My office is extremely cramped with more than this number, but it works well enough with only three learners. At times, when there has been a fourth in attendance, I have had to station him at a desk in the open area outside my office. I leave the door open partly for security reasons, but mostly because it's just plain stuffy with four people. Unfortunately, sound carries extremely well through the duct system, and we can often hear and understand what is being said in the group meetings across the hall as well as in conversations between surveillance officers and offenders. I often have a difficult time getting started on time.
Clients are frequently late, only to arrive and be further delayed in order to leave a urine test.
This entails waiting until a Department of Corrections staff member is free to administer the test. I've lost as much as half an hour of available time for this reason. Consequently, I never wait until all expected clients have arrived to begin class. If someone arrives five or ten minutes early, I begin the testing procedure as soon as possible, but the student may then be disturbed by the arrival of another student. They then enter the assessment phase of the program, during which they are interviewed by the social worker, the substance abuse counselors, and me.