Offender Programs
Evidence-based Rehabilitative Programs
GEO has a long and proud tradition as both a pioneer and a manager of innovative programs for offender rehabilitation. We are committed to not only improving upon those programs already in place but instilling new evidence-based rehabilitation solutions that are proven to reduce recidivism.
The quality of a facility’s programs contributes to the overall success of its operations. Superior programs are proven to reduce the cost of incarceration, enhance the health and welfare of offenders, and instill a strong work ethic to develop attitudes essential for becoming productive citizens after release from incarceration. On any given day, more than 15,000 offenders are enrolled in programs at GEO facilities around the US, ranging from academic and vocational programs to substance abuse treatment (both psycho-educational and Therapeutic Communities).
Academic Education
The primary objective of GEO’s education program is to prepare offenders for a positive transition into society. This is accomplished through the development of necessary academic skills as well as building each offender’s confidence in his or her ability to succeed and become a productive law-abiding citizen. Upon arrival to a GEO facility, each offender will undergo an educational assessment to be placed in appropriate academic classes. All academic programs will be continuous and offered in both an open entry and open exit enrollment format. Comprehensive educational programs include basic education and adult literacy, affording every offender the opportunity to earn a General Education Degree (GED). These programs will be structured to meet the literacy needs of each individual offender with major emphasis paced on the development of basic reading, writing, math, life, and test-taking skills.
Vocational Education
Vocational Education is an important feature of GEO’s rehabilitation programs and is intended to provide offenders with real world working experience so they can achieve the skills necessary to obtain employment upon release. Each course offered consists of instructional modules, hands on experience, and competence testing. Offenders will receive a certificate of completion upon finishing each course. Examples of the types of courses offered include:
Prison Industry Enhancement (PIE) Programs
Several GEO facilities provide an in-house prison industry programs via government industries and the Prison Industries Enhancement Certification Program, usually referred to as PIE. PIE is a federal program designed to place offenders in realistic work environments, pay them prevailing local wages, and enable them to acquire marketable skills to increase their potential for successful rehabilitation and meaningful employment.
GEO’s PIE programs provide the local community and offender with the following advantages:
- A cost-effective way of reducing idleness and productively occupy a portion of the ever-growing correctional
population; - A means of partial repayment of victim compensation, restitution, room and board, and taxes;
- A stable and readily available workforce ; and
- The opportunity for offenders to work, meet financial obligations, gain marketable job skills, and increase the
likelihood of meaningful employment after release.
Behavioral/Life Skills
Studies show that many offenders are ill-equipped to handle the social challenges that are part of everyday life. For this reason, GEO implements a wide variety of programs to prepare offenders for a smooth transition into society after release. Based on their individual needs, GEO offers offenders with a combination of consumer awareness, health issues, interpersonal skills, cognitive skills training, and job readiness education.
Substance Abuse
A significant portion of convictions in the United States are related to drug and alcohol abuse. With that in mind, GEO provides a variety of substance abuse intervention and prevention programs to over 3,500 offenders on a daily basis. GEO’s substance abuse program consists of multiple levels of substance abuse education classes including psycho-education, reactive and preventative counseling components, and cognitive-behavioral treatment.
Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP )
Several of GEO’s facilities offer a Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP). This program is offered in a modified therapeutic community setting on a voluntary basis. Each offender admitted to the program must be clinically diagnosed with a substance abuse or dependence disorder. Drug abuse specialists evaluate each offender after admission and develop an individualized treatment plan to fit their specific needs.
Faith-based Programs
Religious programming is an important element in an offenders’ rehabilitation; when an offender changes his value system, he or she changes his or her behavior. For this reason, all offenders have access to religious resources, services, instruction and/or counseling on a voluntary basis. Nearly all of our facilities have full-time chaplains which coordinate the religious program to ensure all faiths have adequate opportunity and representation.
Recreation
GEO provides a comprehensive recreation program within each of the facilities we operate. A thorough recreation program is essential to an offender’s ability to learn how to cope with leisure, live a balanced life style rather one fraught with excesses, experience enjoyment and accomplishment in constructive ways, accept and deal with ‘good feeling’ experiences, develop positive expectations of leisure opportunities, and reduce offender idleness.
- Recreation opportunities at GEO facilities include, but are not limited to:
Programmatic Milestones:
- Developed the largest In-Prison Therapeutic Community chemical dependency program in the world.
- Established the first private mental health correctional facility, servicing predominantly special needs populations.
- Each day, more than 5,500 offenders are enrolled in academic courses ranging from basic literacy to
college-accredited courses. - Issued more than 10,000 GED certificates over the past ten years.
- Provides a variety of substance abuse intervention and prevention programs to over 3,500 offenders on a daily
basis. - Enhanced religious program in two facilities to include a voluntary, faith-based, residential Bible college where offenders can earn a Bible degree through correspondence courses.
- Collaborated with the Private Sector, in Lockhart, Texas, to create the largest employer model PIECP in the country.
- Provide meaningful and productive employment to approximately 300 offenders daily within the PIE program at the Lockhart Secure Work Program Center.