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Performance Measures

Background of the MDOC Strategic Plan - The department initiated its strategic planning process in 1996 with the establishment of a steering committee comprised of the department’s Quality Management Council with additional employees in order to fully represent institutional and field staff and the different occupational positions. The steering committee was trained in the state’s new strategic planning and performance budgeting process and then divided into two planning teams. One team focused on juvenile services and the other on adult services.

Each team divided itself further into subcommittees -- Data, Research, and Opinion. The Data subcommittees collected and analyzed data on the adult and juvenile offender populations. The Research subcommittees collected the latest research on what works in corrections. The Opinion subcommittees conducted meetings with departmental employees at each facility and region to gather their input about the needs of and direction for the department. The Opinion subcommittees also conducted employee surveys, client surveys and a survey of parents with young people at the Maine Youth Center.

Legislative Involvement

The department presented its data collection and analysis, research findings and survey results to stakeholder forums that were organized and held in cooperation with the Criminal Justice Committee. A subcommittee of the Criminal Justice Committee, chaired by Representative Rich Thompson, identified all possible interested organizations and individuals to invite to participate in these meetings. The department’s mission, guiding principles, goals and objectives were reviewed, revised and accepted by our stakeholders.

The results of the stakeholder forums were presented to the full Criminal Justice Committee in 1997 for their review and endorsement. In 1997, the department initiated a master planning process for correctional facilities improvement. This process included an Advisory Commission established by Executive Order to review the master plan for correctional facilities and make recommendations to the Governor. The Advisory Commission invited the Criminal Justice Committee to participate in the their process. The recommendations of the Advisory Commission were presented to the Governor and the Criminal Justice Committee in 1998.

The department’s strategic plan and performance measures were refined and revised in 2000 to reflect the recommendations of the Advisory Commission and to be consistent with changes in the state’s performance budgeting process. The revised plan and performance measures were reviewed by the Criminal Justice Committee in March of 2000. Their suggestions, as well as the comments offered by the Bureau of the Budget and the State Plan Office have been incorporated in this departmental strategic plan.

Objectives and Outcomes

Each goal is followed by an objective. These objectives are high-level performance expectations. In most cases, we do not have the data to measure our performance at this level. These high-level performance objectives are presented at the end of the strategic plan. Additionally, outcome measures are included for each objective. These outcome measures are additional ways to measure the objective they support, or they are refinements or breakdowns of the objective.

Performance Measures - Performance measures are those activities, outcomes or events that demonstrate performance toward our objectives. Many of our performance measures are proxy measures. Proxy measures are activities or outcomes which research has demonstrated are effective in reaching the desired goals and objectives. For example, research suggests that the ability to hold a job is a significant factor in reducing the likelihood that an offender will re-offend. Therefore, proxy measures include the number or percentage of offenders in vocational training programs.

Some of the performance measures that are currently being tracked on a monthly or annual basis are:

• Community Services provided by the inmates of the juvenile and adult correctional facilities
• Volunteer Services provided to the juvenile and adult correctional facilities
• Adult inmate demographics
• Victim Services programs
• Number of Juveniles committed to correctional facilities
• Probationers that reoffend and are recommitted
• Overall in-house adult inmate population