Advancing Corrections Journal

Read our international practitioner-focused publication! Full, Staff and Professional Members can access the digital publication. Professional Members also receive a hard-copy of the journal by post.

Advancing Corrections is a peer-reviewed publication that provides an interdisciplinary and international forum for the dissemination of new research, policies and practices related to advancing professional corrections worldwide. The aim is to provide an opportunity for both researchers and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines (criminal justice, psychology, sociology, political science, economics, public health, and social work) to publish papers that examine issues from a variety of perspectives in a unique, interdisciplinary forum. Advancing Corrections is intended to fill the need for researchers to speak more clearly to practitioners and practitioners to speak in a more evidence-informed way to their colleagues.
 
Advancing Corrections Journal (Print) ISSN: 2517-9233
Advancing Corrections Journal (Digital) ISSN: 2789-5246
 

Call for Papers for Issue #17

The theme for the 17th edition of Advancing Corrections is "Designing a Humane Corrections: Possibilities and Challenges." This edition aims to explore how various elements, such as settings, programs, services, activities, policies, and practices, can contribute to promoting and spreading 'humaneness' within correctional services. The focus is on understanding what factors can create a humane correctional culture and encourage just, fair, compassionate, and benevolent behavior. The call for papers invites reasoned and informed arguments or research on this topic.

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Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 16 (2023) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 16 (2023)

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Reforming Corrections Through Technology
 
This issue explores the profound impact of technology on correctional practices, from enhancing service delivery and improving safety and security to promoting successful reintegration. We showcase a wide range of technologies and successful approaches, including public-private partnerships, that are transforming correctional operations and shaping the design of settings, services, treatments, training, and assessment methods. 
 

 Articles

 
Forward
Technology is determining how we make key decisions affecting these individuals, how we monitor their behavior, design the delivery of rehabilitative interventions, provide access to new forms of educational, vocational or leisure and recreational involvements, and shape our response to their health and well-being concerns.Technology is helping connect those in custody with their families and with the outside world and helping support and guide those under supervision to access a range of community resources. There is the promise that through greater reliance on technology, both service delivery, and the cardinal aim of corrections to maintain safety and security, can become more efficient and less costly, and in some instances, perhaps even more effective.
 
Frank J. Porporino PhD., Steven Van De Steene, Hans Meurisse & Victoria Knight
 
Article 1
Article 1: Considered Adoption of Technology in Corrections
 
Technology adoption in corrections, like technology adoption in all other fields and domains, can generate unforeseen consequences and be affected by externalities1 that were not present when initial decisions were made — exposing adopters to uncomfortable levels of risk. This paper takes an approach that evaluates the situation based on historical information and makes reasonable forecasts of potential outcomes. How and why these outcomes might occur i s described in detail, utilizing thought experiments and the insights they provide.
 
Hugh Lester, Frank Greene, Jeff Hyman and Silvia Cheng
 
Article 2
Article 2: Introducing Technology for Learning in Prisons: Meeting Challenges and Realising Opportunities
 
Individuals responsible for the management and administration of prisons often show a willingness to adopt innovative technologies for operational efficiency. However, in cases where a choice must be made between prioritizing security measures and the rehabilitation of people in prison, the former tends to take precedence, sometimes at the expense of the latter. The emergence of COVID-19 lockdowns, which confined individuals to their cells for extended periods and disrupted educational programs, has prompted jurisdictions to reevaluate the advantages of educational technology. Drawing from our involvement in these kinds of initiatives, we present key insights to enrich this ongoing dialogue.
 
Helen Farley & Jayson Ware
 
Article 3
Article 3: Preparedness and Readiness of Europe’s Prisons for Digital Change
 
This paper seeks to make practical recommendations on the implementation of digital technologies in prisons and prison administrations across Europe, primarily based on lessons learned from practitioners and the relevant literature. We briefly outline the information and communication technology (hereafter ICT) implementation challenges and benefits, as identified by respondents to a pan-European survey and the research conducted as part of the Erasmus+ DIGICOR project. We note how some of these issues were expanded upon by practitioners during project activities. Finally, we present recommendations for changes to policy, practice and legislation, addressed to six key stakeholders. The aim of these recommendations is to show what Europe needs to do to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners, by sharing lessons learned in European prison digitalisation, by raising awareness of emerging staff competencies and by promoting skills and systems which enable the continued introduction and effective use of technologies.
 
Keywords: digital competencies; staff training; digital resilience; European digital skills
 
Andrada Istrate,Rhianon Williams, Pedro das Neves
 
Article 4

Article 4: Digitalization Supports Human Rights in Finnish Prisons
 
Traditionally prisons have been digitally deprived environments and people in custody digitally marginalized. However, recent developments in many countries have improved justice involved individuals’ digital rights. In a modern digitalized society, digital is also the means for securing basic rights and human rights of all citizens. Prisons shouldn’t prevent these rights by providing inadequate access to outside prison services and contacts. We present in this article how digitalization supports rehabilitation, reintegration, and human rights in Finnish prisons. Access to Internet per se is a way to support equal rights and digital skills can be compared to literacy skills. Justice involved individuals’ reintegration to the society needs digital means and digital skills. Regarding this, digitalization in prisons should be supported more than hitherto.

Keywords: prisons, people in custody, justice involved individuals, rehabilitation, digitalization, human rights
 
Pia Puolakka and Maarit Suomela
 
Article 5
Article 5: Reforming Psychology-Based Correctional Programming through Video-Supported Collaborative Learning
 
Technology is a key thrust for the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) in our advancement of our prison operations and correctional rehabilitation. Specific to correctional rehabilitation, this article describes how SPS adopted Video-Supported Collaborative Learning from the educational field to disrupt the traditional means through which psychology-based correctional programming is conducted for offenders. While adhering to evidence-based principles, SPS has leveraged on technology to challenge the norms of traditional modalities of interventions. Interventions are not conducted by practitioners for or to offenders, but with offenders, using video-enabled learning, reflection, and practice.
 
Keywords: video, technology, rehabilitation, programmes
 
Sarah Lavinia Joseph, Loh Jia Hu2 and April Lin Liangyu
 
Article 6
Article 6: Development and Use of Technology in Psychological Interventions for Persons-In-Custody in Hong Kong
 
The use of technology in psychological interventions has opened up exciting possibilities over the past decade. The Correctional Services Department (CSD) of Hong Kong has been proactively applying innovative technology in supporting the rehabilitative needs of persons-in-custody (PICs) in recent years. This paper discusses 3 latest technology-assisted psychological interventions developed by the CSD, namely: i) a scenario-based virtual reality (VR) role-play system for PICs’ skills training; ii) Psyber Space, a digitalized psychological programme for PICs; and iii) a project that strengthens PICs’ desistance from crime through videoconferencing technology. Although these initiatives are still in their infancy, the preliminary positive responses received suggest that the use of technology in psychological treatment warrants further development.
 
Daisy Hoi-man Yeung, Charles Wai-ho Pau & Jim Hung-kei Cheung
 
Article 7
Article 7: A Qualitative Evaluation of the Implementation of the Breaking Free Substance Use Recovery Program on Secure Laptops in English Prisons
 
The prison population is among the most digitally excluded in the UK. Attempts to digitize UK prisons have been met with challenges including poor infrastructure, lack of resources, and poor digital literacy amongst prison residents. In March 2022, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service began the rollout of 84 secure laptops, each including rehabilitative content, across prisons in North-West England. This study reports staff qualitative feedback on the implementation of these laptops, and their opinions on the Breaking Free digital program for substance use disorder, which was included as content on these laptops.
 
Lauren Pittard, Sarah Elison-Davies, Glyn Davies and Jonathan Ward
 
Article 8
Article 8: Immersive Virtual Reality in Rehabilitation Programmes for Gender-Based Violence
 
Rehabilitation of intimate partner violence is an important topic within correctional services and initiatives to improve its effectiveness are needed. Effectively rehabilitating perpetrators of intimate partner violence is critical for prevention and therefore there is an urgent need to enhance the efficacy of these initiatives. We have integrated ad hoc designed immersive virtual reality as a tool to support rehabilitation programmes for men convicted of crimes of gender violence and this has been introduced in probation and prisons in Catalonia for more than three years now. Our results support the conclusion that these tools can be effective and have great potential. This article explores the use of Immersive Virtual Reality in Rehabilitation Programmes for intimate partner violence (IPV). We will first discuss the current approaches to rehabilitation of IPV in prison settings and refer to Catalonia’s own intervention model in this field. We will then consider the use of VR in therapeutic intervention for Gender Violence and we will specify how Catalan prisons use this methodology to enhance traditional rehabilitation of gender violence. We will conclude with some proposals for the future to integrate virtual reality into rehabilitation strategies in the field of gender violence and in prison settings in general.

Keywords: Virtual Reality, gender-based violence, rehabilitation, penitentiary system, technological innovation
 
Nicolás Barnes, Tania Johnston, Ana Gallego, and Maria V. Sanchez-Vives 
 
Article 9
Article 9: Curating Productive Waves of Change – The New South Wales Tablet Program and Beyond
 
This paper considers the establishment experience, and ambitions of Corrective Services New South Wales (CSNSW) Offender Tablet and technology program. It explores this with respect to the specific ambition of the Transforming Rehabilitation Through Digital Technology program. A desistance framework is used to conceptualise how technology may support and contribute to transforming rehabilitation. We consider how digital technology has and could create change and achieve benefits for the organisation, its staff, the incarcerated and the NSW community. Characterised as early adopters of digital technology at this scale, the differentiating features of the CSNSW tablet program are described to situate the discussion. Drawing on organisational management frameworks, the program is presented and examined as three waves of change, each with its own change curve, resistance, and objectives. Through examining change and change processes we reflect on some of the challenges and successes of employing digital technology with the goal of transforming rehabilitation in the correctional context.
 
Renee Van Aaken and Rohan Lulham
 
Article 10
Article 10: Incarceration Reimagined: Technology Integration in NC Prisons
 
The North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) accepted the challenge to effectively utilize technology in incarcerated settings to improve correctional practice. NCDAC implemented three approaches to providing technology in its 54 institutions for the purposes of digital literacy, reentry preparation, education, rehabilitation, and treatment. These initiatives include: (1) a safe,secure internet system for students, (2) partnerships with local educational institutions, and (3) arehabilitative programming platform called HOPE University. Challenges and lessons learned created priorities of transparency in data collection, maintenance of subject matter expert content review, and ongoing staff training opportunities.
 
Brooke B. Wheeler and Charles P. Mautz
 
Article 11
Article 11: Advancing Artificial Intelligence Technology to Improve Health Outcomes in Prisons of Low-Income Countries
 
As per the conclusions of the World Health Organization (WHO, 2021), technology is one of the essential components in building a health system framework, which can be applied directly in places of detention. Health system strengthening within prisons necessarily includes technology, yet in low-resource countries, investments in technology are seldom prioritized. This paper outlines how the implementation of computer-assisted artificial intelligence that has successfully transformed the process of tuberculosis detection and treatment within prisons of Haiti, one of the poorest nations in the world. We conclude that the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in priso ns is still in its early stages, but there is considerable potential for this technology to improve health outcomes for people in places of detention. As AI continues to develop, it is likely to play an increasingly important role in healthcare in prisons, especially in low-income countries.
 
Ivan Calder, Dr. John May, Karine Duverger, Sanya Chawla, Dr. Shibu Vijayan, and Poonam Aundhekar
 
 

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Advancing Corrections Journal  - Issue 15 (2023) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 15 (2023)

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What is Effective Reintegration?
 
This Edition contains both evidence and practice-informed discussions of how the various dimensions of Effective Reintegration have been (or can be) achieved. It explores the variety of policies, programs, settings, services and treatments encompassed under the ‘REINTEGRATION’ umbrella and provides examples of successful approaches, including examples of public-private partnerships and other collaborative efforts that have overcome obstacles and inertia in implementation.
 

 Articles

Forward
This 15th Edition of Advancing Corrections deals with what is perhaps the most singular challenge for correctional services: how can we help navigate the ‘reintegration’ of justice involved individuals who come under our care? The challenge is significant because it is clearly multi-faceted. It is significant because it can severely stretch the resources available to correctional services. It is undeniably complicated because it is in many ways a local challenge, presenting different obstacles and requiring different solutions in different community circumstances. We know that it isn’t achievable in some predetermined, time-limited fashion. And we know that the efforts of correctional services alone are insufficient; there are other key dimensions to effective reintegration that have to work in tandem. The core message of the desistance paradigm highlights not just the personal – but the social, legal and moral dimensions.
 
Frank J. Porporino PhD.
 
Article 1
Article 1: CRS 2023 Rehabilitating Reintegration: Research and Reflections on What Works
 
"Our role as criminologists is not first and foremost to be perceived as useful problem-solvers, but as problem-raisers (…). We confront society with dilemmas, and suggest some tentative solutions. Changing times create new situations and bring us to new crossroads...
 
“Together with other cultural workers—because these fields are central for all observers of society—but equipped with our special training in scientific method and theory, it is our obligation as well as pleasure to penetrate these problems. Together with other cultural workers, we will probably also have to keep a constant fight going against being absorbed, tamed, and made responsible, and thereby completely socialized into society—as it is.” (Nils Christie, 1971:145).
 
Helen Kosc
 
Article 2
Article 2: Perspectives on the Challenges for Reintegration after 200 Years of Dutch Probation
 
This year marks 200 years of existence of the probation service in the Netherlands. This article will describe some central themes that have proved important over the years, with the aim of drawing lessons from the past that we can use to meet the challenges we see ahead of us in the near future: to include everyone in our society through effective reintegration and (thus) a strong bond with society. Much has changed in the past 200 years but some crucial elements of the probation work have always remained. Therefore we will at the end of this article once again look back to wh at has stayed the same over the years: compassion for fellow human beings and passion for the work thatthe probation service delivers.
 
René Poort, Johan Bac, Erik Corten
 
 
Article 3
Article 3: Offender Management in Custody: A Lesson in Policy Failure for Prisoner Resettlement
 

The Offender Management in Custody (OMiC) model was implemented in England and Wales from April 2018. The OMiC initiative aimed to improve resettlement through a handover model of prison and community services. Inspections of OMiC in prison and the community found it was not working in either setting (HMIPP 2022, 2023). The second inspection followed the prisoners after their release into the community. Key concepts such as operational disconnect, optimism bias, and u nderresourcing, are useful for understanding the failure of OMiC and how the initiative contributed to poor outcomes for people leaving custody. The article ends with some principles for the better design of policy for resettlement services.

Keywords: resettlement, probation, operational disconnect, policy failure

Kevin Ball, Tony Kirk

Article 4
Article 4: The Initial Transitional Support (ITS) Service: Impacts of a 12-week Reintegration Support Service on Recidivism and Implications for Best Practice
 
Administered by Corrective Services New South Wales (NSW) since 2014, the ITS funds non-government partners to deliver reintegration support services to people under community supervision. The ITS prioritises service delivery to higher risk parolees who have recently been released from custody, although there is also scope to provide support to people serving community-based orders. This paper outlines a program of studies that evaluated both impacts and processes associated with the service. An initial evaluation examined how participation in the ITS impacts reoffending and return to custody outcomes. Subsequent studies provided context to the impact evaluation by exploring service delivery outcomes and implementation processes underlying participation in the service. We conclude by reflecting on implications of the series of studies on best practice for the ITS and reintegration programs in general.
 
Mark Howard and Ofir Thaler
 
 
 
Article 5
Article 5: Open-Access Reentry: A Unique Approach at Reintegration
 

The United States incarcerates more of its citizens than anyplace in the world. While nearly all will be released, most will return to prison. The current study examines the effectiveness of a reentry brokerage program that addresses an array of criminogenic and responsivity areas using a voluntary and open-ended approach that allows clients to engage in services as needs arise. Bivariate and logistic regression results indicate after controlling for demographic variables and risk, the treatment group showed significantly lower rates of new arrest. Strengths and challenges of this approach are discussed, as well as policy implications for reentry services.

Keywords: Reentry, reintegration, rehabilitation, employment, RNR, prison, revocation

Lori Brusman Lovins and Julia C. Bell
 
Article 6
Article 6: Social Supports in Supervision: How Family and Friends can help to Improve Reintegration
 
Researchers and policymakers have frequently endorsed the incorporation of social supports into the reintegration process, despite limited research about the effectiveness of such an approach. In this article, we describe an experimental trial and evaluation of Triple-S: Social Supports in Supervision. The project involved community corrections staff serving as ‘super controllers’ who recruited ‘PoPPs’ (parents/partners/peers of probationers and parolees) to serve in the crime prevention roles of handlers, guardians, and managers. While the program had several important benefits, our evaluations have revealed key lessons learned that may be of use to other penologists and corrections agencies.
 
Caitlyn Egan, Lacey Schaefer, Emily Moir, Emma Logue
 
Article 7
Article 7: Changes: An Experimental Implementation of a Cognitive-Behavioral Recidivism Reduction Strategy in France
 

CHANGES training1 is currently being implemented in France as part of an initiative with two probation departments, initiated by the Ecole Nationale d’Administration Pénitentiaire (ENAP). This is the first attempt to provide officers with an evidence-based cognitive-behavioral strategy for supervising justice-involved individuals on a face-to-face basis. The implementation of the CHANGES program will be discussed, including from the perspective of trainers and probation officers. The levers and barriers to implementing such strategies will be discussed, as well as a venues for improvements following this small-scale initiative.

Elliot Louan, Guy Bourgon, Jean-Pierre Guay

 
Article 8
Article 8: Correctional Officers, the Carceral Environment and Reentry: Perspectives from the U.S. and Scandinavia
 

Reentry policy has long focused on programming to reduce recidivism among the formerly incarcerated. However, less attention has been given to prison environments in which these interventions are implemented. Globally, there is meaningful variation in the extent to which carceral environments are characterized by either punitiveness or humanity, with the United States and the Scandinavian nations, respectively, deemed as exemplars. In every system, correctional officers work on the “front lines” and can observe the complex interactions between punishment philosophies, the harsh realities of prison life, and how incarcerated people are prepared to return home. Drawing on the experiences of correctional officers in the United States, Sweden, and Norway, this study illuminates the perspectives of these often-overlooked stakeholders regarding penal philosophies, reintegration policy, and how the prison environment impacts policy and practice. Cross-contextual lessons for grounding reintegration in the carceral environment are similarly discussed.

Jordan M. Hyatt, Synøve N. Andersen, Veronica L. Horowitz, Hannah Glimpse Nario-Lopez

 
Article 9

Article 9: An International Exploration into the World of Mental Health in Community Corrections

The purpose of the current study was to conduct an initial international exploration into mental health in community corrections. The qualitative analysis revealed seven themes that highlighted many barriers and identified necessary building blocks for success for justice-involved individuals as they reintegrate into the community and on their path to desistance. These include meaningful collaboration, rapport, trust and an emphasis on housing and employment. Much depends on meeting the client where they are, as people go through the stages of adaptation at different times and speeds. Ultimately, despite different practices, participants agreed on the value of person-centered, community-integrated approaches.
 

Keywords: Community corrections, mental health, international.

Sonya A. McLaren, Teresa Brasio-McLaughlin, Emilie Gossye

Article 10

Article 10: Parenting from Prison: Innovative Ways of Maintaining Connection with Children, Families and Significant Others

This article describes and discusses ‘Invisible Walls’(IW), a pioneering ‘whole family’ approach to enhancing imprisoned fathers’ ties with their children and families. It summarises earlier evaluation findings on the Lottery-funded Invisible Walls Wales (IWW) project in HM Prison and YOI Parc, Wales, UK, outlines its influence on policy, and discusses how th e model has since evolved. In Parc, partnerships with schools now play a significant part; a further important development has been efforts to break down silos and make ‘family’ services available to all people in prison and their ‘significant others’. The paper also addresses the problem of replicating or adapting successful local projects on a much larger scale: experience from IW suggests that this can be helped by individual establishments exchanging ideas, but achieving and sustaining high volumes of beneficiaries requires commitment and investment by government, combined with culture and attitude change at local level.
 
Anna Clancy, Mike Maguire, Corin Morgan-Armstrong
 
Article 11
Article 11: ‘The Open Door’ Initiative: Reintegration Through Interagency Collaboration in the Irish Prison Service
 
Social reintegration has improved outcomes when continuity of care is provided. Training and employment programs offer the potential to ease the transition process, build the core capabilities of and foster growth in those leaving custody. The Open Door is a reintegration initiative developed in Cork Prison, Ireland in collaboration with Irish Association for Social Inclusion Opportunities (IASIO), Munster Technological University (MTU) and Cork Education and Training Board (CETB) to provide accredited training and support to those in custody. A pop-up restaurant gave potential employers a novel view of the initiative in the prison setting. The development of the initiative is explored, highlighting its replicability potential, including participant outcomes and new developments.
 
Eibhlín Toomey, Colm Carey, Maura O’ Sullivan
 
Article 12
Article 12: Purchasing Wisely - The Use of Sustainable Procurement Practices as an Innovative Approach to Support the Employment of Former Prisoners
 
Post-pandemic skills shortages present a unique opportunity to encourage and incentivise employers to look beyond their usual sources of employees and to seek out alternative, previously untapped sources of talent including those with criminal histories. This paper highlights innovative approaches taken in the Irish criminal justice system to pro-actively support the employment of people post release from prison by making changes to how goods and services are purchased. This newly implemented approach provides a mechanism to support the reduction of re-offending rates, supports re-integration, and allows people with criminal histories to become active, contributory members of society.
 
Keywords: Inter-departmental, collaboration, offenders, employment, recidivism, re-offending, sustainable procurement, social enterprise, progression, prison
 
Siobhan Cafferty
 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 14 (2022) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 14 (2022)

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What Else Works … Volume # 2

Our last Edition of Advancing Corrections on the theme of What Else Works received a very enthusiastic response and in order to give an opportunity to other researchers and practitioners who might wish to address this theme, we decided to publish a 2nd Volume on the same theme. Once again, we would like to explore what types of programs, services, activities, policies and/or practices seem to be making a difference (or could be making a difference) even if direct evidence in affecting re-offending may not be either yet available or easily determined.
 

 Articles

 
Foreword
What Else Works … Volume # 2
 
This 14th Edition of Advancing Corrections is a second volume exploring our theme of What Else Works. It continues to illustrate that corrections professionals are not content with standing still; there is incredible momentum all over the world to keep looking for what can make a difference. The Edition is divided into four sub-themes relating to What Else Works in introducing new Interventions, in Humanizing Prison Environments, innovation in making use of Peer Support, and finally, a few examples of especially interesting Practice Innovation.
 
Frank J. Porporino PhD.
 
Article 1
Article 1: Empatherapy – Building Communities of Support in the Singapore Prison Service
 
This paper aims to share the conception and implementation of the Empatherapy Programme (ETP), a ground-up initiative by the Singapore Prison Service (SPS). ETP is a collaborative group process that uses principles from Restorative Practice (RP) to promote and foster the objectives of Accountability and Responsibility, Contrition, Empathy, and Sense of Community and Rapport among inmate communities. The evaluation examines the impact of ETP, in terms of its outcomes, effectiveness, and the implementation processes. Findings suggest that ETP promotes better relationships with others, development of interpersonal skills and better behavioural management of inmates.
 
Keywords: Rehabilitation, Restorative Practices, Correctional, Proactive Circles
 
Chua Yi Gang and Chan Sook We
 
Article 2
Article 2: Religion and Rehabilitation in Colombian Prisons: New Insights for Desistance
 
We examined how religion contributed to offender rehabilitation based on identity theories of desistance and the “Good Lives Model,” conducting a quasi-experiment assessing a faith-based program, “The Prisoner’s Journey” (TPJ). Pretest and posttest surveys were administered to 255 (97 in experimental group and 158 control group) male prisoners in Colombia. Results showed that participation in TPJ increased religiosity, which fostered motivation for identity change, the perception of meaning in life, and the virtues of forgiveness, empathy, gratitude, and self-control. We also found that increased virtues (forgiveness, empathy, and self-control) decreased the risk of aggression toward another inmate.
 
Sung Joon Jang, Byron R. Johnson and Matthew L. Anderson
 
Article 3
Article 3: Making Good Use of Dead Time: Emotional Learning Programs for Prisoners in Solitary Confinement
 
Emotional learning (EL) programs have been adopted by correctional facilities due to their positive impacts on social and emotional intelligence in schools. This paper focuses on the promise of the EL program, Houses of Healing (HOH), which California prisoners residing in solitary confinement completed. Survey data from 200 male participants was analyzed. Participant responses reveal prisoners experienced an 83 percent or greater improvement in hopefulness, identifying triggers, handling anger, and ability to remain in control and cope when upset. Frequency of meditation practice and perceived helpfulness of physical exercise correlated with improvement in hopeful feelings and coping abilities.
 
Ann Marie Rocheleau & Shannon Curran
 
Article 4
Article 4: Dad HERO – Creating Opportunities for Connecting Incarcerated Men with their Children
 
Since its start in 2015, Canadian Families and Corrections Network’s Dad HERO (Helping Everyone Realize Opportunities) parenting program continues to achieve success in Canada’s federal and provincial prisons. The project is dedicated to offering parenting skills in an engaging manner; to helping fathers be accountable to their children and families while in prison; to strengthening social connectedness as an asset to prison resiliency and correctional planning; and to strengthen the family unit for reintegration success. An evidence-based curriculum, strong evaluation results, valued partnerships and facilitators, and flexibility ensure ongoing success and sustainability.
 
Louise Leonardi
 
Article 5
Article 5: From “Closed” to “Open” Groups for Sexual Offenders in Singapore: Clinical and Operational Considerations and Preliminary Findings
 
In 2019, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) converted a sexual offender rehabilitation program from a closed group to an open group format after facing limitations with the former. In this paper, we describe the program, discuss clinical and operational considerations for the conversion, and shared our preliminary findings. We illustrate how an open group – when operationalized based on sound clinical and operational considerations – is preferred over a closed group for sexual offenders in Singapore’s prison context. We hope that this article can be useful for correctional agencies to consider ‘what else works’ when reviewing the format of their group-based rehabilitation programming.
 
Keywords: sexual offenders, open group, closed group, prisons rehabilitation program
 
Paul Zhihao Yong, Arvina Manoo, Boon Siang Kwek
 
Article 6
Article 6: Young Men’s Experiences of Psychological Formulation as Part of a Care Planning Initiative in the Irish Prison Service
 
Young men in custody are a vulnerable group due to their stage of brain development. The Psychology Service in the Irish Prison Service (IPS) have developed a strengths-based, psychologically informed programme for young men. Engagement in a clinical interview and psychological formulation leads to the development of a bespoke care plan. This care plan or ‘sentence plan’ outlines key rehabilitation services the young person can engage with while in custody and on release. This study aims to give voice to young men’s experiences of psychological formulation as part of sentence planning, potentially contributing to the literature on ‘what else works’.
 
Alice Creavin, Niamh Murphy, Emma Regan
 
Article 7
Article 7: Growth - An Emerging New Philosophy, to Transform Correctional Culture
 
This article introduces a new philosophy called Growth, which can be used within correctional contexts, to reduce social harm, promote cultural change and nurture rehabilitation outcomes. Creating rehabilitative cultures provides significant benefits to both staff and people in prison. This article documents a broader methodology, which outlines how to engineer a rehabilitative environment. It will introduce the theoretical framework, which informs the Growth Project, a project which focuses on transforming prison culture. It will outline the challenges of this initiative and propose that cultural interventions can transform prison identities, from criminogenic environments to safe, relational-focused spaces, reimagining organizational and individual identity. It will highlight the key outcomes of the Growth Project to date, and end by proposing that there is an increased need to design growth-centered environments, to ignite transformative change, and ultimately reduce recidivism.
 
Sarah Lewis and Emma Hands
 
Article 8
Article 8: What Needs to Work? Researching Prisoner Experiences in Chile
 
This article, inspired by Liebling’s concept of the moral performance of prisons, summarizes empirical findings learned from a decade of field work in Chilean prisons and also reflects on how these findings have contributed to prison reform efforts in the country. Although the overall research employed a variety of methodologies, in this piece we emphasize the quantitative results of two, secondary datasets of prisoner self-reports: i) a national study in 75 prison facilities (n = 2,093), and ii) a study on the moral performance conducted in five large prisons (n=1,448) employing an adapted version of the Measuring Quality of Prison Life [MQPL] questionnaire. Our findings reveal a variety of problems affecting prison life in Chile, such as victimization and violence among inmates, institutional mistreatment, limited programme access, insufficient infrastructure conditions, reports on corruption and the like. In addition, we found common struggles; variations between inmates and facilities; and routes to move forward prison reform ‘from the inside’, including moral performance; the untapped potential of officers and guards; and locating experiences of humanity and hope. We also discuss how some policies and programs have been linked to some of the results of the surveys, analyzing their possibilities and limitations for prison reform.

Keywords: Chile; prisons; applied research; reform; survey
 
Guillermo Sanhueza, Bethany E. Schmidt, Alison Liebling & Liza Zúñiga
 
Article 9
Article 9: Open Prison Works: Sharing Experiences from the Czech Republic
 
It has been more than 4 years since the first Open prison was established in the Czech Republic. Although it is still largely a pilot verification of this format under Czech conditions, the first evaluations are already appearing. The aim of this study is to present the first Czech Open prison, and to indicate the possibilities of its partial evaluation. The authors of the study are representatives of the academic community and everyday prison practice, and both are personally connected with the project. In their perspective, the Open prison project has been successful in Czech conditions. In the study, they present arguments supporting their evaluation.
 
Keywords: Prison, Open, Czech Republic, Human Ecology, Sociology
 
Lukás Dirga, Hana Prokopová
 
Article 10
Article 10: Situational Violence Risk Assessment in Norwegian Closed Institutions: Results from a Pilot Test of Prism
 
Interpersonal violence occurring in an institutional setting represents a serious problem in both prisons and forensic units. An increased understanding of the situational mechanisms involved is needed. This study reports findings from a pilot study across a sample of forensic and prison institutions in Norway, testing the perceived relevance and usefulness of a situational perspective, the Promoting Risk Intervention by Situational Management (PRISM) framework. Eight units, five forensic and three prison units in two prisons, were included as research sites in this study. The study is informed by a multiple case study approach, combining different sources of information and different methods of data collection. Multi-disciplinary teams were established at each research site and constituted the center of the current feasibility study. The results indicated that despite a general acknowledgement of the importance of attention to situational violence risk factors, both prisons and forensic units lacked systems for structured monitoring of institutional violence. The ability of the PRISM framework to provide a common language to communicate about violence and its precursors was appreciated, while the results also indicated that it was considered to be a time-consuming process.

