Counselling Principles Stages Methods and Skills in Correctional Settings

INTRODUCTION

The Correctional Administration System is one component of the larger criminal justice system and is dedicated to increasing public safety by helping offenders to become law-abiding citizens, while exercising secure and humane control.

Different methods of social work like case work and group work are applicable in correctional institutions besides probation and parole. Correctional administration in the broader sense means reshaping, re-educating and reforming the individual behaviour attitudes and feelings of antisocial nature which have culminated into his/her incarceration or committal to some penal institution for custody/treatment. It includes attempts by the correctional administrators and social workers to reorient and resocialize the deviant behaviour traits of an individual personality by providing helpful and educative facilities and services which help in increasing a feeling of repentance and a strong desire to correct oneself.

Correctional Counsellor

A correctional counsellor is a professional counsellor who works with inmates to help them gain the tools they need to live a productive life after leaving prison. A correctional counsellor, or prison counsellor, works in correctional facilities to help inmates work through their issues. The counsellor works with inmates one-to-one to explore mental health concerns, mindset issues, and emotional problems that may lead to re-engaging with criminal behaviours.

A correctional counsellor works to change the mindset of people who have a history of criminal behaviour. By working on mindset, these counsellors can train their clients to find more positive responses to the challenges they face in life, helping them avoid falling back into crime. This helps reduce the risk of re-incarceration after the inmate’s release.

A correctional counsellor applies the theories of psychology to work with inmates. They view these inmates as patients and use the same techniques a counsellor or psychologist would use with the general public. This includes diving into the emotions and thoughts that drive behaviour, helping patients find those connections so they can understand them and make better behavioural choices. By understanding the connection between the thoughts and emotions and resulting actions, inmates are able to make positive changes in their lives.

Practically, a correctional counsellor works within a jail or prison, meeting individually with inmates to reach toward goals. During counselling sessions, the counsellor will ask questions and help patients work on their own mindfulness and mindsets. The goal is to assist patients in coming to their own conclusions about positive behavioural changes.

Correctional counsellors may also:

Teach life skills classes
Evaluate prisoners to determine the best counselling or treatment approaches
Provide job training
Monitor behaviour of inmates
Meet with the family of inmates
Write reports
Maintain case files

Types of Correctional Counsellor Jobs

1. Probation officers – These professionals supervise and counsel people who are on probation and not in prison.

2. Parole officers – These professionals work with those who are out on parole after serving time in jail, working to help them reintegrate into society successfully.

3. Pretrial services officers – These professionals evaluate defendants to determine if they can safely return to normal life in society.

4. Correctional treatment specialists – A correctional treatment specialist helps develop rehabilitation plans for people to follow as they work towards rehabilitation and a return to normal life.

Skills Needed for Correctional Counsellors

In order to succeed in a correctional counsellor job, counsellors need specific skills. First and foremost, they must be able to work with challenging individuals in potentially dangerous or high-pressure environments. Prison work is always a risk. They should have:

Strong organizational skills
Critical thinking abilities
Exceptional decision-making skills
Strong emotional resilience
Good skills working with people
Strong ability to dig in and find the reasons behind behaviour
Healthy dose of patience and compassion

A person working in a correctional facility needs to understand the unique challenges of this type of work. If one can handle the emotional challenges of prison work, he/she can find this a highly rewarding career field.

Social workers in correctional or criminal justice settings have two basic ethical and professional obligations:

(1) To ameliorate the mental health needs of their clients, to return individuals to the community who will be productive, and

(2) To serve the interests of public safety. Social workers can play a key role in reducing recidivism.

