Corrections_Today_May_June_2023_Vol.85_No.3

■ RESEARCH

efforts for a study. If measures are outlined in the IRB to prevent coercion, then providing program ming as a trust-building pre-study element may drive higher study recruitment. Challenges faced by researchers While conducting this study, I identified the need for some classes to help gather deeper, more descriptive qualitative data. The prisoners struggled with writing; some struggled with filling out en velopes used to mail books home to their children. The most surprising anecdotal aspect of getting started

Man: istock/4x6; Child: istock/Sean Anthony Eddy

My research assistant and I also gained valuable insights unrelated to the study design. I knew what to expect when walking through the sallyport, and how to interact with the prisoners and even the prison staff. I spent 21 years in corrections before my current ap pointment. From the beginning, we were welcomed and provided the staffing and resources we needed to suc cessfully facilitate our research project. I was introduced to their teacher supervisor, who was enthusiastic and eager to provide additional programming for his prisoner population. I did not expect a struggle to recruit research participants from the prisoner population. When I was an administrator inside federal facilities, the prisoners knew me. They readily participated in the programming I of fered because they knew and trusted me to provide quality programming. I ran several parent-child reading programs and had no issues with participation. Granted, they were not part of a study. What could I have done before the recruiting process to generate more interest and build trust with the target audience? Working with prisoners takes a full board review through an IRB because prisoners are considered a vul nerable population. Coercion is an element that needs to be considered more so if the researcher has a preexisting relationship with members of the inmate population. My thought was to build trust; by offering programming unre lated to the research project before launching recruitment

with the project was a prisoner asking how to spell his own child’s name. This set me back and made me reflect on the purpose of our study. It is why we were there, to get fathers involved with their children. And to do that, we needed to build trust. Offering a few classes before the recruitment process would allow that trust to be built while working on some fundamental literacy skills, even if the skill is learning to spell their child’s name. I have had years of experience working with prisoners behind the solid stone and razor wire fences that make up most of our country’s prisons. My research assistant had never entered a prison before assisting with this research project. Those of us with experience know the anxiety that can invoke, especially the first time the sallyport door closes behind you. He was no different, but he soon real ized the value of what we would try to accomplish. That anxiety diminished rather quickly, as Dylan describes in the following few paragraphs. Before visiting SDSP, I had no experience working with incarcerated individuals. Initially nervous, I tried to read as much information as possible to help prepare me for these visits. Understanding the demographics of the population in South Dakota and the research methodology before the visits were essential. Some important take aways from this experience need to be expanded upon. This will not only help me share my story but also the stories of those who were participants in the research.

40 — May/June 2023 Corrections Today