Keywords: forensic; violence; situational risk; prison
 
Tore Rokkan, Hallgeir Vik, Tom Are Jensen Normann, and Christine Friestad
 
Article 11
Article 11: Providing Opportunities for New Self Identity through Work Inside Outside Prisons
 
In the backdrop of paucity of research in the area, this article deals with the efficacy of work related interventions on the wellness of prisoners incarcerated in prisons of Himachal Pradesh state in India. The wellness component was assessed through semi-structured interviews and indicators of wellness included increased sense of self-worth, acquisition of new personal and occupational identities, optimism, and increased comfort for reintegration on release. The challenges facing prison administration while implementing this reform intervention of “Har Hath Ko Kaam” - “Work for every hand” are also highlighted along with the benefits.

Keywords: efficacy, work related interventions, purposeful engagement, wellness, self-identity, selfworth, reintegration, prison reforms
 
Upneet Lalli
 
Article 12
Article 12: Peer Observation of Offenders on Suicide Watch: An Example of the Value of Prison Peer Support Programs
 
Peer support programs are an example of “what else works” in a prison setting. This article presents peer observation of suicide watches as an example peer support program. We discuss its history in the United States; structure; benefits for the individual on watch, the peer-provider, and the facility; and pitfalls/ mitigation strategies. A significant benefit is enabling staff to reinvest effort previously needed for suicide watch supervision into more complex tasks. These programs have been used effectively and safely in various correctional facilities for decades and were recently piloted in North Carolina Prisons in conjunction with the in-house Innovation Institute.
 
Emily G. Hazlett, PhD, Jeanine Slater, MA, Charles Mautz, MA
 
Article 13
Article 13: Evaluation of the Community Based Health and First Aid ‘Sisters for Change’ Program
 
The Community-based Health and First Aid (CBHFA) programme empowers prisoners to improve the health, wellbeing and safety of their prison community. Prisoners in the CBHFA programme train to become Special Status Red Cross volunteers within their correctional facility. The programme brings prisoners, prison staff and Australian Red Cross together to identify, develop and implement health and wellbeing projects for their prison community. The programme is modelled on the acclaimed Irish Red Cross Prisons Programme that won the 2011 World Health Organization Award for best practice in prison health. The CBHFA programme in Australia is currently delivered at four Australian prisons. At the Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre (TWCC) in Queensland, the CBHFA programme is called ‘Sisters for Change’. This article presents the key findings from an external evaluation of the CBHFA programme that showed significant outcomes for the prison community and beyond. Outcomes included that participants perceived the prison as safer, with fewer prisoner-on-prisoner assaults, and that the programme led to significant improvements in prisoner and officer relations, as well as participants feeling more hopeful and positive about the future, with boosted confidence, self-esteem and life skills. This paper outlines the key findings from Halsey and Bright’s 2020 inaugural evaluation of the Australian programme and identifies factors that other jurisdictions should consider when adopting the CBHFA programme. It will be of interest to correctional policy makers and practitioners alike, as it emphasizes the value of partnerships between the community sector and correctional centres in achieving significant outcomes for prisoners, correctional institutions, and the broader community.
 
Rachel Montgomery, Louise Kneeshaw
 
Article 14
Article 14: Joint Simulation Training for Correctional Officers and Healthcare Providers in a Correctional System
 
In the correctional setting, correctional officers and healthcare providers become immersed in a variety of emergencies in a first responder capacity, requiring organized team approaches and aligned goals. A training gap was identified as healthcare providers and correctional officers facilitate separate training initiatives with minimal focus and education surrounding their collaborative efforts in emergency response situations. The Joint Simulation Training Program (JST) was designed to address this gap, allowing staff the opportunity to practice responding to emergencies together through simulation training. Simulation is an interactive educational technique for teaching knowledge as well as technical, clinical and behavioural skills to participants as they respond to immersive scenarios that replicate real-life events. This is the first joint experiential training initiative undertaken across Provincial Correctional Centres, in Alberta, Canada, and presumably internationally due to a paucity of existing programs in the literature. The case study presented in this paper outlines the design, implementation, and outcomes of this innovative interprofessional training program. The lessons learned from this transformative program should help shape future training initiatives in corrections education, to better prepare these interprofessional teams to work in unpredictable environments.

Keywords: simulation-based education, interprofessional training; emergency response; correctional system; healthcare
 
Kristin Simard, Dennis Keats, Sharon Reece, Mirette Dubé, Monika Johnson, Alyshah Kaba
 
Article 15
Article 15: Implementing a Smart Prison in Finland
 
Smart Prison is based on a new prison concept: ‘prison as a learning environment for a life without crime’, which is supported by digital services from a personal cell device. Finland’s first Smart Prison was implemented in one prison in 2021. The cell devices include software for inside prison communication and management and a limited access to outside rehabilitative services via web-based solutions or video calls. The preliminary feedback from staff and prisoners is promising, and the concept will now be extended to all our closed prison units. Smart Prison also includes use of Virtual Reality (VR) in rehabilitation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) related studies, prison work, and offender management.
 
Pia Puolakka
 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 13 (2022) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 13 (2022)

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What Else Works ... Volume 1 

This 13th Edition of Advancing Corrections exploring ‘What Else Works …’ has received an unprecedented response. We attracted more submissions than ever before for any other theme, from both the research and practitioner community, showcasing some quite varied and interesting examples of recasting correctional efforts. The response has been such that this Edition of Advancing Corrections will be the first of a two-volume exploration of the theme, with the 2nd volume scheduled for release in October, 2022. Advancing Corrections Journal #13 will hopefully contribute to a thoughtful conversation about how we might go about doing that.

Articles

Foreword

Foreword: What Else Works ... Volume 1

It is interesting to speculate why the theme may have attracted so much attention. Of course, it is clear that the mantra of ‘What Works’, a movement that has steadily penetrated the world of corrections over the last half century, has led to some fundamental altering of correctional practice. But to every upside there is also a downside. As I noted in the Call for Papers for this Edition: “There is no doubt that implementing What Works has given corrections some clear evidenceinformed direction. On the other hand, the impact of these strategies on re-offending has been varied, often only modest, and frequently exposing some of their limitations and constraints. It can be argued as well that the singular focus on What Works and […]

Frank J. Porporino

 

Article1

 Article 1: Could the ‘global sport’ help solve a global problem? – Using the power of football to reduce re-offending 

Desistance from crime involves not only the termination of offending (also referred to as “primary desistance”), but also some level of transformation of self-identity and self-worth (also referred to as “secondary desistance”). Such transformation is usually presented through a “narrative of change” (Gadd and Farrall, 2004) linked to taking on new roles (such as parent, employee, coach, etc.) that are no longer associated with offending. Avenues for transformation and pro-social role development are difficult to come by for many of those involved in the criminal justice system who are disproportionately drawn from socially excluded backgrounds. Coupled with the stigma attached to a criminal record, offenders also typically have low levels of pro-social capital (Kay, 2020), few positive relationships and limited employment prospects, all of which are required to support successful rehabilitation efforts (see Kay and Monaghan, 2019). Research has shown that a “catalyst for change” (see Maruna, 2001) is fundamental to successful desistance and rehabilitation efforts, and research is beginning to show that engagement in sport and physical activity can potentially act as such a catalyst (Meek and Lewis, 2014). The introduction of the Twinning Project in 2018 within the HM Prison and Probation Service, which aims to utilise football coaching to tackle the “revolving door” of offending (Padfield and Maruna, 2006), was therefore a timely and important initiative.

Jason Swettenham MBE, Jo Wickens, David Dein MBE, Hilton Freund, Martha Newson & Chris Kay

Article 2
Article 2: Restoring dignity in prisons through a creative writing program: An Experience from Uganda 

This article discusses a creative writing project for inmates conducted in two Ugandan prisons by Pen Uganda in partnership with the Uganda Prisons Service. It details the project cycle from conception through to evaluation and discusses the project’s implications for the dignity of the beneficiaries and the potential inroads it presents to their rehabilitation process, as well as for prison staff and the Uganda Prison Service’s (UPS) rehabilitative programming. It also suggests “what else works” for people deprived of their liberty. 

Robert Omita Okoth & Danson Sylvester Kahyana
 
Article 3
Article 3: A.R.T. & Justice: An Arts-based initiative to support the holistic health & dignity of incarcerated Indigenous and Non-Indigenous people in western Canada during and beyond COVID-19

COVID-19 has intensified social isolation and worsened mental health for people in Canada and around the world. In response, Correctional Service Canada (CSC) and an academic team launched an artsbased initiative to support the well-being of federally incarcerated Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. We gifted art kits across institutions in the Pacific Region and invited individuals to share resulting artwork. Preliminary results show the therapeutic benefits of art-making amidst reduced access to visitation, programs, and Indigenous Elders. We share these initial findings, their policy potential within other international contexts, and discuss how ART-Justice could be transferred and studied through partnerships to mitigate mental health harms and isolation for incarcerated people during the pandemic and beyond. 

Helen Brown, Kelsey Timler, Dan Jack & Kirsten Sigerson
 
Article 4
Article 4: Professionalising the response to volunteers engaged in rehabilitation and reintegration: The VOLPRIS standardised training course for people who coordinate prison and probation volunteers

This paper contextualises an ongoing European adult education initiative to provide free, standardised training to people who support community volunteers in prison and with people on release, illustrating how this addresses current European policy frameworks and a current gap in training provision. Context is given by related case studies and lessons learnt from a pan-European research survey. The authors conclude with recommendations for future work. We show how specific training for volunteer coordinators – and by extension better training for volunteers – could support the expansion of voluntary organisation support to prison rehabilitation and post release services. We go on to detail barriers to volunteer engagement identified by prison staff in a pan-European survey in the VOLPRIS project, showing that what they believe is critical to the success of a project engaging volunteers in prison. The authors then present two case studies: the first showing how a trained volunteer coordinators’ role functions in prison and probation volunteer recruitment, training and retention initiatives (Bremen, Germany), the second showing how trained coordinators pass this training on to volunteers themselves (Lisbon, Portugal). We conclude that similarities in the survey results and in current practice underscore volunteer and volunteer coordinator training as primary areas of investment for prison, probation and/or voluntary sector staff who intend to bring volunteers into secure environments. Finally, we identify critical areas of future work necessary to improve uptake of volunteering programmes to support rehabilitation services in prison, and to reduce existing barriers for prison staff keen to promote and engage in voluntary initiatives. 

Rhianon Williams, Rauja Al-Molla, Alexander Vollbach, Alexandra Gomes, Inês Coelho, Rita Lourenço & Tiago Leitão
 
Article 5
Article 5: The Value of student volunteers with the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC)

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) benefits from the contributions of over 4,000 volunteers who work with offenders in institutions and the community in support of their rehabilitation and reintegration. Volunteer contributions are diverse, from self-help groups to supporting recreational and spiritual activities to providing accompaniments in the community. Since 2015, CSC has discovered the value of collaborating with a university club of approximately twenty-five (25) post-secondary students. This paper will discuss the importance of expanding the best practices of the Queen’s Correctional Services Volunteers (QCSV) across Canada, and the operational considerations to achieve this, as an area of growth for CSC’s volunteer program.

Alicia T. Mora, Tina J. Evans & Katherine L. Cole
 
Article 6
Article 6: CoSA: A proven approach to reducing sexual offending

Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) is a program used in several countries that has demonstrated success in reducing recidivism and improving community reintegration with people who have committed serious sexual offences. The program is community-based and uses principles of restorative justice. This paper describes the program, reviews evidence on its success and discusses some of the implementation challenges. CoSA is cost-effective and merits wide adoption as a way of dealing with a serious issue in criminal justice.
 
Kelly Richards & Otto Driedger
 
Article 7
Article 7: Valuing volunteers in corrections: Learning from the Volunteer Probation Officer scheme in Japan

The world of corrections is witnessing growing recognition of the contributions that can be made by well-coordinated and thoughtfully integrated volunteer schemes. One of the most impressive and longstanding examples is the Volunteer Probation Officer model in Japan. In both its breadth and depth of engagement with community, it is perhaps one of the finest examples worldwide of What Else Works. This paper uses the example of the Japanese ‘Hogoshi’ model to illustrate how the role of volunteers can be seen as fully consistent with our evidence base for how to best engage both service-users and our communities in realizing sustained reintegration. Six key features of the Japanese VPO scheme are discussed that may account for its success and that could (and should!) be emulated in other contexts.

Frank J. Porporino
 
Article 8
Article 8: Gardening works: Lessons learned from a sustainable garden program in a residential community correction setting for women

Ecotherapy and gardening have gained popularity in corrections, with most interventions focusing on prison settings. This paper briefly describes the authors’ experiences developing a gardening program in a community corrections facility for women, describing a pilot research program and preliminary results. Findings indicate that gardening is an effective, low-cost programming option for community residential settings that improve clients’ mental health and nutritional awareness, fosters community partnerships, and promotes camaraderie among clients and staff.
 
Daniela Jauk-Ajamie & Andria Blackwood
 
Article 9
Article 9: Creating a coordinated system of care for mother-baby pairs transitioning from a prison nursery to their home community

Prison nursery units have improved outcomes for mother-baby pairs, but challenges remain postrelease. Motivated by a coauthor who experienced incarceration in a prison nursery, university public health faculty collaborated with the Indiana Department of Correction Medical Division’s Transitional Healthcare team to develop and implement Mothers on the Rise (MOR), an innovative program that coordinates care for each mother-baby pair at the Indiana Women’s Prison during their transition to community, and first year post-release. We describe the creation of this system, grounded in human rights and health equity approaches, its components, processes, and successes in improving community reintegration for mother-baby pairs.
 
Ashley Mager, Erin Macey, Kylie Noe, Nina Porter, Maranda Williams Sparks, Christine Daniel, Leah Hession, Olivia Magnett & Jack Turman Jr
 
Article 10
Article 10: What else works? The Stepping Stones criminogenic program for women

As women who offend represent a small minority in correctional systems, most programs and policies are made based on research on male populations. There is, however, a growing body of literature demonstrating that women’s pathways into offending are different. This paper outlines a new program that Corrections South Australia has developed in an effort to provide a gender-specific rehabilitation program to address the criminogenic needs of women in prison. In approaching this work, Corrections South Australia considered a range of theoretical and clinical perspectives, including Aboriginal women’s experiences of the justice system, in its design of a culturally inclusive program.

Shawn Sowerbutts, Louise Hopkins, Emma Ziersch, Chelsea Dunn & Henry Pharo
 
Article 11
Article 11: Bringing together the voices of contemporary lived experience through prison-based and community-based Think-Tanks

The lived experience of people impacted by the Criminal Justice System has often been neglected and excluded from the policy-making process. To provide a space for their voices to be heard, four prisonbased Think-Tanks and one community-based Think-Tank have been established in Victoria, Australia. This paper outlines the operation of these Think-Tanks and describes how these contribute to the consultation and research commissioned by government departments, non-government bodies and advocacy groups. The inclusion of various voices in the design of practical strategies improves and innovates the social justice sector.

Marietta Martinovic, Tarmi A’Vard & Dwayne Antojado
 
Article 12
Article 12: The Global Leadership Summit in prison: Innovation in rehabilitation, restoration, and reentry

The Missouri Department of Corrections consistently implements initiatives designed to address diverse, incarcerated population needs, including educational, faith-based, restorative justice, and reentry programs. Of important note is that many of these programs are facilitated by Volunteers in Corrections (VICs) who have direct interaction with incarcerated persons. One successful program incorporates key concepts of leadership as a component of offender development and restoration. This paper outlines a creative approach to offender education and personal development, illustrating the effectiveness of the Global Leadership Summit (GLS) in enhancing offender motivation for change, highlighting the benefit of partnering with external organizations to expand prison programming, and suggesting how GLS has influenced positive changes in prison culture. This interdisciplinary approach expands on discussions of programs that are making a difference in correctional institutions with clear implications for “What Else Works…”

Raleigh Blasdell, Michelle Kilburn & Laura Krieger-Sample
 
Article 13
Article 13: Do Wardens hold the key to prison culture? Preliminary evidence and a call for research on empowering correctional leaders to reimagine prison

Research across disciplines links improved customer outcomes to organizational culture, and organizational leadership drives that culture. The same links may also exist in corrections such that improved prison culture may facilitate better outcomes for returning citizens, and correctional leaders can influence those improvements. Warden Exchange®, a program of Prison Fellowship®, was developed based on the hypothesis that equipping corrections professionals to be transformational leaders will ultimately lead to better prison culture and outcomes. Evaluation evidence suggests that prison leaders may indeed hold the key to transforming culture in corrections. Further investigation is recommended.
 
Rachel D. Crawley & Jesse Wiese
 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 12 (2021) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 12 (2021)

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Innovation in Correctional Healthcare 

This Edition of Advancing Corrections offers a mix of both research and practice discussions that speak to how healthcare provision in corrections can be transformed and improved to meet both some new and some longstanding correctional challenges. A theme that runs through many of the papers is how corrections can excel when it purposefully nourishes ways of working in partnership … with healthcare agencies, research organizations, NGOs and other stakeholders. Trying to do it alone is no longer sensible, especially as some healthcare issues have become increasingly complicated and interconnected.

Articles

Foreword

Foreword: Innovation in Correctional Healthcare

Welcome to the 12th Edition of Advancing Corrections on the theme of Innovation in Correctional Healthcare. As human beings, we are all now sharing the lived experience of a life-threatening pandemic. We have become acutely aware of how our healthcare systems can save lives, while in equal measure, how any serious strain on those systems can lead to tragic loss of lives. Counting the number of people who have died due to Covid, almost 5 million globally, has become a grim and heart-breaking reality. It seemed appropriate to devote an Edition of this Journal to the rather unique and very difficult challenges of providing quality healthcare within correctional services […]

Frank J. Porporino

 

Article1

Article 1: An Innovative, Multiagency, State-Wide Correctional Healthcare Response to Minimise COVID-19 Associated Risks in New South Wales Prisons

Delivering correctional healthcare services during the global COVID-19 pandemic is particularly challenging. Innovative systems and processes are required to deliver healthcare while minimising the risk of COVID-19 transmission to people in correctional settings. This paper describes the COVID-19 public health response implemented in 37 correctional centres and 6 juvenile detention centres in the state of New South Wales, Australia. This response effectively prevented COVID-19 transmission in NSW prisons and has proved to be sustainable and adaptable during a recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases in 2021. This may provide other correctional healthcare providers with insights applicable to their own settings.

Allison Preobrajensky, James Blogg, Kylie Strong, Colette McGrath, Elizabeth Sullivan, Marc Remond, Luke Grant, Kevin Corcoran, and Wendy Hoey

 

Article 2

Article 2: Challenges and Promising Practices in Correctional Healthcare During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Perspective from Community-based Residential Facility Operators in Canada

The research explores challenges and promising practices related to the provision of quality correctional healthcare to justice-involved people in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data was collected from a roundtable comprised of Community-based Residential Facility (CBRF) operators within St. Leonard’s Society of Canada’s membership. Themes related to challenges and promising practice were identified through qualitative analysis. Based on the study’s findings and a review of international literature, the article concludes by listing recommendations for standards of practice within correctional healthcare during a wide-spread health crisis. Future research on correctional healthcare should include greater emphasis on community corrections, particularly CBRF operations.

Danielle Kouri & Jocelyne Lemoine

 

Article 3

Article 3: The COVID-19 Incarceration Model: A Tool for Corrections Sta­ to Analyze COVID-19 Outbreak Strategies

Correctional facilities are at high risk of COVID-19 outbreaks due to the inevitable close contacts in the environment. Such facilities are a high priority in the public health response to the pandemic. We developed a user-friendly Microsoft Excel spreadsheet model building on the previously developed Recidiviz model (Recidiviz 2020) to analyze COVID-19 outbreaks in correctional facilities and the potential impact of prevention strategies – the COVID-19 Incarceration Model. The model requires relatively limited input data and can be readily used by those without modelling experience such as facility managers, correctional staff, policy makers, and other stakeholders. The impact of a COVID-19 outbreak and various mitigation strategies is illustrated for an example correctional setting.

Jisoo A. Kwon, Neil A. Bretaña, Luke Grant, Jennifer Galouzis, Wendy Hoey, James Blogg, Andrew R. Lloyd and Richard T. Gray

 

Article 4

Article 4: Inpatient Treatment for Insanity Acquittees in the COVID Era

The existing literature offers little in the way of best practices regarding the reintegration of those found not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) after violent offenses. Unique to New Hampshire, step-down from an inpatient setting for such patients is largely controlled by the Department of Corrections (DOC) rather than the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Quarantine restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic required a departure from the standard plan involving a stepwise process of decreasing supervision. In its place the hospital initiated an accelerated plan with greater reliance on structured clinical judgment (SCJ). Under the accelerated plan, patients were recommended for discharge in less than 1/3 of the time required for patients advanced under the standard plan. This observational study suggests that SCJ may be non-inferior to a sequential step-down process in determining appropriateness for discharge of NGRI patients from a state psychiatric hospital, in keeping with Foucha.

Andrea Muschett, Jenna Bourassa, Je­rey C. Fetter and Daniel W. Lampignano

 

Article 5

Article 5: Mental Illness in America’s Prisons: An Inconvenient Truth …The Need for a Public Safety/Public Health Model

The trans-institutionalization of individuals with serious mental illness from America’s public mental health hospitals to its correctional systems has created significant challenges to correctional leaders and public health policy makers. Never designed, equipped or intended to be mental health facilities, jails and prisons have struggled with costs, litigation, community linkage and care and custody issues for individuals with mental illness. A paradigm shift is needed to change how stakeholders approach the problem. Recognizing public safety and public health outcomes are inextricably linked, it is opportune to adopt a public safety/public health model which creates an effective synergy between the public health and criminal justice systems.

Dean Aufderheide

 

Article 6

Article 6: North Carolina’s Therapeutic Diversion Units: Innovation in Correctional Behavioral Health

In 2015, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, Division of Prisons began development of an initiative to improve the treatment and management of offenders with mental illness at risk of or in Restrictive Housing. The initiative involved the transformation of multiple Restrictive Housing units into Therapeutic Diversion Units, locations in which a structured, behavior-intervention treatment program would be provided to program participants. This article serves to highlight and discuss topics of establishment, development, evaluation, and growth of the Therapeutic Diversion Units in North Carolina Prisons.

Charles Mautz, Gary Junker, Terri Catlett & Todd Ishee

 

Article 7

Article 7: Clozapine for Self-Injurious and Aggressive Behaviors in Correctional Settings

Treatment-refractory psychosis and self-injurious and aggressive behaviors are prevalent problems in American prisons. The antipsychotic medication clozapine, approved in the United States for treatment-resistant schizophrenia and reduction in suicide risk for people with a psychotic illness, is highly evidence-based but underused in correctional settings. This paper provides a brief overview of mental illness and incarceration in the United States and reviews clozapine’s indications, benefits, and risk monitoring. We review the use of clozapine in correctional settings and then provide an overview of a prison-academic partnership between the North Carolina Department of Public Safety and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine which has led to a nearly 400% increase in clozapine prescribing over five years. Similar partnerships can be a model for other prison systems to expand clozapine use and other evidence-based practices.

Theodore R. Zarzar and Deanna L. Kelly

 

Article 8

Article 8: Correctional Health Space Standards: Balancing the Needs of Both Health and Security to Improve Patient Outcomes

While there are many standards on the provision of care within corrections, there is a lack of space standards regarding healthcare facilities within corrections. This is especially critical as the inmate population has been found to be older, sicker, and receiving longer sentences globally compared to 20 years ago. To improve patient outcomes and balance health needs with security needs, an assessment of standards is imperative. This article will look at space needs, review current standards for both health and correctional facilities, identify inconsistencies and gaps in information, and what must be considered to improve conditions and provide better care.

David Redemske

 

Article 9

Article 9: Development of a Strategy to Raise Awareness of the Physical, Social, and Mental Needs of Older Adults in Prison

While an emerging body of knowledge has already shown that older people in prison have a complex set of unaddressed needs and experiences, there is little research on how this knowledge can be translated into action. Older adults are the fastest growing group in many prison populations and thus it is timely to reflect on an awareness-raising strategy. Prisons should be dealing with this unique and increasing prison population by adopting an evidence-informed approach. By using the knowledge-to-action process model (KTA) to integrate existing research on the needs of older adults in prison, this paper examines the factors, implementation actions and processes in developing a strategy that optimizes awareness of older adults in prison and their needs.

Diete Humblet, Liesbeth Naessens, Hilde Lahaye, Wim Peersman, & Katrin Gillis

 

Article 10

Article 10: From Aging in Prison to Caring Justice: A Solution Focused Approach for Corrections and Communities

This article explores the pathways of the social determinants of health and justice disparities that have contributed to the rapid growth of the aging, sick, and dying in global prisons. Correctional systems have been ill-prepared to adequately address older incarcerated adults’ specialized care needs and their risks of institutional injustices, abuse, and neglect. Drawing from data from the authors’ mixed methods research studies, this article explores the life course lived experiences of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated regarding care and justice before, during, and after prison. One-on-one interview data (N= 100) among incarcerated and formerly incarcerated older adults revealed that they shared post-traumatic and stressful experiences and copious experiences of personal and collective resilience. Such experiences were described as unconditional love and acceptance of self and others, service to others (‘doing good’), and positive thinking and emotional states. The paper also advances a caring justice (care and justice) perspective to shift a collective mindset from a problemfocused to a compassionate solution-focused societal framework. We argue there is need to visualize and actualize a kinder, balanced, and safer society made up of caring justice communities and service systems. The article concludes with select practices offered to aging people in prison with ‘caring justice’ principles (e.g., compassionate care, equality, peace, prosperity), such as in Nordic Countries and other select geographic locations and programs.

Tina Maschi, Adriana Kaye, Keith Morgen and Juan Rios

 

Article 11

Article 11: Mental Health Stigma Among Correctional O‑cers in Canadian Federal Prisons

Correctional work includes dealing with a variety of occupational stressors and potentially psychologically traumatic events that can compromise the well-being of prison employees. In the current study, we unpack interpretations of stigma related to mental health and treatment seeking among correctional officers working in Canada’s federal prison system. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 70 correctional officers who had between one and two years of experience on the job, results show that stigma, although remaining embedded in institutional culture, varies according to occupational tenure; a space for change is emerging among officers with fewer years of service. Policy implications and recommendations are discussed.

Gillian Foley, Marcella Siqueira Cassiano, & Rosemary Ricciardelli

 

Article 12

Article 12: Who Fails to Complete Tuberculosis Treatment in Haiti’s National Prison, and What Innovations Might Improve Success?

Background: This baseline study aims to characterize tuberculosis patients in Haiti’s National Penitentiary facility who did not demonstrate timely treatment completion.

Methods: Data were collected for every person in Haiti’s flagship correctional facility identified with tuberculosis disease from 2016-2018. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with not completing tuberculosis treatment while in prison.

Results: From 2016-2018, the in-prison treatment completion rate was 556/661 (84.1%). Extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) patients were twice as likely to not complete treatment in prison as pulmonary cases (aOR 1.96, 95% CI 1.08-3.52). Patients living with HIV were three times as likely to not complete treatment as HIV-negative patients (aOR 3.31, 95% CI 1.82-6.02). A subsequent review of records from a community transitional clinic showed that an additional 7 patients (1.1%) from the cohort completed treatment after prison.

Conclusions: Tuberculosis treatment completion of 85.2% while in custody for the period 2016-2018 exceeds Haiti’s national average of 79%, but falls short of the World Health Organization’s target of 90% for correctional services. Targeting patients with HIV and/or EPTB for closer monitoring, plus interventions to finish treatment after release, may push the overall TB treatment completion rate towards the WHO’s target. To help improve TB treatment completion, this study justified a trial of Video Direct Observed Therapy.

Haley Kehus, Margaret Bury, Edwin Prophete, Laura Dirks & Anne C Spaulding

 

Article 13

Article 13: Can Physical Health Risk Factors and Social Characteristics of a Community Increase the Likelihood of Recidivism? An Examination of 2018 Releases from 5 Contracted Florida Prisons

The study examines how physical health risk factors and social characteristics predict recidivism for individuals released from five contracted Florida prisons. The Geographic Information System (GIS) model-assisted to identify hot spots of returning citizens, and a negative binomial regression measured the impact of physical health risk factors and social characteristics, i.e., poverty and race, on recidivism. The results reveal an association between physical health risk factors, social characteristics, and recidivism. Our findings expand literature and contribute to advancing policies in prisoner reentry that focus on an all-encompassing comprehensive plan for returning citizens.

Derrick Schofield, Wendy Dressler, David S. Burch & Jessica Rich

 

Article 14

Article 14: LIFE GYM in Hong Kong: Pioneering Male-responsive Psychological Programmes for Male Prisoners’ Well-being

In Hong Kong, it has been observed that male prisoners exhibit significantly higher rates of substance use disorders, antisocial personality behavior and suicide compared to females (Hong Kong Correctional Services Department, 2020), not to mention some mental disorders underlying offending behavior. Integrating our understanding of male psychology with what we know about correctional psychology potentially opens up a new frontier for psychological programmes. LIFE GYM: Positive Living Centre for Men has pioneered four male-responsive treatment strategies to promote well-being and reduce reoffending of the male prisoners in Hong Kong, namely: cultivating positive masculinities, virtual reality training, therapeutic sports activities and activity-oriented treatment. Preliminary quantitative and qualitative data reveal positive treatment outcomes.

Yvonne KS Lee, Daisy HM Ye ung & Edmund TT Lo

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 11 (2021) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 11 (2021)

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Envisioning Corrections in 2030: Where Should the Evidence Take Us?

The  theme for this Edition of Advancing Corrections asked researchers and practitioners to Envision Corrections in 2030. Most of the contributors were forward looking in a positive way, presenting their vision of what corrections could and should aspire to, not as pie-in-the-sky optimism, but as evidence-informed reflection about where we should be going and how we might get there. A few contributors outlined some possible negative futures for corrections, with some legitimate analysis of the kinds of mis-directions we can take if we don’t remain vigilant. Readers of this Edition of Advancing Corrections will have their own imagined futures for our field, but the papers in the Edition will hopefully help crystallize and refine those visions, and help accelerate progress towards the positive.

 

Articles

Foreword

Foreword: Envisioning Corrections in 2030: Where Should the Evidence Take Us?

Yogi Berra, the American baseball hero who was noted for his satirical, philosophical musings, once remarked that “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Prediction is certainly difficult, and often wrong, in most spheres of human endeavour, but we keep trying to do better. Prediction is also an unavoidable challenge in our efforts to design and deliver correctional services, and we have to keep trying to do better, a theme that was explored in our last Edition of Advancing Corrections on Understanding, Assessing, Managing and Reducing Risk. But there is another sense to ‘prediction’ that has […]

Frank J. Porporino

 

Article 1

Article 1: Building Back Better: A Vision for Corrections in 2030 and Beyond

This paper sets out a vision for the future of corrections in the wake of the global pandemic. Its two key elements are the reduction in the use of imprisonment through the creation of a better balance between community based and custodial measures; and the development of a diversity of institutions more able to address the range of needs experienced by people in prison and to offer meaningful opportunities for desistance from crime. It focusses on the role that corrections staff can play in bringing about and implementing such a vision, arguing that in the poorest countries more fundamental questions need to be asked about whether the development of prisons offers the most sustainable correctional future.

