Volunteer Position Discription

Prisoners Network
Volunteer/Moderator

Prisoners Network is social enterprise business created to help prisoners affected by their criminal behavior learn how to become more responsible individuals after their release from prison. Prisonersnetwork.com uses a community forum made up of individuals, family members, and others who are interested in providing support, encouragement, guidance and direction to prisoners and former prisoners as they seek to find the resources necessary to them to successfully return to their communities. Using the PrisonersNetwork.com forum as a stepping stone, and the nationally recognized resource center (2-1-1.org) as the foundation, members of our forum will be able to help millions of men and women rebuild their lives

Volunteer Position/Title: Forum Moderator

Purpose: The function of the Forum Moderator will be to maintain internet etiquette, topic discussions and to answer questions about the support services that the website can provide.
The website, prisonersnetwork.com, will operate as an open forum and is designed to provide support, encouragement, and guidance to members and guests who visit the site. The forum will be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 day a year, and will be maintained by volunteers from around the world. The forum moderator’s work schedule can be flexible and the position is easily a job that can be worked from home. Each volunteer moderator will represent the business’ mission, purpose, and objectives, and must demonstrate a level of professionalism in communicating that representation to every visitor to the forum.

• Mission: “Provide a support system for man and women affected by recidivism.”

• Purpose: “Develop a social network of people who are interested in helping prisoners and former prisoners find the necessary resources to successfully return to their communities”.

• Objective: “Become an internationally recognized Information & Referral resource network website known for its ability to find specific resource information that is useful to prisoners as they rebuild their lives during and after their release from prison.

Each Moderator will be responsible to help Prisoners Network accomplish these goals. Each of these statements, while separate, all are combined together to help those who have been affected by their criminal history, to become productive members in society again.
Recidivism is the number one reason why prisoners and ex-offenders are returned to prison. Recidivate behavior is a condition of repeated action(s) (criminal in nature) that result in an individual being placed back into an institutional setting.

To reduce recidivism, Prisoners Network has developed a 3 step approach to accomplish the reduction of behavior that results in recidivism.

1. Locate prisoners throughout the United States and provide them with access to resource information using a pen-pal service.
2. Educate prisoners by providing and encouraging the pen-pal to use, via mentoring correspondence efforts to use resource information to the academic community.
3. Integrate former prisoners back into their respective communities using a social assistance network system.

The position of each moderator is to monitor prisonersnetwork.com’s forum, and to ensure that internet etiquette is maintained. (see: Netiquette) To ensure the quality of Prisoners Network website, its forum, and to provide a safe and pleasant experience to our users, the way each moderator represents themselves is important, and collectively, that representation becomes the backbone of prisonersnetwork.com success.

Work Location: Each moderator will work from their own home using their own computer system to access prisonersnetwork.com website and to monitor the forum.

Key Responsibilities: While the main function of the Forum Moderator will be to maintain internet etiquette, topic discussions and to answer questions about the support services that the website can provide. There are three possible levels of responsibility.

1. Monitor-this position opening is for those volunteers whose schedules are such that they are unable to commit to a regular schedule time-frame, and can only be available for a couple/few hours a day. The Monitor is the person who might be able to participate 2, 3, or 4 hours per day, with hours and days being very flexible. This position’s main responsibility is in monitoring the forum and watching the discussions in real-time; helping to watch that rules are being followed, and appropriate topics are being discussed in the forum. The Monitor looks to see that a level of respect among members and visitors is being maintained.
• Duties
 Monitor the websites forum
 Direct forum visitors who have questions, need support, etc., to Support Moderators on duty
 Contact appropriate administers when rules are not being followed

2. Support Moderator-the support mods are made up of more experienced volunteers who have worked or are working in some type of support service-position; a position that provides supportive services in the area of “help services” to people. Support Mods usually have worked or work in the field of supportive services, and understands the “needs” that people have. Know how to assist in finding solutions to those needs, and have a passion and are committed to servicing others in those times of need. Support Moderators are those volunteers who are able to commit to a regular schedule time-frame and are available at least three days a week, taking a 1st, 2nd or 3rd shift position. Each shift consists of a commitment to work and participate in the forum discussions with an emphasis on providing support, guidance and direction to the members or visitors for 4 to 8 hour periods.
• Duties
 Be active in forum discussions
 Direct members or visitors to specific resource pages on Prisoners Network website; providing support, guidance and direction to resource information that can be of assistance to members and visitors who are seeking to locate help services related to prisoners or former prisoners needs
 Use administrative authority to monitor and admonish, remove inappropriate threads, or band members or visitors from the forum site for breaking the forum rules
 Fill-out daily incident reports

3. Q/A (research) Moderator-the Q/A Moderator are made-up of people that have experience and knowledge in the field of prisoner related issues. The Q/A moderator have had or have current experience in the judicial, penal, or institutional systems; can answer questions that members or visitors might have in those areas. This person would be considered knowledgeable about the process in which the judicial system works, understands the prison industry and either has had direct relations with prisoners, and or has worked with people that have been affected by recidivate behaviors i.e. counselors, re-entry specialist, therapist, etc.,. The Q/A Moderator should also have a passion for research. Able to access information from a variety of sources; Internet, court-house, police and media records. This person could be considered an expert in their particular field of research interest, e.g. Librarian, Judicial Administers, or Journalist and can be made-up of Police, Librarians, Counselors, Psychologists, Prison Officials, Reporters, or Ex-Offenders, etcetera. The Q/A Moderator’s main objective is to find answers to the questions that our members or visitors might have in any random field of questions pertaining to prisons or prisoners.
• Duties
 Be active in forum discussions
 Help in providing information to members or visitors who have questions about prison and prisoners; providing resource information outside the scope of prisonersnetwork.com website
 Use administrative authority to monitor and admonish, remove inappropriate threads, or band members or visitors from the forum site for breaking the forum rules
 Fill-out daily incident reports
Requirements:
• Age-You must be 18 years of age or older
• Equipment- Computer with Internet access, webcam and a home telephone.
• Education/Work Experience
 Monitor- At least a High School Diploma, no previous work experience necessary
 Support Monitor- Preference: 2-4 year college with some experience in social outreach services, but not a prerequisite for the right candidate.
 Q/A Moderator- Preference: Bachelor or higher degree in the field of research, social service field, or professional career in the area of criminal justice. This candidate should have experience and expertise in their chosen field of work, have a passion to research for answers to questions asked, and are Internet savvy.


Personal Qualification:
• Integrity- a sense of honesty and truthfulness demonstrated by action
• Respect- a consideration and understanding of other beliefs and value systems

Support/Training:
Every volunteer member of prisonersnetwork.com will have direct contact and support from the owner of Prisoners Network. The support and training material necessary to become an effective moderator will come in the form of:
• Training manuals
• Video tutorials
• One-on- one consultation

Inquires:
If interested, please contact:
Gary Dimitris
Administer Manager/Owner
Email Address: PrisonersNetwork.com