10 week correctional program
INTRODUCTION
The Correctional Counseling Implementation Plan provide insight into the details to various cognitive-behavioral treatment programs that aims to address some issues facing the offenders. Such issues include relapse prevention, substance abuse, domestic violence, criminal thinking, and anger management among others. The treatment will be applicable for the adult male and female offenders. This program will utilize the institutional counselors that include counselors, psychologists, social workers, case managers, recreation specialists, and educators. According to Voorhis (2013), the institutional counseling is more effective than community-based program because it enhances supervision and monitoring of the offenders. The aim of the implementation plan is to ensure that the goal of the correctional counseling programs will be achieved, and the offenders return to their social life being reformed. The document provides the framework and the structure that will be used by the implementation team as output to the project activities.
Reason for the correctional counseling program
For the last years, the correctional population has remained high in the United States prisons. According to U.S. Department of Justice, the United States' federal and state correctional facilities held approximately 1,561, 600 prisoners in 2014, which was a decrease by 15,400 prisoners or 1 percent decrease from the previous year (Carson, 2015). Although 1% decrease is significant, more efforts are needed to decrease the number of prisoners in the United States correctional facilities. One of the effective efforts to reduce the number of the prisoners is the counseling program. According to Central Washington University (2012), the correctional counseling helps to reduce recidivism or to reduce the reoffending. The correctional counseling helps the offender to improve their relationship behaviors especial with the legal system and eradicate their opportunities to reoffend.
Reason for the implementation plan
For a period of ten weeks, the implementation team led by the project manager will implement the counseling program in the correctional facility to help the offenders improve their behaviors. Although the program is familiar is to the program implementation team, the entire project management team need to be prepared and trained on how to use the program effectively. According to May and Williams (2012), the aim of this implementation plan is to ensure greater coordination by allowing all the participants to have a chance to participate in the formulation, implementation, and the review of the program. In addition, the implementation plan will help to reduce overt conflict in selecting effective councilors for the correctional counseling activities. This plan will outline the instructional necessities to bring the team members up-to-speed with the correctional counseling program.
AUDIENCE
According to a survey conducted in 2005, "Female inmates had higher rates of mental health problems than male inmates (State prisons: 73% of females and 55% of males; local jails: 75% of females and 63% of males)" (James & Glaze, 2006, p.1). Therefore, the study indicates that there is more need to counsel the female offenders to reduce the chances of developing these mental problems (Young et al. 2009). Due to this reason, the correctional counseling program will be focusing on the female offenders. The study above shows that the female population in the correctional facilities requires the counseling intervention. Another study indicates that the number of female offenders is increasing while the number of the male offenders is decreasing. For instance, in 2014, women under federal or states correctional facilities increased by 1,600 offenders, which was more than 1 percent increase (Carson, 2015). This illustrates that there is a need to provide an intervention program that can help women to stop reoffending and reduce the number of women in prison.
IMPROVING THE PROGRAM FROM THE EXISTING PROGRAMS
One of the challenges facing the existing programs is inability to understand issues facing women in state or federal correctional facilities. Various existing studies have not addressed the major issues faced by women such as combining physical and mental healthcare, providing vocation and education programs, and gender-specific treatment. Lack of these interventions is explained by the increasing number of the women offenders in the prison. According to Net Industries and its Licensors (2006), women offenders face treatment challenges such as violent women offenders, unsatisfactory individual assessment, and limited treatment for pregnant women. Consequently, this has limited the effectiveness of the prevailing programs. Therefore, to mitigate these challenges, the programs aim to provide a gender-specific treatment. The counselors will be trained before the counseling session on how to incorporate psychological, physical, spiritual, socio-political, and emotional issues that address the needs of female offenders. In addition, the program will focus on issues facing women such as the satisfactory relationship between the counselors and offenders, cross-gender supervision, uniformity in the program, and efficient interventions for women. In addition, integrating other individuals such as prison chaplain and parole officers will play a significant role in inmate rehabilitation and adjustment through counseling because they might know the inmates better than our counselors.
PROJECT AND IMPLEMENTATION TIMETABLE
This section highlights a high-level schedule for the correctional counseling program. This phase provides a detailed schedule to ensure that the project team understands the essential time for the project.
Project Overall Timeline
Implementation Detailed Table
Estimated Resources for Implementation Phase
IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT
This phase involves the programs and materials that will be used to support correctional counseling program. One of the effective programs will be the Moral Reconation Therapy, which is a cognitive-behavioral counseling program for the individuals who misuse drugs. The program SSinvolves a workbook-based program that utilizes a series of collective exercise and homework assignment meant to diminish criminal thinking and substance use. The program is an evidence-based program with impressing outcomes. According to Robinson (2012), the average recidivism rate for program graduate in an average period of 32 months is 12.81 percent. For the period of 20 years, MRT program has lowered the levels of recidivism, improved treatment, improved personality function, and lower misconduct rates (Robison, 2012; Armstrong, 2003). In this case, our correctional counseling program will utilize this program as the main program.
Other supporting programs and materials include 120-page workbooks, Five-minute Stress Manager, MRT Facilitator's Handbook, CDs or Memory cards, presentation equipment, and Imaginary Future.
