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This is a three webinar series. Each webinar builds into the next!

Are you converting your instructor led training (a.k.a. face-to-face or in-person training) to live virtual instructor led training (VILT)? Do you know where to start to convert face-to-face training and materials, such as your facilitator guides, participant guides, slide shows, and other learning experience materials?

What We Will Do in the Webinar Series?

1. Explore popular virtual platforms, compare and contrast them to your unique agency needs / outcomes for virtual learning.
2. Assess agency technology infrastructure as well as learner, trainer, and agency readiness for virtual learning.
3. Survey best practices to determine the duration of virtual learning based upon training outcomes.
4. Apply options for participant engagement, interaction, and collaboration during virtual learning.
5. Share experiences from other correctional agencies with respect to in-person to virtual conversions.

Part 1:
In this webinar, participants used the ADDIE framework (Assessment, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation) as a virtual roadmap to:

• Compare and contrast the characteristics of popular virtual training platforms;
• Assess agency technology infrastructure versus what is needed for effective live virtual training delivery;
• Assess learner, trainer, and agency readiness for virtual learning; and
• Determine initial steps for conversion of training from in person (instructor led training / ILT) to virtual instructor led (VILT).

Facilitators

• Jeff Hadnot, Chief, NIC Academy Division
• Ashley Kerr, Training Officer, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
• Elizabeth Kreger, Assistant Director of Adult Options, Ohio Department of Education
• Leslie LeMaster, Correctional Program Specialist, NIC Academy Division
• Jim Wiseman, Director of Training (retired), Missouri Department of Corrections

With increased awareness of the effects of stress, adversity, and trauma on people’s lives, criminal justice professionals are considering what this means in their correctional settings. There is growing evidence of the effects of child neglect and abuse (as well as other forms of traumatic stress) on the health, mental health, and behavior of men and women residing in jails and prisons. While research and clinical experience indicate that there is a high incidence of trauma and co-occurring problems among these groups, corrections professionals struggle to provide them with effective management and services. It is particularly challenging when many institutions have staff who are affected by trauma in their personal and work lives. Organizational stress and trauma create additional challenges in the environment and culture of the workplace. Moving from trauma informed to trauma responsive to implement trauma-informed care can be challenging. The webinar speakers have extensive experience in delivering trauma informed education and services to the men and women in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation as well as other state and local agencies nationally. This webinar series guides administrators and correctional staff through the process and will provide updated information and research.

Webinar Objectives:
The primary goals of this three-part webinar series are to:

•     Provide criminal justice, mental health, and substance use treatment professionals with up-to-date information regarding trauma-informed care within the criminal justice system.
•     Provide information on the lifelong effects of trauma, recovery needs, and implementation of trauma-focused treatment interventions (including research findings).
•     Provide an outline for the process of becoming a trauma-informed organization.

Each of the sessions includes discussion of content, polling and video clips, a question and answer period, as well as a list of resources referenced during the presentations.  

Part 2: This session discusses the rationale for trauma-informed treatment, the values and efficacy of trauma informed services, and related research findings.

Moderators/Speakers

• Maureen Buell, Correctional Program Specialist, National Institute of Corrections
• Stephanie Covington, Ph.D., LCSW, Co-Director, Center for Gender and Justice
• Nena Messina, Ph.D., Research Criminologist at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs and President of Envisioning Justice Solutions, Inc.

Development of outcome-based performance systems of management for correctional agencies has been an important initiative for the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) since the early 1990s. It was envisioned as a means of assessing performance across jurisdictions, promoting the use of performance-based management by correctional agencies, and improving the planning and management capacities of correctional organizations across the nation. Our specific project objectives were threefold: 1) identify a series of correctional measures that are considered to be the most crucial aspects of quality incarceration; 2) develop a set of indicators that reflect the essence of each measure; and, 3) define each indicator to allow for standard application of the measures across jurisdictions. Recognizing the complexity and scope of the potential performance measures for correctional agencies, for the purposes of this project, we focused on measures of public safety, institutional safety, treatment and programming, and contextual data. This report describes our work to date, identifies the performance indicators developed by the subcommittee, summarizes a preliminary assessment of state correctional agencies’ capacity to participate, and outlines the next steps for continued development of a national performance measurement system.

This document provides correctional facilities definitions and the rules for maintaining statistics for their institutions. Including, but not limited to, operational capacity, inmates, housed, inmates outsourced, male security staff, female security, institutional staff.

Originally broadcast on August 20th, 2020 for one hour.

Webinar Summary : When was the last time you had your eyes examined? Just as the health of our vision is maintained through regular eye exams, the way in which we see the world is maintained through self-awareness and broadening our perspectives. In the midst of quarantines, telework, and increased isolation from both friends and colleagues, we are also living through a time of social unrest. For many people, this time in history has brought new insights into the criminal justice system and interaction across cultures and life experiences.

