Alcohol & Chemical Treatment
A 90-day session, taught by members of the Norfolk Apostolic Church, is a series offering class topics ranging from the effects of drugs, to attitudes, and character building. The curriculum is secular in nature designed to help educate returning citizens.
RENEWAL
The renewal program is religious based and ensures the constitutional religious rights of inmates protected under the First Amendment. This 90-day program focuses on assisting individuals to improve themselves and their relationships through spiritual growth, acknowledging and confronting sinful natures, improving personal attitudes and reducing antisocial behaviors. Female students are also provided class instruction on “Women in Crisis”.
CHOICES
Students participate in a 90-day program offering successful strategies to prepare them for re-entry into the community. As part of the re-entry series, community partners are offered the chance to virtually meet with our students to discuss programming and available resources when they are released. Sessions range from meetings with employees and volunteers from non-profits, government agencies, private programs, and mental health providers to obtain group or individualized treatment services upon re-entry. Staff members offer an individualized re-entry plan for each student.
FATHERHOOD
Fatherhood is a nine-week program, held in 90-minute sessions, that inspires and counsels incarcerated fathers in the skills they need to generally repair, strengthen and/or enhance their relationships with their children, thus improving the quality of life for both father and child. Taught in partnership with Tidewater Community College, the curriculum is designed to create an urgency in participants to play an active role in their children’s lives despite their incarceration. This program illustrates how that can be accomplished, as well as assists with repairing damaged relationships and enlightens them on how their own children can be the final, enduring motivation to break their cycle of incarceration.
Loving Steps for Dads Program “A Father’s Footprint”
This Eastern Virginia Medical School program supports building strong families one man at a time. Through free workshops, case management and mentoring services, men can become the dads they always knew they could be. Volunteer instructors offer education, resources and re-entry programs. Healthy fathers create healthy families and foster healthy communities. Instructors also offer an evidence-based parenting education curriculum, “Fathering in 15” through The National Fatherhood Initiative.
THINKING FOR A CHANGE
This is an evidence-based program that encourages cognitive self-change, social skills, and problem solving. Participants learn processes for self-reflection aimed at uncovering antisocial thoughts, feelings, attitudes and beliefs. It prepares them to engage in pro-social interactions based on self-understanding and consideration of their impact of their actions on others.
AA & NA CORRECTIONS PROGRAM
Trained volunteers from Tidewater Intergroup Council of AA Corrections Committee coordinate sessions, in a group setting, with both female and male AA members interested in carrying their message of recovery to alcoholics through virtual meetings and correspondence. Tidewater Intergroup of AA is a fellowship of people in Tidewater, VA who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover for alcoholism. AA has a pen pal program to support incarcerated alcoholics.
Volunteers from Narcotics Anonymous offer regularly scheduled meetings for people who want to quit using substances. NA members share their drug-related experiences and provide one another with support, encouragement, and guidance.
Humanities Behind BARS
HBB is a grassroots network of prison education programs committed to building inside/outside alliances. This organization not only offers education programming at the jail, but they also facilitate a reading and film series, an inside-outside study group, a pen-pal program, and organize a local mutual aid network fund. This is all done by the collaborative effort of teachers, students, activists and artists. In the group-based studies, they work with formerly and currently imprisoned people and their loved ones. HBB volunteers offer tutoring services to eligible students. In addition, these courses are offered: (please note: topics are subject to change)
- Public Speaking and Communication: A student driven course that identifies different types of public speaking and pursues strategies to engage in weekly composition and practice.
- 20th Century African American Music: Students conduct historic and critical analysis of African American music covering the 20th
- Music and Writing: Students write and record songs in diverse musical genres. Lyrics and melodies are collaboratively written, while students gain hands-on experience with the engineering process necessary to produce full-length musical recordings.
- Introduction to Philosophy: This class is intended to give students an overview of the discipline of philosophy, and to introduce them to a few key figures in the tradition.
Seven Cities Writers Project
This was founded in 2014 to bring cost-free creative writing and literacy support programs to underserved communities. Workshops encourage participants to express themselves in a safe and supportive environment while homing their writing skills.
Courses offered by volunteer instructors:
- 3 Principles: The empowerment class teaches individuals how to access and sustain inner health and resilience. He class provides support for those who are impacted by addiction, mental health issues and offending behavior.
- Creative Writing & Poetry: Workshops offered involve students enrolled in instruction where they write in response to visual and reading prompts, crafting short pieces that share stores from their lives – both challenging and inspiring.
Anger Management
Anger counseling is designed to help individuals gain a better understanding of acceptable ways to express anger and eliminate aggressive and self-destructive behaviors. Students enrolled in anger management classes learn to recognize and identify the role of individual responsibility in changing their maladaptive behaviors. Anger counseling or anger seminars offers skills for managing anger, and provides assistance in increasing self-esteem and overcoming insecurity especially in provocative situations. Students learn effective coping behaviors in order to halt escalation and to resolve conflicts; process anger and manage it constructively by understanding its psycho-dynamic; learn to express their emotions and needs; become assertive (not aggressive nor passive); maintain self-control and focus on healthy and productive behavior; and develop effective communication skills. Upon graduating this 90-day program, they become eligible for Anger Manager II classes.
Landscape Design:
During this 8-week class, students will learn the 12-step process of designing a functional landscape plan. The process includes site evaluation, setting priorities, maintenance requirements, and setting budget. Students will also learn how to organize the landscape space, create a “plan view” scale drawing, and select plant material. In addition, students will have an overview of turf grass and management for the Hampton Roads region.
