Training Staff
Jails, prisons, and community corrections departments often do not have a workforce that has been sufficiently trained to conduct and interpret comprehensive assessments in every issue area or the resources to address the issues that assessments help staff to identify.
To train their workforces, administrators of jails, prisons, and community corrections departments should enlist the developers of validated assessment instruments to train staff in administering these assessments and using them to inform treatment, programming, and supervision decisions. Information gleaned from these trainings can then be incorporated into regular training protocols. Given the resource limitations in corrections settings, it is important that staff is trained to use validated instruments reliably, so that the results of assessments can be used effectively to allocated limited treatment and programming resources to people with the greatest risk and need.
Administrators of jails, prisons, and community corrections departments should also enlist community-based service providers to provide in-service trainings for staff in particular issue areas (e.g., trauma), describe available resources in the community for people released from prisons and jails, and assist staff with drawing information from community-based sources. Such cross-training can provide excellent opportunities to break down cultural and organizational barriers between criminal justice personnel and community-based service providers and increase their collaboration when preparing individuals to return from prison or jail to the community.
In-house specialists should be enlisted to train staff to recognize signs of health problems, mental illness or cognitive disabilities so that corrections staff can flag these issues for health staff when acute needs arise. Finally, staff should be trained to use techniques such as motivational interviewing to work with individuals to determine their primary needs and to develop an individualized plan for the period of transitioning from prison or jail to the community.