Our philosophy works from a viewpoint of habilitation vs. rehabilitation. While rehabilitation refers to restoring something back to its original state; Habilitation works on helping individuals attain or improve on skills that might not have been initially instilled.
Cognitive Behavioral approach: We focus on reducing recidivism by addressing problems associated with criminal behavior. Through programming, we help offenders develop a conscious of their own feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.
Trauma Informed Care approach: Recognizes persons adult dysfunctional behavior is from childhood trauma. (This is an explanation to behavior, but it is not an excuse).
Validate adult dysfunctional behavior maybe a reaction to childhood trauma. (Most clients have been misled and lied to from caregivers).
Counselors learn to challenge clients without causing shame.
We must look past the criminal behavior and help people with their underlying issues related to abuse.
We must treat people with dignity and respect no matter the offense.
Program Implementation
Program Coordinators select inmate programming based on current scientific evidence on offender treatment. Such as, criminogenic risk factors. We target programming towards reducing recidivism and connecting the population with community resources.
We work with our community partners to assist in counseling services, community resources, and overall helping persons while incarcerated improve their quality of life and assist with re-entry services. Community partner grants, resources, and classes play a part in our inmate resources.
Programs help connect our inmates with community resources upon release. By offering “wrap around” services, it increases their opportunity for a better quality of life. The wraparound plan typically includes formal services, intakes, screenings, assessments, and referrals for community-based involvements. This includes research-based interventions as a way to provide community resources for justice involved persons.
cognitive behavioral programming, which addresses the basic core problems of distorted thinking, self-awareness, and internalized dissonance. Programming focusing on habilitation that starts at the beginning with subconscious scripting and takes the client through a logical sequence to change life's direction. Habilitating incarcerated persons on the fundamentals of education, interpersonal relationships, emotional self-care, recognizing thinking errors, focus on values –attitude- behavior, problem-solving skills, and social skills.
Benefits of Programming
We offer incarcerated persons a daily classroom schedule filled with voluntary classes to attend. Classes help keep the population busy with counseling groups, educational programming, and faith based programming.
We can offer up to 40 scheduled classes and groups a week to general population. We are a high school diploma approved testing site. We have had over 150 incarcerated persons earn a high school diploma. We also have a full functioning library.
Coordinating programming classes with service providers and volunteers from the community, we often have up to 80 service providers/ volunteers providing services in our classrooms or providing individual one on one services. Again, providing wrap around services connecting incarcerated persons to services before release to community.
Programming addresses the various adversities incarcerated persons from our community face in their lives. Some of the common adversities among justice involved individuals consist of childhood neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence, drug and alcohol dependency, and human trafficking to name a few. Programs help to connect incarcerated persons with community services to reduce recidivism.
Programming assists the courts in alternative sentencing practices. Program Coordinators screen incarcerated persons for mental health resources, veterans services, substance abuse treatment, education, counseling services, homeless services, gambling services, domestic and sexual abuse advocacy, human trafficking services etc.
Sample of Programming offered at Scott County Jail
Programming ebbs and flows considering the resources available from our community partners. Community partner grants, resources, and funding play a part in our inmate resources.
