Correctional Case Managers: Transforming Inmates for a Smooth Transition to Society - Esssay Sample

Introduction

Correctional case managers provide a critical interconnection between the prison system and social services, making it practical for the transition of inmates to society. The primary focus of any correctional facility is to ensure that every inmate, in their custody, undergoes a transformation in behavior and routinely practices, making it easier for the system to deal with hardened criminals. On the contrary, the focus of the correctional facilities is to ensure that transformation and visible changes are visible to all the inmates, and they can maintain the changes even when they are re-introduced to the society. Even though this concept is critical, there is a dynamic challenge of reintroducing the convicts back to the community, especially considering several factors, such as culture and customs of the society towards convicted members. As a result, case managers are mandated with a vigorous task of transitioning the convicted fellows from prison life into the outer world, playing a vital role in the correctional system. Thus, the essay will elucidate the roles and challenges encountered by the case managers in their routine activities.

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General Case Management Duties

The correctional case managers provide an array of services to the inmates to ensure that all members of this group have an equal opportunity to social services that are geared towards improving their health and the environment around them. The correction case managers interact with the inmates daily to ensure that all inmates are given an opportunity like the civilians. On their daily duties, the correction case managers are mandated with the responsibility of analyzing an offender's psychological tendencies, in conjunction with their past behaviors, which may include drug abuse, sexual harassment, and any form of violence within them. In this case, the assessment conducted plays a critical role in developing a concise yet explicitly treatment plan for the inmates. The goal of the treatment plan is to make a difference in the inmate's life in the future.

Case managers provide counseling advice to the victims of violence, especially those dealing with drug issues, alcohol abuse, and violence outbursts. On the contrary, once an inmate is released to society, it is cumbersome for one to acquire a proper job due to their condition and profile. However, it is the responsibility of the case managers to take the opportunity by helping their clients to make good chances and engage in educational programs that are available and acquire competent job skills that will prove them to be qualified once they are reintroduced to the society. In this case, the concept of advising the inmates to take any education program helps them develop competent skills that will prove them in their fields. On the contrary, this practice is geared towards reducing the possibilities of the inmates ever coming back to prison due to violence or robbery, as a result of unemployment due to incompetent skills in the market.

The main goal of the case managers is to ensure that the inmates' behaviors are fully transformed and ready to be re-introduced back to the society, with a definite motive and approach towards development. Through this, cases managers have to incorporate different concepts ranging from psychology to criminology basics to help bring the inmates to the required position. As a result, all inmates have the chance to rectify their past behaviors by replacing them with the new. Even though the case managers play a significant role in helping the inmates to change their actions, the entire practice is dominated by several challenges that case managers have to deal with daily.

Challenges Faced by Case Managers Related to Multiculturalism and Diversity

According to Latessa, and Lovins, (2019), every day as a case manager provides a different problem, despite the level of experience that one has. As a result, all case managers need to consider the magnitude of these challenges to help them carry on with their duties with minimal difficulties. For a better treatment of the criminal justice system, it is essential to understand the diverse and different ways through which a multicultural society views the diversity in the justice set-up. Racial discrimination is has defined the fundamental challenges felt in a multicultural and diverse community, a concept that has widely extended to the case managers' practices. Racial discrimination and social cultures are prevalent in this field, a step that is limiting the possibilities of offering adequate training to the inmates, hence leading to a deficiency in training and information.

How Dynamic Factors and Static Criminal History Are Used in Case Management

According to Cullen, Jonson, and Mears, (2017) observations, dynamic criminal factors are essential in determining and developing the frameworks of case management, as they advance each solution from constructed past events of a related case. Through the assessment of criminal history, both static and dynamic factors are analyzed to give valuable data that can lead to the development of a concise concept of increasing productivity in the process.

The Process of Determining Future Services for Inmates

The entire process of case management is to give a better insight and understanding of the correctional facility by offering the inmates an opportunity to change their behaviors and become useful in society (Loeliger, et al., 2018). The case management is a series of events, which navigate from one completed even to the other giving a better insight and understanding of the changes taking place. However, the future services for an inmate can be determined by the difference in behavior, and the response from the current ongoing services, which gives the degree of change of an inmate from one service to the other. For an inmate to complete the entire management plan, one has to show a higher degree of positive changes from their previous services. However, if there are no positive changes recorded, the service has to be administered once more until the visible changes are noted.

References

Cullen, F. T., Jonson, C. L., & Mears, D. P. (2017). Reinventing community corrections. Crime and Justice, 46(1), 27-93.doi.10.1086/688457

Latessa, E. J., & Lovins, L. B. (2019). Privatization of community corrections. Criminology & Public Policy, 18(2), 323-341.doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12433

Loeliger, K. B., Altice, F. L., Desai, M. M., Ciarleglio, M. M., Gallagher, C., & Meyer, J. P. (2018). Predictors of linkage to HIV care and viral suppression after release from jails and prisons: a retrospective cohort study. The lancet HIV, 5(2), e96-e106.doi.org/10.1016/S2352-3018(17)30209-6