Rob Allen

 

Article 2

Article 2: Transformational Environment in the Singapore Prison Service

The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) has re-designed our prison environment in a bid to support rehabilitation, reintegration, and long-term desistance. Guided by best practices in the correctional literature, SPS developed what we refer to as the Transformational Environment (TE). The introduction of the TE signals a move beyond focusing on rehabilitation programs, to creating a holistic rehabilitative correctional environment. This paper seeks to illustrate the design and implementation of the TE in SPS, which is grounded in the five Ps – Purpose, People, Processes, Programs, and Place. With these five Ps, this paper provides practitioners with some practical ideas on creating a rehabilitative environment, both in custody and in the community. Keywords: rehabilitation, transformational, environment, correctional, desistance

Alicia J. H. Tan & Shana S. Sim

 

Article 3

Article 3: Rehab City – Reinventing the Architecture of Incarceration

Every building, including carceral environments, exists within a larger context that includes influences from history, culture, environment and a community vision of purpose. During the last several years, and more specifically in the last 24 months, a national re-examination of the purpose and value of incarceration has come under close scrutiny by an expanding community of citizens, advocates and professionals that includes those who plan, design and operate prisons. While some within this community advocate the abolition of all forms of incarceration and the replacement with less structural sanctions, if achievable at all, this ultimate aim will require decades to replace the existing inertia. In the US National Capital, the Mayor of the District of Columbia convened a task force to examine the steps to transform the care and custody of incarcerated DC residents. Using this real-life example from Washington, DC, an alternative planning and design approach to replacing two existing correctional facilities is discussed as one outcome of the two-year examination by citizens and the professional community.

Stephen A. Carter & Stanley I. Hallet

 

Article 4

Article 4: The Collaborative Design and Development of a Violence Prevention Program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Men: What we learned to guide corrections to 2030

This paper presents some of the understandings which emerged while developing a Violence Prevention Program for Aboriginal men in prison. The program was designed in collaboration with members of the Aboriginal Services Unit of the South Australian Department for Correctional Services. The paper includes discussions of the limitations of the Risk-Need-Responsivity model and Good Lives Model in relation to working with this population, and the importance of recognizing the role of trauma. In addition, it describes the Aboriginal concept of kanyini, a term from the Luritja and Pitjantjatjara languages, defined as “holding” by Ryan (2011) and “love with responsibility” by Smitsman, Martens and Laszlo (2019, citing Bob Randall). It should be recognized that there are many Aboriginal nations in Australia. While kanyini comes from a particular language group, it has equivalent forms across a range of Western Desert dialects (Pleshet, 2018). Trade between Aboriginal nations meant that ideas, too, moved between nations. Thus, many Aboriginal nations, particularly those near the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands (in the north west of South Australia) have similar concepts. The paper discusses how this concept can be used to recast some common components of violence prevention programs for application in ways more appropriate for Aboriginal clients.

Shawn Sowerbutts, Gene Mercer, Henry Pharo, Vickie Dodd and Joanne Leonello

 

Article 5

Article 5: Envisioning 2030: Moving Away from Restrictive Regimes

This paper presents the findings of a research project the ICRC carried out on restrictive detention regimes between 2018 and 2020 in Europe and Central Asia. The work came from a growing concern about the use and potential misuse of such regimes within criminal detention. It shows how prevalent restrictive regimes are within prison systems, the different shapes they can take and the many categories of detainees they affect. Given the concerns restrictive detention regimes raise, the ICRC is calling for states to review and reduce their use of restrictive regimes.    

Anne-Julie Deniel & Sara Snell

 

Article 6

Article 6: Probation in 2030 – Pitfalls and Possibilities

This paper presents a summary of the research, theory, and guidance pertaining to effective practice in probation. Important factors include the development of practice competencies to bring about change, and the promotion of strong, integrated relations with stakeholders and communities. A framework is proposed for the development of mature services, and factors supportive of international capacity building are identified. Pessimistic and optimistic scenarios are explored, with steps proposed to increase the likelihood of positive outcomes.

Stephen Pitts & Leo Tigges

 

Article 7

Article 7: Designing Effective Pre-Release Programs: Challenges and Pathways Towards Successful Reintegration

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted concerted calls for emergency decarceration efforts worldwide, truly on an unprecedented scale. Among other things, such calls have underscored the necessity to have systems in place that prepare incarcerated individuals for reentering society as soon as the incarceration begins, as a matter of standard practice. Although the correctional literature highlights the positive influence that post-release reentry services can have on behavior of previously incarcerated individuals, less is known about the role that pre-release programs can play in ensuring successful post-release outcomes – despite the fact that many jurisdictions employ some version of pre-release programming. This paper argues that efforts to design effective pre-release options conducive to reintegration become an essential ingredient of envisioning corrections into the next decade. To this end, the paper aims to provide guidance for designing effective pre-release program options that successfully prepare individuals for reentry and transitioning back into society. The paper draws from the researchers’ combined experiences in conducting participatory action research with institutional and community-based correctional agencies in the United States. We highlight several main areas that pose challenges in practice and propose possible solutions for addressing them in order to achieve more effective use of pre-release and more successful reintegration of returning individuals.

Rely Vîlcică & Steven Belenko.

 

Article 8

Article 8: Artificial Intelligence in Prisons in 2030: An Exploration on the Future of AI in Prisons

This article discusses the current and potential future use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in prisons. In a quickly digitalizing society, prison systems are also being rapidly digitalized, and the latest examples of this development are AI solutions implemented for security technique and offender management. A literature review and a survey to 20 jurisdictions globally are summarized in this article. We will also discuss the possible side effects of AI being implemented and the ethical questions related to its future use in prison context.

Pia Puolakka & Steven Van De Steene

 

Article 9

Article 9: Technology and Business as Strategic Partners: CSC’s Offender Management System Modernization (OMS-M) Project as a Case Study

Recognizing the opportunity to fundamentally change the way technology is supporting corrections, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is undergoing a modernization of their Offender Management System to enhance offender management throughout the correctional process. With technology and the business as strategic partners, CSC has been able to drive transformation by bridging business challenges with technology solutions. This paper will explore the sequence of events that led to CSC’s business investment, the conditions that must be in place for successful transformation, and explore some illustrative examples of potential emerging technologies that could be used to augment the capabilities of OMS in 2030, including case management, sentence calculation and cell placement.

Simon Bonk

 

Article 10

Article 10: “What Matters is What Works?”: The Use of Evidence in Correctional Settings

In this paper we consider the value of different types of ‘evidence’ from the perspectives of a correctional agency research director and a university researcher. We discuss both the feasibility and the desirability of collecting the type of evidence that has largely informed correctional policy and practice and argue that there is a need to broaden our methodological frame to address the gaps that exist in our current knowledge base and the problems that inevitably arise when trying to translate research findings into practice

Jennifer J. Galouzis & Andrew Day

 

Article 11

Article 11: Pre-Crime, Post-Prisons and the Pandemic State: Theorising a Mobile Future in the Lockdown Society

This article argues that if we want to fully understand how the future of prisons will unfold, we must critically interrogate the “new normal” of the evolving Pandemic State and associated advanced technological tools and trends, toward digital surveillance, digital authoritarianism, polarising new media and community policing. Moreover, this article argues that carceral citizens, and the low socio-economic communities they come from, will be disproportionately affected by social and economic inequalities aggravated by the COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath. Here in Australia, access to safe, secure and affordable housing will continue to be a particular hot spot issue, due in part to neoliberalist Australian government policies and funding cutbacks that have left the disadvantaged, especially women, exposed to illness, violence, poverty and homelessness – thus, increasing their risk of (re)incarceration. At the same time, evolving, digitised tracking and compliance means and methods are extending the reach of the Pandemic State into the lives of the most vulnerable and “at risk” communities, including the formerly incarcerated and yet to be incarcerated. New theorisations will be vitally necessary to fully explain these evolving interconnections in a neoliberalist future which will be both after prisons and after pandemics, and thus this paper deploys (im)mobility theory as a tool to explain this global, social and cultural shift toward “security” as the dominant value of the new “lockdown” society – trends which may continue long after the virus is under control. This paper also provides illustrations from film and popular culture, particularly through the science fiction metaphor of “Pre-crime” or anticipated crime, to render these theorisations and the cultural shifts they capture more accessible for a wide audience of academics and practitioners. This paper concludes that it is especially important for corrections education to critically scrutinise the evolving applications and impacts of mobile and digital technologies over carceral citizens – technologies which can facilitate, as well as impede, the physical and social mobility of vulnerable persons in the emerging unequal, punitive, lockdown society.

Susan Hopkins

 

Article 12

Article 12: Practice-Based Evidence and Beyond: A Case of Violent Extremist Offender Correction in a Conflict Zone

Although ‘evidence-based approaches’ have become a hallmark for good practice in correctional services, we cannot fall into stubborn minimalism that may ignore realities on the ground. Especially for violent extremist offenders (VEOs) in conflict-inflicted areas, where scientific evidence is scarce, there is an urgent call for practice-based approaches that embrace an integration of practice-evidence, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and a focus on empowerment. This article, along with a telling example made by a NGO, discusses a potential solution to such demand in the field of deradicalization and reintegration of VEOs, and aims to fill in the hole of the universal norm.

Yosuke Nagai & Kanu Maeda

 

Article 13

Article 13: Continuous Innovation in Corrections

In 2020, North Carolina Prisons established an internal team known as the Innovation Institute, comprising an Administrator and multiple staff positions. The Innovation Institute serves to research and review evidence-based practices, innovative concepts, and varying correctional initiatives with the intent of generating recommendations that may further North Carolina Prisons’ ability to achieve strategic goals. Projects will focus on a variety of subject matters including technological advances, safety and security improvements, staff support and development, programming and treatment opportunities, and more. The Innovation Institute seeks to become a premier thought leader in corrections locally and globally.

Charles Mautz & Todd Ishee

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 10 (2020) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 10 (2020)

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Understanding, Assessing, Managing and Reducing Risk

The global COVID pandemic has continued to permeate our lives in significant ways. It has created a sudden and unprecedented level of social, economic and personal upheaval. It has also laid bare some of the most entrenched structural inequalities in our communities where the most vulnerable and disadvantaged have been the most affected. The COVID virus has made most of us much more acutely aware of the notion of ‘risk’, and the complicated interplay of factors that can go into calibrating risk, how much of it we wish to take, and when, where and why.

The COVID virus has presented some particular and serious risks for corrections, but RISK more broadly has long been a familiar concept in the world of corrections. Long before the advent of the RNR paradigm and our various risk assessment tools and risk management strategies, dealing with risk has always been fundamental to good correctional practice. Whenever corrections seems to excite the public’s wrath, it is typically because of some kind of misstep in addressing some kind of risk – a suicide in custody, escape, riot or disturbance, or most often, a sensationalized incident of serious re-offending. Dealing with risk is a constant, unavoidable and ubiquitous concern for corrections professionals and so we hope that the Theme of this Edition – Understanding, Assessing, Managing and Reducing RISK – will be of particular appeal.

Articles

Foreword

Foreword: Understanding, Assessing, Managing and Reducing RISK

As I write the Foreword to this 10th Edition of Advancing Corrections, the global COVID pandemic has continued to permeate our lives in significant ways. It has created a sudden and unprecedented level of social, economic and personal upheaval. It has also laid bare some of the most entrenched structural inequalities in our communities where the most vulnerable and disadvantaged have been the most affected. The COVID virus has made most of us much more acutely aware of the notion of ‘risk’, and the complicated interplay of factors that can go into calibrating risk, how much of it we wish to take, and when, where and why […]

Frank J. Porporino

 

Article 1

Article 1: From Labelling Bad Apples To A Better Science Of Spoiled Barrels 

Last October I had the privilege of delivering the Distinguished Scholar Lecture at the ICPA Annual Conference in Buenos Aires to a surprisingly attentive audience of more than 500 corrections professionals from over 70 countries. This paper is an abbreviated version of that presentation, minus most of the good jokes. The presentation was my attempt to imagine a prison psychology that was not obsessed with risk assessment. It turns out, as a famous Liverpudlian once sang, ‘It isn’t hard to do.’ A huge body of psychological research suggests that risk should be understood as a social, collective construct rather than a personality characteristic of individuals. Far from disempowering psychology, this new lens on risk can liberate the field to support desistance and reintegration without the need for stigmatising labels.

Shadd Maruna

 

Article 2

Article 2: Do Risk Assessments Play A Role In The Enduring ‘Color Line’?

This paper presents some of the arguments that have been put forward to suggest that current risk assessments are inherently biased and disproportionally disadvantage people of color in Western correctional systems. We suggest that this is a key area of concern for all correctional professionals and that new methods of risk assessment and approaches to training are needed. In our view, without this people of color will continue to be misclassified, over-assessed, placed in the wrong rehabilitation pathways, imprisoned and/or supervised longer than needed, and consequently remaining overrepresented in the correctional system.

In sum, the study results provide support for the indirect effects hypothesis regarding the nature of the association between mental health conditions and crime involvement. The study also provides insights regarding the empirical validity and utility of the risk assessment tools used in corrections. Thus, the study holds significant theory, policy, and research relevance. The discussion focuses on immediate policy implications, most relevant for both institutional and community corrections.

Yilma Woldgabreal, Andrew Day and Armon Tamatea

 

Article 3

Article 3: Risk Decay: Implications For Risk Assessment 

Risk instruments are a mainstay of correctional practice, informing such key decisions as custody classification, the timing of release from prison, and resource allocation for programming and supervision. Over the past 4 decades these risk instruments have evolved, yielding greater breadth in terms of content and applications for different offender subgroups and outcomes. With these changes a primary consideration has been the predictive accuracy of each instrument, often prompting users to champion one risk assessment instrument (RAI) over another. An equally central consideration is the longevity of a risk instrument and its ability to sustain accuracy over time. This paper introduces the concept of risk decay or half-life of risk instruments and discusses its implications for risk assessment.

Ralph C. Serin

 

Article 4

Article 4: Assessing And Managing Offense Analogue And Offense Replacement Behaviors In Correctional Settings

Dynamic security entails the use of staff interactions with correctional clientele to contribute to a safe and rehabilitative corrections environment. Offense linked proxy behaviors, known as offense analogue behaviors (OABs), represent criminogenic needs expressed in controlled correctional settings that can jeopardize safety and security. By contrast, offense replacement behaviors (ORBs) represent prosocial alternative behaviors that can supplant OABs, contribute to safe and effective corrections environments, and promote successful reintegration. The present manuscript provides an overview of the OAB and ORB concepts, their assessment, monitoring, intervention and management through both formal and informal means. In addition to correctional programming, interpersonal interactions, per core correctional practices, are crucial to reducing the presence of OABs and increasing ORBs, which also enhances dynamic security. We provide recommendations for assessing and managing OABs and ORBs through routine day-to-day operations.

Mark E. Olver & Keira C. Stockdale

Article 5

Article 5: How Does Context Influence Risk And Needs Assessments In Correctional Settings – Ideas And Practices From Correctional Psychologists Of Singapore Prison Service

Correctional psychologists often adhere to comprehensive instructions of manuals and structured protocols of risk and needs assessment instruments in order to ensure that their assessment findings are accurately reported. Apart from the use of manuals and protocols, we propose that it is also important for correctional psychologists to consider the context of each assessment to produce more relevant, nuanced, and useful risk assessment findings for various decisions resulting from the assessments. In this article, we illustrate and discuss the importance of context using four mini-case studies of risk and needs assessments. Through this article, we hope to encourage fellow correctional practitioners to consider, beyond the usual offender-centric risk and protective factors, the unique contextual factors relevant to the cases they assess.

Boon Siang Kwek, Shamala D/O Gopalakrishnan, Xiangbin Lin, Rashida Mohamed

 

Article 6

Article 6: Constructing Risk Assessment Algorithms For Violent, Drug And Property-Related Offenders: An Empirical Approach

In the Canadian federal correctional system, the Offender Intake Assessment (OIA) and correctional planning process are primarily focused on addressing static and dynamic risk factors. These core components of OIA were examined to determine whether algorithmic equations tailored across major offence types could potentially be used for administration by means of a hand-held mobile application. In accordance with Schedules in the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, three major offence types, namely Schedule I (violent, excluding murder), Schedule II (drug), and Non-violent (property) were constructed for 6,525 male first releases over a two year period (2016-17 and 2017-18). An Offender Management System database was used to extract a set of 11 static risk indicators and 7 dynamic domain ratings for each case. Also gathered from OMS was whether or not there were any returns to federal custody. A combined static and dynamic risk index yielded impressive predictions of custodial return for violent, drug and property-related offenders with significant AUCs of .76, .70 and .71, respectively. These results suggest that combining static and dynamic factors into scoring algorithms for major offence types can be useful for moving offender risk assessment further towards streamlined applications technology.

Laurence L. Motiuk & Leslie Anne Keown

 

Article 7

Article 7: Casting Light On Prison Violence: Managing Situational Risk Factors

Systematic approaches to risk assessment and risk management have made dramatic progress in the last three decades. Unsurprisingly, the focus has been on risk factors intrinsic to the individual—e.g., their history of violence, substance misuse disorder, personality pathology or violent ideation. This focus has relevance but also reflects the fundamental attribution bias, that is, the tendency, when it comes to explaining the behaviour of others, to highlight their personal characteristics and downplay contextual factors. This is the opposite of what we do when explaining our own behaviour! When it comes to violence in prisons, the context can have a substantial impact. Prisoners are not violent merely because of who they are but because of where they are—and how they are treated. My colleague Dr Lorraine Johnstone and I endeavoured to develop a procedure designed to manage situational risk factors. PRISM is a Structured Professional Judgement process designed to identify and manage the characteristics of a prison—or other secure facility—that increase the likelihood that individual prisoners will engage in violent behaviour. In this paper, I outline the origins and development of the PRISM approach, describe how it may be implemented and outline several case studies describing its application. By understanding both the individual and the institution we can prevent violence.

David J Cooke

 

Article 8

Article 8: Empowering Risk Reduction: Increasing Responsivity With Motivational Interviewing

The Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model provides an empirically validated approach for reducing risk and lowering recidivism. Through considerable research over time, the first two principles of Risk and Need have been well developed and expanded. The third core principle of Responsivity has been overlooked and has lagged behind, even though it encompasses offender engagement and motivation. The good news for correctional treatment is the focus on the responsivity principle has been increasing—and expanding. Understanding the value of engagement and motivation has sparked an expansion of specific responsivity to include the provider-offender relationship. Numerous studies on this relationship find the best reductions in recidivism come from blending control and alliance to establish a synthetic or hybrid approach—one that calls supervision staff to establish a “dual relationship.” This paper will point out the RNR model authors’ endorsements and recommendations for the use of Motivational Interviewing (MI) in correctional settings. MI’s ability to increase an offender’s readiness to change while offering direct practice methods for establishing dual relationships are explored. That MI represents the largest share of what the responsivity principle seeks to accomplish has led MI to be labeled a “natural fit” for community corrections. Several benefits that MI offers the rehabilitation process are detailed.

Michael D. Clark

 

Article 9

Article 9: An Exploratory Study On The Impact Of A Strength-Based And Desistance-Informed Approach To Motivational Feedback On Risk/Needs

This study examined if integrating strength-based and desistance elements in RNR-based risk feedback would motivate offenders to change. Eighteen drug users in the Singapore Drug Rehabilitation Centre received motivational feedback on their risk/needs identified in their Level of Service/Case Management Inventory (LS/CMI) assessments and were guided to identify their strengths and values in order to set life goals. Deductive thematic analysis of their goal-planner showed that those who became motivated after feedback displayed signals of motivation for change by recognizing offending problems, expressing intentions to change, and planning goals and prosocial ways to achieve them, as compared to those who did not. The findings support a practical strength based and desistance approach to motivating offenders.

Shermaine Chionh, Jeslyn S. Z. Ng, and Cheng Xiang Long

 

Article 10

Article 10: A Neurodevelopmentally-Aware, Trauma-Responsive Approach To Understanding Risk

This article argues that our understanding of risk and criminogenic need can be greatly enhanced by incorporating developments from neuroscience and the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) studies about the bio-behavioural impact of accumulating multiple stressors in childhood, especially in the absence of nurturant relationships with an always available, emotionally stable adult. Focusing correctional attention on the importance of a felt sense of safety for health and social behaviour may lead to improved individual outcomes in terms of healing, personal development, human connectedness and a reduced propensity for offending behaviour. Informed by extensive trauma training with international experts, this article weaves literature from various disciplines, including mainstream criminology, developmental psychology, critical psychiatry and neurobiology with the narratives of three prisoner interviewees from the author’s recently submitted PhD research to shed light on the problematic trauma-blindness and non-existent healing focus of the dominant risk management approach.

Jane Mulcahy

 

Article 11

Article 11: Dog Training Programs: A Strength-based Approach To Correctional Treatment

Traditionally, programming in carceral facilities is focused on targeting criminogenic risk through a deficit perspective – fix what is lacking or missing and you reduce recidivism. Although still focusing on criminogenic risk, carceral dog training programs (DTPs), in contrast, respond to these risks guided by a strengths-based approach. The programs encourage individuals to develop the values and skills needed to effectively obtain universal human needs such as a sense of purpose and significance, love and connection. The programs are holistic and provide positive and healing experiences that target multiple criminogenic risks while also providing protective factors such as positive influencers and support networks. The current paper provides a theoretical and evidence-informed framework for understanding the impact of DTPs and examines the use of DTPs in carceral facilities from a strengths-based perspective for supporting change and risk reduction.

Kimberly Houser & Gennifer Furst

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 9 (2020) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 9 (2020)

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Management and Treatment of the Mentally Ill and Mentally Unwell in Corrections

As this Edition of Advancing Corrections is released, the world will likely still be suffering from an unparalleled ‘collective’ mental health crisis. Other than the deniers among us who choose to remain blissfully uninformed or misinformed, the spread of an invisible virus has slammed most of us into a state of acute and uncomfortable mental distress – fearanxietydepressionisolationloneliness and even paranoia and panic. Millions of us have had to endure (or perhaps are still enduring) home confinement, separation from family and friends, boredom, restlessness, and gnawing uncertainty. We can ‘feel’ what it is doing to us. But, of course, there are millions of people we confine involuntarily for much lengthier periods of time and who are now facing similar anxieties but with even much less control over their lives. We often fail to ‘feel’ what confinement is doing to these millions of other individuals. Compound the effect of confinement with the psychic vulnerabilities of mental illness, and it becomes almost impossible to conceive what it might ‘feel’ like for these individuals. Correctional services all over the world are working feverishly to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 and the dedication of staff members in-the-line of fire is deserving of our utmost respect. But when this crisis is over, the management and treatment of the mentally ill in our prisons, jails, and community centers will continue as one of the most persistent, complicated and resource-taxing issues facing correctional services worldwide.

It is interesting to speculate that perhaps one silver lining from this emotional pandemic that we are going through is that it may arouse a bit more empathy and compassion for the mentally ill and mentally unwell who we incarcerate in growing numbers. Yet correctional services can’t rely on this possible silver lining. The challenge will remain for years to come and this Edition of Advancing Corrections will hopefully inspire some further refinement and innovation in practice in how we Manage and Treat the Mentally Ill and Mentally Unwell in Corrections.

Articles

Foreword

Foreword: Management and Treatment of the Mentally Ill and Mentally Unwell in Corrections

As this Edition of Advancing Corrections is released, the world will likely still be suffering from an unparalleled ‘collective’ mental health crisis. Other than the deniers among us who choose to remain blissfully uninformed or misinformed, the spread of an invisible virus has slammed most of us into a state of acute and uncomfortable mental distress – fear, anxiety, depression, isolation, loneliness and even paranoia and panic. Millions of us have had to endure (or perhaps are still enduring) home confinement, separation from family and friends, boredom, restlessness, and gnawing uncertainty. We can ‘feel’ what it is doing to us. But, of course, there are millions of people we confine involuntarily for much lengthier periods of time and who are now facing similar anxieties but with even much less control over their lives. We often fail to ‘feel’ what confinement is doing to these millions of other individuals. Compound the effect of confinement with the psychic vulnerabilities of mental illness, and it becomes almost impossible to conceive what it might ‘feel’ like for these individuals. Correctional services all over the world are working feverishly to mitigate the effects of Covid-19 and the dedication of staff members in-the-line of fire is deserving of our utmost respect. But when this crisis is over, the management and treatment of the mentally ill in our prisons, jails, and community centers will continue as one of the most persistent, complicated and resource-taxing issues facing correctional services worldwide.

Frank J. Porporino

 

Article 1

Article 1: An Overview Of Best Practice Strategies For Managing And Treating The Mentally Ill In Correction

This paper outlines some possible practical responses to the challenge of managing the mentally ill in corrections. Part I helps us contextualize the issue, especially as it pertains to the origins and prevalence of the problem of the mentally ill in corrections. Part II then attempts to sketch out some current best practice examples of: (a) appropriate and encompassing evidence-informed policies and strategies for dealing with the mentally ill and other special needs offenders; (b) programmatic alternatives, before imprisonment as diversionary measures, during incarceration and after release into the community, (c) systematized approaches for assessing needs, monitoring behavior and evaluating impact of interventions; and finally, (d) training and skills development of staff members both to sensitize them to the unique needs and characteristics of these offenders and equip them to respond more professionally.

Frank J. Porporino

 

Article 2

Article 2: The Role Of Mental Health Risk Factors In Predicting Parolee Performance In The Community: An Empirical Examination In A Large Us Jurisdiction

Correctional facilities hold a disproportioned percentage of society’s mentally ill. Research also shows that incarcerated individuals afflicted with mental health disorders are more likely to be charged with prison infractions and to serve longer periods of incarceration. Despite deeply rooted stereotypes, the research is mixed, however, on whether mental illness is a risk factor for criminal behavior. Yet, individuals with mental health problems tend to fare worse in criminal justice risk assessments. This study specifically addresses the role that mental health risk factors used in correctional assessment instruments play in explaining prisoner performance upon release in the community. The research draws on rich empirical data on a large sample of persons released from prisons in Pennsylvania, United States, followed for a period of two and a half years to record two main recidivism outcomes: re-arrest for any crime and re-arrest for violent crime. The main data were provided by the Department of Corrections and the Parole Board. The analyses tested for both direct and indirect effects of mental health factors on parolee performance upon release. These factors were derived from the risk instruments employed by the correctional agencies providing the data. Other risk factors usually considered in the prediction of recidivism literature (e.g., prior criminal history) were used for control purposes. Among the eleven mental health factors tested, only a couple significantly predicted the reoccurrence of arrest, but only in the presence of other predictors of re-arrest, which fully mediated the impact of the mental health factors.

Vîlcicâ, E. Rely, Kimberly Houser, & Veronica Nelson

 

Article 3

Article 3: Community Transition From The Criminal Justice System For Older Adults With Schizophrenia – A Pilot Study

Older adults with schizophrenia who are involved in the criminal justice system have unique circumstances around community re-entry. The purpose of this paper is to describe the impact of programs and services addressing symptom management and transition to community integration for people with schizophrenia that have a history of criminal justice involvement in the United States and are currently successfully living in the community. An exploratory secondary analysis of semi-structured individual interviews was conducted with 7 older adults (mean age 59, sd= 2.9, range 56-65) with schizophrenia. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed with content analysis. Seven participants discussed involvement with the criminal justice system and emphasized the importance of ongoing access to medications and therapy to help maintain symptom management. Housing, case management, and social services were indicated as promoting community integration. A recurrent theme was the need for continuity of services and engagement in supportive programs as a means to successful community re-entry and avoiding additional contact with the criminal justice system. Our results suggest that time unlimited access to medications and therapy, in addition to programs providing housing, case management, and social support have a positive impact on successful community re-entry for older adults with schizophrenia. Programs that provide time unlimited, integrated services to meet the specific needs of this vulnerable population may increase successful transition to re-entry, ameliorate recidivism, and benefit the community at large.

Erin Hubbard & Heather Leutwyler

 

Article 4

Article 4: Mental Health In A Representative Cohort Of Prisoners In New Zealand Corrections - Analysis Of Severity Of Need And Ethnicity Differences

The focus of this article is research carried out into the mental health needs for those imprisoned at three prison sites in the New Zealand Corrections, Central Region. The picture of mental health needs from mild to serious was created to inform the services for New Zealand’s only within the wire dedicated 100 bed mental health facility, currently under construction. The review of mental health needs for the 2,000 men placed into these prison settings covered a 12 month period. It included those placed into special prison management (SM) units due to acute mental health or behavioural difficulties (At Risk, Management, and Directed Segregation units). Second, all the psychotropic medication prescribed across the participating prisons was analysed. Due to the over representation of the Indigenous people of New Zealand (52% of prison compared to 14% community), the analysis looked at Māori SM placement and prescribed medication. Key findings from the descriptive analysis were that those placed in special management units for mental health issues were younger; of moderate to high risk of reimprisonment, had repeated placement in these units; and the majority were Māori rather than other ethnicities. In terms of sentence status, the majority were placed in prison for violence but 50% were on remand rather than sentenced. An analysis of psychotropic medication distribution identified a group (n = 390) who were older, majority sentenced, and on lower security management due to compliant behaviour. Most were on antidepressant medication (77%), followed by antipsychotic (39%), stimulant (5.6%), and antianxiety (3.6%). Some differences based on ethnicity were found with higher use of antipsychotic medication for Māori after taking the higher number in prison in this region into account. The service implications of the different mental health needs for this prison population in relation to the proposed new service are discussed.

Nick J. Wilson, Jill Lane, Shaun Sullivan, Emerald O’Neill-Murchison, & Suzette Poole

 

Article 5

Article 5: Irish Ex-Prisoner Reflections On Their Psychological Wellbeing Whilst In Prison In England And Wales

Over the past 25 years the prison population of England and Wales has doubled and this has resulted in a significant proportion of the prisoner population suffering from mental ill-health. This paper considers the position of an under-researched group within the prison population in England and Wales, that of the Irish prisoner population. 37 semi-structured interviews were undertaken with recently released (within 2 years) Irish prisoners in England and Wales who were asked to reflect on their experiences of incarceration. It considers how themes of depression, paranoia and fear, and loneliness and isolation, all of which were identified as major factors within their experience of imprisonment in England and Wales, relate to the overall experience of incarceration.

Paul Gavin

 

Article 6

Article 6: Architectural Design For Mental Health Treatment: Preliminary Findings Of Service Provision Using A Space, Layout, And Setting Framework

In the United States, jails have become the largest mental health institutions and have come under public scrutiny regarding the accessibility and quality of the mental health services provided. Research supports that the architectural design of a correctional facility influences the behaviors and wellbeing of an incarcerated person, including the treatment and services received while incarcerated. This pilot study utilizes the Space, Layout, and Setting (SLS) framework to investigate the impact of New York City’s jail design on an incarcerated person’s access to mental health services. Results approaching statistical significance show that jails concentrated with mental health services are more likely to have mental health appointments completed compared to jails that are not. This holds true when controlling for jail capacity and the number of mental health appointments scheduled. Whilst it is best practice to have mental health services provided outside of the correctional setting, correctional administrators that seek to better serve their mental health population may consider exploring the designs of their facilities to be more treatment oriented.

