Daniel P. Dowens believes that reentry counseling in prisons can do a lot to help an inmate succeed when released. Unfortunately, according to Dowens, too many prison reentry counseling programs “only put into place enough to fulfill a perfunctory role, minimum department requirements or political correctness.” Writing in a corrections.com article, Dowens posits that “improved analytical thinking, decision making and problem solving skills” are the key components to successful reentry, and teaching these skills should be a priority in any prison counseling/reentry program.
Dowens speaks from his experience as a probation officer, intensive supervision program manager, agency supervisor,and now as a correctional counselor. His belief that corrections counseling is a failure in many institutions is supported by the high recidivism rate in virtually every state in America. Claiming that “…cell house counseling has been forsaken as non-essential or at least under-utilized for too long,” Dowen hopes to see more administrative support for cell house reentry counseling programs, and the use of more resources appropriated for such programs.
Source: corrections.com
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