Correctional or Criminal justice social work includes:

1. Providing mental health and substance abuse counselling

2. Finding alternatives to incarceration, such as rehabilitation programs for low-level

offenders

3. Helping formerly incarcerated individuals negotiate successful re-entry into society

4. Working with clients to change patterns of criminal behaviour

5. Advocating for clients within the criminal justice system

6. Advocating for policies that address both clients’ interests and need for public

safety

7. Work in the areas of Parole Programme and Juvenile Courts

8. Working with communities to eliminate the root causes of criminality

The main objectives of the Criminal Justice System can be categorized as follows:

1. To prevent the occurrence/episode of crime.

2. To punish/penalize the transgressors and the criminals.

3. To rehabilitate the transgressors and the criminals.

4. To compensate the victims as far as possible.

5. To maintain law and order in the society.

6. To deter the offenders from committing any criminal act/activities in the future.

Correctional institutions

Correctional institution is nothing but a panel of institutions maintained by the government.

Types of Correctional Institutions for Institutional Treatment

1. Prisons

Prisons are the place in which criminals could be securely confined and this containment function had continued to predominate in spite of the gradual emergence of other alms for imprisonment, such as deterrence or rehabilitation.

2. Observation Homes

Observation homes established for the temporary release of any juvenile in conflict with law during the pendency of a case before the juvenile justice board. Every juvenile who is not placed under the change of parent or guardian is sent to an observation home. He/she initially kept in a reception unit of the observation home for preliminary enquiries. Care and classification of the juveniles is done according to his/her age group, such as 7-12 years, 12-16 years and 16-18 years, giving due consideration to physical and mental status and degree of offence committed.

3. Special Homes

Under juvenile justice (care and protection) Act, 2000 state government is empowered for establishing and maintaining special homes for reformation and rehabilitation of juveniles in conflict with law. Such homes are maintained by the government or by certified voluntary organizations. In these homes, various types of services are provided which necessary for the re- socialize of a juvenile

4. Children Homes

Children homes are meant for the reception of children in need of care and protection during the pendency of enquiry even for their stay as the case may be. Every child’s home is provided with facilities of accommodation, maintenance, education, vocational training, rehabilitation and development of character and abilities.

5. After-care Organization

These organizations are meant for the juveniles’ discharge from the children’s homes and special homes. The purpose of the aftercare organization is to help in the rehabilitation and resettlement of children through extended educational and vocational training facilities including job placement. The stay in aftercare organization is restricted to a maximum of three years over seventeen years of age till he/she attains the age of till he/she attains the age of 20 years on the basis of a discharge report prepared by competent authority.

6. Protective Home for Women

The protective home and corrective institutions are established Under the Immoral Traffic (prevention) Act by the Directorate of Social Welfare. It admits girls and women, who are rescued from brothels, are abducted and kidnapped (section 366 IPC), raped (section 376 IPC) and are in moral danger. The girl and women can get admission only through the orders of the court and will continue to stay till the Court gives the order for her restoration or rehabilitation.

7. Short Stay Home

It is the institution established under the Immoral Traffic (prevention) Act (ITPA) by the Government/Union Territory Administration. The purpose is to provide temporary shelter to the needy women/girls in distress, pending their restoration or readjustment in their families or admission in suitable institutes. The short stay home provides admission to girls and women in the age group of 18 to 45years. Who are destitute, distressed, deserted or are in moral danger. The duration of stay in a short stay home is restricted to 6 months. The home provides safe custody, boarding, lodging, food, clothing, medical care and vocational training like tailoring and knitting. The superintendent of short stay home makes all efforts to restore or, reintegrate the women/girl in her family or through marriage

8. Beggars Home

These homes are established under the Anti-Beggary laws of the state government. Unfortunately, there is no Anti-Beggary Act formulated at the national level. These Acts are formulated by the state at their own initiatives. Reception centres and Beggar Homes are established under this Act. Beggar homes provide specialties like food, shelter, accommodation, medical care, non-formal education and vocational training to beggars so they are economically rehabilitated into society.

Types of correctional Institutions for Non-institutional Treatment

Non-institutional treatments are community-based correctional programmes that help in the reintegration of offenders. Community-based correction is an effective method of accomplishing the changes in the behaviour of the offender by helping him to become a law-abiding citizen.

