Peer Support, Outreach, and the Case of the Veterans Service Office at Soledad

• In Event: Beyond the Label Offender: Prisoners' Reflections About Prison Programs

Abstract

The Veterans Service Office (VSO) at the Correctional Training Facility-Soledad is the first organization of its kind and has achieved an extraordinary level of activity and success, which includes assistance to inmates at Soledad, outreach to prisons throughout California, prisons in other states, and the surrounding community. This single-case design study uses direct observations, unstructured interviews, and documentations generated through correspondence to identify how the VSO was developed, how it operates, how the VSO is impacted by the institutional environment, and the impact that the VSO may have on the environment in which it operates. The VSO is able to function due, in part, to dedicated inmates and supportive staff. Consistent with previous research, the VSO appears to have a positive impact on the inmates who run the VSO and the inmates served by the VSO. The VSO provides concrete services, such as assistance navigating benefits for inmates who are veterans and their families. VSO involvement also cultivates a sense of belonging and purpose for those who work in it and those who are served by it, potentially influencing the ways in which inmates experience and react to the institutional environment.

Author

• Jennifer Lanterman, University of Nevada, Reno