Following evaluation consults with the Inmate Committee, the Program Administrators at WHI, and support from the Institution Parole Officers, the Intensive Journal® program has a new designation and a renewed schedule. A new group has just begun their work as of March 2017.
The new “course” is titled FOUNDATIONS for Preparation of Personal Release Plans. The response was immediate and very positive. The Parole Officers expressed good support for this volunteer opportunity for inmates to work privately, and in small groups, on life issues, their crime/ incarceration, and preparing written plans for their eventual release on parole. At the first two-hour orientation to this renewed writing process 18 inmates attended.
From that initial show of interest, 10 inmates have enrolled in the 10-week “course” of the non-diagnostic, non-judgmental process of guided introspection, meditation, reflection, and Journal Workbook writing. Another group of inmates (8) are on the “waitlist” for a second “class”.
A limit of 10 participants per group has proven to be an effective number for optimizing the private and intimate nature of the FOUNDATIONS group process. The nature of the course will not permit the admission of late-enrolees to a session that is underway.