Learning Team Assignment- The Case of Jeff

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The Case of Jeff: Pedophile in Institution

Jeff is a 35-year-old male who is an inmate in

your maximum security facility. Jeff has recently

been transferred to your facility from another

facility, largely for protective reasons. Jeff has

come to you because he is very, very worried.

Jeff is a pedophile and he has been in prison for

nearly five years. His expected release date is

coming up and he may very well get released

due to prison overcrowding problems and his

own exemplary behavior. He has been in treatment

and, as you look through his case notes,

you can tell that he has done very well.

ISBN 1-269-20248-0

Chapter 1 • The Role of the Correctional Counselor 19

But there were other inmates at his prior

prison facility who did not want to see him get

paroled. In fact, it is a powerful inmate gang,

and Jeff had received “protection” from this

gang in exchange for providing sexual favors to

a select trio of inmate gang members. Jeff discloses

that while humiliating, he had to do this

to survive in the prison subculture, particularly

since he was a labeled and known pedophile.

The gang knew this, of course, and used this as

leverage to ensure that Jeff was compliant. In

fact, the gang never even had to use any physical

force whatsoever to gain Jeff ’s compliance.

Jeff notes that this now bothers him and he

doubts his own sense of masculinity.

Jeff has performed well in treatment for

sex offenders. But he has also been adversely

affected by noxious sexual experiences inside

the prison. You are the first person that he has

disclosed this to. Further, he is beginning to

wonder if he may have HIV/AIDS; he notes

that he feels fatigued more frequently and that

he gets ill more easily. However, he makes it

very clear that he does not want to be tested

until he is out of prison and he does not want

his fears known to others in the prison.

As you listen to his plight, you begin to

wonder if his issues with sexuality are actually

now more unstable than they were in prison.

Though his treatment notes seem convincing,

this is common among pedophiles. But what

was not known to the other therapist was how

Jeff had engaged in undesired sexual activity

while incarcerated. This activity has created a

huge rift in Jeff ’s masculine identity. Will this

affect his likelihood for relapse on the outside?

Will Jeff be able to have a true adult–adult relationship

on the outside? If not, will he be more

enticed to have an adult–child relationship?

Does Jeff need to resolve his concerns with

consensual versus forced homosexual activity?

You begin to wonder.

Now as you listen, you realize that if you

make mention of this, then the classification

system is not likely to release Jeff, and this

condemns him to more of the same type of

exploitation (gang members are in this prison,

too; they just are of different gangs but will

eventually learn of his past and follow suit

with the prior gang). Oh, and if you do say

something, will Jeff feel that honesty and

counseling are simply an exercise in vulnerability

and betrayal? Or do you not mention

this information and by the same token allow

someone to be released with a highly questionable

prognosis.

You sit there listening to Jeff, who is on

the verge of tears. You begin to wonder what

you should do and what ethical and/or legal

bounds you need to consider . . .

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