Changes in the Use of Telehealth Services and Use of Technology for Communication in U.S. Community Supervision Agencies Since COVID-19

• Author: Jill Viglione,Thuy Nguyen
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221092976
• Published date: 01 December 2022
• Date: 01 December 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2022, Vol. 49, No. 12, December 2022, 1727 –1745.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548221092976

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2022 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1727

CHANGES IN THE USE OF TELEHEALTH

SERVICES AND USE OF TECHNOLOGY FOR

COMMUNICATION IN U.S. COMMUNITY

SUPERVISION AGENCIES SINCE COVID-19

JILL VIGLIONE

Department of Criminal Justice, College of Community Innovation and Education, University of Central Florida

THUY NGUYEN

Department of Health Management & Policy, School of Public Health, University of Michigan

The U.S. community corrections system supervises and provides services for nearly 4.4 million individuals. This study

explored agency responses during the COVID-19 pandemic using data from 347 surveys of community supervision directors.

We examined whether agency and local geographical factors were associated with increased use of telehealth services for

mental health, substance use disorders, and criminal behavior. We also assessed whether these factors were significant predic-

tors of changes in agencies’ supervision strategies. Findings indicated a positive association between prepandemic access to

telecommunications technology and use of telehealth services, with observed differences regarding urbanicity and type of

agency. Agencies with more COVID-19 mitigation strategies tended to avoid in-person contact. Given the vast needs and

increased risks present within the community supervision population, it is important to understand the barriers and facilitators

associated with innovation and change in the post-COVID-19 era to inform future reform efforts.

Keywords: community supervision; probation; parole; COVID-19; telehealth; mental health; substance use

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted nearly every aspect

of life across the globe. To date, over 233 million individuals have been infected with

over 4.7 million deaths reported worldwide (World Health Organization [WHO], n.d.). As

a result of COVID-19, many state and local jurisdictions across the United States imple-

mented a range of mitigation policies to try to curb spread such as “stay at home” orders,

mask mandates, and school closures. Businesses were also forced to develop strategies to

prevent, contain, and respond to the spread of the virus, while also following local and state

mandates (Schuchat, 2020). Likewise, the pandemic has impacted the criminal justice sys-

tem in inevitable ways, including drawing immediate attention to the use of incarceration,

a setting that already presents risks for infectious disease, and a need for prison/jail releases,

AUTHORS’ NOTE: This study was funded by the National Science Foundation (SES-2030344, PI: Jill

Viglione). We thank the community correction staff across the United States who made this research possible.

We also acknowledge Lucas Alward, Ashley Lockwood, and Sarah Bryson for their efforts on this study.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jill Viglione, Department of Criminal Justice,

College of Community Innovation and Education, University of Central Florida, 12805 Pegasus Drive,

Orlando, FL 32816; e-mail: jill.viglione@ucf.edu.

1092976CJBXXX10.1177/00938548221092976Criminal Justice and BehaviorViglione and Nguyen / TELEHEALTH AND CHANGES IN SUPERVISION

research-article2022

1728 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

court closures, and changes to the operations of community supervision (Vera Institute of

Justice, 2020).

Most individuals sentenced in the United States are placed on some form of community

supervision, with nearly 4.4 million individuals supervised on probation or parole (Kaeble,

2020). Individuals on community supervision represent vulnerable populations already at a

greater risk for infectious disease due to prevalence of preexisting medical risk factors (e.g.,

sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis, asthma; Clark et al., 2013; Vaughn et al., 2012),

disproportionate levels of social and economic disadvantage (Vaughn et al., 2012), and

behavioral risk factors (e.g., substance use; Fearn et al., 2016). In addition, individuals on

probation or parole often do not have adequate access to health care (Marlow et al., 2010)

or consistent access to needed medications (Baillargeon, 2009) and may experience deterio-

ration in health (Binswanger et al., 2012). While community corrections agencies did not

have the immediate concern regarding close living quarters that prisons and jails had to

grapple with, they still were faced with challenging decisions involving a vulnerable

population.

To prevent COVID-19 spread, early guidance (EXiT, 2021; Vera Institute of Justice,

2020) called for immediate limitations on in-person contacts, suspension/limitation on use

of technical violations, reduce new intakes, reduce length of probation/parole supervision

terms, provision of training for staff, and development of guidance for clients. The Vera

Institute of Justice (2020) also produced guidelines for containment and response strategies,

including use of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-informed screening

tool to identify risk of infection, sharing educational information, creating medical care

plans, and implementing policies to protect staff if they become ill or to ensure operations

of the office if multiple staff were out sick. Prior to the pandemic, 67% of community cor-

rections agencies had crisis protocols in place (Swan et al., 2020); however, little is known

regarding the content of these protocols, the type of crisis they addressed, or the applicabil-

ity for the COVID-19 pandemic.

A recent study examining strategies implemented in response to COVID-19 found

increased use of technology in community supervision departments across the United States

to support two key functions: (a) continuance of required meetings between supervision

officers and clients, and (b) provision of mental health and substance use treatment (Viglione

et al., 2020). First, this study reported that 16% of community supervision agencies were no

longer seeing clients face-to-face, while 59% continued office visits and 46% continued

field visits and a large shift to remote supervision via technology, primarily through video-

conferencing and telephone. In doing so, officers were able to complete meetings previ-

ously required to be face-to-face through electronic means, referred to as remote supervision.

A recent study of community supervision in several regions in the United Kingdom,

Dominey and colleagues (2020) found similar shifts to remote supervision, including

increased use of telephone calls, text messaging, and e-mailing. Interestingly, they found

videoconferencing was not commonly used to meet with clients, but rather other profes-

sionals, with most supervision contacts made through telephone instead (Dominey et al.,

2020).

Use of telecommunications technology to meet with individuals on supervision is a

major new development in the field (Schwartzapfel, 2020; Viglione et al., 2 020).

Technological tools used in the community supervision field have often focused on those

designed to support surveillance of individuals under supervision, such as electronic