The staff of the Sioux City program, while undergoing training at Dismas’ Omaha facility, participated in a re-entry simulation where they play the role of newly-released residents. Led by Brett Keller, of Yankton Federal Prison Camp, Sioux City and Omaha administrative staff played the part of the Department of Motor Vehicles, employers, U.S. Probation Officers and other agencies residents must interact with upon release. Resident Monitors played the part of released prison inmates. After the re-entry simulation was complete, nine of the 14 “felons” were back in jail and only one made it through the entire process successfully. The monitor’s agreed afterward that this was very difficult for them because they had so much they had to do in such a short amount of time and felt stressed just going through the simulation. Many participants said this was about as close as one can get to the feeling of releasing from prison without actually releasing from prison.
