Volunteers made an average of 194 monthly visits to the institution, averaging a total of 288 hours per month. 2700 inmates attend monthly services. Additionally, security staff oversight at religious services has proved very educational for these staff. This has resulted in many of our officers supervising religious services. At this time they not only know precisely what goes on there, they have also assisted in ensuring the integrity of those services, which gives them a sense of ownership in our programs.
Joint ownership builds a culture of teamwork.
However, the existence of these two advantages begs to be explained. Religious services at EOCI have succeeded because of the overall EOCI culture, and that culture has been created and sustained by an exceptional management team and through the strong communication of core values. In 1995, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care and alignment named EOCI as its national facility of the year. Quality thinking by our management team has promoted a positive institutional culture built upon communication, trust, teamwork, and enthusiasm facilitated through an effective staff-training program. This progressive management and training system constitutes a vital means of learning and communicating the specifics of this institution's culture.