Victor J. St. John

 

Article 7

Article 7: Mental Health Service Delivery In Canadian Federal Prisons: A Prison Ombudsman’s Perspective

This article looks at the challenges faced by the federal correctional system in Canada as it responds to a growing population of inmates with mental health needs. Adopting the position that access to mental health care is a human rights issue, the article situates the legal, policy, and operational contexts (and constraints) in which mental health services are delivered in Canadian federal prisons. It then offers some reflections on prison health care reform in Canada, and how these reforms measure up to international standards, specifically, the Mandela Rules. The article draws from previous investigations conducted by the Office of the Correctional Investigator to identify areas of concern, and to offer practical directions for reform.

Ivan Zinger & Emad E. Talisman

 

Article 8

Article 8: Ravenhall Correctional Centre: The Master Planning And Architectural Design Of A Multifaceted, People-Oriented Prison For Men With Complex Physical And Mental Health Needs In Victoria, Australia

People with mental health issues are vastly overrepresented in the Australian prison system. This paper discusses the master planning and design of Ravenhall Correctional Centre in Victoria, Australia to increase outcomes for male prisoners living with physical, mental health disability and other conditions. Major innovations in the design of Ravenhall Correctional Centre have included a forensic mental health unit on site, and the master planning of the prison into separate communities with a variety of housing types to provide prisoners opportunities to experience various levels of self-care and greater autonomy. The prison was designed to increase feelings of wellness, to provide program and training spaces to service various groups, and to allow prisoners to experience greater levels of individual control. The project is discussed through an architectural lens to allow readers to understand the complexities of master planning and designing a major people-oriented, multi-faceted prison with a forensic mental health unit within the perimeter. The paper notes that large scale prisons may be designed in a more therapeutic manner where accommodation, facilities and programs can provide prisoners opportunities to connect with external environments, engage in meaningful activities and retain a level of autonomy and individual control. The integration of the forensic mental health unit means that greater numbers of prisoners are able to access in and outpatient services. The paper concludes that since the prison was commissioned in 2017, the prisoner cohort has changed, resulting in a deviation from the intended purpose of focusing on innovative programs for sentenced prisoners. This may have diminished the capacity for prisoners to effectively engage in the programs for which the prison was designed.

Elizabeth Grant

 

Article 9

Article 9: Managing Inmates With Mental Disorders: The Psychiatric Housing Unit In Singapore Prison Service

Inmates with mental disorders present as a population that requires extensive resources to manage and treat. Furthermore, these individuals tend to commit disciplinary infractions and reoffend at a higher rate than the mainstream incarcerated population. This poses a challenge to correctional facilities all over the world and best practices on the management and treatment of this specialised population are widely sought after. In 2011, the Psychiatric Housing Unit under the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) commenced operations with the admission of inmates with mental disorders into the facility. This article seeks to document the background and key processes within this specialised housing unit, specifically in the management and treatment of inmates with mental disorders.

Rashida Mohamed Zain, Georgina Tay, Jessie Yeung, Rossheema Binte Haniff & Padma D/O Jairam

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 8 (2019) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 8 (2019)

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Investing in Staff

This Edition of Advancing Corrections gets to the core of what is perhaps the most significant way we can truly ‘advance’ in creating quality correctional services – through investment in our staff! Our operational staff who make things happen on-the-ground, whether working in prisons or community settings, are being asked increasingly to become multi-tasking experts in dealing with a whole spectrum of complicated human conditions – not just criminality as usually understood but addiction, trauma, mental illness, radicalization, sexual deviance, entrenched gang identities, sadistic violence, and on it goes. These staff have to constantly refresh and learn new skills to deal with new problems. They have to learn to cope with their emotional world without disengaging. They have to stay committed in the face of change and innovate in the face of shrinking resources. We ask a lot. Hopefully, this Edition of Advancing Corrections can contribute to a dialogue about how we can begin giving back and seriously invest in their well-being and professionalism.

Foreword

Foreword: Investing in Staff

Sustaining delivery of quality correctional services is unquestionably challenging. It has to be done under increasing public scrutiny and persistent government demands for measurable cost effective results. Facing change is endemic for corrections. The character and the multiplicity of needs of the clients we serve keeps evolving, new issues come to the forefront, resources are unexpectedly pulled back, and the pendulum of community support for our efforts is constantly swinging. New evidence informed practice isn’t easy to implement and senior corrections officials have difficult choices to make about what new practices to embrace, how and when. In the midst of all of this, our front-line line staff, correctional workers and operational managers alike, are often left feeling confused, pressured, unappreciated and even abandoned. It is not an exaggeration to say that on a daily basis, in order to do their work, correctional staff have to endure perhaps some of the most difficult circumstances of any of the other helping professions. Most rise above and carry on with perseverance and commitment. But some are affected indelibly and only barely cope.

Frank J. Porporino Ph.D.

 

Article 1

Article 1: Staff Development And Practice Models: When We Get Better Our Clients Get Better

This article describes how a team of juvenile probation officers in Yamhill, Oregon changed its culture and co-created a practice model. A practice model is a shared set of integrated evidence-based practices that an agency believes will result in better public safety outcomes. The practice-based evidence of staff was combined with a new integration of evidence-based practices called COVE. COVE stands for Coaching Options that are Versatile and Effective. The paper describes the COVE model. The Yamhill team used the National Implementation Research Network’s three-part model of implementation to achieve implementation success. Early results indicate that staff and client wellbeing increased.

Thomas P. O’Connor, Bradford Bogue, Samantha Collins, Sorcha O’Connor

 

Article 2

Article 2: Engaging Jail Paralegal Officers In Addressing Overcrowding In Pre-Trial Detention Within Bjmp Jails By Building, Sustaining And Recognizing Their Skills And Competences To Leverage Judicial Guarantees

This article reviews the work undertaken by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)2 of the Philippines to deliver professional development and specialized legal training to its jail paralegal workforce over the last decade. The underlying aim was to facilitate access for detainees to early release mechanisms as one way of addressing the continuous increase in the population held by the BJMP. The article highlights the crucial role that effective Jail Paralegal Officers can play in linking the BJMP’s jails with local criminal justice actors outside, and the importance therefore of enhancing the Officers’ communication skills and technical expertise and rewarding them for their motivation. The changes in professional practice and behaviour that are needed require a long-term commitment to support the BJMP jail paralegal program.

Vincent Ballon & Atty Jeza Mae Sanchez

 

Article 3

Article 3: Unodc’s Scenario-Based E-Learning Course On The Nelson Mandela Rules Translating International Minimum Standards On The Treatment Of Prisoners Into Practical Guidance For Prison And Corrections Officers

This paper describes the recent initiative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to develop an e-learning platform on the Nelson Mandela Rules. The paper outlines the structure and content of the e-learning course and some of its special features. It discusses how UNODC has launched the course to date and the plans for the future in order to generate and strengthen global interest in utilising the Nelson Mandela Rules as a trigger for prison reform. This includes a sustained outreach campaign targeting national prison and corrections administrations, with a focus on prison staff training schools and academies.

Philipp Meissner

 

Article 4

Article 4: Correctional Work, Wellbeing, And Mental Health Disorders

Correctional Services Canada (CSC) employees include those working in institutional corrections (e.g., correctional officers in prisons), community corrections (e.g., community parole officers), and administrative corrections (e.g., employees in regional or national headquarters). Correctional workers appear at elevated risk for mental disorders, due in part to exposures to potentially traumatic events and chronic occupational stress. Correctional worker experiences appear linked to mental health disorders including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and anxiety. Data were gathered in 2016 from 1,115 correctional service workers across diverse occupation categories as part of a larger study. Previous results with the full dataset that included provincial, territorial, and federal correctional workers, indicated that correctional workers’ mental health were compromised; however, all correctional workers were analyzed collectively, despite potentially critical occupational differences. Here we provide a more nuanced examination of wellbeing across different CSC worker categories, a subset of the full dataset, by assessing self-reported prevalence of mental health disorder diagnoses, positive screenings consistent with mental health disorders, and mental health disorder correlates. The current results indicated no statistically significant differences between CSC categories, though workers in operational community positions reported fewer difficulties with mental health than those in other categories, and comparable screening percentages relative to other correctional workers. Being married or common law was associated with a lower probability of a mental health disorder; whereas working for 16+ years was associated with a higher probability. The results indicate high mental health disorder prevalence rates among all correctional worker categories, emphasizing a critical need for empirically-based interventions.

Rosemary Ricciardelli, R. Nicholas Carleton, Meghan M. Mitchell, Nigel Barnim, Anees Bahji, Dianne Groll

 

Article 5

Article 5: The Hidden Emergency Service: Experiences Of Stress And Trauma In Prison Operational Staff

Operational staff working in prisons face a number of challenges, experiencing physical and emotional assault, exposure to traumatic events including violence, self-injurious behaviours and suicide, and significant organizational pressures. In this study, levels of stress and exposure to trauma are considered among operational staff working in UK prisons. Factors linked to experience of stress and trauma are also identified. Within this research, options are suggested that may serve to minimize the negative impact of stress and trauma for staff. Achieving this is likely to have implications for both individuals and the organization, promoting wellbeing and retention, and reducing staff sickness.

Jodie Tyler

 

Article 6

Article 6: Prison Leadership: The Relationship Between A Warden’s Leadership Style And Correctional Officer Job Satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Tennessee wardens’ leadership practices and correctional officers’ job satisfaction. The study collected scores from the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), for both wardens and correctional officers, and from the Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS). The warden’s leadership was found to influence various factors of job satisfaction such as promotion opportunity, satisfaction with the nature of work, contingent rewards, and pay. The authors provided suggestions on providing effective leadership to their staff along with recommendations for a broader future research approach to this area of corrections.

Derrick D. Schofield & Tony C. Parker

 

Article 7

Article 7: Investing In Staff – The Council Of Europe Guidelines Regarding Recruitment, Selection, Education, Training And Professional Development Of Prison And Probation Staff

I was honored to author the Council of Europe Guidelines regarding recruitment, selection, education, training, and professional development of prison and probation staff together with my colleague Dr. Nicola Carr from the University of Nottingham, on behalf and with the indispensable support of the distinguished members of the Council for Penological Co-operation (PC-CP) working group. This short paper summarizes the guidelines, and contextualizes the content to one of the ICPA’s focal points, ´Investing in Staff´. It touches upon already existing adjacent international recommendations and rules, bringing into view trends associated to developing needs and requirements from potential job-applicants. Through this brief reflection on the major parts of the guidelines, the paper highlights that prison administrations should invest in staff not only financially, but also in terms of length of training and education. It follows that prison administrations should provide a framework for professional development in order to allow staff to grow during their careers.

Torben Adams

 

Article 8

Article 8: Investing In Correctional Staff: Improving Well-Being Through Trauma Education

Corrections staff face numerous mental, emotional and physical challenges and risks due to the unique nature of the work. Of increasing concern are the high rates of PTSD, depression and suicidality, with suicide for corrections officers (COs) at 39% greater than the general population and psychological distress an estimated 31%, twice the rate of the general public (Mor se et al., 2011; Stack & Tsoudis, 1997). It is known that correctional personnel will likely experience a degree of trauma due to the nature of the work setting, putting them at risk of burnout (Dignam & Fagan, 1996; Shivley, 2017). Current programming to address trauma include trainings, peer support groups and referrals to Employee Assistance Programs; however, their effectiveness is unclear. Barriers such as lack of buy-in from staff, as well as an institutional culture minimizing the importance of mental health support, inhibit those who are struggling in getting assistance, which not only impacts performance but can lead to increased turnover and poor health outcomes. Digital resilience and trauma education trainings may be an accessible and foundational resource used to strengthen COs stress response skills and better equip them for the demands of the work. These skills can mitigate the negative effects of stress on performance by enabling officers to get grounded psychologically and physiologically after intense experiences at work, directly impacting judgement, decision making, and their experience of the work (Spence et al., 2019). Facilities that have implemented trauma specific and trauma informed programming have noted promising outcomes, specifically decreased violence and improved morale.

Kristine-Anne Benito Miranda

 

Article 9

Article 9: Ethical Risk Assessment In Corrections

An Ethical Risk Assessment is a process that consists of identifying ethical risks, developing mitigation strategies and action plans and evaluating those plans. In undertaking this process, managers, employees and union partners are provided with an opportunity for dialogue and which can serve as an early warning system to the organization and assist employees in exercising discretionary judgement. This process prepares the organization to reduce and deal with ethical breaches, ensures that staff are aware of risks, and, with appropriate training, will help steer employees in the right direction when faced with an ethical dilemma. It is for these reasons that the Correctional Service of Canada has committed to completing this exercise at all of its sites, in its quest to be the best correctional organization possible.

Liz Smith

 

Article 10

Article 10: Transforming Prison Culture To Improve Correctional Staff Wellness And Outcomes For Adults In Custody The Oregon Way: A Partnership Between The Oregon Department Of Corrections And The University Of California’s Correctional Culture Change Program

In the 1970s and 80s, the U.S. experienced a national crime wave which gave rise to a “tough on crime” abandonment of rehabilitation in most jails and prisons and ushered in an era of mass incarceration. Despite an emphasis on institutional security and control in the following decades, U.S. jails and prisons became increasingly dangerous and unsafe. Currently, violence, sexual assault, and suicide remain disproportionately common in U.S. correctional facilities and the poor health and wellbeing of residents and staff alike has reached epidemic proportions. In this context, the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) developed the “Oregon Way” to improve staff health and wellness by enrolling in a correctional culture change program developed and facilitated by faculty at the University of California San Francisco and Santa Cruz (“UCSF”). The program focuses on restoring a commitment to rehabilitation, dignity and humanity as core to correctional mission and practice, modeled off the Norwegian approach to corrections. This article describes the ODOC’s investment in officer wellness initiatives over recent years and provides an overview of the partnership between ODOC and UCSF. It also presents findings demonstrating that chronic exposure of staff to stressful and violent incidents in their workplace and an organizational approach to correctional work that vests the majority of staff autonomy and decision-making among managers limits the full realization of staff wellness efforts. The participation of ODOC in UCSF’s culture change program has resulted in the implementation of novel work approaches that further advance correctional staff wellness by re-defining the nature of correctional work in the U.S., significantly reducing exposure to stress and violence in officers’ daily work lives, and improving staff members’ feelings of autonomy on the job and connection to the meaningfulness of their work.

Cyrus Ahalt, Colette S. Peters, Heidi Steward, Brie A. Williams

 

Article 11

Article 11: Caring For The Boldest: A Wellness Center For Staff At The New York City Department Of Correction

The New York City Department of Correction (NYCDOC) has taken an innovative approach toward improving staff wellness. This paper will provide a brief review of some of the correctional literature that has focused on the impact of working in jails and prisons. Data from a number of agency surveys will be presented and discussed. As a result of a declining inmate population on Rikers Island, the administration decided to make use of a decommissioned jail by turning it into a staff wellness center and staff training center. The center opened on April 8, 2019. T his paper will focus on the steps the agency took to identify employees’ perception of their work and their organization so an informed approach could be taken towards a system-wide shift in the culture around staff-wellness.

Judy P. Beale & Justin von Bujdoss

 

Article 12

Article 12: 7 Habits Of Effective Captains Of Lives: Transforming The Correctional Staff Of Singapore Prison Service

In 2017, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) implemented an enhanced set of correctional practices also known as 7 Habits of Effective Captains of Lives (COLs) for all correctional staff. This article discusses the impetus for the transformation of correctional staff, and describes how the 7 Habits of Effective COLs was conceptualised and implemented. Through this article, we aim to highlight the importance of designing and implementing evidence-informed correctional practices which are relevant and useful to the operational contexts of correctional staff in order for them to be more effective in enforcing secure custody and facilitating the rehabilitation of offenders.

Boon Siang Kwek, Yan Ling Leow, Kailin Ng, Alicia Tan, Wayne Ferroa

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 7 (2019) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 7 (2019)

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Giving Focus to Community Corrections

This Edition of Advancing Corrections is giving focus to ‘Community Corrections’. Community Corrections is an umbrella term we use to describe all of the things we do in the community to assist justice involved individuals in their reintegration journeys. There are papers in this Edition that that challenge us in going further in how we engage and collaborate with our communities (as they do, for example, in Japan and in Singapore). From a North American perspective, maybe one of the things we should accept is that rather than just doing things as usual, with some adjustment at the edges, we can learn from international practice that has truly pushed the boundaries of community engagement. One of the strengths of our Journal is that we continue to attract submissions from around the world – for this Edition, from the USNew ZealandAustraliaJapanSingapore and Canada.

Foreword

Foreword: Giving Focus to Community Corrections

This Edition of Advancing Corrections has been contemplated for some time and I am very pleased that our Journal is finally giving focus to ‘Community Corrections’. Community Corrections is an umbrella term we use to describe all of the things we do in the community to assist justice involved individuals in their reintegration journeys. Corrections professionals all know that this is where the action happens. Regardless of the quality of programs and services we offer in prisons, without essential community support, many (maybe most) of the individuals we release from prisons won’t stand a chance to reintegrate. The same applies to all those individuals we divert from prisons in the first instance – with probation, community service …etc. Avoiding incarceration is not enough […]

Frank J. Porporino Ph.D.

 

Article 1

Article 1: Towards ‘A Life More Ordinary’: The Possibilities Of Desistanceorientated Probation

This article critically reflects on the role that probation supervision plays in desistance. Utilising evidence from a New Zealand longitudinal post-release study, it finds that while most participants had a good relationship with their probation officer, few credited their probation officer with having a substantive part to play in their desistance. Reflecting on a case study in which super vision did catalyse desistance, it concludes that supervision can have an impact, but questions to what degree desistance-orientated practice departs from more traditional probation models. It recommends that more could be done to delineate and empirically assess whether desistance-orientated practice results in better long-term outcomes for those under supervision.

Bronwyn Morrison & Jill Bowman

 

Article 2

Article 2: Integration Of The Risk Need, Responsivity (Rnr) Model And Crime Desistance Perspective: Implications For Community Correctional Practice

This article critiques the relative contributions of RNR and desistance literature to understanding client change and improving client outcomes. The general premise is that both client change and outcome can be best understood by an integration of these key contributions. Specific suggestions regarding community supervision are presented.

Ralph C. Serin & Caleb D. Lloyd

 

Article 3

Article 3: Probation And Volunteers In Japan 

Origins of the probation service, its administrative structure, the respective roles of Professional Probation Officers (“PPOs”), hogo kansatsu kan, and the nearly 50 times more numerous Volunteer Probation Officers (“VPOs”), hogo-shi, are described. Recruitment of VPOs, their backgrounds, increasing age, methods of work and training is outlined, followed by activities of local VPO Associations, Offender Rehabilitation Support Centres and other voluntary organisations with whom they work. Strengths of the distinctive Japanese VPO system are analysed, followed by a discussion of challenges it faces.

Andrew Watson

 

Article 4

Article 4: Singapore’s Yellow Ribbon Project: Unlocking The Second Prison

Launched in 2004, the Yellow Ribbon Project (YRP) is a national campaign across Singapore aimed at generating awareness, promoting acceptance and engendering community action to support ex-prisoners’ reintegration into mainstream society. Over the past fifteen years, the Yellow Ribbon Project and other criminal justice reforms have proven to be highly successful. While Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates in the world (overall crime rate in 2018 of 588 per 100,000 population) (Singapore Police Force 2018), over the course of the last two decades, it is r eported that there has been a one-third drop in recidivism, and increased social connections between prisons, prisoners and the rest of society (Helliwell 2011: 255). Since its inception, the Yellow Ribbon Project has garnered significant community support and has inspired community organisations to further leverage public support to assist ex-prisoners to reintegrate into mainstream society. This paper discusses the background, inception, framework, and various activities that the Yellow Ribbon Project undertakes to achieve its goals.

Shanthi Pandian, Ruth Pauline Chin, Sandra Chua & Cheng Xiang Long

 

Article 5

Article 5: Innovations In A Model For Enhancing The Behavior Change Content Of Supervision With Community-Based Offenders

Routine supervision in the community represents a substantial opportunity to intervene with offenders and promote behavior change at the population level. In recent years Corrective Services New South Wales (NSW) has made a number of innovations to the community supervision model to enhance the behavior change focus and content of sessions between supervising officers and offenders. This has included introduction of the Practice Guide for Intervention (PGI), a series of structured exercises and activities that can be used in sessions to addr ess offenders’ criminogenic needs.The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the PGI model as implemented by Corrective Services NSW. This paper also reports on the results of a number of studies evaluating components of the PGI, including system-wide uptake and ongoing delivery of the model; officers’ perceptions of supervisory principles in the community; offender engagement in behavior change content; and implications for intervention dosage among the target offender population.

Mark V.A. Howard, Chee Seng Chong, Ofir Thaler & Nhat Le Tran

 

Article 6

Article 6: The Strength Of Ohio’s Community Corrections: Leadership In Research And Re-Entry

This article examines and discusses factors that have made the State of Ohio successful in broadening its corrections continuum to include a range of effective community corrections programs based on a research model of Core Correctional Practices. Public-private partnerships, effective prison leadership and other collaborative efforts have helped practitioners and policymakers to overcome counterproductive attitudes and regulations. Research at the University of Cincinnati has led to the creation of the Ohio Risk Assessment System (ORAS) and the Effective Practices in Community Supervision (EPICS) model. These formalize the translation of risk, needs and responsivity principles into systemic practices.

Denise M. Robinson, Randy Shively, & Gloria Iannucci

 

Article 7

Article 7: Employment Re-Entry: Unpacking The Experiences And Recommendations Of Former Federal Canadian Prisoners

For prisoners, post-release, barriers exist to securing employment. Correctional Services Canada (CSC) has identified that approximately 60% of prisoners at intake to federal custody have employment histories that compromise their future employability. Employment and educational programming, as well as therapeutic and life skills courses, are offered within many prisons. Yet, the interpretations of available programming by prisoners, represents a lacuna in knowledge. In the current study, we draw from longitudinal interview data collected with 24 individuals released from federal prisons. Our objective is to develop an understanding of programming prisoners experience in the Canadian federal penal system in terms of pre-employment and employment training, educational opportunities, life skills and therapeutic programming. Based on their experiences of programming within prisons, these participants put forward ideas to increase the effectivity of future programming.

Rosemary (Rose) Ricciardelli, Amy Sheppard & Taylor Mooney

 

Article 8

Article 8: The Changing Federal Offender Population Under Community Supervision: Recognition And Response

The Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) administers the community supervision of all federal offenders on conditional release. A modernized approach to correctional policy, programming and management practice requires timely, accurate and objective information on the offender population. CSC’s automated capacity to produce profiles of the community supervision population is being used to raise awareness about size and composition. Analytics show that CSC is facing some new challenges in managing the complexities of an increasingly diverse community supervision population.

Larry Motiuk

 

Article 9

Article 9: What Are The Challenges For Effective Traffic Offender Education Interventions?

Remedial programs for traffic offenders, other than specialised programs directed at drink driving offenders, do not evaluate well. This study aimed to identify issues that could impact on the measured outcome effectiveness of such general programs by examining offense variability and licensing differences in a cohort of attendees at the Traffic Offender Intervention Program used in New South Wales, Australia. The program delivers the same “one size fits all” content to all offenders despite their diverse offending histories, a wide spectrum of offenses, and differing driving experience. Research to examine the content of programs, to trial targeted offense interventions, and to develop specialised units using internet delivery is recommended.

Ian J. Faulks,Vic Siskind & Mary Sheehan

 

Article 10

Article 10: Creating A One-Stop Career Center That Collaborates With Community Corrections And Welcomes Justice-Involved Individuals

In January 2017, the NewStart Reentry Resource Center opened within SE Works, Inc., a community based non profit organization that houses a US Department of Labor One-Stop Career Center in Portland, Oregon. NewStart is funded by Multnomah County Department of Community Justice (DCJ); services are available to any county resident within two years of release from county jail or state prison. NewStart grows out of a collaboration between SE Works and DCJ spanning more than 12 years. Authors discuss the role of grants, partners, staffing, differentiated services, and careful data monitoring as critical in sustaining this innovative program.

Cynthia Stadel, Holly Whittleton & Liv Jenssen

 

Article 11

Article 11: Responding To The Crisis Of Aging People In Prison: Promising Corrections And Community Practices 

The purpose of this paper is to educate the international corr ections community about the global innovations on how some correctional systems are collaborating with community stakeholders to provide compassionate community care to older adults released from prison. To this end, this article begins with a brief overview of the international aging in prison crisis from prison to community reintegration. Next, it briefly reviews prison-based programs with transitional services and community reintegration programs for older adults. The article concludes with recommendations at the institutional, local community, and global levels that can help facilitate a more compassionate care approach to addressing the rapidly growing crisis of aging.

Tina Maschi & Adriana Kaye

 

Article 12

Article 12: Storybooks, Comic Books And Graphic Novels: Innovations In Community Corrections

In their work with families affected by incarceration, Canadian Families and Corrections Network (CFCN) has developed storybooks and a comic book to help children and youth understand the correctional system and respond resiliently to the stresses of having an incarcerated parent. Native Counselling Services of Alberta (NCSA) has created a graphic novel that tells the gripping story of an Indigenous gang member who moves through the correctional system into NCSA’s “In Search of Your Warrior” intervention program. This paper provides research-based context for incarcerated parents and Indigenous offenders, describes CFCN and NCSA’s innovative books, and relates lessons learned by Correctional Service Canada through partnerships with these community organizations.

Adrian Gregorich

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 6 (2018) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 6 (2018)

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Innovation in Education: Voices from the Front Line

This 6th Edition is dedicated to the ‘Innovation in Education: Voices from the Front Line’. The contributions in the journal are international –  from Scotland, Ireland, Canada, the UK, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary and Africa. The first two papers are from ‘incarcerated learners‘ – the ones who it is all about and who we should listen to more often. The next set of papers present the ‘voices’ of Educators; academics who are trained to write dispassionately but who in this case clearly lean into what they believe deeply, followed by the voices of a few ‘Researchers’ in the field of prison education. We turn to the Administrator’s ‘voice’ for the next set of papers where they explore how technologies could be used for enhancing education, an impressive collaboration between prison and universitydistance education programmes, and the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award as a spark for change for many young people entwined in the justice system. In the usual way we end each of our Advancing Corrections Editions, our last two papers profile two examples of ‘Practice Innovation in Corrections’ – on this occasion from Africa, illustrating that innovation in prison education can occur even when conditions may be less than optimal.

Foreword

Foreword: Innovation in Education: Voices from the Front Line

This will be a short Foreword since this is a long issue that has run the risk of exceeding our word limit for Advancing Corrections. We received 29 original manuscripts for this special Edition and were able to publish 16. That is a testament to the relevance of our chosen ‘theme’ but perhaps also a reflection of the growing popularity of the Journal. I want to thank all of the contributors, our reviewers and most of all, my three Associate Editors for this Edition, Helen Farley, Anne Pike and Fiona McGregor […]

Frank J. Porporino Ph.D.

 

Article 1

Article 1: Transformation Through Education? The Epitome Of A ‘Hook-For-Change’

This paper explores the nature of education in prisons as a hook-for-change to catalyze desistance from crime. Drawing from personal experiences and first-hand knowledge, it highlights the nature of this subject from the inside-out, linking these personal reflections with academic analysis. As a recent graduate in criminology and a serving inmate in a Scottish prison, I analyze my own desistance process from the point of view of an aspiring scholar. This paper demonstrates how I have successfully used education to catalyze my own desistance by re-crafting my previous criminal identity to a more pro-social, academic one.

Kris MacPherson

 

Article 2

Article 2: Schooling in a Canadian Federal Prison

This paper is an examination of schooling in a Canadian prison based primarily on the author’s experience as a prisoner-tutor. The paper describes the school in regard to scope, teachers, students, content, and teaching and learning. The dominant feature of the school is the lack of priority given to education in prison in Canada. The paper concludes with five practical and low-cost suggestions for short-term improvement.

Anonymous

 

Article 3

Article 3: Every Possible Learning Opportunity: The Capacity Of Education In Prison To Challenge Dehumanisation And Liberate ‘The Whole Person

Adult education’ thinking envisages ‘the full development of the human personality’, offers many learning opportunities, and recognises learners’ individualities and capacities to transform their lives. This philosophy and practice is as valid within prisons as in the community outside, a view asserted in Council of Europe and United Nations documents. Research from many countries into what learners in prison value most from their study supports this perspective, but punitive penal policies limit the possibilities adult education offers. Policy implications include recognising education in prison as a right rather than a privilege, and ensuring a wide curriculum i s offered to all.

Kevin Warner

 

Article 4

Article 4: Voices From Inside The Circle: The Walls To Bridges Collaborative Teaching And Learning Experience In Canada

This paper offers a qualitative review of the authors’ experience co-teaching their first Walls to Bridges (W2B) course in Ontario, Canada. W2B is an educational program where post-secondary courses are taught inside correctional facilities; the student cohort consists of equal numbers of ‘inside’ students (prisoners) and ‘outside’ university students. The authors use inside and outside student journals as qualitative data to provide compelling testimonials of the benefits of this innovative educational initiative and to showcase the students’ voices. This article describes the importance of mobilizing Indigenous circle pedagogy to structure the course, which is exceptionally important in the Canadian context; the significance of recognizing the diverse voices in the circle; and the role of empathic listening and expressive speech to facilitating critical circle dialogue. We begin by outlining some of the main institutional barriers that need to be overcome to successfully run a W2B course and conclude with a review of some of the main benefits of this program for students and correctional staff alike – including, combatting inmate and staff stereotypes/codes, strengthening staff-prisoner relationships, increasing the inmate’s social and cultural capital by way of university level education, and building bridges between the prison and the community by way of institutional partnerships between the university and corrections and inside and outside student connection.

Jennifer M. Kilty & Sandra Lehalle

 

Article 5

Article 5: Turning Correctional Education Inside-Out: Experiences And Lessons From A University Partnership

Nanaimo Correctional Centre (NCC) and Vancouver Island University (VIU) have been delivering an innovative educational program to students by holding a criminology class called ‘Inside-Out’ inside NCC. This manuscript details the experiences and lessons that have come from offering this course over the past three years while highlighting the impact on correctional staff, incarcerated students, and university students who are likely to join the criminal justice field. Along with the positive impact of the program, we discuss implementation challenges and provide insights into forming educational partnerships for correctional agencies that may be looking to adopt more innovative educational programming.

