Preparing Social Workers to Enter the Reentry Process: A Training Program to Fill Curricular Gaps

• In Event: Roundtable: Redemption and Reentry

Abstract

The United States maintains its foothold as the country with the most incarcerated people worldwide (World Population Review, 2024). The majority of these people will return to society at some point as “approximately 600,000 people are released from state and federal prisons annually, with another 9 million people cycled through local jails” (Carson, 2021, p. 1). The flow of citizens returning to communities underscores the need for reentry programming. One reentry obstacle relates to a lack of service providers. Although social workers are adept at addressing issues commonly associated with reentry barriers, a lack of social workers in carceral settings is well-documented (Treitler & Angell, 2020). Schools of social work typically “under-prepare” students for work with justice-involved populations (Rock, 2023). Research indicates that “proper training and proper orientation” (University of Illinois Chicago, 2022) are key to preparing social workers for carceral-focused work. This roundtable examines a Midwestern university’s curricular innovation which integrates 30-weeks of specialized training with placement of social work interns in settings that serve currently- or formerly-incarcerated clients. Presenters explore quantitative and qualitive feedback from interns to examine how engagement with the training curriculum impacts self-perceived readiness, in terms of knowledge and skills, to serve carceral-impacted clients.

Authors

• Barbara Walters, Eastern Michigan University

• Jenny Fritz, Eastern Michigan University

• Bonnie Miller, Eastern Michigan University

• Chelsea Muto, Eastern Michigan University

• Josh Hill, Eastern Michigan University