Small Business Operations:
Training provided to inform, empower and bring awareness of the pitfalls and obstacles many face with startup business. The programs also bring awareness and recognition to all the resource and support available to begin a business upon their release.
Barber Training
Barber training and license course is a 6-month skill based professional barbering program offering classroom instruction and hands-on training. The instructor is a licensed professional barber instructor. Students taking this class should expect to learn study skills, the history of barbering, professional image and human relations, science, infection control, human anatomy, chemistry, professional barbering procedures and the business of barbering. Upon completion of this course, students qualify to test for a Professional Barber License in the State of Virginia.
Motherhood
The Motherhood Program provides education, information and support for incarcerated mothers and that allows them to better understand the impact of their incarceration on their children and improve the quality of their relationships with their children and caregivers.
Motherhood assists offenders in learning to parent from jail. Communication during the incarceration between parents and their children through letters, phone calls and virtual visits is fundamental to keeping relationships stable and consistent as well as increasing the bond between parent and child.
Staff work with inmates to match formerly incarcerated individuals with volunteers in the community to provide the social support. This is done by our staff through the re-entry plan prior to the inmate’s release. In addition to communicating via virtual platform and written letters, 2 creative activities will be delivered via US mail to families such as holiday cards, celebrations for mother’s day, father’s day, etc. Vision boards focusing on future parenting concepts will be designed as part of classroom activities.
Additionally, in partnership with EVMS and the Virginia Department of Health, the Virginia Healthy Start Initiative “Loving Steps” program provides free services to help moms and their children re-connect. Healthy Start is a national project created to improve the health of mothers and their children. “Loving Steps,” offers intensive case management services and care coordination by a multidisciplinary team.
Second Chances
Second Chances is a 12-week program that consist of parenting, reentry, cognitive behavior therapy, and a letter campaign. Programmatic topics include co-parenting, effective communication skills, impact on the family, and effective listening to name a few. In essence, the program is designed to gradually reintroduce the fathers/mothers back in the lives of the children and provide educational sessions to both parents/caregivers to assist with the reintegration of the father/mother. Throughout the program, the fathers/mothers are encouraged to write letters to their children to assist with opening up the lines of communication. The father/mother has an opportunity to have a face-to-face visit with their child or children.
Mindfulness and Mental Health: Let’s Talk About It
Under the guidance of Kylee Park, PhD. LPC, the “Mindfulness and Mental Health: Let’s Talk About It” program offers a select groups of male and female residents the chance to participate in this project. The program aims to improve mental health literacy and mental well-being of groups via psychoeducational classes on topics such as grief, anger management, mental health, substance use, suicide prevention, communication skills and trauma.
This project is a part of the HOPES Free Clinic Community-Engaged Learning initiative and also aims to establish a warm hand-off between the Norfolk Sheriff’s Office and the HOPES Free Clinic. Participants will be provided with information regarding the HOPES Free Clinic and their partners if they are eligible and choose to seek medical care through HOPES upon their release.
RSAT
Residential Substance Abuse Program is a 12-week intensive program that meets 3 days a week for a total of 6 hours weekly. The program courses and groups consist of cognitive behavior therapy, trauma, grief and loss, and re-entry counseling. The program is designed to educate clients on how one’s thinking influences behavior and to help the client identify and change faulty thinking patterns and self-sabotaging behaviors. Other aspects of the course include being educated on understanding emotions, relapse prevention, and effective coping skills. The client has the option of receiving individual counseling as needed. The client will also participate in transitional planning, be educated on community resources, and will be linked to services to promote success as they re-enter society. The program also has a medication-assisted component in which clients (depending on substance use and recommendations by the psychiatrist) will receive medication assistance to reduce and eliminate drug and alcohol cravings. The client will receive the medication treatment at least 2 weeks upon release to assist in transitioning, and will be linked to a community provider to continue treatment after release.
CBT Program
An evidence-based program and a form of psychotherapy that teaches offenders specific cognitive and behavior skills to help them manage depression, mood swings, anxiety and stress. The client is offered counseling sessions upon their release as part of the CBT reentry plan.
Addiction Recovery
The Addiction Recovery Program provides participants who have co-occurring substance abuse and mental health issues a treatment program offering cognitive behavior treatment therapy with group and individual counseling from licensed clinical therapists, reentry classes and services, and trauma informed care classes. Begun in 2017, over 270 inmates have participated in the program and program graduates have shown to have a reduction in recidivism of over 50%. This program is funded through a grant provided by the Department of Criminal Justice Services.
Call 757-664-4191 for information!
The Sheriff Joe Baron Foundation
Improving medical care
The Norfolk City Jail utilizes a video visitation system which allows the public to have more timely visits with inmates. Our Inmate Video Visitation System streamlines the inmate/civilian visitation process and eliminates many of the common problems associated with visitations. This state-of-the art communications technology has not only decreased the wait time significantly, it’s also increased privacy and security.
The Norfolk City Jail has a contract with Mediko to provide medical care. Mediko is one of the nation’s premier correctional healthcare companies, with all medical services meeting national NCCHC standards.
they may be delivered directly to the inmate.
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Inmate Educational Pathway is defined as the chosen route, taken by a learner through a range of classes and activities, which allows them to build knowledge progressively. It can be likened to an “educational journey” through classes and content, and eventually reaching their goal or Career Path. All inmates in the Program block will be assigned a Pathway Counselor, advising their inmates throughout the Pathway process, from intake, to class assignments, to graduation and finally release back to the community. Need more information? Call 664-4191.
Can my loved one receive a COVID-19 vaccine or booster shot while incarcerated at the Norfolk City Jail?
Reentry Programs
Inmate Visitation