If you are interested in improving your cultural “eye sight,” this one-hour interactive webinar sponsored by the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is for you! Our vision for how we view and perceive others is impacted by our individual beliefs, values, and past experiences. In this webinar, we’ll explore preconceptions and techniques that can be used to understand how other people see the world. By gaining insight into your own personal filters, you will be able to engage in difficult conversations and begin to develop a greater sense of awareness and empathy that starts with YOU.

Take Aways:
Prepare to learn how to develop your H.U.E.:

H elp with cultural considerations toward effective communication in corrections;

U nderstand how your preconceptions and values influence your vision;

E nhance your ability to navigate shared experiences.

Speakers:
Alfranda Durr, CEO ALD & Associates LLC
Kari Heistad, CEO Cultural Coach International

Alfranda (Al) and Kari are Certified Diversity and Inclusion Practitioners with 40 plus years of combined experience conducting in-person and virtual training on a wide range of Human Resources, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion topics. Al and Kari have partnered on a popular diversity webinar series covering a wide range of diversity topics. Combined, Al and Kari bring diverse perspectives and ways of seeing the world to their presentations.

This webinar is part of a series created for the Family Connections Project, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) invites you to attend a 1.5-hour training on how to communicate with families and children in correctional facilities. Installment two of the series will provide relevant information and strategies for staff. This webinar will cover three major topics:

• Communication 101: Basic Types and Everyday Challenges
• Workplace Culture and Practices: Interacting with Families and Children in Correctional Facilities
• Applicable Practices for Staff: Interacting with Families and Children in Correctional Facilities

Are you striving to meet organizational goals and crucial deadlines, yet wondering why your team’s morale has decreased? Are you aware of the messages your supervisory performance sends in stressful circumstances and their impact on your team? Are you interested in increasing your self-awareness, decrease tension, improve concentration, and ultimately improve your team's health and workplace satisfaction?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, this one hour interactive webinar sponsored by the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is for you! Research suggests that, as the emotional and/or mental well-being of each team member decline, organizational and professional growth are negatively affected. How you perform in stressful circumstances sends a clear message, whether positive or negative, to your team. During this interactive webinar, we will explore techniques that can be used to address workplace stress using mindfulness that starts with YOU, in your role as Supervisor.

What can mindfulness do for you as a Supervisor? Mindfulness can help increase your self-awareness, decrease tension within you and your team, improve your concentration, and ultimately improve your team's health and workplace satisfaction. During this webinar, you will experience several mindfulness techniques to implement with your team, helping you to jumpstart your transformation to leading mindfully and improving the emotional health of your team and organization.

Speaker

Dr. Rosalind Smith Sistrunk, Rosalind Smith Counseling

Dr. Sistrunk is a licensed professional clinical counselor in the state of Ohio who specializes in relationship counseling. She conducts mindfulness-based workshops and services to help improve the emotional well-being of individuals and organizations. Dr. Sistrunk believes that a supervisor’s healthy emotional well-being can have a positive impact on any workforce.

References

A Clinician's Guide to Teaching Mindfulness
By Christiame Wolf, MD, PhD & J. Greg Serpa, Phd

The Body Keeps the Score
By Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD

The Mindful Workplace
By Michael Chaskalson

The Quantum Doctor
By Amit Goswami, PhD

With the collective commitment of leaders across the government and across the country, the Reentry Council is working to promote successful reentry and reintegration for individuals returning from prison and jail. Strengthening opportunities for second chances will not only improve outcomes for justice-involved populations, it will also reduce recidivism and victimization – creating safer communities – and save taxpayer dollars spent on the direct and collateral costs of incarceration … The Council has developed a robust set of policies, programs, and training materials to support the reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals and reduce barriers for those with a criminal record … The Reentry Council’s path forward will be guided by an overarching commitment to realizing the goals described in this report – and ensuring that the tools for successful reentry reach the communities that need them most (p. 75).

This paper is the fourth in the National Institute of Corrections justice-involved veteran compendium project. It illuminates programs in prisons across the country whose goal is to prevent recidivism by justice-involved veterans, and by so doing improve the safety of law enforcement officers, correctional officers, inmates, and the public. It illustrates the design/development, implementation, and sustainment of initiatives taken by corrections officials who have set up specialized housing—in pods, dorms, units, wings, or floors—and programming for military veterans.

Did you know that 99% of all leadership occurs not from the TOP but from the MIDDLE of an organization? Join the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) to explore the qualities of effective leaders at all levels and the essential skills necessary to flourish in one’s own management style while respecting organizational structure and mission. Through a series of interactive activities, we will explore how current and future leaders can bring relevant tools, values, and influence to and from every level of a correctional organization. 

