Decarceration as a strategy to mitigate the spread of COVID-19

Thursday, May 27, 2021
1:00 - 2:00  

This Community of Practice (CoP) brings together experts to discuss the need to reduce populations to mitigate COVID-19 in jail settings and practical strategies that jails can use to implement decarceration as a strategy. Beth Huebner, Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, an expert in correctional reform, joins Director Douglas Burris and Miranda Gibson. Together they discuss their successful efforts to use a systematic case review process to reduce the jail population in the St. Louis County Department of Justice Services to assist mitigating the spread of COVID-19 among staff and detainees. The May event also provides an opportunity to continue engaging in dialogue around vaccines, including but not limited to strategies to consider when offering the vaccine to those who are justice-involved.  

Back to the Community of Practice

Agenda: 

• COVID-19 and the St. Louis County Jail
  Director Douglas Burris

  Director Douglas Burris provides an overview of his experiences of managing a jail during COVID-19, particularly as populations in the jail continue to rise.

  Director Douglas Burris, M.H.R.

  Director, St. Louis County Jail

  Douglas Burris is the Director of the St. Louis County Jail. He joined the St. Louis County staff in 2020. Before this role, he spent 18 years as the chief federal probation officer for the Eastern District of Missouri.

   

   

• The Population Review Team as a Model for Decarceration
  Beth Huebner

  Beth Huebner provides an overview of decarceration as a COVID-19 mitigation strategy, specifically what her and her team did to plan and implement this strategy.

  Beth Huebner, Ph.D. 

  Professor, Department of Criminal Justice at University of Missouri - St. Louis

  Beth M. Huebner is a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her work focuses on the consequences of a criminal conviction, community and institutional corrections, and public policy. She has been the Principal Investigator of the MacArthur Safety and Justice Challenge since 2015.

   

• New Innovations during COVID-19
  Miranda Gibson

  Miranda Gibson provides an update on how this model has changed and a summary of community-based work that has also been conducted. 

  Miranda Gibson, M.A.

  Program Manager, MacArthur Safety + Justice Challenge grant in St. Louis County

  Miranda Gibson is the program manager of the MacArthur Safety + Justice Challenge grant in St. Louis County, MO. She leads the SJC team in their efforts to reduce the jail population and address racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system through systems reform. Ms. Gibson earned her MA in Criminology and Criminal Justice, BA in Psychology, and BS in Paralegal Studies from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. 

• Panel Discussion

  Panelists include:
  Director Douglas Burris, M.H.R. St. Louis County Jail Director	Beth Huebner, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Criminal Justice at University of Missouri - St. Louis	Miranda Gibson, M.A. Program Manager, MacArthur Safety + Justice Challenge grant in St. Louis County