Service-learning in Correctional setting: Twin Towers Correctional Facility

Service-learning in Correctional setting: Twin Towers Correctional Facility

Working Together for a Common Goal

A majority of state and federal prisons across the USA have endeavored to provide institutional programming of various natures to inmates during confinement. Educational programming is one example of institutional programming common in incarceration centers in the USA. The core objective of institutional programming in prisons is to improve the prisoners’ behavior, both before and after release from prison (Duwen, 2017). The Los Angeles County Jail is the largest jail in the USA among the 2,850 jail jurisdictions in the country (Los Angeles County Government, 2015). Statistics indicate that Los Angeles County holds more inmates in custody than all jails in the USA.

The Twin Towers Correctional Facility is a complex located in Los Angeles, California, and it is the world’s largest correctional facility in addition to being the largest mental health facility in the USA. Acknowledging the nature of this particular facility showcases the importance of service-learning that encompasses students from different disciplines who are willing to assist inmates, depending on the area of expertise. The current service-learning program mainly focuses on providing educational and service activities to prisoners to improve health status and well-being and increase knowledge on a variety of issues in contemporary society.  The program is designed to assist the inmates and the students alike. Notably, the program is a partnership between the Twin Towers Correctional Facility and volunteer students from institutions of higher learning. The initiative focuses on students from health, communication, and social justice courses.

Forming Strategic Partnerships and Common Goals

Prior to making any formal arrangements, the proposal of the partnership will be presented for approval from the Twin Towers Jail administration. The program will likely be approved since, in the past half-a-decade, Los Angeles County has emphasized the concept of incarceration-based learning (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, 2013). Indeed, over the past several years, the Los Angeles County jail has formed various partnerships with different organizations to educate inmates. Upon gaining approval from Twin Towers, a formal notification of the partnership will be sent to multiple institutions of higher learning within Los Angeles, urging the administration to encourage their students to register in the program formally. Similarly, it is likely that various institutions of higher education will approve the partnership since service-learning is the backbone of community development (Dunn & Konrad, 2010). Indeed, students working directly with inmates will work to improve the student’s diversity and social justice attitudes.

The main agenda of the partnership is to provide educational and service activities to prisoners at Twin Towers Correctional Center to improve their health status and well-being in addition to increasing their knowledge on various issues in contemporary society. The goal of the partnership is to enhance students’ diversity and social justice attitudes. Service-learning in correctional settings adds distinctive concepts, particularly the lack of freedom among inmates, the stereotype and stigma associated with incarceration, the political nature of prison reform, and the complex nature of the role of correctional facilities in the USA  society. It is deductive; service learning in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility will be beneficial not only to the inmates and the students but also the society as a whole.

Management and Communication Strategies

The management of the partnership will encompass volunteer educators from the various institutions of higher learning in Los Angeles as long as their students have volunteered in addition to a correctional educator from the Twin Towers Jail. Due to their busy schedules in their respective jobs, I, in addition to three other individuals, will coordinate the activities, perceptions, and suggestions of these two groups of educators. The general management of the partnership will be designed per the established principles of effective correctional intervention (OECD, 2015). The partnership management will focus on maintaining regular contact with both groups of educators, the volunteers, and the general public through phone, social media tools, and in person.

The partnership is grounded on open communication channels, both internally within the association and externally. Upon the onset of the partnership, Twin Towers’ correctional educators, the administration within the partners, and volunteer teachers from institutions of higher learning will consider each other’s policies, procedures, needs, and objectives, which are essential in planning both internal and external communications plan. The partnership will be built on mutual understanding and clear goals and objectives (O’Reilly & Brunette, 2016). Open communication channels will ensure support for the partnership, identify gaps, and eliminate misunderstanding. External communication channels will focus on how the public, the government, and private organizations perceive the partnership.

Work plans and Activities

To create a plan that evenly distributes roles and responsibilities to each group, the partnership will rely on clearly defined goals and outcomes associated with the partnership. Specifically, educators from an institution of higher learning will be charged with encouraging their students to participate and actively endeavor to learn from the initiative with the idea that working with inmates will broaden the students’ perceptions. Similarly, correctional educators in the Los Angeles County Jail are charged with the responsibility to support incriminated-based learning and, as such, must be actively involved in the current service-teaching partnership. The administrators at the partnership will ensure coordination in addition to encouraging the volunteers on the importance of service-learning in correctional facilities for a better society.

To ensure all the goals and outcomes are fulfilled, the partnership will rely on work plans to break down specific tasks (OECD, 2015). Notably, volunteer-students will depend on a schedule that encourages them to dedicate a certain amount of hours every week to the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. Depending on the major of the student, the schedule will detail areas of discussion or activities and how to approach the issue depending on suggestions from correctional educators and extensive research.