Lauren Mayes, Teresa Owens, Joanne Falvai &Teri Du Temple

 

Article 6

Article 6: Higher Education In High Security: Meaningful Education Experiences In The Absence Of Learning Technologies

This paper introduces the reader to a course taught at a High Security prison in the UK to a combined group of serving prisoners and university students. Within this paper, the implications of the absence of technology in the prison classroom are considered, with particular attention being paid to how this absence can be beneficial for learning experiences. By examining the collaborative nature of learning in this environment, the paper argues that although learning technologies are important to diversify learning experiences, the value of human interaction facilitates the emergence of positive behaviours of desistance; particularly in relation to desisting from stereotyping others.

Helen Nichols

 

Article 7

Article 7: Education And Vocational Training: Why The Differences Are Important

Countries across the world have similar objectives for educating and training their citizens, with demanding targets to promote lifelong learning, mobility, equity, social cohesion and active citizenship. Objectives for educating and training prisoners, however, tend to focus on employment. Important differences in ‘education’ and ‘vocational training’ must be considered for effective planning and delivery, to ensure prisoners have individual choices and opportunities to reach their full potential. The tendency for prison administrators to focus on provision of vocational training to boost postrelease employment, is interrogated. A more nuanced understanding of the role of education and training in prisons is suggested.

Anne Pike & Helen Farley

 

Article 8

Article 8: Education Can Be The Key To Success: How Prison-Based Education Can Contribute To Positive Post Release Outcomes

Although studies have found that prison-based education can reduce reoffending, this is not an inevitable outcome. Indeed, even when effects are evident, impacts can often be modest. Using findings from a longitudinal study of New Zealand prisoners, this article explores how prison-based education became a positive turning point for some people. Through the stories of prison learners, it argues that the mechanisms through which prison education “works” are complex and highly individualised, and should be understood within the broader context of learners’ biographies and narratives. It concludes with some suggestions for how Correctional organisations can enhance the rehabilitative value of education.

Bronwyn Morrison & Jill Bowman

 

Article 9

Article 9: In The Service Of Reintegration: Educators In Hungarian Correctional Institutions

Research has demonstrated that giving inmates adequate education during their custodial sentences can reduce recidivism Gerber and Fritsch, 1993; Ripley, 1993; Vacca, 2004). There is a relative lack of research, however, on the impact of prisons on their own staff, with little systematic examination of the professional community who are tasked with assisting the social adaptation of inmates. Even less attention is generally paid to examining and surveying the prison teachers who design and deliver the prison programs which aim to reduce recidivism. Staff should perform high-quality work to be able to participate in the preparation of inmates for reintegration, but they may be prevented from doing so effectively through restraints, for example, those related to overcrowding and staffing shortages. Presenting both quantitative and qualitative data, this article discusses the main problems constraining the work of corrections educators based in both prisons and colleges in Hungary. The data presented are drawn from an investigation conducted by the three Hungarian lead authors between January 2017 and April 2017. The data collection approach included questionnaires and interviews conducted with corrections educators and staff inside two Hungarian correctional centres and four ‘outside’ educational institutions or colleges.

Márta Takács-Miklósi, Attila Károly Molnár, Judit Dézsi & Susan Hopkins

 

Article 10

Article 10: Design, Development, And Implementation Of A Positive Psychology Psycho-Education Curriculum With Remand Prisoners

This paper reports the design, development and implementation of an innovative psycho-educational curriculum currently being offered to remand5 prisoners in South Australia by the Department for Correctional Service (South Australia). The project is noteworthy given that few programs are available to remand prisoners, and the application of positive psychology concepts and methods in a prison setting. The initial stages of program delivery have confirmed that engaging remand prisoners in psycho-education increases individual’s openness, motivation and readiness to engage in alternative ways of viewing life events that may increase individual’s resilience and problem-solving abilities. This paper highlights that an engagement in psycho-educational curricula in the remand phase may increase the potential for individuals to engage in education and other rehabilitation programs should they subsequently receive a custodial sentence or community-based sanction. Salient questions arise as to whether people released without conviction may benefit from completing psycho-education and
reduce further contact with the criminal justice system.

Yilma Woldgabreal, Andrew Day, Gene Mercer, Henry Pharo, Clark Sim, Fereshteh Beard, Iman Hafiz, Greg Fuller, Xinyue Wang & Elizabeth Grant

 

Article 11

Article 11: Creating Offender Success Through Education: The Michigan Department Of Corrections Efforts To Offer A Comprehensive Approach To Prisoner Education And Employment

The Michigan Department of Corrections has embraced innovation within its educational programs since a comprehensive restructuring began in 2013 that focused on providing engaging, enriching, and workforce-focused educational opportunities throughout the state’s prison system. Over the past few years, several trendsetting initiatives supported by Governor Rick Snyder and championed by Director Heidi Washington have helped redefine correctional education in Michigan.

Heidi E. Washington

 

Article 12

Article 12: Moving Forward Together: Supporting Educators To Support Incarcerated Students In Australian Prison-Based Higher Education

Increased national and international attention, focused on the treatment of young people, particularly Indigenous youth, in Australian prisons and juvenile detention centres, has prompted renewed recognition of the role of corrections education in addressing interconnected issues of poverty,
unemployment and recidivism. There is a dearth of action research, however, into what works and what doesn’t work in the delivery of higher education to incarcerated students in Australian correctional centres. This article identifies both problems and solutions in reaching and supporting incarcerated higher education students with limited or no internet access. This article argues that the way forward for improved access and equity for incarcerated students is through effective collaboration between the two key institutions of the university and the correctional centre.

Helen Farley & Susan Hopkins

 

Article 13

Article 13: Developing The Learner Voice

This paper presents three innovative projects in UK prisons which provide opportunities for students in prison to take greater ownership of their learning, recognising that this has significant benefits in a wider context. These include giving students responsibility for administration and peer support, Student Councils offering students voices to be heard and academic seminars to introduce prisoners to exciting new areas of study. Central to each of these is a strong commitment to “ensure that the student voice is present in decision making” (The Open University, 2018). Future plans and possibilities for building learning communities are proposed.

Ruth McFarlane & Andrew Morris

 

Article 14

Article 14: The Duke Of Edinburgh’s International Award As Non-Formal Education For Young Offenders

This paper examines the delivery of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award (the Award) in correctional facilities, and how non-formal education can improve operations and effectiveness regarding young offenders. The Award is a well-tested program that allows young people to challenge themselves and build their life skills. This can be of particular benefit to young offenders who often experience difficulties transitioning into adulthood and the more so in correctional facilities. The applied research and experiences discussed in the article are directly related to improved practices in terms of services, offender and staff wellbeing, and the correctional environment in general.

Jon Eilenberg, Amy Pearce & Howard Williamson

 

Article 15

Article 15: Advancing Rehabilitation Through Education: Ekuseni Secondary School

Ekuseni Secondary school is established inside the South African Department of Correctional Services (DCS) setting for incarcerated youth between the ages 14 and 18 years. EYDC was built through the initiative of the late former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela to deliver rehabilitation programmes to incarcerated youth and equip them with market related skills for smooth transition into communities. The DCS established Ekuseni secondary school in partnership with the Department of Basic Education. This secondary school gives incarcerated youth access to market related education curricula from Grade 10 to 12. It is assumed this may improve literacy levels, facilitate reintegration, thus; reduce recidivism and crime rates in South Africa.

Zanele Vandala

 

Article 16

Article 16: Higher Education In The Prison Through Information Technology: Noun Approach

This paper is concerned with how the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) provides education to Nigerian prison inmate students through information technology without breaching the security policy on the use of Internet. This has been achieved using a proxy server for Tutor Marked Assignments (TMA) and e- examinations as well as the duplication of all online course materials into the prison’s desktop (offline mode). This paper concludes that th e NOUN initiative has gained wide acceptance by inmate students especially with the grant of 100% scholarship to the students.

Juliana Ndunagu & Nebath Tanglang

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 5 (2018) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 5 (2018)

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Can Research Help Improve Practice?

This 5th Edition is devoted to an exploration of evidence-informed ways to improve practice. The papers we are publishing come from around the world – Scotland, Australia, Singapore, Ireland, the United States, the Netherlands, the UK, Canada, Argentina and Norway. To begin the Edition, we feature a special contribution from professor Fergus McNeill. The next 4 Research Articles present data supporting change in practice in a number of particular ways, followed by two papers from Singapore that are more specialized but yet important. The Views and Reviews section of this Edition includes papers that provoke some important new thinking about issues we should be addressing in corrections. As usual, the final section of each Edition of Advancing Corrections tries to present one particular countries’ Practice Innovation in Corrections. In this issue, Marianne Vollan, the Director General of the Norwegian Correctional Service and a consistently inspiring correctional leader, gives us a cogent presentation of how her system tries to realize their underlying principle of ‘normality’.

Foreword

Foreword: Can Research Help Improve Practice?

Welcome to the 5th Edition of Advancing Corrections devoted to an exploration of evidence-informed ways to improve practice. Advancing Corrections wants to do a few simple things that other scholarly Journals in corrections don’t always succeed in doing. We want to appeal to practitioners with accounts of evidence that are thorough, thoughtful, well-written and that highlight implications. As much as possible, we want to be international in perspective, acknowledging the diversity of issues and the uniqueness of solutions that can arise in corrections around the world. And finally, we want to help chart a steady course for advancing corrections with thinking that is bold and aspirational, integrative, fresh and innovative. We may not always hit the mark with every paper we publish, but that is the vision. We hope you find this Edition true to that vision.

Frank J. Porporino Ph.D.

 

Article 1

Article 1: Rehabilitation, Corrections And Society

Last October, I was honoured to provide the Distinguished Scholar address to the ICPA conference in London. This short paper summarises my talk, in which I tried to unravel the knot of inter-related meanings of rehabilitation and reintegration. The paper explores how these different forms of rehabilitation and reintegration relate to the roles and purposes of ‘correctional’ agencies (i.e.prisons, probation, parole). Through this exploration, I aim to show that these agencies of the state (or commissioned by the state) have an important but ultimately limited role to play in rehabilitation and reintegration; both processes require a broader engagement with individual citizens and with civil society. It follows that correctional agencies need to focus as much on engaging with communities as on preparing people who have offended for integration or reintegration into those communities.

Fergus McNeill

 

Article 2

Article 2: Environmental Corrections: An Application Of Environmental Criminological Theories To Community Corrections Practices

The Environmental Corrections model of probation and parole applies the tenets of environmental criminological theories to community corrections practices. This model works to reduce recidivism by addressing the two causes of crime: opportunity and propensity. First, officers work to limit supervises’ access to chances to commit crime, redesigning offenders’ routine activities so that risky settings are avoided and replaced with pro-social influences. Second, the nature of officer-offender meetings is reoriented so that the criminogenic needs relevant to opportunity-avoidance and -resistance are addressed. This article describes the results of a 6-month evaluation of a pilot test of the Environmental Corrections model.

Lacey Schaefer

 

Article 3

Article 3: Changes To Home Detention In South Australia: Evaluation Design And Early Implementation Findings

In 2016 the South Australian Department for Correctional Services (DCS) began implementing a series of legislative and program reforms to expand the use of home detention and improve outcomes for those subject to the sanction. The multiple reforms included the introduction of Court Ordered Home Detention as a sentencing option, the expansion of Release Ordered Home Detention, and the development and implementation of an innovative service to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders on home detention. As part of their efforts to implement evidence-based reforms, DCS commissioned a team of evaluators to assess the effectiveness and impact of the changes to home detention. This article outlines the methodology developed to measure program outcomes and evaluate effectiveness. The article also presents early evaluation findings that describe the context and challenges of implementing system-wide reform.

Hilferty, F., Lafferty, L., Valentine, K., Cale, J. and Zmudski, F.

 

Article 4

Article 4: Pathological Personality And Violence Re-Offending: Findings And Applications From Singapore

While there is extensive information available on personality pathology and violent individuals, there is a need to understand the impact of personality traits on vio lent re-offending among the local correctional population. Hence, a study was conducted to explore which personality constructs, as operationalised by the 14 MCMI-III personality scales, were most associated with violent re-offending among Singaporean male offenders with past violence convictions. The study found that collectively the Aggressive (Sadistic) and Antisocial personality scales were significantly associated with the risk of future violence convictions. The findings from the study were then used to develop a guide to be used during risk assessments to help psychologists from the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) identify and integrate personality pathology into the violence risk assessment.

Yasmin Ahamed, Yong Zhihao Paul, Rashida Binte Mohamed Zain & Natasha Lim Ke Xiu

 

Article 5

Article 5: Intervention Needs Of High-Risk Sexual Offenders In Singapore

As etiological theories of sexual offending and research on treatment for sexual offenders are primarily founded in Western literature, this study aims to elucidate the intervention needs of sexual offenders in Singapore, as well as to investigate if they are consistent with offenders in a Western culture. A mixed-methods research study was undertaken to identify the intervention needs of high risk sexual offenders in Singapore (n=34). While results confirmed that high-risk sexual offenders in Singapore presented with similar intervention needs as in Western countries, the cultural distinctions surrounding these factors are discussed. Findings from this study have been used to enhance the effectiveness of sexual offender interventions in the Singapore Prison Service (SPS).

Joylynn Quek, Priyathanaa Kalyanasundram, & Ng Kend Tuck

 

Article 6

Article 6: Daring To Ask 'What Happened To You?' - Why Correctional Systems Must Become Trauma-Responsive

Drawing on qualitative interview data collected during the author’s ongoing PhD research, this paper argues that the findings of many mainstream criminological studies and the dominant Risk/Needs/Responsivity (RNR) model of offender rehabilitation might be reinterpreted in the light of the evidence from epidemiology studies and neuroscience evidence that exposure to an overdose of trauma or Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in infancy arrests normal brain development and leads to catastrophic health, relational and social impacts over the life-course. The focus of prison-based services, in particular, should be redirected towards trauma-responsive practice in order to assist unrecovered trauma survivors with offending behaviour to make better sense of themselves and their multiplicity of personal struggles. Criminality and the consequent loss of liberty may, for many prisoners, be a minor aspect of their personal adv ersity stories. Offenders tend to come from communities where ACEs are all around them; in their homes, on their streets, in their schools, doctor’s surgeries and emergency rooms. Criminal justice agencies that are not trauma-informed and which omit to train specialized staff to ask offenders about childhood trauma are overlooking important information relevant to continued offending behaviour. If prisons and probation become trauma-responsive and help people to understand their childhood adversity and its enduring magnitude, they will be more likely to buy into participation in both personal development and offending behaviour interventions.

Jane Mulcahy

 

Article 7

Article 7: How Can Research On Children Of Incarcerated Parents Help Those Who Work In Corrections?

The upsurge in people incarcerated in the United States since the late 1970s has meant that many people in prison and jail are parents. Currently 2.7 million children in the United States have incarcerated parents, and more than 10 million children have had an incarcerated parent (Johnston, 2010). Given these numbers, researchers have examined how a parent’s imprisonment can impact a child’s growth and development. The history of this research and researchers’ findings can be useful to the corrections community. While much of the information below is specific to the United States, this article also has implications for children internationally.

Megan Sullivan

 

Article 8

Article 8: The Impoverished Prison Environment And The Prisoner’s Brain

This paper summarizes the results of a thesis aimed at studying the potential influence of the prison environment on executive functions and self-regulation. Executive functions include such aspects as attention, planning, working memory and inhibition for self-regulation, i.e. the ability to have autonomous and long-term goal-directed behavior. The prefrontal cortex is crucial for these functions. Antisocial populations such as prisoners often suffer from executive dysfunction and reduced prefrontal functioning. While an enriched environment consisting of physical activity, cognitive challenges and social interaction may have a positive influence on the prefrontal functions of the brain, prison is a typical impoverished environment, potentially further attenuating executive functions and self-regulation of prisoners. 

Jesse Meijer

 

Article 9

 Article 9: The Role Of Technology In Offender Rehabilitation

This commentary paper discusses the increasingly significant role new technologies, specifically digital technologies, are playing in the rehabilitation of offenders. From the feelings of connection to the outside world which television and telephones-calls home can provide for offenders in prison, and the sense of agency self-service kiosks can provide in allowing such offenders to have more control over the lives during their sentence, these ‘rehabilitative technologies’ are changing the landscape of the criminal justice system. This paper also discusses the ways in which digital technologies are increasing access to evidence-based interventions to support offenders to overcome some of the difficulties they face that often underpin their offending, including interventions for substance misuse, violent behaviour, and thinking skills programmes. The role of telehealth is also discussed, and the ways in which videoconferencing applications are connecting offenders with the professionals that provide support to them for their health and social care needs, in addition to discussion around recent developments to digital infrastructure in prisons, such as in in-cell technologies. And once released from prison, there are also now new technologies that follow offenders on their path to rehabilitation through the prison gate, and so some discussion is provided around how technologies may be utilised. Although these advancements in rehabilitative technologies provide much cause for optimism, there are still many barriers to the widespread implementation of these technologies – including funding, political ideologies, infrastructure and staffing, concerns around security and safety, and trepidation amongst both criminal justice professionals and the general public. It is hoped that this paper sets-out a vision for how new technologies might transform the criminal justice system for the 21st Century and offers some solutions around how the barriers to this transformation might be overcome.

Elison-Davies, S., Davies, G., Ward, J., Dugdale, S. & Weekes, J.


 
Article 10

Article 10: ‘4-4-3’ Gender-Responsive Guidelines For Working With Female Offenders In Singapore

With growing awareness and increased efforts to incorporate gender-responsive approaches in correctional practices, it is an opportune time to examine the current progress of gender-responsive practices in the Singapore Prison Service (SPS). This paper considers gender-responsive literature on female offending overseas and reviews local research and evidence-based practices. From there, integration of the findings is used to develop the ‘4-4-3’ guidelines for working with female offenders in Singapore.

Tsz Wing Kok, April Lin Liangyu, Gabriel Ong

 

Article 11

Article 11: Peer Mentorship In Canadian Federal Women Offender Institutions

This article describes the Peer Mentorship Program currently available for offenders in the Correctional Service of Canada’s women’s institutions. Although some research on the effectiveness of peer counselling programs has been conducted within men’s prisons, there is little literature available on the effectiveness of peer counselling with women in prison. However, of the few studies that do exist, there is a strong suggestion that peer-counselling programs are beneficial for incarcerated women.

Stephanie Chalifoux-Taylor & Marie-Christine Pépin

 

Article 12

Article 12: Prevention Of Corruption In The Argentine Federal Prison Service

As highlighted by the UN Handbook on anti-corruption measures in prisons (2017), there are several factors about prison environments which pose challenges for the prevention of corruption. The purpose of this paper is to present a brief general discussion of corruption in prisons and to review some of the anti-corruption policies implemented by the Federal Penitentiary Service of Argentina, with special focus on the Intervention to reduce corruptibility indexes (IRIC, by its initials in Spanish) system, the role of compliance and dynamic security systems. Finally, we present the main results of the 2017/18 staff survey on corruption perception.

Emiliano Blanco

 

Article 13

Article 13: Correctional Principles And Practices In Norway

Correctional work is about handling dilemmas. The most common of th ese is the perceived opposition between security and rehabilitation. But are they really opposites or contradictory? In my view, they represent two sides of the same question – one must never compromise security during the sentence, but rehabilitation will also reduce recidivism and thereby create more security after the sentence is served. The Norwegian Correctional Service is encouraged to give equal attention to both these aspects. Our mission statement tells us that we are: “…responsible for carrying out remands in custody and penal sanctions in a way that takes into consideration the security of all citizens and attempts to prevent recidivism by enabling the offenders, through their own initiatives, to change their criminal behavior”. This gives us direction on what to do and how to do it in our daily work in all parts of the organization.

Marianne Vollan

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal – Edicion 4 (ES) (2017) Advancing Corrections Journal – Edicion 4 (ES) (2017)

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Innovaciones a nivel del sistema en la prestación de servicios correccionales

En esta 4.ª edición de Advancing Corrections continuamos con nuestra ambición de convertirnos en la revista internacional líder en el ámbito correccional destinada a profesionales en la materia. Una vez más, nos complace incluir contribuciones de distintas partes del mundo: Estados Unidos, Inglaterra, Irlanda, Singapur, Bélgica, Australia, Argentina y Chile.

 

Prólogo

Prólogo: Innovaciones a nivel del sistema en la prestación de servicios correccionales

En esta 4.ª edición de Advancing Corrections continuamos con nuestra ambición de convertirnos en la revista internacional líder en el ámbito correccional destinada a profesionales en la materia. Una vez más, nos complace incluir contribuciones de distintas partes del mundo: Estados Unidos, Inglaterra, Irlanda, Singapur, Bélgica, Australia, Argentina y Chile […]

Frank J. Porporino Ph.D.

 

Artículo 1

Artículo 1: 'ESTOY CON MAUD', CONFERENCIA MAUD BOOTH , organizada por Volunteers of America, en San Luis, Misuri, agosto del 2017

Todos los años, desde 1981, Volunteers of America organiza la entrega de premios Maud Booth Correctional Services Award en la que se reconoce a “un líder en el campo correccional que se destaque en el trabajo por su compasión y por creer en el potencial humano de quienes infringieron o infringen la ley”. La larga lista de candidatos que podrían recibir tal galardón incluye a profesionales del ámbito correccional que se han dedicado a “mejorar las políticas públicas, los programas y la prestación de servicios en el sistema de justicia penal”. El receptor del premio de este año lo hizo a gran escala. Comenzó su distinguida carrera como funcionario de libertad condicional para luego trasladarse a puestos en las áreas de gestión y dirección tanto en el ámbito penitenciario como en las instituciones de aplicación de medidas alternativas a la pena de prisión en la comunidad y, por último, se afianzó en el área educativa con una gran carrera como docente y académico. Los ganadores del premio Maud Booth deben “aceptarlo” con una breve charla en un almuerzo en el que la organización Volunteers of America oficia de anfitriona. Este año, Martin F. Ho rn ofreció una reflexión ferviente y concienzuda, en la forma de un plan de diez elementos para “hacer que los establecimientos penitenciarios sean menos malos”. Es un honor para Advancing Corrections publicar la transcripción de esta charla.

Martin F. Horn

 

Artículo 2

Artículo 2: La justicia procedimental: ¿por qué es importante y cómo podemos aplicar sus principios en contextos de encierro?

Las investigaciones muestran que mejorar las percepciones de la justicia procedimental puede dar lugar a resultados positivos tanto para el personal penitenciario como para los internos. Entre estos resultados, se pueden mencionar la reducción de la reincidencia y la mala conducta en el ámbito intramuros, así como la mejora de la salud psicológica de los internos y una mayor satisfacción laboral, reducción del estrés y del fenómeno de burnout en el personal. En este artículo, analizamos el modo en que los principios de la justicia procedimental pueden aplicarse, en la práctica, en contextos de encierro. Sugerimos que pueden incorporarse los principios de la justicia procedimental en todas las interacciones y comunicaciones, tanto del personal como de los internos, de manera relativamente neutral desde el punto de vista de los recursos. Ofrecemos algunos ejemplos del modo en que la justicia procedimental se puede incorporar en políticas y comunicaciones escritas, así como los diferentes procesos y procedimientos específicos mediante los que se ejerce la autoridad en los establecimientos penitenciarios.

Flora Fitzalan Howard y Dra. Helen C. Wakeling

 

Artículo 3

Artículo 3: Innovaciones en la rehabilitación en la comunidad. El desistimiento a través de la personalización: hallazgos preliminares

En este artículo, describimos las etapas tempranas de un proyecto innovador desde el punto de vista social para desarrollar e implementar un enfoque personalizado respecto de la rehabilitación de los infractores del sector de probation en Inglaterra, recurriendo al concepto de “desistimiento”. La Unidad de Investigaciones y Evaluación de Políticas de la Universidad Metropolitana de Mánchester estuvo trabajando en colaboración con Interserve Ltd para desarrollar y evaluar un modelo de rehabilitación personalizada de infractores en cinco de las veintiún Empresas encargadas de la rehabilitación en la comunidad (CRC, por sus siglas en inglés) que ofrecen servicios de probation en Inglaterra y Gales. Hemos identificado los aprendizajes de la personalización en el sector de asistencia social del Reino Unido y los empleamos para elaborar un proyecto piloto específico.

Chris Fox, Caroline Marsh y Kim Thornden-Edwards

 

Artículo 4

Artículo 4: Servicios de reinserción efectiva de internos: un enfoque de diseño conjunto para lograr una mejor reintegración en la comunidad

La mejor reinserción de los internos depende de una integración efectiva de los servicios previos y posteriores a la liberación de prisión. En este artículo, detallamos el trabajo que dirigió Interserve PLC en cuatro establecimientos penitenciarios ingleses para desarrollar un modelo de reinserción efectiva de internos que conjugue la gestión penitenciaria y de las Empresas encargadas de la rehabilitación en la comunidad para generar servicios que brinden apoyo genuino “más allá de las rejas” a los internos. El artículo detalla el trabajo que se realizó específicamente en los penales de Leeds, Risley, Styal y Winchester. Asimismo, ilustra el modo en que los enfoques innovadores en materia de diseño e implementación de servicios se pueden ofrecer mediante el diseño conjunto entre diversas instituciones. En el artículo, destacamos también el aprendizaje específico en relación con el diseño de alternativas de reinserción y rehabilitación integradas, que permitan que los prestadores de los servicios que se desarrollan en establecimientos penitenciarios y en la comunidad puedan aprovechar y asignar las intervenciones y los recursos de la mejor manera posible según corresponda. Además, se identifican los modelos de gobierno efectivo que facilitan que los prestadores de servicios en establecimientos penitenciarios y en la comunidad trabajen de manera efectiva a nivel local para reunir los requisitos de servicios centralizados específicos. A modo de conclusión, se presentan lecciones para los directores de servicios penitenciarios y de entornos comunitarios destinados a infractores.

Kevin Lockyer e Ian Mulholland

 

Artículo 5

Artículo 5: La reflexión conjunta, el trabajo interinstitucional y tres esquemas para obtener mejores resultados

El presente artículo describe los esfuerzos recientes que se realizaron con el fin de desarrollar un enfoque más coherente hacia la política penal y las respuestas de la justicia penal en Irlanda: la innovación en términos de un proceso de evolución. Ésta se enfoca en tres iniciativas diseñadas para obtener mejores resultados: Plan de Regreso a la Comunidad, donde internos aptos y con penas de larga duración pueden cambiar el tiempo en prisión por Servicio Comunitario no remunerado; Plan de Apoyo en la Comunidad, que es un programa de libertad anticipada que brinda apoyo posterior a la liberación a las personas que cumplen penas menores a 12 meses; y Acción conjunta de los organismos en respuesta al delito, en el que los Organismos de Justicia Penal se encargan de las gestión de casos de los “objetivos” (término que utilizan las autoridades para referirse a los internos con reincidencia alta que fueron seleccionados para participar en los programas), mediante el uso de la teoría del palo y la zanahoria [teoría del premio y castigo].

Jane Mulcahy

 

Artículo 6

Artículo 6: Capacitación MOST destinada a los funcionarios penitenciarios en Singapur

El Servicio de Prisiones de Singapur (SPS) reconoce que su personal está compuesto por agentes de cambio y que son esenciales para lograr la rehabilitación exitosa de los internos. Se destaca la importancia del rol del personal en un Espacio de Transformación donde se designa a los funcionarios penitenciarios como Supervisores Personales de casos individuales (PSC, por sus siglas en inglés) con el fin de involucrar a los internos de alto riesgo para aumentar su motivación al cambio, consolidar el pensamiento y las habilidades pro sociales, y actuar como modelos de una vida prosocial. Los psicólogos del SPS desarrollaron la capacitación sobre la Maximización de las Oportunidades para Apoyar la Transformación (MOST, por sus siglas en inglés) con el fin de entr enar a los funcionarios de supervisión personal para que desempeñen su función de rehabilitación de manera efectiva. El presente artículo: a) describe los fundamentos de la capacitación MOST, b) destaca sus elementos centrales, c) explica la manera en que se desarrolla y se lleva a cabo, y d) ejemplifica brevemente los resultados y efectividad de la capacitación.

Wayne Vincent Ferroa, Yan Ling Leow, Khairiyah Binte Kassim y Boon Siang Kwek

 

Artículo 7

Artículo 7: El proyecto europeo FORINER: la construcción de un modelo para brindar educación a distancia a los reclusos extranjeros

Las instituciones correccionales enfrentan muchos desafíos a la hora de brindar educación a la población penitenciaria de extranjeros. Aunque los reclusos extranjeros tienen derecho a la educación, raramente se satisfacen sus necesidades educativas, debido a la existencia de barreras estructurales e institucionales. El proyecto europeo FORINER que está en curso (2016-2017) diseñó y probó diferentes soluciones para poder responder a este problema. Se desarrollaron e implementaron quince proyectos piloto en toda Europa, con el propósito de analizar la posible organización de los cursos de formación para extranjeros. Los países de origen de los reclusos extranjeros brindan estos cursos, que se dictan en el país donde dichos reclusos están detenidos. Esta práctica educativa innovadora también se investiga científicamente mediante el uso de métodos de investigación cualitativos y cuantitativos. Además, finalmente, dicha práctica conducirá hacia el desarrollo de un modelo FORINER basado en elementos probatorios. Dado que la investigación científica aún está en curso, el presente artículo brinda una visión del material bibliográfico sobre las oportunidades de educación para los reclusos extranjeros, y muestra los diferentes pasos que ya realizó el consorcio FORINER, mientras buscaba un método/una estructura para brindarle educación a esa población. Se publicará un informe exhaustivo de investigación en noviembre del 2017.

Dra. Dorien Brosens, Inge Van Acker, Bianca Durkovics y Liesbeth De Donder

 

Artículo 8

Artículo 8: El poder y la capacidad de la innovación digital en los establecimientos penitenciarios: el camino hacia los establecimientos penitenciarios inteligentes

El presente artículo analiza el proceso de innovación en contextos de encierro, y más específicamente, el uso y la disponibilidad de las tecnologías digitales. Estas tecnologías atraen el concepto de innovación, que significa que se anuncian como una nueva frontera. Esto repercute particularmente en el ámbito penitenciario, ya que sus establecimientos normalmente son lugares de privaciones, control y vigilancia. Reflexionamos sobre el poder y la capacidad de los servicios penitenciarios para transformar estas instituciones mediante el uso de la tecnología digital. Por otro lado, también cuestionamos la razón por la que se considera que las tecnologías digitales son innovadoras, cuando ya están incorporadas en nuestra vida diaria como características totalmente aceptadas. Dicha vida diaria pasó de un estado online a un estado onlife (Hildebrandt, 2015). En general, nuestros establecimientos penitenciarios aún no se consideran espacios digitalizados, particularmente al ver el contraste evidente con la vida en la comunidad. Asimismo, reflexionamos sobre el concepto de tecnologías “inteligentes” y los espacios y redes exclusivas comúnmente denominadas “Ciudades Inteligentes”, y además, sobre la importancia de este fenómeno en los contextos de encierro.

