The onset of the COVID-19 virus created a never-before-seen crisis forcing correctional agencies and correctional leaders across the country to develop innovative solutions to keep their staff and populations safe while ensure continuity of operations. Recognizing the importance of understanding how correctional systems across the country adjusted to the two-year crisis, the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) funded CNA to gather and synthesize fact-based, practical information about what occurred within the correctional systems’ operations. NIC documented these findings in the Effects of COVID-19 on Prison Operations report.
As part of the project, National Programs Advisor Evelyn Bush coordinated a two-day training event on October 21-22, 2024 for corrections professionals from multi-disciplines. The goals of the convening were for NIC to share the informative lessons learned from the report, to reveal post-COVID-19 advances, and to help attendees begin the process of advance planning for a future emergency.
Participants were provided with presentations and resources on the most recent research for the preparedness, response, and recovery of an emergency (as defined by the Federal Emergency Management Agency). Designed as a significant goal for the training, participants engaged in a scenario-based facilitated discussion on how they might address a makeshift deadly new outbreak, allowing them to apply their learning from the presentations.
Significant, key takeaways that were shared, discussed, and considered resources for future planning included the following:
1. The pandemic changed the business of corrections in the following areas:
- Assumptions
- Collaboration
- Managing Risk
- Data Needed for Decision Making
- Ethics
- Public Safety
2. Credibility matters.
3. Trauma/PTSD (Secondary Trauma): Find a way to care for staff.
4. Small things matter.
5. Practice “thankfulness” with staff.
6. Timely and consistent communication cannot be overdone.
7. Coordinate/Develop an Incident Command Center and relationships that matter.
8. Resourcefulness: Consider innovations using new resources.
9. Diverse teams are important.
10. Community of Care and Commitment: Before, during, and after an emergency, continue to build relationships, including with those from the community created in the training.