COUNSELING MANAGEMENT
Correctional Counseling Management will focus on facilitating the positive change of inmates through quality counseling. Counseling Management will involve the preparation and selection of counselors. This phase will create an advance awareness of upcoming counseling sessions, obtaining materials and facilities for the sessions, scheduling and registration, holding counseling sessions, and evaluating the session.
Counselors Selection and Preparation Plan
The program will select correctional counselors with a positive attitude, compassion with genuine desires to aid inmates back to their feet after serving their respective terms in prisons. The program will require counselors with a minimum bachelor's degree in different fields such as criminal justice, social work and psychology. The selected counselors will get release time for preparation as well as counseling, and they will be familiarized with the correctional counseling program. The Train-the-Trainer session and workshop will be needed for the counselors, and the course pilot will be available. Counselors will require one week of individual study and one week of workshop participation with pilot and corrections. The program will ensure that the Train-the-Trainer session will take three to four days of release time.
Counseling Facilities Plan
The training rooms for the counselor will be available for the proposed sessions, and tentative reservations will be provided.
Advanced Awareness Plan
Advanced awareness activities for counseling sessions will be planned, and the Program Manager will discuss changes, if need be, with Wardens, Manager of Assessments and Interventions, and Program and Correctional Managers to prepare them for training availability, work process impact, and changes. The Program Manager will attend the designated unit staff meetings to discuss any changes that are proposed. The Program Manager will also announce coming changes on appropriates social media platform.
Session Scheduling Plan
Counseling training sessions will be scheduled for Monday through Friday and the first week include Implement Readiness Activities session. The rest nine weeks the session will be scheduled for Monday through Wednesday to allow for the make-up session due to the illness of counseling staff or scheduling issues.
Participant Registration Plan
The inmates will register through their respective prisons and through the established training registration system. The registration will only require the National Identity Cards and no educational certificates is needed. Once the correctional counseling sessions begin, there will be no on-going registrations.
Hold Counseling Sessions Plan
The counseling sessions will be running from 9:00 a.m. through 4:30 p.m., with two mid-session breaks and one and half hours lunch break. For the counselors, parking will be provided in reserved parking in designated prisons.
Evaluation Plan
Correctional Counseling program evaluation will be performed for two main levels and as follows.
Level 1: Counseling Session Evaluation
The programs will ensure that the offenders have achieved something that will give them a U-turn in their lives. This is by making sure that after completion of the counseling session evaluation will be collected to ascertain the inmates' reaction. The average of 4 or more will be considered in this evaluation as a success.
Counselor Evaluation
The evaluation will be conducted with the completion of counselor's training to ascertain what they were teaching and the impact of the sessions to the offenders. Comments from offenders will be evaluated, and the corrections will be made later or if possible in the midst of next counseling session.
Materials Evaluation
Materials evaluation will be collected immediately following the session to ascertain offenders and counselors' reactions. In materials evaluation, average scores of 4 or more still will be considered as a success.
Level 2: Learning Evaluation
The offenders will be given random assessments to ascertain their learning and as a way of supporting them. When the offenders are over with their sentences terms, they will be enhanced to use support calls to the counselors that will determine areas of difficulties as well as areas of success in learning.
CONCLUSION
As illustrated above, this implementation plan provides the framework and the structure that will be used by the implementation team as output to the project activities. The implementation has provided a well-written structure that aims to improve the coordination among the team members and give them the opportunity to formulate, implement, and review the plan. The rationale behind the implementation of the correctional counseling program is to fill the gap left in the efforts to reduce the number of offenders in the correctional facilities. The program focuses on women because the prevailing programs fails to address various issues faced by the women offenders in the correctional facilities. Therefore, to mitigate these challenges, the programs aim to provide gender-specific treatment and conduct practical training for the counselors to address the women issues effectively. Among other programs, the main program to be implemented is Moral Reconation Therapy (MTP), which is a cognitive-behavioral counseling program. The implementation of the program is estimated to end after ten weeks.
References
Armstrong, T. A. (2003). The Effect of Moral Reconation Therapy on the Recidivism of Youthful Offenders A Randomized Experiment. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 30(6), 668-687.
Carson, E. A. (2015). Prisoners in 2014 (NCJ 248955). Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Central Washington University, & Sun, K. (2013). Correctional counseling: A cognitive growth perspective. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Correctional Counseling Inc. (2016). Other Programs & Materials. Retrieved from https://www.ccimrt.com/programs/other-programs-materials
Durose, M. R., Cooper, A. D., & Snyder, H. N. (2014). Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics, 28.
James, D. J., & Glaze, L. E. (2006). Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates (NCJ 213600). BJS Statisticians.
May, P. J., & Williams, W. (2012). Disaster policy implementation: Managing programs under shared governance. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.
Net Industries and its Licensors. (2016). Prisons: Prisons for Women - Problems and Unmet Needs in the Contemporary Women's Prison - Children, Abuse, Health, and Offenders - JRank Articles. Retrieved from http://law.jrank.org/pages/1805/Prisons-Prisons-Women-Problems-unmet-needs-in-contemporary-women-s-prison.html
Robinson, K. (2012). Moral Reconation Therapy. National Drug Court Institute.
Voorhis, P. V., & Salisbury, E. J. (2015). Correctional Counseling and Rehabilitation (8th ed.). New York: Routledge.