Dra. Victoria Knight y Steven Van de Steene

 

Artículo 9

Artículo 9: Perspectivas de los oficiales encargados de las medidas alternativas a la pena de prisión en la comunidad sobre el rol de estados psicológicos positivos en la supervisión de infractores.

Este trabajo es un análisis cualitativo sobre las conceptualizaciones de los oficiales encargados de las medidas alternativas a la pena de prisión en la comunidad (CCO según sus siglas en inglés) sobre la contribución de los constructos de la psicología positiva a la supervisión de los infractores. El estudio se centró específicamente en los potenciales aportes que pudieran surgir de prácticas que promuevan estados psicológicos positivos (p. ej.: flexibilidad psicológica, autoeficacia, optimismo y esperanza). Se realizó un análisis teórico bien fundamentado de las entrevistas realizadas a 22 CCO y se identificaron los temas que respaldan los beneficios aportados por los estados de la psicolog ía positiva en las prácticas de supervisión de infractores. Sin embargo, según los CCO, el hecho de incentivar a los infractores a movilizar sus estados psicológicos positivos no es suficiente para ver buenos resultados en la supervisión, dado que también se ponderó como necesaria y crucial la influencia positiva del ambiente para regular de manera efectiva los sentimientos, pensamientos y comportamientos de los infractores. Al finalizar este trabajo se incluyen algunos debates sobre los resultados y su implicancia al llevarlos a la práctica.

Dr. Yilma Woldgabreal y Dr. Andrew Day

 

Artículo 10

Artículo 10: Agencia, relaciones sociales y desistimiento

Para entender el mecanismo de agencia y de las relaciones sociales en las personas que desisten en Singapur, se entrevistaron 38 varones con un período promedio de desistimiento de 6,4 años (rango de 1 a 30 años). El análisis deductivo dio como resultado que los conceptos de agencia y de relaciones sociales estaban presentes en la mayoría de los recorridos de los participantes hacia el desistimiento. Un análisis más exhaustivo reveló tres aspectos del concepto de agencia: sentimiento, conocimiento y comportamiento. En cuanto a las relaciones sociales, estas presentaban dos aspectos: mantenimiento y disparadores del cambio. Los resultados sugieren que los programas de tratamiento deben incluir los tres aspectos del concepto de agencia y resaltan que el desistimiento es una repetición de eventos que disparan o mantienen el cambio.

Carl Z.Y. Yeo, Doris X.Y. Chia, Wen Lin Teh, Zaakira M.S.H, April L.Y. Lin, Dr. Gabriel Ong, Dra. Jasmin Kaur, Dr. Mark W.S. Toh

 

Artículo 11

Artículo 11: Las experiencias de los jóvenes adultos (18-21) en una prisión de Irlanda: Implementación del Análisis Fenomenológico Interpretativo (IPA)

Los jóvenes adultos no se encuentran representados en forma proporcional en las prisiones de Irlanda, esta es una población con necesidades complejas y un alto riesgo de reincidencia. Las investigaciones ligadas a los jóvenes adultos son limitadas y ninguna puede ser identificada a través de su experiencia subjetiva. Se utilizó el diseño cualitativo de entrevista semiestructurada y se aplicó a 12 jóvenes adultos alojados en la Prisión Mountjoy, Irlanda. Las entrevistas fueron grabadas y transcriptas y se removió la información que podía llevar a la potencial identificación de los participantes. La información fue sometida a un análisis fenomenológico interpretativo. Las experiencias de los participantes se tomaron de cuatro temas superordinados: Experiencia sobre la vida en prisión, Gestión del tiempo en prisión, Relaciones complejas y Vistas al futuro. El estudio contribuye con la bibliografía existente y considera los temas de gestión de condenas y sus implicancias clínicas.

Suzanne Hughes, Dr. John Hyland y Dra. Anne O’Rourke

 

Artículo 12

Artículo 12: Reformas en el Servicio Penitenciario Federal de la República Argentina (2014-2016)

El Servicio Penitenciario Federal de la República Argentina (SPF) ha tenido que enfrentarse a una serie de desafíos. Para poder responder a ellos, el Servicio emprendió diversas medidas como parte de su proceso de reforma. Este proceso está basado en la línea de pensamiento What Works. Asimismo, la evidencia empírica el desistimiento y la criminología aplicada han desempeñado un rol crucial para justificar nuestras decisiones. El SPF también ha debido adaptar esta metodología a las necesidades específicas culturales e institucionales de Argentina. El objetivo de este artículo es describir brevemente los programas de tratamiento y otras medidas que se implementaron para mejorar el sistema penitenciario, los cuales también repercutieron de manera positiva en cuanto a la calidad de vida del personal y los internos

Emiliano Blanco

 

Artículo 13

Artículo 13: La rehabilitación en América Latina: ¿es posible promover la innovación en condiciones desfavorables?

En América Latina, la crisis penitenciaria es evidente. En la mayoría de los países, las poblaciones penales se han incrementado de manera significativa en los últimos años, principalmente por el uso excesivo de la prisión preventiva y de penas más duras para los delitos contra la propiedad y aquellos vinculados con drogas. En consecuencia, la sobrepoblación, la violencia, los abusos de los derechos humanos y el acceso limitado a los servicios de salud y a la educación son elementos que describen a estos sistemas penitenciarios. A pesar de estos problemas, se han implementado diversas iniciativas en miras a la rehabilitación, pero la falta de infraestructura apropiada y de personal capacitado y equipado de manera adecuada son dificultades estructurales que restringen los resultados positivos. En este artículo, se describen las limitaciones a las que se enfrentan los sistemas penitenciarios de América Latina para desarrollar programas de rehabilitación coherentes que podrían garantizar el apoyo político y financiero a largo plazo. Asimismo, destaca la necesidad de evaluación de la efectividad y la eficiencia de la mayoría de las iniciativas para superar la carencia de conocimiento que actualmente describe el área de la rehabilitación de la región.

Lucía Dammert

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 4 (2017) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 4 (2017)

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Can Research Help Improve Practice?

This 4th Edition of Advancing Corrections continues with our ambition to become the premier international, practitioner-oriented Journal in corrections. Once again, we are pleased to include contributions from around the world – the US, England, Ireland, Singapore, Belgium, Australia, Argentina and Chile.The theme for this 4th Edition was also particularly ambitious. We welcomed Featured Articles that would highlight “integrated system-level innovation in how rehabilitative services are delivered – either in prison or in the community”. For our Views and Reviews section, we asked for “qualitative studies of how offenders actually experience the services we provide, and the challenges that staff experience in delivering them”. And in our Practice Innovation section we were pleased to receive contributions describing the significant efforts being made to reform corrections in Latin and South America despite, as one of the authors remarked, the precarious conditions in many of those countries

Foreword

Foreword: Can Research Help Improve Practice?

This 4th Edition of Advancing Corrections continues with our ambition to become the premier international, practitioneroriented Journal in corrections. Once again, we are pleased to include contributions from around the world – the US, England, Ireland, Singapore, Belgium, Australia, Argentina and Chile […]

Frank J. Porporino Ph.D.

 

Article 1

Article 1: Rehabilitation, Corrections And Society

Each year since 1981, Volunteers of America has presented the Maud Booth Correctional Services Award to honor ‘a leader in the correctional field whose work demonstrates compassion and belief in the human potential of offenders and ex-offenders’. The long list of deserving individuals includes corrections professionals who have dedicated themselves to ‘improving public policies, programs, and service delivery in the criminal justice system.’ This year’s award recipient has done this in spades, beginning his distinguished career as a parole officer, moving into management and executive positions in both prisons and community corrections, and finally settling into a career as an educator and scholar. Maud Booth Award winners are required to ‘accept’ their Award with a short speech at a luncheon hosted by Volunteers of America. This year Martin F. Horn delivered a thoughtful and impassioned 10-point plan to ‘make prisons less bad’. Advancing Corrections is honored to publish a transcript of his talk.

Martin F. Horn

 

Article 2

Article 2: Environmental Corrections: An Application Of Environmental Criminological Theories To Community Corrections Practices

Research shows that enhancing perceptions of procedural justice (PJ) can result in positive outcomes for both prison staff and prisoners, including reductions in custodial misconduct and reoffending, and improved psychological health for prisoners, and greater job satisfaction, less stress and reduced burnout for staff. This paper explores how the principles of PJ can be applied practically in prison settings. We suggest that all interactions and communications, for both staff and prisoners, can incorporate PJ principles in a relatively resource-neutral way. We provide examples of how PJ can be built into policies and written communications, as well as specific discrete procedures and processes through which authority is exercised in prisons.

Flora Fitzalan Howard and Helen C. Wakeling

 

Article 3

Article 3: Changes To Home Detention In South Australia: Evaluation Design And Early Implementation Findings

This article describes the early stages of a socially innovative project to develop and implement a personalized approach to offender rehabilitation in the probation sector in England, drawing on the concept of ‘desistance’. The Policy Evaluation and Research Unit at Manchester Metropolitan University has been working in collaboration with Interserve Ltd to develop and evaluate a model of personalized offender rehabilitation in 5 of the 21 Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) that deliver probation services in England and Wales. We have identified learning from personalization in the UK social care sector and used this to specify a pilot project.

Chris Fox, Caroline Marsh, and Kim Thornden-Edwards

 

Article 4

Article 4: Pathological Personality And Violence Re-Offending: Findings And Applications From Singapore

Better prisoner resettlement depends on effective integration of services pre- and post-release from prison. This paper reports on work led by Interserve PLC in four English prisons to develop a model of effective prisoner resettlement which brings together prison management and the local Community Rehabilitation Companies to develop bespoke resettlement services which provide genuinely “through the gate” support to prisoners. The paper reports on work undertaken in particular at Leeds, Risley, Styal and Winchester prisons. It illustrates how innovative approaches to service design and implementation can be delivered through multi-agency co-design. The paper highlights particular learning in connection with the design of integrated rehabilitation and resettlement pathways, enabling prison and community providers to target interventions and resources where they will make the most difference. The paper also identifies effective governance models to enable custodial and community providers to work effectively locally to meet the requirements of centrally specified services. The paper concludes with lessons for commissioners of prison and community offender services.

Kevin Lockyer and Ian Mulholland

 

Article 5

Article 5: Intervention Needs Of High-Risk Sexual Offenders In Singapore

This article describes recent efforts to develop a more coherent approach to penal policy and criminal justice responses in Ireland – innovation in terms of an evolving process. It focuses on three initiatives designed to achieve better outcomes: the Community Return Scheme where suitable longer sentence prisoners swap prison time for unpaid Community Service; the Community Support Scheme, an early release program providing post-release support to people serving sentences under 12 months; and the Joint Agency Response to Crime, in which the Criminal Justice Agencies jointly case manage “targets” (the term used by the authorities to refer to prolific offenders selected for participation in the programs) using a carrot and stick approach.

Jane Mulcahy

 

Article 6

Article 6: Daring To Ask 'What Happened To You?' - Why Correctional Systems Must Become Trauma-Responsive

Singapore Prison Service (SPS) recognizes that its staff are agents of change and are critical to successful rehabilitation of offenders. The importance of staff’s role is emphasized in a Transformational Environment (TE) where correctional officers are appointed as Personal Supervisors (Casework; PSC) to engage high-risk offenders to increase their motivation to change, reinforce pro-social skills and thinking, and act as role models of pro-social living. The Maximizing Opportunities to Support Transformation (MOST) training was developed by psychologists of SPS to train PSCs to effectively perform their rehabilitative roles. This paper: a) describes the rationale for MOST training, b) highlights its key components, c) explains how it is developed and conducted, and d) briefly illustrates its training effectiveness and outcomes.

Wayne Vincent Ferroa, Yan Ling Leow, Khairiyah Binte Kassim, Boon Siang Kwek

 

Article 7

Article 7: How Can Research On Children Of Incarcerated Parents Help Those Who Work In Corrections?

Correctional institutions are facing numerous challenges in providing education to their foreign national prison population. Although foreign national prisoners have the right to education, their educational needs are rarely met due to organisational and structural barriers. The ongoing European FORINER project (2016-2017) has designed and tested different solutions to respond to this problem. 15 pilot projects have been developed and implemented throughout Europe to test how educational courses for foreign national prisoners could be organised. These courses are provided by their home country and received in the country in which they are detained. These innovative educational practices are also scientifically investigated using quantitative and qualitative research methods, and will ultimately lead to the development of an evidence-based FORINER-model. As the scientific investigation is still ongoing, this article provides insight into the literature about the educational opportunities for foreign national prisoners, and the different steps the FORINER consortium has already undertaken in searching for a method/frame to provide this population with an educational offering. An extensive research report will be made available in November 2017.

Dr. Dorien Brosens, Inge Van Acker, Bianca Durkovics, and Liesbeth De Donder

 

Article 8

Article 8: The Impoverished Prison Environment And The Prisoner’s Brain

This article explores the process of innovation in the context of prisons and more specifically the use and availability of digital technologies. Digital technologies attract the innovation label meaning they are heralded as a new frontier. This is especially resonant in the landscape of prisons, as traditionally and typically prisons are sites of deprivation, control and surveillance. We reflect on the capacity and capability of prison services to transform these organisations using digital technology. We also question why digital technologies are viewed as innovative given that they are embedded and accepted features of everyday life. Everyday life has moved from being online to onlife (Hildebrant, 2015). Typically, our prisons are not yet digitized spaces especially in stark contrast to the outside community. We reflect on the concept of ‘smart’ technologies and dedicated spac es and networks commonly termed as Smart Cities. We speculate about the value of this phenemona in the context of the prison.

Dr. Victoria Knight and Steven Van de Steene

 

Article 9

Article 9: The Role Of Technology In Offender Rehabilitation

This paper reports the results of a qualitative analysis of Community Corrections Officers (CCOs) conceptualizations of the contribution of positive psychology constructs to offender supervision. The study specifically explored the potential contribution of practices that promote positive psychological states (i.e., psychological flexibility, self-efficacy, optimism, and hope). A grounded theory analysis of interviews with 22 CCOs identified themes that support the utilities of positive psychological states in offender supervision practices. However, from the perspectives of CCOs, helping offenders to mobilize their positive psychological states on its own is not sufficient for improved supervision outcomes, as positive environmental influences were viewed as equally crucial for the effective regulation of offenders’ feelings, thoughts and behaviors. Discussion of these findings and the implications for practice conclude the article.

Dr. Yilma Woldgabreal and Dr. Andrew Day

 

Article 10

Article 10: ‘4-4-3’ Gender-Responsive Guidelines For Working With Female Offenders In Singapore

To understand the mechanism of agency and social relationships on desisters in Singapore, 38 males with an average desistance period of 6.40 years (range 1 to 30 years) were interviewed. Deductive thematic analysis found that agency and social relationships were present in the majority of participants’ desistance journeys. In-depth analysis revealed three aspects of agency: affect, cognition, and behavior. Social relationship had two aspects: triggering change and maintaining change. The findings suggest that treatment programs should include all three aspects of agency and highlights that desistance is a process of repeated events that triggers and maintains change.

Carl Z.Y. Yeo, Doris X.Y. Chia, Wen Lin Teh, Zaakira M.S.H, April L.Y. Lin, Dr. Gabriel Ong, Dr. Jasmin Kaur, Dr. Mark W.S. Toh

 

Article 11

Article 11: Peer Mentorship In Canadian Federal Women Offender Institutions

Young offenders are disproportionately represented in Irish prisons, a population with complex needs and highest risk of re-offending. There is limited research regarding young offenders, and none that could be identified on their subjective experiences. Using a qualitative, semi-structured interview design, 12 young offenders in Mountjoy Prison, Ireland participated. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim with potentially identifiable information removed. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was applied to data. Four superordinate themes provided an overview of participants’ experiences: Experience of being in prison, Managing time in prison, Complex relationships, and Looking to the future. The study contributes to existing literature, considers sentence management and clinical implications.

Suzanne Hughes, Dr. John Hyland and Dr. Anne O’Rourke

 

Article 12

Article 12: Prevention Of Corruption In The Argentine Federal Prison Service

The Federal Penitentiary Service of Argentina (SPF in Spanish) has had to face several challenges. To respond to such challenges, the Service implemented different measures as part of a reform process. The reform process was based on the What Works line of thinking; empirical evidence, desistance and applied criminology have also been of paramount im-portance to account for our decisions. The SPF also had to adapt this methodology to the specific cultural and institutional needs of Argentina. The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe the treatment programs and other actions carried out to enhance the prison system, thereby improving the quality of life of staff and prisoners.

Emiliano Blanco

 

Article 13

Article 13: Correctional Principles And Practices In Norway

In Latin America, the prison crisis is evident. In most countries, criminal populations have increased significantly in recent years, mainly due to augmented use of pre-trial detention and tougher punishment for drug related and property crimes. As a consequence, overcrowding, violence, human rights abuses and limited access to health and education services are elements that describe prison systems. Despite these problems, various initiatives have been implemented in search for rehabilitation but lack of adequate infrastructure as well as properly equipped and trained personnel are structural problems that limit positive results. This paper discusses the limitations that Latin American prison system face in order to develop sound rehabilitation programs that could ensure long term financial and political support. It also highlights th e need for evaluation of effectiveness and efficiency of most initiatives overcoming the gap of knowledge that nowadays describes the area of rehabilitation in the region.

Lucía Dammert

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal – Edicion 3 (ES) (2017) Advancing Corrections Journal – Edicion 3 (ES) (2017)

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Avances En Temas Correccionales: Enfoques Innovadores En La Prestación De Servicios Destinados A Personas Que Infringen La Ley

Esta edición se concentra en el tema de “enfoques innovadores en la prestación de servicios destinados a personas que infringen la ley”. En un encuentro reciente sobre Planificación Estratégica, la Junta Directiva de ICPA respaldó la promoción de prácticas basadas en la evidencia como una de las tres prioridades principales de la Asociación, por lo que el tema resulta oportuno. Los organismos correccionales modernos necesitan evaluar las ventajas de una cantidad creciente de innovaciones posibles (p. ej., adoptar nuevas tecnologías para la prestación de servicios destinados a personas que infringen la ley) o modificaciones de prácticas existentes (p. ej., evaluación, gestión de casos, intervención u otros marcos para la prestación de servicios). No siempre resulta claro lo que puede mejorar el desempeño; por ejemplo: ¿existen pruebas sólidas suficientes que respalden el cambio en el contexto de otras circunstancias del organismo?, ¿sería posible implementar el nuevo enfoque?, ¿cuánto se puede esperar que mejore el desempeño?, ¿existen alternativas u opciones? Contamos con una creciente y abundante cantidad de pruebas provenientes de investigaciones que respaldan el cambio en la práctica correccional. Desafortunadamente, muchos intentos de cambio pueden terminar como verdaderos “en los papeles”, pero no en la práctica (p. ej., como meras descripciones en las políticas), o incluso con más frecuencia, quedar fragmentados o en un plano superficial, sin mucho impacto con sentido. Los artículos de esta edición sugieren una perspectiva diferente: la posibilidad de un cambio pensado, planificado, integrado y con sentido. 

Prólogo

Prólogo: Avances En Temas Correccionales: Enfoques Innovadores En La Prestación De Servicios Destinados A Personas Que Infringen La Ley

Bienvenidos a la tercera edición de Advancing Corrections. Rápidamente, podríamos decir que esta nueva edición de la revista de la Asociación Internacional de Correccionales y Prisiones (International Corrections and Prisons Association, ICPA) empieza a obtener reconocimiento. La idea de esta revista era brindar a los profesionales del ámbito correccional (investigadores y profesionales por igual) un foro de discusión de los desarrollos en este campo a nivel internacional, nuevas investigaciones y análisis orientados en la materia, descripciones de programas innovadores e incluso opiniones versadas y justificadas. Me convencí de que la comunidad correccional de todo el mundo necesitaba esta clase de foro. Y la Junta Directiva de ICPA coincidió. Los investigadores y los profesionales respondieron. Para esta tercera edición, hemos recibido muchas presentaciones de calidad, aunque apenas pudimos publicar doce artículos. Parte del material que no se pudo incluir en esta edición aguardará a ser publicado en futuras ediciones. Advancing Corrections ha adquirido el impulso necesario para llenar el hueco que deseaba cubrir […]

Frank J. Porporino Ph.D.

 

Artículo 1

Artículo 1: Cómo Se Retiró a Los Infractores Con Padecimientos Mentales De Los Establecimientos Penitenciarios en Bélgica: Un Tratamiento Innovador Y Orientado Al Paciente, en Un Entorno Especializado

Muchos estudios muestran que, en Europa, los problemas psiquiátricos se suelen dar con mayor prevalencia en el ámbito intramuros que en el medio libre. En especial, son comunes entre aquellas personas que infringieron la ley y que, según resolución de un tribunal competente, padecen alteraciones o discapacidades mentales. En este artículo, nos concentraremos en este grupo específico de la población penal y aquí nos referiremos a ellos como infractores con padecimientos mentales. Es evidente que, en Bélgica, la cantidad de infractores con padecimientos mentales alojados en establecimientos penitenciarios se ha ido incrementando progresivamente. Sin embargo, se puede observar una reciente disminución en estos números. Esta disminución se puede atribuir al nuevo enfoque estructural que desarrolló el gobierno belga. El tema de la internación fue ganando preponderancia en la agenda política y el compromiso del gobierno se evidenció mediante la introducción de una limitación radical a la cantidad de tiempo que los infractores con padecimientos mentales permanecerían detenidos, como también mediante la generación de una mayor oferta y variedad de atención diferenciada fuera de prisión. El fin último es ocuparse del cuidado de los infractores con padecimientos mentales la mayor parte posible del tiempo en un entorno extramuros, ofreciéndoles la atención necesaria y alcanzando una progresión fluida dentro del circuito de cuidados (red de las diferentes opciones disponibles), incluso ante una crisis o en situaciones problemáticas. Para cumplir ese objetivo, actualmente se está trabajando en una solución completa que busca concentrarse tanto en la capacidad de atención necesaria y adecuada como en un claro marco legislativo. En esta nueva dirección, resulta imprescindible generar una asociación diversa y que supere el alcance de una red para cubrir el aspecto político y el trabajo de campo, según los recorridos de atención a desarrollar destinados a infractores con padecimientos mentales. En este artículo, ofreceremos un panorama detallado sobre las modificaciones en la política de Bélgica y, como caso de estudio, abordaremos las alternativas del gobierno belga que han contribuido a disminuir la cantidad de infractores con padecimientos mentales alojados en establecimientos penitenciarios.

Katelijne Seynnaeve, Hanne Beeuwsaert

 

Artículo 2

Artículo 2: Nuevos Horizontes: La Integración Del Enfoque Biopsicosocial en El Diseño Y La Prestación De Programas Para Usuarios De Alto Riesgo en El Servicio Penitenciario Y De Probation Del Reino Unido

Recientemente, Mann y Carter (2012) propusieron un modelo psicosocial de cambio basado en el Modelo Good Lives, que significa “buenas vidas” en inglés, y los principios de Ri esgo-Necesidad- Responsividad. La primera etapa del modelo ofrece una explicación biopsicosocial de los factores de riesgo dinámicos predictores de reincidencia en delitos sexuales. La segunda etapa articula una serie de principios rectores compatibles para el programa de diseño. En este artículo, expandimos el modelo mediante un recuento preliminar de la base biológica, psicológica y social de los factores de riesgo dinámicos asociados a distintos tipos penales. A continuación, se brinda información detallada sobre dos programas de intensidad elevada con acceso amplio que implementan los principios rectores del modelo

Dr. Jamie S. Walton, Laura Ramsay, Cara Cunningham, Sarah Henfrey

 

Artículo 3

 Artículo 3: El Modelo De Programa Correccional Integrado (Icpm) Del Servicio Correccional De Canadá

A pesar del éxito del conjunto tradicional de programas correccionales del Servicio Correccional de Canadá (Correctional Service Canada, CSC) para la reducción de la reincidencia en toda clase de infractores, el CSC se ha enfrentado a una serie de desafíos en la prestación y la gestión de los programas, en especial, en el caso de los infractores hombres. Mediante la combinación de los elementos más sólidos de los programas de la generación anterior y las innovaciones más recientes en materia de investigación de rehabilitación de infractores, se diseñó el Modelo de Programa Correccional Integrado (Integrated Correctional Program Model, ICPM). Este Modelo tiene la finalidad de mejorar la seguridad pública mediante el ofrecimiento de un continuo de intervenciones y la disponibilidad de una capacidad mayor para que los infractores accedan y completen los programas más rápido durante el plazo de su condena, a la vez que resulten, por lo menos, igualmente efectivos que la estructura tradicional de los programas correccionales del CSC.

Nancy Poirier, BSc., Kelly Taylor, Ph.D.

Artículo 4

Artículo 4: Resultados De Los Programas Penitenciarios Destinados a Infractoras

En el año 2010, el Servicio Correccional de Canadá (Correctional Service Canada, CSC) implementó el Programa Penitenciario para Mujeres que infringen la ley (Women Offender Correctional Program, WOCP) y el Programa Penitenciario para Mujeres que infringen la ley y pertenecen a pueblos originarios (Aboriginal Women Offender Correctional Program, AWOCP). Ambos programas se basan en los enfoques en materia de género. Se analizó el alcance con el que se cumplieron los objetivos de los programas AWOCP y WOCP. Este análisis se centró en las tasas de deserción y participación en el programa, en los beneficios del tratamiento para los participantes y en los resultados al momento de la liberación. En general, los resultados demostraron que los participantes de los programas AWOCP y WOCP se habían beneficiado, y se comprobó que se respaldan los programas penitenciarios en materia de cultura y género. También se tratan las limitaciones y los pasos a seguir.

Dena Derkzen, Ph.D., Aileen Harris, M.A., Kaitlyn Wardrop, M.A., Jennie Thompson, Ph.D.

 

Artículo 5

Artículo 5: Oinfractores Que Trabajan Para Proporcionar Elementos Básicos a Las Comunidades De Pueblos Originarios: Proyecto De Asociación Entre El Establecimiento Penitenciario Y La Comunidad

En el año 2012, se desarrolló la iniciativa Work 2 Give (W2G) [trabajar para dar] como enfoque innovador hacia la reinserción de los infractores y la proporción de elementos básicos para las comunidades que pertenecen a las Primeras Naciones de British Columbia, que están muy deterioradas a nivel económico. En la iniciativa W2G, los hombres que están en prisión6 fabrican y donan elementos a las comunidades aborígenes. En el presente artículo, se describen la implementación de este proyecto de asociación entre el establecimiento penitenciario y la comunidad y los hallazgos obtenidos a través de un estudio7 sobre los diferentes tipos de impacto que pueden recaer en las comunidades y en los infractores participantes. Estos hallazgos pueden contribuir con los programas penitenciarios basados en las pruebas que abordan la reinserción de los infractores en las comunidades. Los hallazgos también son importantes para el desarrollo de proyectos de colaboración sostenibles entre el establecimiento penitenciario y las comunidades, así como para los programas de trabajo significativos dentro de los establecimientos penitenciarios.

Helen Brown, Colleen Varcoe, Melissa Taylor, Kelsey Timler, Sarah Jackman

 

Artículo 6

Artículo 6: Implementación Y Evaluación De Los Programas De Tratamiento Breaking Free Online Y Pillars of Recovery Destinados a Los Infractores Que Consumen Sustancias

TEl presente artículo presenta un informe sobre la implementación de dos programas de tratamiento para los infractores que consumen sustancias: el programa de terapia asistida por computadora Breaking Free Online (BFO) y el programa Pillars of Recovery (PoR). Estos programas se habilitaron en el marco del proyecto “Gateways” (Portales de vías alternativas) en el Reino Unido con el objetivo de apoyar a los infractores en la transición a la comunidad. Asimismo, el programa BFO fue el primero sobre delito y asistencia de la salud acreditado para ofrecerse a los internos vía Campus Virtual (Virtual Campus, VC). Este es un ámbito de aprendizaje en línea que está disponible para todos los establecimientos penitenciarios ingleses y galeses. Las evaluaciones cuantitativas y cualitativas dieron a conocer la existencia de elementos que obstaculizan y facilitan la implementación de los programas BFO y PoR y. Además, mostraron resultados clínicos preliminares que son prometedores.

Glyn Davies, Dr. Jonathan Ward, Dr. Sarah Elison, Dr. Samantha Weston, Stephanie Dugdale, Dr. John Weekes

 

Artículo 7

Artículo 7: El Uso De La Separación Del Régimen Común De Menores en Los Sistemas Australianos De Detención Para Jóvenes: Argumento Para Su Prohibición

En 2016, el Gobierno Federal de Australia convocó a una consulta pública formal sobre la organización de una Comisión Real para investigar las disposiciones relativas a la atención y la custodia de menores con órdenes de detención en el Territorio del Norte. El sistema de detención de jóvenes en el Territorio del Norte demuestra haber confiado demasiado en la sep aración del régimen común como herramienta de gestión de la conducta, lo cual posiblemente dio lugar al abuso de menores durante su atención. En este artículo, analizamos la bibliografía relativa al empleo de la separación del régimen común para explicar la degeneración progresiva de la conducta de los menores detenidos y los posibles impactos negativos a los que pueden enfrentarse, desde el punto de vista físico y psicológico. Asimismo, promovemos la prohibición de la separación del régimen común de los menores con el argumento de que se necesita un cambio de paradigma en el sistema de detención para jóvenes hacia un modelo que recurra a la atención no institucionalizada con prácticas informadas en materia de situaciones traumáticas.

Dr. Elizabeth Grant, Dr. Rohan Lulham Professor Bronwyn Naylor

 

Artículo 8

Artículo 8: Los Derechos Humanos Como Buena Práctica Penitenicaria: Colaboración Entre El Servicio Penitenciario De Kenia Y El Instituto Raoul Wallenberg

El Instituto Raoul Wallenberg sobre Derechos Humanos y Derecho Humanitario (RWI) estableció una relación sustentable y mutuamente beneficiosa con el Servicio Penitenciario de Kenia (KPS). Esta relación se basa en el enfoque de los derechos humanos desde un punto de vista penitenciario y en la inversión en la gente y no en infraestructura. En este artículo, resaltaremos esta iniciativa única y el progreso obtenido en los últimos cinco años al plasmar las Reglas Mandela y los Derechos Humanos en las prácticas penitenciarias diarias del KPS. A partir de esta sociedad integrada y orientada en la acción, la capacitación profesional y la dotación de funcionarios que tienen contacto directo con los internos y estén especializados en Derechos Humanos se unieron a la capacitación de los directivos del KPS en materia de principios y estrategias de implementación de las Reglas Mandela. Este enfoque contó con el apoyo de iniciativas específicas como la modificación de legislación y de políticas departamentales, y de una perspectiva de las prácticas penitenciarias basada en la evidencia empírica. El progreso se mide a través de auditorías integrales que se basan en las Reglas Mandela y otr os Instrumentos de Derechos Humanos. Estas auditorías se llevan a cabo en forma conjunta por el RWI y funcionarios capacitados en Derechos Humanos del KPS. Los resultados a la fecha son prometedores y esta sociedad ha sido recientemente reconocida por la Asociación Internacional de Correccionales y Prisiones (International Corrections and Prisons Association, ICPA) con el Premio 2016 a la Excelencia Penitenciaria en Capacitación del Personal y Gerenciamiento.

