treatment programs and employment, housing, mental and physical health, and public assistance services. These linkages form the core of the comprehensive discharge planning process in which all DCP participants engage.

At the end of the ten-day period, the court is notified as to whether a participant has successfully completed the sentence. Those who have not completed may be re-sentenced to up to ten days imprisonment. For those who have completed successfully, court notifications will include information on the referral received by the participant. DCP staff follow up with referral agencies at 14 days and after another 30 days to monitor post-participants' outcomes.

CASES has established partnerships with a range of government agencies and service providers, from Bowery Resident's Committee's Service Planning & Assistance Network (SPAN), which provides outreach, entitlements information and referrals to individuals upon their release from New York City jails, to the Center for Employment Opportunities (CEP), which provides immediate short-term paid work and workforce development skills. By making these crucial linkages and referrals, the Day Custody Program makes certain that its participants receive a comprehensive system of supports following the completion of their sentences.