OKC Hopes To Hire Health Parole Officers

The City hopes the idea of offering people a health parole officer is worth millions.

That's part of its pitch in the Mayor's Challenge 2018 by Bloomberg.

The winning idea gets $5 million for the project. Other ideas will receive $1 million to implement.

OKC wants to coordinate Criminal Justice data to better serve the needs of people after they are released from prison or jail. A condition of the person’s release could be meeting with a community health worker to make sure both mental and physical health needs are being met.

“We want someone who can deal with them on a more holistic approach to making their life healthy and productive again. That's not necessarily happening now,” says Gary Cox, The OKC City-County Health Department’s Executive Director.

On Monday, OKC staff met with their Bloomberg coach, which will help perfect the pitch and show the impact the plan could have on incarceration rates.

OKC is one of 35 finalists.

A winner will be announced later this year.