Terry Hackett, Benjamin Njoga, Josh Ounsted

 

Artículo 9

Artículo 9: Programa Piloto Sobre Evaluacion De Riesgo Y Necesidades Para Mujeres en La Republica Checa: Cómo Icpa Fomenta La Colaboracion Internacional

Este trabajo describe el programa de Evaluación de Riesgo y Necesidades para Mujeres (WRNA según sus siglas en inglés) dentro de un establecimiento penitenciario checo. El presente instrumento con perspectiva de género podría ser implementado a nivel nacional. Los resultados preliminares sugieren que varios factores dinámicos fueron establecidos como necesidades predominantes entre esta población en particular; sin embargo, la mayoría de las checas con pena de prisión también registraron fortalezas en diferentes áreas de sus vidas. Los datos consolidados de las mujeres entrevistadas se recolectarán en los 6-12 meses posteriores a la fecha de realización de la entrevista y tendrán como fin establecer la validez del instrumento dentro de la República Checa.

Tereza Trejbalová, M.A., Emily J. Salisbury, Ph.D.

 

Artículo 10

Artículo 10: La Gestión Efectiva De Internos Con Discapacidad Intelectual Límite en Los Establecimientos Penitenciarios

La gestión efectiva y el apoyo a las personas con una discapacidad intelectual (DI) constituye una tarea difícil para las organizaciones correccionales. Las tasas de la población con discapacidades intelectuales en el contexto de encierro son sustancialmente mayores que las que se registran en la comunidad en general, aunque existen pruebas de que las tasas de la población con discapacidad intelectual límite (DIL) en prisión son aún mayores. Sostenemos que las tasas elevadas de DIL en las poblaciones penales representan una preocupación. Este grupo comparte muchos de los desafíos a los que se enfrentan las personas con alguna discapacidad intelectual, aunque quizá resulten más difíciles de detectar y/o no reúnan los requisitos para recibir servicios de apoyo. Asimismo, las altas tasas de DIL entre los internos implican que existe la necesidad de garantizar que haya programas e intervenciones destinados a estos beneficiarios, a fin de asegurar el e ficiente direccionamiento de los recursos. Los agentes penitenciarios también necesitan el respaldo y la capacitación para ofrecer atención y supervisión adecuada a este grupo. A fin de brindar l os recursos apropiados a los servicios correccionales para que administren la población con DIL en un entorno intramuros, es necesario contar con estimaciones precisas de la prevalencia. Las estimaciones precisas de prevalencia de la discapacidad intelectual límite en entornos intramuros permitirán dotar de recursos, diseñar y ofrecer programas efectivos adaptados a las necesidades de la población de infractores con DIL.

Dr. Nixon, M. & Dr. Trounson, J. S.

 

Artículo 11

Artículo 11: Mejora De La Calidad De Los Programas Y De La Supervisión Para Reducir La Reincidencia en Nueva Gales Del Sur

En línea con las prioridades del gobierno para reducir la reincidencia en un 5 por ciento para el 2019, los Servicios Correccionales de Nueva Gales del Sur (CSNSW según sus siglas en inglés) han adoptado un modelo basado en la evidencia empírica para la implementación de programas para ofensores y de supervisión dentro de la comunidad. El modelo trata los vacios existentes y está en línea con la evidencia empírica de lo que funciona (What Works) para reducir la reincidencia. Se presta especial atención al principio de responsividad que fuera diseñado para ayudar a los ofensores a entender los factores ligados a la comisión del delito y para que adquieran las herramientas para gestionar de manera independiente su futuro riesgo de reincidencia.

Luke Grant, Anne-Marie Martin, Rosemary Caruana, Jayson Ware and Jason Hainsworth

 

Artículo 12

Artículo 12: Gestion De Individuos Con Trastornos De Salud Mental en El Sistema De Justicia Penal De Nueva Gales Del Sur

Al comparar la población general con las prisiones, vemos que existe un número mayor de individuos con trastornos de salud mental (MHD según sus siglas en inglés) en las segundas. El propósito principal de una prisión no es tratar a personas con MHD pero su presencia requiere de un manejo seguro y humano. Las personas con trastornos de salud mental necesitan recibir tratamiento y también tratar su comportamiento delictivo. Los Servicios Correccionales de Nueva Gales del Sur han desarrollado un enfoque secuencial, centrado en la persona que requiere del trabajo multidisciplinario del personal de varias instituciones para identificar, realizar el triaje, y manejar a las personas con MHD y así minimizar su riesgo y prepararlos para recobrar su libertad de forma exitosa y reintegrarlos a la sociedad.

Dr. Phillip Snoyman, Berindah Aicken, Chris Blatch, Anjah Govender

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 3 (2017) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 3 (2017)

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Advancing Corrections: Innovative Approaches for Service-delivery to Offenders 

This Edition focuses on the theme of ‘innovative approaches for service-delivery to offenders’. In a recent Strategic Planning session, the ICPA Board endorsed the promotion of evidence-informed practices as one of ICPA’s top three priorities, and so the theme is timely. Modern correctional agencies need to assess the merits of an increasing number of potential innovations (e.g., adopting new technology for services delivery to offenders), or changes in existing practice (e.g., assessment,case management, intervention, or other service-delivery frameworks). What will most likely improve performance is not always clear — is there strong enough evidence to support the change in the context of other agency circumstances, would the new approach be feasible to implement, how much can it be expected to enhance performance, are there alternatives or options … etc.? There is an abundant and ever-growing amount of research evidence to support change in practice in corrections. Unfortunately, many attempts at change can end up as being true ‘on paper’ but no t on the ground (e.g., outlined only in policy), or even more often, fragmented or superficial without much meaningful impact. The papers in this Edition give a different perspective – the possibility of thoughtful, planned, integrated and meaningful change.

Foreword

Foreword: Advancing Corrections: Innovative Approaches for Service-delivery to Offenders

Welcome to the 3rd Edition of Advancing Corrections. In short order, it would seem that this new ICPA journal has developed quite a recognized brand. The idea for the journal was to give corrections professionals – researchers and practitioners alike – a forum to discuss developments in the field internationally, new research, focused reviews, descriptions of innovative programs, and even just well informed points of view. I was convinced that the global corrections community needed this kind of forum. The ICPA Board agreed. Researchers and practitioners have responded. For this 3rd Edition, we received several dozen quality submissions. We could only publish twelve. Some of the remainder will be on hold for future Editions. Advancing Corrections has gained the momentum it needs to begin closing the gap it wanted to fill […]

Frank J. Porporino Ph.D.

 

Article 1

Article 1: Getting Mentally Ill Offenders Out Of Prison In Belgium: Innovative And Patient-Oriented Treatment In A Specialized Environment

Several studies show that in Europe psychiatric problems are far more prevalent in prison than in free society. They are especially common amongst those offenders who have been found by a court of law to be of unfit/unsound mind. It is this specific group of the prison population that this article will focus on and who will be referred to as mentally ill offenders from now on. It is clear that in Belgium, the number of mentally ill offenders accommodated in prison has risen progressively. However, recently a decrease in those numbers is noticeable. This drop can be attributed to a new structural approach developed by the Belgian government. The topic of internment has been placed more prominently on the policy agenda and the government committed to a drastic limitation in the time which mentally ill offenders would spend in detention and to the creation of a broader and more differentiated range of care outside the prison walls. The ultimate goal is to take care of mentally ill offenders as much as possible outside prison, offering them the necessary care and achieving a smooth progression within the care circuit (network of different care options) even in crisis or problematic situations. In order to achieve that goal, a total package is currently being worked out that focuses on necessary and suitable care capacity and a clear legislative framework. A critical factor in this new direction is a partnership which is diverse and goes beyond the scope of a network both at the policy level and on the work floor, depending on the care trajectories to be developed for mentally ill offenders. This article will give a detailed overview of the change in Belgian policy and will, as a case study, address the choices of the Belgian government that have contributed to a decrease in the number of mentally ill offenders in prison.

Katelijne Seynnaeve, Hanne Beeuwsaert

 

Article 2

Article 2: New Directions: Integrating A Biopsychosocial Approach In The Design And Delivery Of Progams For High Risk Service Users In Her Majesty’s Prison And Probation Service

Recently, Mann and Carter (2012) have proposed a biopsychosocial model of change building on the Good Lives Model and principles of Risk-Need-Responsivity. The first stage of the model provides a biopsychosocial explanation of dynamic risk factors predictive of sexual recidivism. The second stage articulates a set of compatible organizing principles for program design. In this article we expand the model by providing a preliminary account of the biological, psychological and social basis of dynamic risk factors associated with different offence typologies. Subsequently, details are provided of two widely accessible high intensity programs which implement the organizing principles of the model.

Dr. Jamie S. Walton, Laura Ramsay, Cara Cunningham, Sarah Henfrey

 

Article 3

Article 3: Correctional Service Canada’s Integrated Correctional Program Model (Icpm)

Despite the success of Correctional Service Canada’s (CSC) traditional suite of correction programs in reducing recidivism among all types of offenders, CSC has experienced a number of challenges in the delivery and management of programs, particularly with men offenders. Combining the strongest elements of our previous generation of programs with more recent innovations in offender rehabilitation research, the Integrated Correctional Program Model (ICPM) was designed to enhance public safety by providing a continuum of intervention and allowing greater capacity for offenders to access and complete correctional programs earlier in their sentences while being at least equally effective as CSC’s traditional cadre of correctional programs.

Nancy Poirier, BSc., Kelly Taylor, Ph.D.

 

Article 4

Article 4: Outcomes Of Women Offender Correctional Programs

In 2010, the Correctional Service Canada (CSC) implemented the Women Offender Correctional Program (WOCP) and the Aboriginal Women Offender Correctional Program (AWOCP), both rooted in gender-responsive approaches. The extent to which the objectives of AWOCP and WOCP were met was examined, focussing on program participation and attrition rates, participant treatment gains, and release outcomes. Overall, results demonstrated that participants in AWOCP and WOCP have benefitted from involvement in these correctional programs, providing evidence supporting correctional programs that are responsive to both culture and gender. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Dena Derkzen, Ph.D., Aileen Harris, M.A., Kaitlyn Wardrop, M.A., Jennie Thompson, Ph.D.

 

Article 5

Article 5: Offenders Work 2 Give Back To Indigenous Communities: A Prison And Community Partnership Project

In 2012, the Work 2 Give (W2G) initiative was developed as an innovative approach to offender rehabilitation and the provision of basic items to economically impoverished First Nations communities in British Columbia. In W2G, incarcerated men6 make and donate items to Indigenous communities. In this paper, we describe implementation of this prison-community partnership and findings from a study7 of the impacts on the participating offenders and communities. These findings can contribute to evidence-based correctional programming that addresses reintegration of offenders to communities. The findings are relevant to developing sustainable prison-community partnerships and meaningful work programming within correctional institutions.

Helen Brown, Colleen Varcoe, Melissa Taylor, Kelsey Timler, Sarah Jackman

 

Article 6

Article 6: Implementation And Evaluation Of The Breaking Free Online And Pillars Of Recovery Treatment Programs For Substance-Involved Offenders

This paper reports on implementation of two treatment programs for substance-involved offenders, computer-assisted therapy program Breaking Free Online (BFO) and the Pillars of Recovery (PoR) group-work program. These programs were made available in the UK ‘Gateways’ pathfinder to support offenders to transition back to the community. BFO has also become the first accredited healthcare and offending program to be delivered to prisoners via Virtual Campus (VC), a web-based learning environment available across all English and Welsh prisons. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation has revealed barriers and facilitators of implementation of BFO and PoR, and demonstrated initial clinical outcomes to be promising.

Glyn Davies, Dr. Jonathan Ward, Dr. Sarah Elison, Dr. Samantha Weston, Stephanie Dugdale, Dr. John Weekes

 

Article 7

Article 7: The Use Of Segregation For Children In Australian Youth Detention Systems: An Argument For Prohibition

In 2016, the Australia Federal Government called a formal public inquiry under the arrangement of a Royal Commission to investigate the care and custody arrangements of children under detention orders in the Northern Territory. The NT youth detention system has been shown to be over-reliant on segregation as a behavior management tool which has likely resulted in the abuse of children in their care. This paper examines literature on the use of segregation to explain the progressively degenerating behavior of the children in custody and the likely negative physical and psychological impacts to the children involved. The paper calls for the prohibition of segregation of children arguing that a paradigm shift in the youth detention system to a model employing non-institutional care with trauma informed practice needs to be made.

Dr. Elizabeth Grant, Dr. Rohan Lulham Professor Bronwyn Naylor

 

 

Article 8

Article 8: Human Rights Are Good Corrections: A Partnership Between The Kenya Prisons Service And The Raoul Wallenberg Institute

Focused on approaching human rights through a correctional lens, as well as investing in people rather than infrastructure, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (RWI) established a mutually beneficial and sustainable relationship with the Kenya Prison Service (KPS). This article will highlight this unique initiative and the progress that has been made over the last five years in embedding the Mandela Rules and Human Rights into daily correctional practice of the KPS. Through this integrated and action orientated partnership, the professional training and deployment of front line Human Rights Officers was paired with training of KPS leadership in both the principles and practical implementation strategies of the Mandela Rules. Targeted initiatives such as amending legislation and departmental policy as well as a focus on evidence based approach to correctional practice has provided support to this approach. Progress is measured through comprehensive audits against the Mandela Rules and other Human Rights Instruments conducted jointly by RWI and trained KPS Human Rights Officers. Results to date are promising and the partnership was recently recognized by the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) with the 2016 Correctional Excellence Award for Management and Staff Training.

Terry Hackett, Benjamin Njoga, Josh Ounsted

 

Article 9

Article 9: Piloting The Women’s Risk And Needs Assessment In The Czech Republic: How Icpa Facilitates International Research Collaborations

This paper describes a pilot of the Women’s Risk Needs Assessment (WRNA) in a Czech correctional facility that could potentially lead to a state-level implementation of this gender-responsive instrument. The preliminary results suggest that several dynamic factors were determined to be prevalent needs among the particular population; however, the majority of Czech incarcerated females also reported strengths in different areas of their lives. The misconduct data of the interviewed women will be collected after 6- and 12-months from the date of the interview in order to establish the validity of the instrument in the Czech Republic.

Tereza Trejbalová, M.A., Emily J. Salisbury, Ph.D.

 

Article 10

Article 10: Effective Management Of Inmates With Borderline Intellectual Disability In Prison

Effectively managing and supporting individuals with an intellectual disability (ID) is a difficult task for correctional organizations. Rates of ID in prisons are substantially higher than in the general community, yet there is evidence that rates of Borderline intellectual disability (BID) in prison are even greater. We argue that high rates of BID in prison populations is of concern. This group shares many of the challenges facing people with ID yet they may be harder to identify, and/or are ineligible for support services. Furthermore, high rates of BOD among prisoners means there is a need to ensure programs and interventions are targeted to these recipients, to ensure the efficient direction of resources. Prison officers also need support and training to adequately supervise and care for this group. To properly resource correctional services to manage people with BID, we need accurate estimates of prevalence. Accurate estimates of the prevalence of BID in correctional settings will enable the resourcing, design and delivery of effective programs tailored to the needs of offenders with BID.

Dr. Nixon, M. & Dr. Trounson, J. S.

 

Article 11

Article 11: Enhancing The Quality Of Programs And Supervision To Reduce Reoffending In New South Wales

In line with the State Government priority to reduce re-offending by 5 percentage points by 2019, Corrective Services New South Wales has adopted an evidence-based model in the delivery of community supervision and offender programs. The model addresses gaps and is in line with evidence around what works in reducing reoffending. Particular attention is given to the responsivity principle, designed to assist offenders in understanding the factors linked to their offending, and acquire the skills to independently manage their risk of reoffending.

Luke Grant, Anne-Marie Martin, Rosemary Caruana, Jayson Ware and Jason Hainsworth

 

Article 12

Article 12: Management Of People With Mental Health Disorders In The Criminal Justice System In New South Wales

There are a higher proportion of people with mental health disorders (MHD) in prison compared with the general population. The main purpose of prison is not to treat people with MHD but their presence requires they are safely and humanely managed. People with mental health disorders need to both receive treatment as well as address their offending behavior. Corrective Services New South Wales has developed a sequenced, person-centered approach requiring multi-disciplinary staff working within a range of facilities to identify, triage and manage people with MDH in order to minimise their risk, and prepare them for successful release and reintegration.

Dr. Phillip Snoyman, Berindah Aicken, Chris Blatch, Anjah Govender

 

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal – Edicion 2 (ES) (2016) Advancing Corrections Journal – Edicion 2 (ES) (2016)

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Prólogo: Avances en Temas Correccionales: Aceptación De Cambios Aplicados a Situaciones Actuales

Esta edición incluye 15 artículos originales de autores provenientes de Canadá, EE.UU., Gran Bretaña, Holanda, Australia y África. La respuesta a la última convocatoria para la presentación de artículos fue abrumadora. Con el apoyo de nuestra Junta Editorial internacional, pudimos seleccionar “la crème de la crème” para nuestros lectores. En muchos casos, “la crème” que presentamos en esta edición, ha sido mejorada significativamente a través del proceso de revisión. Los autores y el equipo de revisión aprenden unos de otros y de esta manera nuestros lectores también terminan beneficiándose. La combinación de autores que pudimos reunir resulta ser una representación muy alentadora de la comunidad profesional penitenciaria que pretendemos comprometer – académicos y/o investigadores, asesores, oficiales penitenciarios sénior, algunos directores de servicios, profesionales más destacados, del sector público o privado – todos con algo inter esante para decir. Quizás, en cada caso, lo relaten en forma diferente, pero todo está dicho con honestidad, reflexión y con un contenido académico.

Prólogo

Prólogo: Avances en Temas Correccionales: Aceptación De Cambios Aplicados a Situaciones Actuales

Esta es solo la segunda edición de Advancing Corrections. Desde que tengo el privilegio de ser el Editor, mi punto de vista, de cierta forma, ha sido un tanto parcial. No obstante, dejo a los lectores el hecho de juzgar por ellos mismos, hasta qué punto Advancing Corrections alcanza de forma eficiente su objetivo – convertirse en el lanzamiento de una revista orientada al profesional de la comunidad penitenciaria mundial. Esta edición incluye 15 artículos originales de autores provenientes de Canadá, EE.UU., Gran Bretaña, Holanda, Australia y África […]

Frank J. Porporino Ph.D.

 

Artículo 1

Artículo 1: Encarcelamiento masivo en los Estados Unidos: ¿se puede revertir?

En el año 2012, el Consejo Nacional de Investigación de las Academias Nacionales (NAS por su sigla en inglés) convocó a un grupo interdisciplinario de académicos y especialistas para analizar las causas y consecuencias de las altas tasas de encarcelamiento de los Estados Unidos. Durante 18 meses, la comisión estuvo analizando las temáticas en profundidad y, como resultado, se publicó un informe trascendental en el mes de abril de 2014. En la primera parte de este artículo académico, voy a desarrollar los hallazgos más importantes de dicho informe, incluidas las conclusiones y recomendaciones de la comisión. Luego, procederé a analizar las implicancias de esos hallazgos y presentaré mi punto de vista con respecto a la reforma de las estrategias, que podrían facilitar la reducción de nuestras altas tasas de encarcelamiento sin precedentes.

Jeremy Travis

 

Artículo 2

Artículo 2: Planificación de la pena en Inglaterra y Gales: ¿qué se puede aprender de otros países acerca del equilibrio entre la seguridad, creatividad y humanidad en los sistemas correccionales contemporáneos?

El presente artículo se basa en una presentación plenaria realizada en la conferencia anual de ICPA [Asociación Internacional de Correccionales y Prisiones] en Melbourne, Australia, en octubre de 2015. Está inspirado en las observaciones que he realizado en doce establecimientos penitenciarios nuevos o construidos recientemente en diferentes países que visité en el transcurso de mi proyecto de investigación actual (y en los diseños y planos de otros doce establecimientos). El artículo analiza algunos de los diseños de los establecimientos penitenciarios recientes más interesantes y progresistas, y la medida en la cual los nuevos actores políticos, encargados de llevar adelante los programas de modernización en el contexto penitenciario en el Reino Unido, pueden aprender de las actitudes más visionarias de sus contrapartes en otros lugares del mundo. Asimismo, el artículo considera brevemente la similitud entre la innovación del diseño en el ámbito del cuidado de la salud y aquélla que es la base de los establecimientos penitenciarios más creativos y humanos en algunas partes del centro y norte de Europa. En él se concluye que la arquitectura y el diseño pueden cumplir un rol significativo en la reforma penitenciaria, lo que llevaría a reducir la reincidencia y, en definitiva, la población penal.

Yvonne Jewkes

 

Artículo 3

Artículo 3: Liderazgo en el diseño de los establecimientos penitenciarios para mujeres: un caso práctico

Existen muchísimos ejemplos de establecimientos penitenciarios y cárceles para mujeres que se construyeron en base a planos para establecimientos para hombres, y simplemente se usaron colores “femeninos” y se dejaron de lado los mingitorios. Con un grupo poblacional que está aumentando en muchas partes del mundo, la necesidad de instalaciones correccionales que velen por las necesidades específicas en función del género también continuará creciendo. El presente artículo académico describe un caso práctico que ilustra cómo el liderazgo informado con eficiencia puede influenciar en las decisiones sobre el diseño en un enfoque participativo. El autor se desempeñó como representante del jefe (Oficina del Sheriff del Condado de San Diego) durante más de 1 0 años, y participó en un proceso informativo de la administración de las modificaciones en las opiniones y actitudes de las personas que toman las decisiones, desde el personal que se encuentra en la base hasta los activistas comunitarios. Para las mujeres que están detenidas, una cuestión “una nueva normalidad” fue la cuestión en las operaciones y en el diseño a lo largo de la planificación temprana de la selección de materiales de jardinería para el campus. El primer aspecto, que en definitiva es tambié n el más desafiante, fue definir la normalidad en una comunidad con diferentes grupos étnicos representados con más de dos millones de residentes. Como suele ocurrir con el “buen arte”, la actitud que prevaleció fue la de “Lo voy a saber cuando lo vea”. En un principio, se utilizaron talleres visionarios, recorridas, fotografías con ejemplos penales, residenciales, educativos y de salud con el propósito de disminuir la inquietud acerca de que lo que se estaba proponiendo no era “rentable” para las personas que toman decisiones y para el personal que se encuentra en la base. Mediante el uso de actividades paralelas en el cambio de actitudes durante la capacitación en liderazgo y la elaboración de documentos de diseño que involucran una amplia participación de las partes interesadas, surgió una institución galardonada. A pesar de que Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility [Institución de Detención y Reingresos “Las Colinas”] ha obtenido muchos premios al diseño desde que se inauguró a fines del 2014, quizás, el apoyo más valorable ha venido del personal que se encuentra en la base, documentado en sus comentarios sobre la Evaluación del Uso del Edificio. Así, el personal que traba ja en turnos de 12 horas comentó que el ámbito laboral respaldaba y ampliaba el sentimiento de que se valoraba su trabajo. Poder llegar a este punto fue el resultado de una combinación única entre la inspiración en el liderazgo y el diseño creativo.

Stephen A. Carter

 

Artículo 4

Artículo 4: Aplicación de la ciencia en la 'práctica de las investigaciones': conclusiones extraídas de la integración de entrevistas motivacionales

El objetivo de este artículo es evaluar la aplicación de la ciencia en las prácticas correccionales. La aplicación de la ciencia, tal como la considera Fixsen (2005) y la Red Nacional de Aplicación de la Investigación (National Implementation Research Network, NIRM), será revisada por autoridades competentes, así como también, serán revisados los grados y etapas de implementación. El propósito de este artículo es difundir que los esfuerzos de la implementación pueden variar con el fin de desarrollar habilidades para asegurar la obtención de escalas y fidel idad apropiadas para una práctica efectiva de un abordaje correccional. La aplicación de las Entrevistas Motivacionales (Miller & Rollnick, 2013), una práctica correccional emergente, es utilizada para describir las “conclusiones extraídas” con relación a importantes cuestiones de implementación. Este artículo ofrece seis sugerencias para grupos correccionales, con el fin de mejorar los resultados de implementación. Estas sugerencias se basan en un campo de experiencia actual y también en casos de estudio relacionados a la implementación múltiple de iniciativas de entrevistas motivacionales de los EE. UU.

Michael D. Clark

 

Artículo 5

Artículo 5: La Percepción De Las Oportunidades De Reintegración Durante La Vida Intramuros

En este artículo, analizamos los factores que podrían apuntalar las oportunidades que experimentan los internos, así como el grado de interés que pueden demostrar, para trabajar en su reintegración en la sociedad. Los factores y las explicaciones que se ofrecen mediante una serie de modelos teóricos se evaluaron con una encuesta a internos holandeses en 2014 (n=2120). En este sentido, los hallazgos de los análisis estadísticos generalmente respaldan algunos puntos de influencia clave: los internos son más optimistas sobre las oportunidades de reintegración si tienen una opinión favorable sobre el modo que se los trata en prisión, si pudieron hacer uso activo del Plan de Detención y Reintegración, y si valoran su programa diario y experimentan cierto nivel de autonomía. Estos hallazgos suponen algunas consecuencias importantes respecto del modo en el que el sistema penitenciario puede trabajar con mayor efectividad para que los internos se reinserten con éxito en la sociedad.

Toon Molleman & Karin Lasthuizen

 

Artículo 6

Artículo 6: Análisis del rol de conexión con la cultura y la comunidad en la promoción del compromiso de los internos provenientes de pueblos originarios con la educación intramuros

Las investigaciones indican que los pueblos originarios están sobrerrepresentados en las poblaciones penales, lo cual representa un gran desafío para las agencias correccionales de varios países. Entre otras cosas, es evidente que la sobrerrepresentación de los pueblos originarios a lo largo del sistema de justicia supone una cuestión compleja y multidimensional en la que se requiere un nivel considerable de conocimiento y análisis empírico para identificar y abordar la amplia gama de factores que intervienen. Aunque es posible encontrar una variedad factores culturales, sociales e históricos que contribuyen a las elevadas tasas de prisión y reincidencia en estos grupos, una de las áreas que recientemente se identificó como interesante de investigar con mayor profundidad son los logros educativos. A pesar de que la relación entre la educación y la reincidencia se ha venido reconociendo en las políticas correccionales que promueven la educación de los internos, aún se detectan dificultades en fomentar que los internos provenientes de pueblos originarios aprovechen estas oportunidades de educación. En este artículo, se analiza la importancia de la relación con la cultura y la comunidad en la promoción de la participación de los internos de este grupo en logros educativos durante el tiempo en que se encuentran privados de su libertad. Asimismo, desde la perspectiva australiana, se debaten los beneficios y la implementación de programas orientados en la educación que cuentan con información de la cultura y están diseñados para ayudar a las personas que pertenecen a pueblos originarios a mantener su compromiso con los logros educativos mientras se encuentran en prisión.

Charlotte A. Boyce, Justin S.Trounson, & Jeffrey E. Pfeifer

 

Artículo 7

Artículo 7: La doctrina de los datos penitenciarios

El presente artículo resalta la importancia de que se cree un intercambio de datos integral con un enfoque ascendente [abajo-arriba], que comience en los establecimientos penitenciarios y llegue hasta los organismos gubernamentales que luchan contra el terrorismo. El aumento del intercambio de información sobre los vínculos terroristas y la pertenencia a bandas en el sistema penitenciario fortalecerá a las autoridades que luchan contra el terrorismo, ya que les proporcionará un análisis predictivo y fundamentado de posibles individuos radicalizados. Este artículo propone que la información de inteligencia proporcionada por la doctrina de los datos penitenciarios ayudará a limitar la cantidad de ataques que ocurren en todo el mundo. La recopilación de información que gira en torno de la posible radicalización se puede llevar a cabo a través del uso de una combinación de sistemas de gestión de infractores y de herramientas subsiguientes de análisis de información de inteligencia de negocios. De esta manera, el intercambio de información intergubernamental mejorado incrementará la seguridad y la protección personal de los países y de las personas en todo el mundo.

Alphonzo A. Albright

 

Artículo 8

Artículo 8: Dos perspectivas de América del Norte sobre el liderazgo profesional en el ámbito penitenciario

Las cualidades que se necesitan para un liderazgo efectivo en el ámbito penitenciario se analizan desde dos puntos de vista. Los autores, quienes actualmente se desempeñan como académicos/consultores, han tenido diferentes y vastas experiencias en el área (prisiones, programas penitenciarios en la comunidad). El primer autor brinda una mirada sobre el desempeño de los líderes administrativos de diferentes jurisdicciones canadienses mientras que el segundo brinda una opinión gestáltica sobre las cualidades de liderazgo deseadas en los Estados Unidos. Si bien ambos análisis están escritos desde diferentes ángulos, existe, en ellos, un amplio consenso sobre las habilidades, valores, funciones de liderazgo y la autodefensa intelectual que se necesita para combatir los poderosos efectos adversos que se producen en el área, derivados de la política.

Paul Gendreau & Mario A. Paparozzi

 

Artículo 9

Artículo 9: Liderazgo exitoso en el ámbito correccional: el desafío de compatibilizar la política y la criminología

Este artículo explora la complejidad de ser un líder exitoso dentro del ámbito penitenciario, examina los componentes del liderazgo exitoso en este ambiente desafiante e identifica el gerenciamiento práctico y las habilidades de liderazgo que llevan al éxito.

Philip Wheatley

 

Artículo 10

Artículo 10: Liderazgo correccional para el futuro: inspirar, innovar y empoderar

Durante más de 38 años, he observado la evolución y la transformación de los servicios correccionales en Canadá (a nivel federal, provincial y territorial), como también en otras jurisdicciones del mundo. Considerando que hubo muchos cambios en cuanto a las prácticas, los procedimientos y las políticas que se implementaron para garantizar que una jurisdicción determinada prestara servicios correccionales modernos y efectivos, los cambios más significativos versaron sobre el tipo de liderazgo requerido para que la transformación fuera posible y para asegurar que esta se “instalara” en pos de continuar avanzando en esa línea.

