Human service professionals play a big role in our community. Some people may not realize that certain professions are those of human service professionals. What are the duties of a human services professional in a correctional facility? Duties of human services include but are not limited to designing, administering, and monitoring services for clients (for facility units) immediate and long-range needs including some specialized living situations and treatment. Duties also include addressing the needs of victims and the community through restorative case planning.
Human service is a rigorous career that can offer great rewards but isn’t for everyone. Consider some of the personality traits needed to be successful. As a human services professional you must be compassionate, have excellent communication skills, be a problem solver, have a lot of patience, be organized with time management skills, be analytical, be a people person, and be responsible for the lives of many.
A probation officer acts as a community supervisor. Their main goal is to prevent new crimes from being committed. Their roles involve evaluating whether an offender is or is not a risk to the community and will assist in the development of each prisoner’s rehabilitation plan. They must ensure that once out on probation, each offender reports at the allotted and mandated time, proves them the necessary testing or program information, and ensures they are conducting health and welfare checkups in order to ensure each offender remains in compliance with their individual plans.
A victim advocate deals with crime prevention, legal rights, and safety planning. An average day for a victim advocate could include accompanying a victim to court, providing counseling, or ensuring the proper counseling or treatment is set up for their client. A victim advocate needs to be confident in order to support a victim in a challenging, and often scary situation.
Prison social worker has their hands full as well. The main responsibility for social work is rehabilitation and counseling. They perform assessments to determine inmates' current level of functioning and to evaluate the presence of mental health or substance abuse counselors.
Police officers and corrections officers are similar but serve a little bit differently in the community. Police officers do more than fight crime and enforce laws. They assist in maintaining the welfare of citizens by monitoring community health and safety issues and intervening on a social level. Corrections officers seek to advise, support, console, refer or otherwise assist inmates with the problems and crisis of adjustment produced by imprisonment with people. The human services model holds the promise of more human environments in correctional institutions.
Many individuals forget about the importance of a substance abuse counselor. They play a huge role in the corrections world. They are typically responsible for evaluating inmates’ mental and physical health, helping inmates develop treatment plans, developing skills or behaviors needed to recover from the addiction, educating them on addiction to help foster strategies to cope with the problem, and referring offenders to community programs or support groups upon release.
As there are several other human service professionals in corrections one of the last ones that I choose to speak about that I feel plays an important role in corrections is a vocational career counselor. A vocational career counselor helps assist offenders with the process of making career decisions and developing social skills needed to pursue a career or educational program upon release.
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Many individuals may think why do inmates get to go to school or earn a degree while in a correctional facility, while others outside the facility work hard daily and cannot afford an excellent education? The truth of the matter is yes, everyone deserves an excellent education to be successful in today’s society but let us help inmates mainstream and get ready to get back into society it is already cruel enough whether it’s a man or woman trying to better themselves after the prison/jail life.
Women have become the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population. Women's prisons are normally a lower -level of security than a man’s prison. Oklahoma currently has the highest female incarcerated rate in the county.
The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2013 shows that African American males accounted for 37% of the total male prison population, White males 32%, and Hispanic males 22%. White females are 49% and African American females are 22% of the total prison population.
In 2015, in the USA, women made up 10.4% of the incarcerated population in adult prisons and jails. Between 2000 & 2010 the number of males in prison grew by 1.4%, while females grew by 1.9% per year. In 35 states women’s population numbers have far worsened than men's.
There are several institutional betterment programs that are offered to both female and male inmates. Some programs that they offer but are not limited to are Alcoholics Anonymous, Anger Management, Creative Writing, Life Skills, Money Management, Parenting, Wellness Education, Yoga, Worship Services, Faith and Character Based Programs, Religious Education, Adult Basic Education, GED, Special Education Screening and Volunteer Literacy Program.
What are some other things that are offered to help provide inmates with positivity while incarcerated? Healthcare and Mental Health for inmates are of high need while incarcerated. Healthcare for inmates wasn’t what I thought it was. Michelle Andrews (2015) While incarcerated Medicaid won’t pay for any of your medical. If you are enrolled in Medicaid while incarcerated, you may be able to get care more quickly after your release. The most common mental health issues in prison are depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and psychotic disorders. Treatment options available for those with mental health disorders while incarcerated are group counseling, individual counseling, and medication to help cope (which is prescribed and given to them by the correctional facility's Registered Nurse on duty).
Matthew R. Durose, BJS Statistician (2005-2014) In order to reduce recidivism vocational counselors in corrections are responsible for helping inmates overcome behavioral or social problems through individual or group counseling, working with offenders to develop career skills, developing attainable career goals, evaluating aptitude testing and creating strategies to help inmates succeed as fully functional citizens for release back into society.
Matthew R. Durose, BJS Statistician (2005-2014) States were selected for the 2005 prisoner recidivism study based on their ability to provide prisoner records and the FBI or state identification numbers on persons released from state correctional facilities in 2005. This study estimated the recidivism patterns of more than 400,000 persons released in 2005 from state prisons in 30 states. In 2005, these 30 states were responsible for 77% of all persons released from state prisons nationwide. A representative sample of inmates released in 2005 was developed for each of the 30 states using data reported by state departments of corrections to BJS's National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP), yielding a final sample of approximately 68,000 persons. BJS used the state and FBI identification numbers supplied by the departments of corrections to collect national criminal history records on the sample of former prisoners.
Work Cited
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- Ludwig, T. (2006). The sacred Paths of the West. new jersey: Pearson.
- new york times. (2008, December 5). motherlode, adventures in parenting. NY Times, p. 1.
- Saint Leo University. (2011). Looking at Us: An Interdisciplinary Study of Human Behaviors. Pearson.
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