Even Start specifically focuses on reading and improving reading skills in children and adults. The program attempts to remove all barriers that prevent the wife of an inmate from receiving adult education classes and from participating in parenting and life skills classes while at the same time having the opportunity to have quality parenting and child time together with the incarcerated fathers and their children. The life skills component consists of consumer skills, personal finances, parenting skills, health and wellness, and communication skills. The sessions provide activities for self-esteem building and principles of creative and critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making. The Sex Offender Treatment program was established by law in 1986.
Participation is voluntary.
A convicted sex offender may choose to serve out his sentence rather than participate. There may be up to 150 individuals in the program at any given time. Treatment consists of initial psychological assessment, educational groups focusing on family patterns and human sexuality, and long-term group therapy. The group therapy is built around the relapse prevention model, and cognitive-behavioral approach that was originally developed for use with additions. Therapy involves a series of tasks designed to help the individual understand the origins and dynamics of his offending behavior and to take full responsibility for his behavior, to develop a comprehensive strategy to avoid offending in the future and to come to realize the consequences of his behavior for his victim.