Week 2: Breaking New Ground - Interviews, Insights, & Legal Action

Hello, everyone! Welcome back to my Senior Project Blog!

I am delighted to inform you all that I’ve made significant headway with my rehabilitative penology project this week. To start my week, I conducted an insightful interview with litigation attorney Koenigsberg, focusing on his experience in general practice and its pertinence to rehabilitation programs in correctional facilities across the nation. To ensure objectivity throughout my data gathering procedure, I asked a series of standardized questions, which allowed me to make systematic comparisons across different responses from previous interviews (and future interviews to come.) This methodical approach proved invaluable to my overarching carceral pursuit, as it consolidated the perspectives of different professionals in varying fields and, therefore, provided me with a more comprehensive understanding of widely implemented rehabilitative practices.

The most salient outcome from this interview was not the information gathered; rather, it was securing a placement at Koenigsberg’s office, which I expect will offer unparalleled opportunities for further research and firsthand experience in the field of rehabilitative penology. I’m excited at the prospect of contributing to the betterment of correctional facilities by means of legal reform and advocacy – having the opportunity to take the insights from my written work on prison reform and put them into legal action is a venture I haven’t even considered prior to my conversation with Mr. Koenigsberg. Looking ahead, I’m excited about the upcoming interview with Audrey Wilson—the New Jersey Division Manager at the Petey Greene Program—and the resultant opportunities that it may afford me in furtherance of my pursuit.

In addition to my interview, I strengthened my theoretical foundation by delving into Gendreau, French, and Smith’s work, The Theory of Effective Correctional Intervention: Empirical Status and Future Directions. This reading has proved instrumental in addressing historical debates surrounding the efficacy of rehabilitation programs in correctional facilities. More specifically, it helped me attain a more thorough understanding of counterarguments related to inmates’ fidelity to rehabilitation efforts, which is integral for the next phase of my literature review.

In the coming weeks, I plan to delve deeper into the aforementioned subtopics; I remain eager to explore more case studies and historical examples, for a comparative analysis will allow me to better analyze the efficacy of rehabilitation efforts and their real impact on inmates’ reintegration into society.

Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks as my project continues to progress!