Directors Office Division Probation and Parole

[MoMo]

The Division of Probation and Parole is comprised of the Interstate Office, the Director’s Office and three Regional Probation/Parole Offices (Northern, Southcentral, and Southeast). The Director’s Office provides support to those offices in the areas of supervision, accounting, training, policy development, budget, and performance audits. In addition, the Director’s Office provides quality control throughout the state for sex offender supervision, coordinates with DHHS for child safety issues, improves consistency in sex offender case management, coordinates victim services, and researches and develops alternatives to incarceration. The Director’s Office has overall responsibility for budget, policy development and the administration for probation/parole services, interstate compact agreements.


Probation/Parole Supervision: The probation/parole officers within the Division of Probation and Parole routinely conduct pre-sentence investigations and write pre-sentence reports in felony cases statewide for the Superior Court. These officers also enforce conditions of supervision established by the Alaska Board of Parole and the Court, such as treatment issues, substance abuse, mental health, and ensuring offenders pay restitution/fines. The Division of Probation and Parole faces a major challenge in handling the increasing numbers of probationer/parolees across the state. Probation and Parole also continues to play a key role in population management to relieve institutional overcrowding problems by exploring applications for technology, such as electronic monitoring and by targeting higher-risk offenders for intervention prior to revocation, such as EPP (Enhanced Probation) and ISSP (Intensive Supervision Surveillance Program).

Northern Region: This region covers the northern part of the state, supervising adult felons through five district offices in Fairbanks, Barrow, Bethel, Kotzebue, and Nome, with a total staff compliment of 35. The region’s 22 probation officers, assisted by Criminal Justice Technicians in Nome, Barrow, Kotzebue, Bethel and in Fairbanks, supervise offenders and prepare presentence investigation reports for the superior Courts in each District. The Northern Region is geographically the largest and most remote region in the state, requiring officers to regularly travel from their home communities to isolated small towns and villages. These approximately 145 communities are often many miles from connecting road systems, requiring travel by small aircraft, snow machine and boats. The Northern Region is comparable in size to the combined square mileage of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and Montana. The region is comprised of the Second and Fourth Judicial Districts.

Southcentral Region: This region has offices in Anchorage, Dillingham, Kenai, Kodiak, and Palmer with a staff compliment of 72 positions. Supervising adult felons on probation or parole from Anchorage to Cordova to the east, to Dillingham to the west, and down the Aleutian chain. The area encompasses the Third Judicial District.


Southeast Region: This region covers the southeastern part of the state, supervising adult felons through district offices in Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan, with a staff compliment of 14 positions. Limited road networks make supervision a geographical challenge; the access to the towns and villages in this area requires travel by small plane, boats and ferries. The area comprises the First Judicial District.