Don Head

 

Artículo 11

Artículo 11: Cómo mantener al personal motivado en épocas difíciles de la organización: un desafío al liderazgo

El cambio siempre está sobre nosotros–lo impulsan varios factores de diferentes fuentes. Los internos y el personal se ven afectados y para lograr una buena gobernanza el cambio debe ser gestionado. Los países bajos son un buen ejemplo permanente de esto. Creo que existe una presión continua para lograr el cambio dentro de los sistemas penitenciarios de cada país. Por un lado, algunos cambios se inician de manos de los profesionales penitenciarios, pero en la mayoría de los casos, los cambios son motivados por recortes en el presupuesto, sobrepoblación o una combinación de ambos. Las organizaciones penitenciarias no difieren de organizaciones comunes dentro de la sociedad en lo que se refiere a la “necesidad constante de cambio”. Sin embargo, lo que hace a éste tipo de organizaciones únicas, es la noción (inevitablemente) limitada que tiene la sociedad sobre lo que pasa detrás de esas paredes altas. Y en caso de considerar cambios radicales a nivel organizacional, debemos suponer que los resultados nunca deben debilitar la seguridad dado las implicancias sociales significativas que podrían tener, por ejemplo, fugas o motines. Las autoridades de la prisión juegan un papel clave en esto. ¿Cómo nos aseguramos que la sociedad y en particular las personas encargadas de la toma de decisiones, tengan un entendimiento correcto sobre lo que es una “administración de prisiones sensata”? ¿Cómo nos aseguramos de que las personas encargadas de la toma de decisiones (políticas) basen sus decisiones en ese entendimiento? ¿Cómo nos aseguramos de que el personal penitenciario esté moti vado (y continúe estándolo) para llevar a cabo este trabajo tan importante con pasión? En este artículo quiero tratar estas cuestiones basándome en mi experiencia práctica en los Países Bajos. Primero, brindaré un pequeño pantallazo del proceso de reforma que hemos emprendido en los Países Bajos desde el año 2013. Luego, me enfocaré en la forma en que gestionamos este proceso. Finalmente, resaltaré el rol de los directivos en el proceso y el significado del liderazgo.

Peter Hennephof

 

Artículo 12

Artículo 12: El impacto del liderazgo y la educación de los internos en la admistración de establecimientos penitenciarios: enseñanzas de Uganda y Kenia

Mediante el análisis de Uganda y Kenia, en este artículo, debatiremos el impacto de apoyar el liderazgo a través de la educación y las tutorías de los internos, así como las estrategias experimentadas que atestiguaron el modo en que la excelencia académica y del liderazgo de los internos modificaron los programas correccionales en los dos países. En el debate, analizaremos la naturaleza tradicional de circuito cerrado de los establecimientos penitenciarios de estos dos países, antes de la jurisprudencia derivada de los intentos de los detenidos y del surgimiento de los avances icónicos de la educación formal. Los estudios de caso de estos países mostrará la manera en que los establecimientos penitenciarios pueden modificarse a través de estrategias indirectas y no conflictivas, que tienen como objetivo el desarrollo de modelos ejemplares, que ejercen influencia más allá del ámbito intramuros. Asimismo, revelaremos el descubrimiento del Proyecto de Establecimientos Penitenciarios Africanos, que establece que el hecho de que se respalde y perfile a los internos como agentes de cambio, líderes y modelos ejemplares puede tener un impacto en los programas y en la administración en general de los establecimientos penitenciarios. Esto modifica la percepción negativa que se tiene de los establecimientos y sirve para atraer a asociaciones externas que mejoran en gran medida la calidad y la capacidad de innovación de los modelos de reinserción penitenciaria. Palabras clave: Detenidos, Liderazgo, Interno, Establecimientos Penitenciarios, Tutorías, Educación, Modelos ejemplares, Administración, Kenia, Uganda.

Jackline Mwende & Rabia Pasha

 

Artículo 13

Artículo 13: Construir y mantener una cultura analítica en el ámbito correccional

Las organizaciones correccionales que siguen una cultura analítica tienen un gran interés en utilizar estratégicamente los datos para la planificación de sus negocios y para la toma de decisiones. El viaje analítico del Servicio Correccional de Canadá comenzó mediante el desplazamiento de una posición reactiva en la que se consideraba un problema a la vez hacia una organización más estratégica, equipada con la capacidad analítica para buscar soluciones de manera proactiva. La primera parte de este artículo destaca los elementos clave que se requieren para construir una cultura analítica en el ámbito correccional. En la segunda parte, nos concentramos en el mantenimiento de esta cultura analítica a través de la aplicación en la práctica. Más concretamente, mostraremos de qué modo el modelo data analytics responde a estas seis preguntas relevantes que se relacionan entre sí: ¿Cuántos serán? (tamaño); ¿Quiénes serán? (composición); ¿Cuántos reincidirán? (desempeño); ¿Quiénes serán? (predicción); Si conocemos a quien reincide, entonces, ¿qué? (intervención); Si intervenimos, entonces, ¿qué? (impacto). Un enfoque de datos informados en el ámbito correccional puede ayudar a ofrecer resultados de desempeño positivos.

Larry L. Motiuk

 

Artículo 14

Artículo 14: La transformación del continuo de formación de los agentes correccionales en el Servicio Correccional de Canadá

This paper provides an overview of the approach that was taken by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) to transform the Correctional Officers training program. It will describe the changes in the training continuum and the main collaborative activities that have made the transformation both  possible and successful.

Sylvain Mongrain

 

Artículo 15

Artículo 15: El nuevo modelo de capacidades de negocio 'informático' dentro del Servicio Correccional de Canadá

Advancing Corrections es una publicación revisada por pares que sirve de foro internacional e interdisciplinario para la difusión de prácticas, políticas e investigaciones nuevas relacionadas con el logro de avances en el ámbito correccional profesional a nivel mundial. El objetivo es brindarles a los investigadores y a los profesionales de una amplia gama de disciplinas (justicia penal, psicología, sociología, ciencias políticas, economía, salud pública y trabajo social) la oportunidad de publicar artículos que analicen diferentes temáticas mediante varias perspectivas en un foro interdisciplinario único. Su artículo puede llegar a ser un debate versado en elementos probatorios sobre una cuestión importante relacionada con la temática de la próxima Conferencia Anual de ICPA, un resumen sobre hallazgos nuevos de una investigación y sus efectos en la práctica, una descripción de un programa o un enfoque innovador, o una opinión informada sobre algún aspecto de la gestión de cuestiones clave en el ámbito correccional.

Simon Bonk & Ted Reinhardt

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 2 (2016) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 2 (2016)

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 Advancing Corrections: Welcoming Disruptions to the Status Quo

This issue includes 15 original papers with authors from Canada, America, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia and Africa. The response to the last Call for Papers was overwhelming and with the support of our international Editorial Board, we could choose ‘la crème de la crème’ for our readers. The mix of authors we have been able to attract is also encouragingly representative of the community of corrections professionals we want to engage – academics and/or researchers, consultants, senior corrections officials, including a few heads of service, front-line practitioners, public and private sector – all with something interesting to say, perhaps said a bit differently in each case, but said with honesty, thoughtfulness and some scholarly substance. We hope you enjoy this second issue of Advancing Corrections and we welcome your feedback.

Foreword

Foreword: Advancing Corrections: Welcoming Disruptions to the Status Quo

This is only the second issue of Advancing Corrections. Since I have the privilege of serving as Editor, my point of view is perhaps a tad biased. But I leave it to readers to judge for themselves how well Advancing Corrections is already achieving its aim – to become the premiere practitioner-oriented professional journal for the global corrections community. This issue includes 15 original papers with authors from Canada, America, the UK, the Netherlands, Australia and Africa […]

Frank J. Porporino Ph.D.

 

Article 1

Article 1: Mass Incarceration In America: Can It Be Reversed?

In 2012, the National Research Council of the National Academies (NAS) convened an interdisciplinary group of scholars and experts to explore the causes and consequences of America’s high rates of incarceration. The committee explored issues in depth over a period of 18 months, culminating in the release of a landmark report in April, 2014. In the first half of this paper, I will present the major findings of this report, including the committee’s conclusions and recommendations. I will then proceed to explore the implications of those findings and present my own thoughts outlining reform strategies that hold the promise of reducing our unprecedented high rates of incarceration.

Jeremy Travis

 

Article 2

Article 2: Designing Punishment In England And Wales: What Can Be Learned From Other Countries About Balancing Security, Creativity And Humanity In Contemporary Correctional Systems?

This article is based on a plenary presentation given at ICPA’s annual conference in Melbourne, Australia, in October 2015. It draws on my observations of twelve brand new or very recently built prisons in various countries that I have visited in the course of my current research project (and the drawings and plans for around a dozen more). The article discusses some of the most interesting and progressive recent prison designs and the extent to which the new political actors charged with driving forward a prison modernization programme in the UK can learn from the more enlightened attitudes displayed by their counterparts elsewhere. The article also briefly considers parallels between design innovation in the sphere of healthcare and that underpinning the most humane and imaginative prisons in parts of central and northern Europe. It concludes that architecture and design can play a significant role in prison reform, lowering recidivism and ultimately reducing the prison population.

Yvonne Jewkes

 

Article 3

Article 3: Leadership In The Design Of Women’s Prisons: A Case Study

So many examples exist of women’s jails and prisons being constructed using plans from male institutions and simply using “feminine” colors and omitting the urinals. With a population coh ort that is on the rise in many parts of the world, the need for gender-specific correctional facilities will continue to increase. This paper describes a case study which illustrates how effectively informed leadership can influence design decisions in a participatory approach. The author served as a representative of the owner (San Diego County Sheriff’s Office) for more than 10 years and participated in an informative process of managing change in opinions and attitudes of decision-makers, from line staff to community activists. The theme for operations and design throughout the early planning to the selection of landscape materials for the campus was one of “a new normal” for incarcerated women. The first, and ultimately most challenging, aspect was defining normal in a multi-ethnic community of more than two million residents. Much like “good art”, an attitude prevailed that “I’ll know it when I see it”. Visioning workshops, tours, photographs from educational, healthcare, residential, and penal examples were used to initially curb a concern that what was being proposed was not “marketable” to decision-makers and line staff. By using parallel activities of changing attitudes through leadership training and the production of design documents involving a broad participation of stakeholders, an award-winning facility emerged. While the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility has received numerous design awards since opening in late 2014, perhaps the most valuable endorsement has come from the line staff documented in their Post Occupancy Evaluation comments. Consistently, staff who work 12 hour shifts commented that the working environment supported and extended the feeling that their work was valued. Achieving this was a unique combination of inspired leadership and imaginative design.

Stephen A. Carter

 

Article 4

Article 4: Using Implementation Science To Turn 'Research Into Practice': Lessons Learned From Integrating Motivational Interviewing

The focus of this article is to examine implementation science as applied to correctional practices. Implementation science, as posited by Fixsen (2005) and the National Implementation Research Network (NIRM), will be reviewed, with attention paid to competency drivers, as well as the degrees and stages of implementation. The purpose of this article is to convey that implementation efforts can vary in developing needed capabilities to ensure proper scale and fidelity are achieved for effective practice of a correctional approach. The adoption of Motivational Interviewing (Miller & Rollnick, 2013), an emerging correctional practice, is used to describe “lessons learned” regarding several important implementation issues. This article offers six suggestions for correctional groups to improve their implementation outcomes. These suggestions are based on actual field experience and case studies of multiple implementation initiatives of Motivational Interviewing across the USA.

Michael D. Clark

 

Article 5

Article 5: Perceived Reintegration Options During Imprisonment

This article examines the factors that might underpin the options experienced by prisoners, and the degree of interest they may demonstrate, for working on their reintegration to society. The factors and explanations offered by a number of theoretical models are tested against the Dutch prisoner survey 2014 (n=2120) and the findings from statistical analyses are generally supportive of some key influences: Prisoners are more positive about their reintegration options if they take a more favorable view about how they are treated in prison, if they have made active use of their Detention and Reintegration Plan, and if they see value in their daily program and experience some level of autonomy. These findings have some important implications for how the prison system can work more effectively towards the successful return of prisoners to society.

Toon Molleman & Karin Lasthuizen

 

Article 6

Article 6: Examining The Role Of Connection To Culture And Community In Promoting Indigenous Inmate Engagement With Education In Prison

Research indicates that Indigenous groups are overrepresented within prison populations, representing a significant challenge for corrections agencies in a number of countries. Among other things, it is clear that the overrepresentation of Indigenous people across the justice system is a complex, multidimensional issue requiring a significant amount of insight and empirical examination in order to identify and address the range of contributing factors. Although there are likely to be a variety of historical, social and cultural factors that contribute to the high rates of incarceration and recidivism in these groups, one area which has recently been identified as worthy of further investigation is that of educational attainment. Although the link between education and recidivism has long been acknowledged in corrections policies that promote education for inmates, there remain difficulties in encouraging Indigenous inmates to engage in educational opportunities. This paper explores the importance of connection to culture and community in promoting Indigenous engagement in educational pursuits while incarcerated. Furthermore, it does so through an Australian perspective, discussing the benefits and implementation of culture-informed, education-focused programs designed to assist Indigenous individuals to maintain engagement in educational pursuits while incarcerated.

Charlotte A. Boyce, Justin S. Trounson, & Jeffrey E. Pfeifer

 

Article 7

Article 7: The Corrections Data Doctrine

This essay highlights the importance of creating an all-encompassing data-sharing capability with a bottom-up approach starting at correctional facilities up to counter-terrorism government agencies. Increased information sharing about gang or terrorist affiliations in the prison system will empower counter-terrorism authorities by giving them predictive and educated analysis of potentially radicalized individuals. This paper proposes that intelligence offered from a corrections data doctrine will help curb the amount of attacks occurring all over the world. Capturing data surrounding potential radicalization can be accomplished through a combination of offender management systems and subsequent business intelligence analysis tools. Improved inter-governmental data sharing will thereby increase the security and safety of countries and people around the world.

Alphonzo A. Albright

 

Article 8

Article 8: Two Perspectives From North America On Professional Leadership In Corrections

The qualities needed for effective leadership in corrections are discussed from two vantage points. The commentators, while both academic/consultants at the present time, each has had extensive and different experiences in the field (i.e., prisons and community corrections). The first commentator takes a micro look at the functioning of correctional administrative leaders from Canadian jurisdictions while the second provides more of a gestalt viewpoint on the qualities of leadership desired in the United States. While both phrase their critiques from different angles, there is a broad consensus on the skills, values and function of leaders and the intellectual self-defense needed to combat the powerful adverse effects of the politics of the field.

Paul Gendreau & Mario A. Paparozzi

 

Article 9

Article 9: Successful Leadership In Corrections: The Challenge Of Making Politics And Criminology Compatible

This paper explores the complexity of being a successful leader in corrections, examines the components of successful leadership in such a challenging environment and identifies the practical management and leadership skills that generate success.

Philip Wheatley

 

Article 10

Article 10: Correctional Leadership For The Future: Inspiring, Innovating

For over 38 years I have seen the evolution and transformation of correctional services within Canada at the federal, provincial and territorial level, and in jurisdictions around the world. While there have been many changes in terms of the practices, procedures and policies that have been implemented to ensure that a jurisdiction delivers modern and effective correctional services, the most significant changes have been around the type of leadership needed to affect transformation and to ensure that it “sticks” going forward.

Don Head

 

Article 11

Article 11: Keeping Staff Motivated During Agency Dire Straits: A Leadership Challenge

Change is always upon us – driven by multiple factors from multiple sources. Prisoners and staff are affected and change must be managed if good governance is to be achieved. The Netherlands is a good ongoing example of this. I believe that there is a continuous pressure for change within correctional systems in every country. On the one hand, some change is initiated by corrections professionals, but more often, it is driven by budget cuts, overcrowding or a combination of both. Prison organisations don’t differ from ‘regular’ organisations in society when it comes to ‘a constant need for change’. What makes them unique, however, is that society’s notion of what happens behind those high walls is (inevitably) limited. And the radical organisational changes we might have to consider can never result in a weakening of security, given the significant social implications of, for example, escapes and riots. The management of the prison administration has a key role in this. How do you ensure that society, decision-makers in particular, have a correct understanding of the meaning of a ‘sound prison administration’? How do you ensure that the (political) decision-makers base their decision making on that understanding? How do you ensure that the personnel of the prison administration are motivated to (continue to) carry out their important work with passion? In this article I want to address these questions based on my practical experiences in the Netherlands. First, I will give a brief outline of the reform process, which we have engaged with in the Netherlands since 2013. After this, I will focus on the way in which we managed this process. Finally, I will highlight the role of the managers in the process and the meaning of leadership.

Peter Hennephof

 

Article 12

Article 12: The Impact of Inmate Education and Leadership in the Management of Correctional Facilities: Lessons from Uganda and Kenya

Focusing on Uganda and Kenya, this paper will discuss the impact of supporting leadership via education and mentorship of inmates. It will discuss tried strategies that have seen inmates’ leadership and academic excellence change prison programming in both countries. The discussion will look at the traditional closed circuited nature of prisons before iconic advances in formal education and case law originating from efforts of incarcerated individuals in both countries. Case studies from these countries will show how prisons can be changed via indirect and non-confrontational strategies that target building role models that have influence beyond the prison. Further, it will reveal the discovery by the African Prisons Project that inmates supported and profiled as agents of change, leaders and role models, can impact on the overall management and programming of prisons. This changes the negative perception of prisons and serves to attract external partnerships that greatly enhance the quality and innovativeness of prison rehabilitation models.

Jackline Mwende & Rabia Pasha

 

Article 13

Article 13: Building And Sustaining An Analytical Culture In Corrections

Correctional organizations with an analytical culture have a keen interest in the strategic use of data for business planning and decision making. Correctional Service of Canada’s own analytic journey began with moving from a position of reacting to one problem at a time to a more strategic organization equipped with the analytic capacity to find solutions proactively. The first section of this paper highlights the key elements required for building an analytical culture in corrections. The second section focuses on sustaining this analytical culture through applied practice. More specifically, by showing how data analytics respond to six important and related questions: How many will there be? (Size); Who will they be? (Composition); How many re-offend? (Performance); Who will they be? (Prediction); If who re-offends is known, then what? (Intervention); If intervened with, then what? (Impact). A data informed approach to corrections can help to deliver positive performance results.

Larry L. Motiuk

 

Article 14

Article 14: Transforming The Correctional Officer Training Continuum Of The Correctional Service Of Canada

This paper provides an overview of the approach that was taken by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) to transform the Correctional Officers training program. It will describe the changes in the training continuum and the main collaborative activities that have made the transformation both possible and successful.

Sylvain Mongrain

 

Article 15

Article 15: A New ‘It’ Business Capability Model Within The Correctional Service Of Canada

In the 21st century, with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) playing a strategic enabling role in leading organizations, there is an opportunity to shift the conversation concerning ICT and assess its value for and contribution to Correctional Services1. With the mandate of assisting the rehabilitation of offenders and their safe reintegration into the community as law-abiding citizens, the conversation should become more about the ability of ICT to help achieve this mandate throughout the correctional process, from beginning to end of incarceration and then eventually with a focus on reintegration back into the community. The conversation should be about improving the functioning of this process and less about IT service calls met, or IT infrastructure purchased. It is time for organizations delivering ICT to showcase how it can build capabilities that enable its stakeholders and partners within the correctional services to effectively leverage technology to modernize service and the business capabilities required to deliver this.

Simon Bonk & Ted Reinhardt

 

 

Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 1 (2016) Advancing Corrections Journal - Issue 1 (2016)

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Advancing Corrections: Shaping Practice Through Evidence

Advancing Corrections is a peer-reviewed publication that provides an interdisciplinary and international forum for the dissemination of new research, policies and practices related to advancing professional corrections worldwide. The aim is to provide an opportunity for both researchers and practitioners from a wide range of disciplines (criminal justice, psychology, sociology, political science, economics, public health, and social work) to publish papers that examine issues from a variety of perspectives in a unique, interdisciplinary forum. Advancing Corrections is intended to fill the need for researchers to speak more clearly to practitioners and practitioners to speak in a more evidence informed way to their colleagues.

Foreword

Foreword: Advancing Corrections: Shaping Practice Through Evidence

As Editor of this first issue of Advancing Corrections, I want to take a few pages to outline the rationale for its inception. Corrections is both a noble and incredibly challenging vocation. For most corrections professionals, regardless of their rank or scope of responsibilities, there is rarely a dull issue to contend with or a dull moment to cope with. Looking back over more than 40 years, my own career feels more like a 100-yard dash than a lengthy marathon. Corrections has a way of getting into your lifeblood. It stretches and strains, engages and commits the efforts of hundreds of thousands of corrections professionals worldwide to find ways of delivering quality services in often very difficult circumstances. Quite persistently, corrections is also pushed and pulled in different directions, at different times, often for reasons that are more political or ideological than informed by evidence. Corrections professionals accept this. Over the last several decades, in many countries, they have grown accustomed to the pendulum swing towards greater conservatism, a hardening of public attitudes, less reliance on community options, growing rates of incarceration, longer sentences, and diminishing resources to manage the increasing numbers of mentally disordered, drug addicted, defiant, disturbed, and disadvantaged offenders […]

Frank J. Porporino Ph.D.

 

Article 1

Article 1: The Risk Of ‘A Cold Conservatism’ In Correctional Facility Design: The Case For Design Innovation

This paper examines the relationship between physical design and risk within modern correctional practice. It seeks to identify the potential risks and paradoxes of the current emphasis on considering correctional design primarily as a means of reducing security risks. We suggest that innovation in correctional design is required that embeds meanings that both support the goals of security risk management, but also the goals of reducing reoffending risk and promoting desistance. Drawing on a case study of the design and evaluation of a correctional education facility, we contend that innovative correctional design more broadly can be a stronger force for managing risk to promote desistance in corrections.

Rohan Lulham, Douglas Tomkin, Luke Grant & Yvonne Jewkes

 

Article 2

Article 2: Designing Carceral Environments For Indigenous Prisoners: A Comparison Of Approaches In Australia, Canada, New Zealand, The Us And Greenland (48,449)

The high incarceration rate of people from Indigenous cultures is a worldwide phenomenon. Disproportionately high numbers of Indigenous people are confined in prisons as a legacy of forced colonisation. There is a capacity for the design of prison facilities to have an impact on the prisoners’ experiences and outcomes. This paper will examine some trends and recent projects in the design of prison facilities for Indigenous prisoners in the US, Canada, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat). It reflects on the important considerations and summarises eight key considerations for the design of carceral environments for Indigenous peoples.

Elizabeth Grant

 

Article 3

Article 3: Managing Risk Through Rational Pretrial Detention Practices

Prison systems face relatively high, often distinctive, risks and challenges in both confining and managing pretrial detainee populations. Large pretrial detainee populations undermine key objectives common to most correctional systems – incarcerating and rehabilitating convicted offenders, enhancing public security, and punishment. Pretrial detention contributes to prison overcrowding, has a criminogenic effect, and diverts scarce resources from other criminal justice priorities. A number of legal and policy interventions can reduce the arbitrary and excessive use of pretrial detention and the risks and burdens this entails for penal systems.

Martin Schönteich

 

Article 4

Article 4: Promoting Correctional Officer Wellbeing: Guidelines And Suggestions For Developing Psychological Training Programs

This paper explores the issue of staff wellbeing in a correctional context and discusses the need for the development of evidence-based and industry-responsive training for correctional officers to ameliorate the negative psychological effects of perceived workplace adversity. The paper provides a rationale for the development of training based on the existing literature and offers a set of overarching guidelines for consideration when developing programs aimed at positively impacting the wellbeing of correctional staff. Among other things, the enunciation of these gui delines is based on the contention that there is a need for training programs that acknowledge the unique challenges and environmental contexts faced by contemporary correctional officers. As such, it is argued that the planning, development and implementation of training programs need to be responsive to the diverse needs of staff and designed to be both relevant and palatable to correctional officers.

Justin S. Trounson & Jeffrey E. Pfeifer

 

Article 5

Article 5: Engaging Prisoners In Education: Reducing Risk And Recidivism

Engaging prisoners in education is one of a range of measur es that could alleviate security risk in prisons. For prisoners, one of the main challenges with incarceration is monotony, often leading to frustration, raising the risk of injury for staff and other prisoners. This article suggests that prisone r engagement in education may help to alleviate security risk in prisons through relieving monotony and reducing re-offending by promoting critical thinking skills. It discusses some of the chal lenges to accessing higher levels of education in prisons and argues that if education was considered for its risk-reducing potential and measured accordingly, then some of those challenges could be reduced. It concludes with a discussion of projects undertaken in Australia and the UK that introduce digital technologies into prisons to allow greater access to the self-paced higher levels of education which could help realize the benefits of reduced risk and decreased recidivism rates.

Helen Farley & Anne Pike

 

Article 6

Article 6: Operationalizing Evidence-Informed Principles In Reducing Recidivism Amongst High-Risk Offenders In Singapore

The use of empirical evidence in guiding correctional practice in the Singapore Prison Service began some 15 years ago when it first adopted the well-known Risks, Needs and R esponsivity (RNR) model. The RNR model has sound theoretical underpinnings that have been empirically validated (Andrews & Dowden, 2005). In Singapore, the growth in the use of evidence-informed correctional practices continued steadily through the years until, quite recently, when a particularly comprehensive application of empirical evidence served to integrate and elaborate a new approach. This paper discusses how empirical evidence guided the development and is now determining the delivery of correctional interventions, assessments, staffing and evaluation.

Karam Singh & Salina Samion

 

Article 7

Article 7: The Role Of Positive Psychology In Offender Supervision

This paper reports the findings of an empirical study examining the relationship between offender supervision outcomes and the self-reported assessment of positive psychological states. Scores on a composite measure of positive psychological states were found to be inversely associated with supervision outcomes and mediated the relationship between risk-needs and technical violations, charges, reconvictions, and imprisonment. This suggests that interventions that promote states such as optimism, hope, self-efficacy, and psychological flexibility may have a key role to play in effective offender management.

Yilma Woldgabreal & Andrew Day

 

Article 8

Article 8: Widening The Scope Of The Principle Of Normality

On the 22nd of July 2011 a solo terrorist in Norway killed 77 people, mainly juveniles. After such a tragic terrorist attack – how is it possible to bring the community, victi ms and the offender back to normality? Victims have had their lives turned around. The core values of the society have been severely challenged, and the offender in question will have a long, maybe life-long sentence to serve. With the correctional normality concept as a starting point, this paper look s at three dimensions of the issue: Society, victim and offender. Furthermore, the paper reflects on what lessons Norwegian society has learned after the attack?

Marianne Vollan

 

Article 9

Article 9: Implementing Human Rights In Prisons

The management of prisons includes protecting the human rights of prisoners. This article examines the practicalities of implementing human rights in prisons. Drawing on the author’s Australian and comparative research, the paper outlines relevant human rights principles, considers the capacity of prisons to incorporate human rights considerations into their routine management, and identifies the role of monitoring bodies in the proactive oversight of the prison environment.

Bronwyn Naylor

 

Article 10

Article 10: Investigation Into The Rehabilitation And Reintegration Of Prisoners In Victoria

This paper presents some of the views of the Office of the Ombudsman in the State of Victoria in Australia, especially as they pertain to a recent investigation into the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners in Victoria. The Victorian Ombudsman has responsibility for over 1000 government departments and bodies, yet one of those agencies stands head and shoulders above the others in the amount of time and attention it commands from the state’s independent adjudicator. That agency is Corrections Victoria, which manages the Victorian prison system. The Corrections, Justice and Regulation portfolio is the subject of more complaints than any other portfolio at the Ombudsman’s office. It was in this context that I launched, and in September 2015 tabled, my investigation into the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners in Victoria.

Deborah Glass

 

Article 11

Article 11: Radicalization: An Existential Threat

Radicalization means that an individual’s way of thinking is fundamentally altered. This change leads an individual to move further and further way from his/her mainstream way of thought. In this century of turmoil and widespread, even if limited warfare, radicalization towards violent and terrorist extremism is part of asymmetrical warfare. Groups are fervent in using asymmetrical means to meet their ends. If we take prisons as a dynamic society in its own right, where many individuals are “living” together, it is not difficult to imagine the intermingling of ideas, sharing of concepts, c onversion towards extremism and formation of new alliances. Radicalization is a thorough change; it engulfs the individual in discarding their mainstream outlook, moving instead towards extremist views, with push and pull factors creating an “us vs. them” mindset. In fact, in a prison environment any grievances, which an inmate comes with, can be easily exploited by terrorist recruiters and channeled into an extremist mindset. This paper tries to highlight the seriousness of the issue of radicalization facing societies, and focuses especially on explaining how extremist groups function and operate, both in the community at large and in prisons, in recruiting their members and giving them new purpose and meaning that can sustain their loyalty and fuel their commitment to violent action.

Rupali Jeswal

 

Article 12

Article 12: Just Open The Door – Solitary Confinement Reform In Colorado

In 2011, Tom Clements, who had thirty years’ experience with the State of Missouri Department of Corrections, was hired by Governor John Hickenlooper, the Governor of Colorado to lead the Colorado Department of Corrections. Executive Director Clements realized that the Department was overusing solitary confinement, where inmates were being confined in approximately 7 by 13 foot cells for 23 hours per day sometimes for years at a time. In fact, in 2011, 1500 inmates or almost 7% of the inmate population were being housed in solitary. Per capita this was one of the high est in the nation. Executive Director Clements charged his staff with looking at each case individually to determine if those individuals needed to be in solitary. During these initi al reforms a terrible tragedy occurred. On the evening of March 19, 2013. Executive Director Clements was assassinated at his home by an individual who had been released into the community directly from solitary, where he had spent the last 7 years. This individual had absconded from parole and killed a person, who he had ordered a pizza from. Donning the delivery uniform he arrived at the Clements’ home and knocked on the door. Tom Clements was shot in the chest when he answered his front door.

Rick Raemisch

 

Article 13

Article 13: Managing Special Needs Offenders In Prisons And The Community

It is important to recognise the differences between individuals and the value of embracing you other than me so as to allow each individual to be a part of a gr eater whole in society. In organizing services for persons in custody with special needs, the Correctional Services Department of Hong Kong adopts various strategies by utilising existing available recourses and programmes and optimising the support available from the community. The objective is to provide safer custody and better rehabilitation in the hopes of a greater whole – a more inclusive society.

Michael Leung Chung-Chee

 

Article 14

Article 14: Leading Change In Contemporary Correctional Systems – Prioritising Human Resource Management

Contemporary correctional systems are facing numerous challenges ranging from traditional concerns such as prison security, to rising public expectations for the treatment of offenders. As a result, more comprehensive measures must be taken to overcome these obstacles. Being aware of the necessity to manage attendant risks, the Hong Kong Correctional Services Department identifies and targets efficient human resource management as one of the most important factors for a successful correctional system. This includes but is not limited to r einforcing a strong sense of belonging and self-motivation of staff, building up professional knowledge and strategic training plans, offering psychological support to staff members, and most importantly, the implementation of “Vision, Mission and Values” of the Department in everyday operations. These measures have produced positive results; increased efficiency and as a result improved bonding between staff members, and improved professional relationships between staff and offenders, has been observed. The Hong Kong Correctional Services Department will continue to lead its staff mem bers to commit to the Department’s VMV to strive for excellence and take pride as correctional officers to face the challenges ahead. This paper attempts to summarize our approach in this arena of correctional challenges.

Virginia Leung Wai-Chong