Starke County Community Corrections Offers Special Program for Offenders

John Littman

One of the programs offered by the Starke County Community Corrections is presented by John Littman, of John Littman and Associates of Portage.  Littman talked about the program yesterday to employees of Community Corrections, the Starke County Prosecutor, and part of the probation staff.

“The participants, as a result of a criminal offense, are assigned as part of their sentencing or a plea agreement they may be assigned the ‘Thinking for a Change’ program,” said Littman. “One of the guiding principles in ‘Thinking for a Change’ is that thinking, our thinking, controls our behavior. There’s a quote in the program literature that says that we are the authority of our behavior. What we do is we emphasize those principles in terms of the teaching and the practice of the cognitive restructuring which is about taking control, taking charge, being the authority of yourself and your thinking, your behavior and the consequences that come along as the result of the thinking and behavior.”

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Starke County Officials Attend Summit on Offender Recividism

Community Corrections staff
Robert Hinojosa, Shawn Mattraw and Kimberly Kennedy

Starke County Community Corrections Director, Bob Hinojosa, recently attended a summit in Indianapolis devoted to combating the high rate of offender recidivism. Also attending were Kim Kennedy and Shawn Mattraw from Community Corrections; Judge Kim Hall, Starke County Circuit Court Judge; Magistrate Jeanene Calabrese, Prosecutor Nicholas Bourff, Public Defender, Richard Ballard; Chief Probation Officer, John Thorstad; and Starke Circuit Court Probation officer, Kristi Nolcheff.

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Starke County Community Corrections Receives State Grant

Bob Hinojosa

Starke County Community Corrections Director, Bob Hinojosa, has announced that he has been notified that the Starke County office has been awarded a state Community Corrections grant for $183,718. The funds will be used to staff and maintain the office from August 1st, 2011 until July 31st, 2012.

This is the fourth year the Starke County Community Corrections has received the grant.

This is Correctional Employees Week and Hinojosa wanted to bring it to the attention of the Starke County Commissioners at their recent meeting. Hinojosa pointed out that the offender population has become more aggressive in the past decade and he thinks all law enforcement personnel deserve recognition during this special week. The Commissioners agreed and complimented Hinojosa of the exemplary work done by Starke County Community Corrections.

Starke County Community Corrections Open House Held Tuesday

Bob Hinojosa presents Pat Mitchell with a plaque during the grand opening ceremony

The Starke County Community Corrections staff held a Grand Opening Tuesday for their new facility at 1911 South Heaton Street.

After opening remarks by administrator Bob Hinojosa, the Department of Corrections Commissioner, Bruce Lemon, addressed those in attendance. Lemon told Ted Hayes that the new facility was quite impressive.

“It’s a great program and a great new building so we’re excited about Starke County and Community Corrections,” said Lemon. “We fund it to the tune of $188,000 in Starke County and Starke County matches that with user fees which is a very impressive figure.”

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Starke County Community Corrections Changes Location

Starke County Community Corrections will be moving from their current location on North Heaton Street to 1911 South Heaton Street in Knox

The Starke County Community Corrections staff will be moving this weekend to a new location. The staff will move to 1911 South Heaton Street, in the strip mall north of Christos Restaurant.

The first working day in the new office will be Monday, March 14th.

Administrator Bob Hinojosa is inviting the public to tour the facility during a Grand Opening celebration on March 22nd from 1:00-4:00 p.m. CT.

50 Offenders are Part of Starke County’s Community Corrections Program

Shawn Mattraw

The Community Corrections program in Starke County is providing an alternative for jail time for some prisoners who qualify. Shawn Mattraw, Case Manager, talked with Ted Hayes recently about the programs available.

Ted asked about the number of clients Community Corrections has.

“We currently have 50 under our supervision,” Mattraw replied. “We have been the mid-60s and we were probably in the mid-60s for about two consecutive months.”

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Starke County Home Detention Participants Will be Closely Monitored this New Year’s Eve

Shawn Mattraw

New Year’s Eve is a dangerous time for many people, especially those who decide to party, drink a little too much, and attempt to drive home.

Another group that enters the danger zone are those individuals who are on home detention. Many of this group has had trouble with drugs and alcohol in the past, and holiday times can be tempting to violate the home monitoring rule that calls for no drinking.

Shawn Mattraw is the Case Manager/Senior Field Officer for the Starke County Community Corrections organization, and he says this is a difficult time for some of the participants.

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Three Starke County Community Corrections Employees Honored at Annual Conference

Community Corrections staff
Robert Hinojosa, Robert Shawn Mattraw and Kimberly Kennedy

Three Starke County government employees were recently honored at the Indiana Association of Community Corrections Annual Conference for outstanding achievement in community corrections for 2010. The Conference was held in Indianapolis.

Kimberly Kennedy was selected as the Program Supervisor for 2010 for her exceptional work in overseeing the Starke County Community Corrections Community Service Component and Robert Shawn Mattraw was selected as the Electronic Monitoring Home Detention Employee of the Year. Director, Robert Hinojosa, also received recognition for his 25 years of service to the Association.