Recognizing that corrections can be a tough profession, the National Institute of Corrections is at the forefront of Health and Wellness for Corrections Professionals. The NIC website has a wealth of resources on the topic including webinars, a virtual conference dedicated to the subject, as well as an Internet Broadcast called Corrections Stress: Peaks and Valleys. The literature on the subject reflects what those who work in the field already know anecdotally, that the job of a correctional officer is particularly stressful. Officers must contend with rotating work schedules, mandatory overtime, and possible assaults by and among offenders. The following articles and discussion provide an overview of what information is available on suicide by correctional officers and—to some extent—police officers, and the impact workplace stress can have on officers. In response to the literature search, officer wellness is discussed, along with some of the interventions recommended to prevent suicides and reduce corrections fatigue.

This report reviews the lessons learned by three forward-leaning teams in their review of a negative criminal justice outcome ("sentinel event") in their jurisdictions. The project represents the next step in NIJ's exploration of the feasibility of using sentinel event reviews as a way to learn from errors in the criminal justice system. See also 029617.

The assessment, treatment, and risk management of persons who have sexually offended is of considerable interest to a wide variety of stakeholder groups, including legislators and policymakers, court and law enforcement personnel, corrections and community supervision staff, mental health clinicians, victim advocates, and the community-at-large, among others. Many of these stakeholders have expressed concerns regarding the potential for sexual recidivism and other harms posed by offenders released to the community. As a consequence, most jurisdictions have enacted legislative frameworks to manage those risks.

The past 40 years have been witness to significant growth in our understanding of the dynamics of sexual offending, the people who engage in these behaviors and how best to assess their risk for reoffending, and what treatment and supervision interventions are most likely to result in success. In this context, success may be defined as: (1) greater community safety, and (2) safe and humane reintegration opportunities for offenders returning to the community.

This report is intended to provide a comprehensive review of best practices in the assessment, treatment, and risk management of persons who have sexually offended. 

Expanding on Ranganathan’s five laws, we know that libraries are for use and that every library has its community (users). In order to ensure that a library is meeting the needs of its users, the library must be able to assess its services, including its collections, and understand how those are meeting the requirements of its community. This webinar will investigate the assessment activities that a library can utilize to determine the needs of its community, as well as those assessments which can help a library assure that a service is meeting its community’s desires. Specific assessments, which can be completed in any type of environment, will be discussed and examples given.

Webinar held May 30, 2018

Evidenced based library and information practice (EBLIP) evolved from evidence based medicine two decades ago when a group of health sciences librarians thought that the process they saw doctors using had something to offer librarianship. Since then, EBLIP has shifted and evolved. EBLIP can be used in any type of library to assist with decision-making, aid in developing policy, and support decisions, requests, and procedures. EBLIP is a way of working that incorporates various types of information into decision-making. The benefit of practicing in an evidence based way is that not only can decision-making be improved upon, but also it can increase confidence when there is appropriate evidence to support decisions. This webinar will take participants through the steps of EBLIP in such a way that you can begin to incorporate EBLIP into your practice right away. Then, we will look at specific uses of EBLIP and explore how you can incorporate evidence based practice at your own workplace.

This Session took place on November 13, 2018, 2 pm EST.

A 2016 report sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education noted that incarcerated adults with access to library services other than a law library scored higher in literacy and numeracy than incarcerated adults without access on a survey conducted by the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. While the study does not address why or how library services played a role in the success of incarcerated adults, it does highlight the question. In fact, the effect of library services on learning is an issue that academic libraries have attempted to address for years. In this DDLC webinar series session, representatives from the National Institute for Learning Outcomes and the Association of College Research Libraries share how their organizations have been tackling the issue.

NILOA begins by providing an introduction on current practices and future trends in assessing and documenting learning. They then uncover efforts that are unfolding to capture and document evidence of student learning outside of traditional curricular experiences. ACRL will then explain how they have been focusing on helping academic libraries and librarians demonstrate alignment with and impact on institutional outcomes.

By the end of this session, you learn how academic libraries have approached assessment in recent years and examine how some of these efforts may be adapted for use in a correctional setting.

Webinar held May 2, 2018

Blythe Balistrieri discusses the ways in which the general correctional library and law libraries can partner, the challenges correctional librarians must negotiate daily, and how to streamline correctional library operations. Her presentation covers some of the history of correctional libraries, challenges that these libraries can face, and how librarians can work to alleviate some of them. Professor Balestrieri listed five actions that correctional library staff can take to combat some of their challenges: Advocacy, Communication, Education, Training and Team Building. Makes reference to court cases Bounds v. Smith, Thornburgh v. Abbot, Lewis v. Casey.

