Prisoners offer programs to improve their lives | News, sports, jobs

The judicial system has changed from the days when prisoners were sentenced to hard labor until their sentence was served and they could re-enter society. Today, incarceration is often considered a time to rehabilitate those who have committed a crime so that they have the skills necessary to navigate life outside of prison and possibly avoid returning to criminal activity.

Presiding Judge Nancy Butts commented at a Prison Board meeting on the “positive support” programs offered at the Lycoming County Jail and Pre-Release Center (PRC).

“If people think that people in prison, whether it’s the county jail or the Pre-Release Center, are just sitting around watching TV, they’re really not. They’re trying to get better, so when they’re released, I hope they have some new tools so they don’t find their way back into the criminal justice system.” Butts said.

She praised the prison and PRC counselors for the work they do and the way they provide information about inmates through their interactions with them.

“Programs like this cannot happen without the support of prison counselors. They are the unsung heroes behind the scenes who are doing so much work for individual inmates,” Butts said.

“I see most of them through the treatment court because they often give us a little bit of extra information to know if this person will be a good fit; what their strengths are and how we can best help them when we take them to treatment court,” she added.

Currently at the prison, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous programs are offered for inmates, as well as two through the West Branch Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission – one for women about life after trauma, which helps them deal with all the traumas they may have experienced that may have contributed to incarceration and a drug and alcohol program for men and women. This fall, Penn College began offering a course for inmates. There are also opportunities for inmates to earn their General Equivalency Diploma (GED), as well as a program administered by GEO Reentry.

“Internally — our employees run it — we have a life skills (program) for men and women, a mental health educational group, that someone from Joinder just started. And then we have the MAT (Medication Assisted Treatment) program, which is also coordinated with West Branch,” said Chloe Perrin, county jail counselor.

Similar programs are also available to PRC residents, in addition to others specifically offered there.

Crossroads Counseling comes in and they do individual and group drug and alcohol counseling. During what they call Power Hour, the local YWCA runs a domestic violence group with women. The GED program at PRC has weekly classes and monthly tests. There are also private classes available for the GED, as well as college courses. There are also religious programs, such as church services and Bible studies, available.

A special guest, Ludo the Court dog, began visiting the PRC in July.

“We’ve been trying to bring him in once a month for one-on-one visits with residents,” said Karey Snook, PRC advisor.

“Another thing that I think is probably not talked about enough is our new tablets. We have programs available on tablets that are truly incredible. There are hundreds of things they can learn there – from parenting to mental health issues,” Snook said.

Once a resident completes a session, they receive a printed certificate stating they have completed the course.

“It’s free and it’s a really good opportunity for them to use in their free time,” she added.

Taking advantage of the opportunities offered, in most cases, is the decision of the inmate or resident of the PRC.

“Every now and then we will have a court order that will come directly from the court saying why they are incarcerated, they need to do this and that,” said Deputy Director of Inmate Services Chris Ebner.

“Many of them are based on the individual’s registration and participation,” he said, adding that there is a protocol for removing someone from a group if they sign up and are absent too many times.

Residents at PRC have been sentenced to minimum security facilities, while inmates at the county jail, on the other hand, await sentencing and, by law, cannot be forced to attend programs. PRC residents often participate in a work release program, so they are more likely to be out during the day, so the schedule is in addition to their work time.

“We don’t do that as much in prison because we deal with a lot of people at trial and they haven’t been convicted. In the state of Pennsylvania, (with) people on trial, you can’t even work. They haven’t been convicted yet, so you can’t force them to work. So that’s what makes the PRC a little different. Furthermore, it is a minimum security facility and there are no bars,” Ebner said.

He noted that although participation in the programs is not mandatory, employees “highly encouraging” this.

“The only mandatory thing in the PRC is drugs and alcohol. So we have two counselors, me and another counselor, if we put them on drugs and alcohol, they are obliged to attend. But the other programs are voluntary, but we demand that they continue. If you sign up, we’ll basically try to talk to them about commitment. When you make a commitment, you have to keep it,” Snook said.

Some of the programs, such as university course offerings, have limited class sizes; therefore, if someone signs up and does not proceed until the course ends, it will deny someone else the opportunity to take the course

“We always talk to them in advance and say, listen, this is voluntary, but because you’re volunteering for this, you need to know that this is a commitment. It’s not something you’re going to take a class and decide you’re done with. You will commit to it and you will complete it,” Snook said.

“I really think they like being held to their commitment, because it forces them to be committed and complete, where sometimes they probably wouldn’t be able to complete, and they would struggle. And then when they complete it and receive a certificate, like a real black and white piece of paper, they will say, ‘this is the first certificate I have received’. Then they feel that sense of accomplishment that they might not have achieved if they hadn’t been held up to make sure they completed it,” she said.

When inmates first arrive at the prison, Perrin said, they are asked what they would like to sign up for.

“We expose them all, NAA, drugs and alcohol, any religious programs, and it’s their will to sign up for them, and most of the time they do. I see more people signing up for programs than not. But we also have people who sign up and don’t go, but the programs like life skills, life after trauma, mental health group, we have a limit for them, and most of the time they commit every week that they go,” Perrin said.

“Life after trauma lasts eight weeks, our mental health group lasts six weeks, life skills four weeks, and there’s a success, like they’re completing the whole four weeks… and at the end of my group life skills I give them a certificate, and make them give a short speech from the last four weeks. They clap and sometimes tell me that no one did this,” Perrin said.

Most of them don’t have GEDs or diplomas, so this may be the first time they’ve been told they did a good job.

“That’s something I’m looking forward to,”Perrin said.

Of course, there are detractors who think that offering programs to those who have committed crimes is coddling them. For them, prison should be punitive and not rehabilitative.

“I hear a lot of people say, well, they don’t deserve this, or, you know, they shouldn’t be able to do this. Why should they get a free college class? Well, what do you want them to do there? Perrin said.

“I thought part of being in prison was to better themselves, not just punish them. And everyone, I mean everyone at my facility (RPC), I can’t say this about the prison, but almost everyone we deal with is leaving, and they’re going to be your neighbors, they’re going to be your coworkers. Why don’t we want them to be better people? And if they are willing to work. Why wouldn’t we be willing to offer that to them? Perrin said.

For those in the county jail, Snook agreed with Perrin.

“If they just sit in jail for whatever their sentence is, or if they’re waiting to go see the judge and just sit around and do nothing, they’re not going to get better. They are just stagnant,” Perrin said.

‘My biggest goal is I want to give you the resources so that when you get out, you’re better off because they might be your neighbors and they might never have the resources to go to college and get help with their addictions or whatever. So if they’re not recovering or trying to get better, they’ll keep doing the same things over and over because that’s what they’re used to. in prison because why are we helping them? But I love what I do because I like seeing the end result and then getting help and benefiting them when they go before the judge,” Perrin said.

“I think studies have shown that if the prison population across the country is engaged in good pro-social activities, programming and other things, it turns out that it makes the overall prison/PRC operations run more smoothly. People who are committed to doing things are not security problems for prisons. This has been demonstrated, Ebner said.

In addition to alleviating security problems, municipal jails are required by law to offer programs.

“You have to offer these things and you have to have programming. So it’s not an annual or semi-annual thing, it’s all part of what we do,” he added.