While the partnership is grounded on volunteer work, accountability can be ensured through encouraging educators in the institutions of higher learning to award extra credits to students involved in the program. The extra-credit is grounded on the premise that students are actively implementing what they learn in schools to handle inmates (Dunn & Konrad, 2010). Eventually, with donations from the public, accountability can be grounded on compensation, which often increases morale and job satisfaction, particularly among the administrators.

Partnership Evaluation and Challenges

The success of the program will be grounded on analyzing the perceptions of the students that took part in the program and in addition to analyzing prisoners’ behaviors. Since Twin Towers is a relatively large institution, which is currently involved several partnerships in efforts of incrimination-based learning; analysis of the impact of the program on the inmates requires an extensive program that reaches almost every inmate in prison (Los Angeles County Government, 2015). Moreover, it will need to be conducted after a relatively long period. The short-term impact of the program will rely on the opinions of the students, which are analyzed on three key dimensions;

• What did the volunteer-students learn from the program?
• How would the students compare their experience to those of other others involved in service-based learning but in a more traditional setting?
• How do you view the common critic opinion that prisoners are not entitled to specifically-designed programs? How do you think society views this perception?

Some of the challenges associated with the partnership are associated with the exceptional circumstances of working with inmates. The idea of a prison is to limit one’s freedom. Moreover, many people harbor stereotypes when it comes to prisoners. The correctional educators can work to ensure as much freedom to the inmates during the session. The level of liberty and subsequently, the level of association between the inmates and the volunteer will depend on the crimes of the inmate and behavior since they were incarcerated (Dunn & Konrad, 2010). Concerning, stereotypes, the partnership will endeavor to encourage the volunteers to perceive working in the correctional center as an opportunity like any other form of service-learning.

Equity and Inclusion and Final Projects

Equity and inclusion are vital aspects in any work environment, irrespective of whether it is a partnership or not. The concept of equity and inclusion is particularly sensitive when working in a correctional setting (OECD, 2015).  Each student that volunteers to participate in the program will be accepted to avoid cases of exclusion based on unjustified characteristics. Similarly, the partnership will endeavor not only to listen but to take into consideration the opinions of the individuals involved in the partnership. Equity and inclusion are part of the core values that guide the activities of the partnership.  The partnership intends to provide a welcoming environment to all the volunteers, higher education educators, correctional educators, and the inmates irrespective of ethnic background, race, age, lifestyle, and physical abilities (OECD, 2015). As mentioned, there are various stereotypes and stigma associated with incarceration; the partnership will encourage every individual to discard prejudice and bias as it pertains to inmates.  Moreover, Twin Towers Correctional center has the largest mental health facility in the USA. Therefore, it will be essential to ensure the volunteers are willing to work cordially with individuals with mental health issues.

Partnerships Transitions and Endings

The current partnership between Twin Towers Correctional Facility and students in different higher education institutions envisions a rather long life span. The partnership will continue to grow to bale to cover almost every inmate in Twin Tower. However, the evaluation results will determine the exact length of the plan. The transition involves moving away from relying on the volunteers’ perception of measuring and analyzing the change in behavior among the inmates that are exposed to the program. Indeed, if the application is positively influencing the lives of the inmates as envisioned in the goals and objectives, it is likely to continue for a long time. The continuation, however, will rely on various efforts of transitioning the partnership from a small project to a significant non-profit initiative that enjoys support for not only the government but also the general public. Indeed, the programs will extend to be a partnership between the Los Angeles County Jail and the local higher institutions of learning rather than focusing on a single correctional facility. However, the transitioning, expansion and continuation of the program will depend on its ability to improve the health status and well-being of the inmates in addition to increasing the prisoner’s general knowledge on various issues associated with contemporary society.

References

Dunn, K. V., & Konrad, S. C. (2010). Stronger when combined: Lessons from an interprofessional, jail-based service-learning project. Partnerships: A Journal of service-learning and civic engagement, 117-121.

Duwen, G. (2017). The use and impact of correctional programming for inmates on pre and post-release outcomes. National Institute of Justice, 1-41.

Los Angeles County Government. (2015). Education-based Incarceration. Los Angeles County Government, 1-85.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. (2013, August 21). In L.A county, when you go to jail, you go to school. Retrieved November 30, 2019, from Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department: http://shq.lasdnews.net/pages/PageDetail.aspx?id=1341

OECD. (2015). Successful Partnerships. OECD, 1-34.

O’Reilly, N., & Brunette, M. (2016). Good communication strategy is key to a successful partnership. Human Kinetics.