1. Probation:

The term probation is used to denote the status of a person placed on probation, to refer to the subsystem of the criminal justice system. Probation is an alternative to the prison/special home. It is a sentence that does not involve confinement but may involve conditions imposed by the Court Juvenile Justice Board, usually under the supervision of a probation officer.

2. Parole

Parole is a treatment programme in which the offender, after serving part of a term in a correctional institution, is conditionally released under the supervision and treatment of a Parole Officer. Parole is not for every individual in prison. It is viewed as a privilege granted to a prisoner for good behaviour and process while in prison and is considered useful in rehabilitation outside.

3. Hybrid Treatment

This is a kind of correctional treatment in a collaborative enterprise between corrections and treatment professionals.

4. Community Service

In community service, the offenders must give personal time to perform tasks that are valued in the community. This programme is specially meant for juveniles and adolescents who are placed in community service organizations.

5. Work Release

In the work release programme the inmates are released from incarceration to work. They enable the offenders to engage in positive contacts with the community, assuming of course, that work placement is satisfactory. They permit offenders to provide some support for themselves and their families. This can eliminate the self- concept of failure that may be the result of losing the supportive role.

Counseling Skills

Counseling – Assisting the individuals to make their own decisions from several choices and enhance their personal effectiveness

1. Acquainting skill – Building rapport (Therapeutic Alliance ) with the counselee. Therapeutic Alliance is an informal workable contract between the counselor and the counselee.

Sub skills

a) Welcoming – receiving the counselee with warmth

Tone of interaction
facial expression
timing in receiving
word of salutation
way of receiving (eg. shaking hand)
occupying (offering chair)

will help in establishing a warm a relationship

b) Providing privacy – providing privacy to speak freely and express emotions without any fear without being overheard by others

c) Chit-chat – engaging in neutral conversations to ease the fear of the client.

Sub skills:

Selecting topic
Initiating talk
Manner of conversation
Motivating the client etc.

d) Confidentiality – Keeping the information shared by the counselee, a secret; by reassuring the client that it will be kept confidential

e) Invitation to talk – Promoting the client to talk whenever he/she feels difficulty to express and manage the allotted time.

2. Observing skill – ability to see and understand the non verbal behaviour of the client enables the counselor to understand the client’s energy level, feelings and degree of congruence.

Sub skills:

Understanding he body language(gestures, body movements, pose of hands and legs),
eye movements, breathing and paralinguistic behaviour like accent, emphasis, intonation, pause etc.

3. Founding Skill – Task of building the base for counseling

Sub skills

a) Skill of attending –

i) setting seating arrangement

ii) selecting and changing the zone distance and changing the zone appropriately (intimate, personal, social, public)

iii) deciding appropriate counseling position

iv) deciding appropriate eye contact(eyeing)

v) taking open posture and avoiding closed postures

vi) Leaning forward as a sign of interest and remaining relaxed

vii) Mirroring (reflecting the behaviour pattern of the client)

viii) Giving continuation messages (nodding the head, repeating certain significant words of the client)

b) Skill of listening

Sub skills:

listen to confirm whether the client’s words confirm the counselor’s hypotheses from the observation
Listen to the specific content of the client’s expressions
Resisting distracting thoughts that take away attention
Recall counselee’s voice, feelings, words used

c) Skill of responding

Sub skills:

Reflecting the content
Reflecting the feeling
Reflecting the deeper feeling
Dealing with the negative feeling
Responding to silence
Asking facilitative questions
Skill of spacing responses
Giving information
Making advising responses

4. Diagnosing Skill – Discovering or identifying the cause of the problem faced by the client

Sub skills:

Formulating hypotheses
Administering tests
Interpreting scores
Locating problem area
Pinpointing the problem
Facilitating focusing (centering attention)