This webinar is an overview of NIC’s white paper Training from A to E: Analysis to Evaluation (032740) on learning and performance, and its application to corrections training. During the webinar, participants had the opportunity to engage in activities to apply learning and performance research to the training they analyze, design, develop, implement and evaluate in their own organization. There is a transcript available for the webinar.

This report summarizes findings from the Urban Institute’s replication validation of the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) Employment Retention Inventory (ERI). This study was conducted under NIC Cooperative Agreement Award 16CS04GKU7 to determine the ERI’s ability to identify workforce detachment risks for employed and unemployed justice-involved populations in Indiana, New York, and Massachusetts. This study also examined practitioners’ use of the ERI in diverse community correctional settings.

From June 2017 to July 2018, 185 employed and 148 unemployed people participated in the study, completing the ERI during check-in meetings with NIC-trained Employment Retention Specialists. Most study participants were living in the community under probation or parole supervision or with a history of justice involvement; others were incarcerated in state prison. ERI baseline responses were quantitatively compared with employment outcomes approximately 3 to 6 months later for all participants. The relationship between employment and recidivism was also examined. Qualitative interviews with ERI-trained professionals provided insight into the instrument’s use in practice

Items in the ERI showed strong content and construct validity, meaning the tool conceptually covered the key domains related to employment retention, particularly for community-based participants. Predictive validity analyses demonstrated that the ERI yielded “good” and “excellent” performance ratings in predicting unemployment 3 to 6 months later for those in community settings. Analyses of the ERI’s validity for incarcerated participants were insufficient due to small sample sizes. For all participants, bivariate analyses supported a linkage between employment experiences and recidivism. ERI practitioners expressed that the instrument had strong utility and potential for their work.

Overall, validation analyses coupled with practitioners’ feedback suggests that the ERI, when implemented with motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral techniques learned through NIC’s Employment Retention Specialist training, could be a useful case management tool for community correctional populations.

The Public Information Officer (PIO) plays a vital role in local jails. The public’s perception/misperception of jail operations can influence public safety, funding, elections and numerous other factors. Responding to media inquiries regarding crisis situations is just one of the many roles of the PIO. Building a positive rapport with the media, taking control of your message, and conveying your mission are priority tasks for a PIO. The Jail Public Information Officers Network Meeting provides for the free exchange of ideas and information that allows colleagues to share and learn new strategies. These proceedings highlight the events that happened during this meeting.

The TJC Initiative seeks to improve public safety and to enhance the success of individuals returning to the community from local jails through implementation of an innovative, evidence-informed transition models in four key areas: collaborative structures, evidence-based targeted interventions, data and self-evaluation, and sustainability mechanisms and capacity-building. During Phase 1 (2008-2011), the national TJC team tested the TJC model in six learning communities: Davidson County, TN; Denver, CO; Douglas County, KS; Kent County, MI; La Crosse County, WI; and Orange County, CA. During Phase 2 (2012-2015), six additional learning sites joined the TJC Initiative. Respondents of the program credit TJC TA with helping their communities build highly functional collaborations between their jails, other criminal justice agencies and reentry stakeholders; establish or expand evidence-based practices and interventions; enhance foundational capacity to monitor and measure system performance; and reduce recidivism.

NCA video chronicling the transition from male to female of corrections officer Rachel Esters, featuring moderator Bernie Iszler, CPS NIC Academy division. This may be used as a staff training video.

The purpose of Veterans Treatment Courts is to offer vets with a substance use problem and/or diagnosis of a mental health issue an opportunity to avail themselves of treatment-oriented justice. Based on anecdotal evidence and an increasing accretion of data from the field—in many of the projects funded by the National Institute of Corrections and the Bureau of Justice Assistance—these courts appear to be achieving their goal. They are helping worthy individuals find a degree of redemption while paying their debt to society. They are restoring family relationships, strengthening communities, cutting rates of recidivism and, hence, making communities safer.

But what of those veterans who are incarcerated, serving a sentence, or awaiting trial or other resolution of the charges against them?

This paper is the second in the National Institute of Corrections justice-involved veteran compendium project. It illuminates programs in jails across the country and how justice involved veterans have been helped by them. It illustrates the design, development, implementation, and sustainment of initiatives taken by enlightened, pragmatic corrections officials who have set up veteran-specific housing—in pods, dorms, units, wings, or floors—and programming for military veterans.

Barracks Behind Bars introduces several of the facilities and the men and women whose vision is paying off with reportedly fewer behavioral problems and incidents of violence by incarcerated veterans. This may contribute to a less stressful, safer environment for correctional personnel and facilitates opportunities for assistance from the Veterans Justice Outreach specialists of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, personnel from state and county departments, and volunteers from community and veterans organizations. This white paper shares the views of jail administrators, judges, and formerly incarcerated veterans—each of whom have stories to tell—in their own words.