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nEWS&vIEWS

Therefore, volunteer activity necessarily translates as an increased workload for chaplains. It’s easy to hinder volunteer interaction and pro- grams when a busy work schedule doesn’t allow margin for anything other than necessities. Not to men- tion, there are additional security risks on both the chaplain and prison security staff whenever outsiders are inside the prison grounds. Thus, the temptation is to limit the flow of volunteers into our facilities. With these realities on the table, we must be willing to assess the research and make decisions that benefit the inmate and increase his or her likeli- hood of success upon release into the community. Best practices for correctional chaplains Prison volunteers are typically a highly educated, committed and reliable group who represent proso- cial institutions and practices. They represent the kind of influence our inmates desperately need. Taking this with the research findings of reduced recidivism linked to the presence and activity of volunteers, every chaplain should evaluate the institutional policies related to volunteers and determine if unnecessary barriers are in place that would limit their positive influence. To my correctional chaplaincy friends, I ask you: Do you value your volunteer force? Are you utilizing them to their fullest? Imagine every volunteer you train and interact with, every memo you create and event you clear, you may be creating the only “visit” some inmates will ever have.

Photos courtesy Kristi Miller/4 th Purpose Foundation

ENDNOTES 1 Maruschak, Laura, “Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children,” US Department of Justice , March 2021 retrieved from https://www.bjs.gov/index. cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=7309 2 Rutgers University: National Resource Center on Children & Families of the Incarcerated, “Children and Families of the Incarcerated Fact Sheet,” retrieved from https://nrccfi.camden.rutgers.edu/ files/nrccfi-fact-sheet-2014.pdf 3 Ford, Katharine, “Measuring ACEs in an Offender Population,” Health Research Authority , August 2017, retrieved from https://www.hra.nhs.uk/ planning-and-improving-research/application- summaries/research-summaries/measuring-aces-in- an-offender-population/ 4 Joshua C. Cochran, “The Ties that Bind or the Ties That Break: Examining the Relationship between Visitation and Prisoner Misconduct,” Journal of Criminal Justice 40 (5): 433-40, 2012; Karen De Claire and Louise Dixon, “The Effects of Prison Visits from Family members on Prisoners’Well-Being, Prison Rule Breaking, and Recidivism: A Review of Research since 1991,” Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 18 (2): 185-99, 2017; Grant Duwe and Valarie Clark, “Blessed Be the Social Tie That Binds: The Effects of Prison

Visitation on Offender Recidivism,” Criminal Justice Policy Review 24 (3): 271-96, 2013. 5 Minnesota Department of Corrections, “The Effects of Prison Visitation on Offender Recidivism” November 2011, 27. Retrieved from https://mn.gov/doc/assets/11-11MNPrison VisitationStudy_tcm1089-272781.pdf 6 “The Effects of Prison Visits from Community Volunteers on Offender Recidivism,” The Prison Journal 96 (2):279-303, 2016. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/ abs/10.1177/0032885515618468 7 “Prison Volunteers: Profiles, Motivations, Satisfaction,” Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 40 (1/2): 173-183, 2004. Retrieved from file: ///C:/Users/m43f791/Downloads/Prison VolunteersJOR_2004.pdf

Dr. Kristi Miller Anderson is the research and programs officer for 4 th Purpose Foundation.

10 — July/August 2021 Corrections Today