5. Personalizing Skill – making the client realise his/her personal deficits contributing to the problem.

Sub skills

Making the client internalise the experience (Personalising the meaning)
Preparing the client to take decision and execute it (Personalising the problem)
Making the client to rectify the deficiencies of his/her role in the problem (Personalising the goal)

6. Reframing Skill – Approaching the problem from various angles

Sub skills

Reframing the meaning
Context reframing
Stimulating an alternative frame of reference
Expressing advanced empathy
Caring confrontation (Challenging)
Self-disclosure
Immediacy

7. Initiating Skill – initiating the client to act

Sub skills

Enabling changes
Defining goals
Helping the client commit himself / herself
Maintaining economy in energy, time and resources
Attaining goals through strategies
Operationalizing the goal
Making the client accept the change gracefully
Preparing the client to be happy

8. Evaluating skill – assessment of the performance of the client

Sub skills

Ongoing evaluation
Client-centred evaluation
Self-evaluation

Use of Social Work in Methods in Correctional Settings

1. Social Work in Methods in Correctional Settings

2. Social Group Work in Methods in Correctional Settings

3. Community Organisations in Correctional Settings

4. Social Action in Correctional Settings

5. Social Work Research and social welfare in Correctional Settings

1. Social Work in Correctional Settings

Social case work involves a close face to face relationship mainly based on working with people and their problems. The practice of the case work is based on five basic assumptions that are helpful in serving the offender.

1. Every individual must be seen as a person of worth and dignity.

2. Behaviour, Whether acceptable or unacceptable to the society, expresses a need of the individual.

3. An individual can and will change his/ her behavior if the right time and right amount of opportunities are provided.

4. If help is given before the problem becomes aggravated, the response is likely to be better.

5. Family is the most influential force in the formation of the behaviour in the development of the personality in the early years.

2. Social Group work in Correctional Settings

Group work with delinquents and adult offenders is often seen as a powerful technique for modifying the behaviour and attitude. The purpose of group in correctional settings is:

1) To strengthen the emotional security of the offender within the framework of the group so that he does not feel alone and helpless but also moves towards not being wholly dependent on it.

2) To strengthen the offender’s independence by helping him to actually participate in the group discussion, and not to submit to a gang leader or a powerful sub group.

3) The introduction of an adult (group worker) who represents the values of a society, offenders often reject, but who because of his accepting attitude represent adult security and love.

4) To provide an opportunity to gain inner resilience and status with the group through accomplishment in activities by society.

3) Community Organisations in Correctional Settings

Community organisations have an important role in the rehabilitation and reintegration of released offenders into the society. At the same time community organisations are widely used for crime and delinquency. Convicts, after facing the sentence face problems in the adjustment with family, relatives, peer groups, neighbourhood and employment. Family is an important unit that can provide relief to the released offenders and take care of their various needs.

4) Social Action in Correctional Settings

Social action has an important role to play in the field of corrections. Among others the process of public interest litigation is (PIL) could be mentioned

5) Social Work Research and Social Welfare in Correctional Settings

There is a need to evaluate the current programs and services in the field of corrections to bring about improvement in these settings. At the same time it is desirable to measure the relative efficacy of institutional and non-institutional services in the fields of corrections.

Skills Required for a Social Worker to Intervene

Social work positions within corrections encompass a wide range of skills and specialized services, including:

1. Discharge planning

2. Case management

3. Comprehensive need assessment of the offenders

4. Program delivery

5. Individual/family/group counselling/group therapy

6. Crisis intervention

7. Negotiation and mediation

8. Teaching

9. Community capacity building and

10. Advocacy (individual and systemic)

CONCLUSION

Counsellors and social workers can play their interventional role through law enforcement agencies time to time in different areas mentioned in the above. Here social workers also play their roles as mediator, catalyst, therapist, teacher, researcher, guide, communicator, liasoning, caregiver etc. depending on the veracity of the crimes/issues. Social workers can also be placed in the following areas of intervention where they also would have some roles to play.

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