The Federal Correctional Complex in Victorville, California (FCC Victorville) is a correctional institution within the United States Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons. FCC Victorville has been in operation since the early 2000s, and is comprised of four institutions designed to house nearly 5,000 inmates across the all-male, high security United States Penitentiary (USP), the all-male, medium security Federal Correctional Institution (FCI-I), the all-male, administrative Federal Correctional Institution (FCI-II), and the all-female, minimum security Satellite Prison Camp (SPC). The institutions at Victorville are clustered in close proximity to each other. Given the large population at FCC Victorville, there is considerable diversity in terms of race and ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, education level, socioeconomic status, index offense, and sentence length. With regard to gender, the majority of inmates are male with female inmates housed exclusively at the SPC; however, FCC Victorville also houses transgender inmates at each of the four institutions.
The FCC Victorville Internship Program aims to produce entry-level professional psychologists who can also function competently in a correctional environment. This means providing educational opportunities across a broad variety of settings to train culturally competent psychologists who can provide mental health care for a diverse population. The core principles guiding training for the FCC Victorville Internship program are the profession-wide competencies identified by APA in the following areas: Research, Ethical and Legal Standards, Individual and Cultural Diversity, Professional Values and Attitudes, Communication and Interpersonal Skills, Assessment, Intervention, Supervision, and Consultation and Interprofessional/Interdisciplinary Skills. Requirements for successful completion of the internship program are that Interns demonstrate their achievement in each of the competencies. This achievement is evaluated using the standardized evaluation form used across all BOP internship sites.
The FCC Victorville Internship Program utilizes a training plan that is sequential, cumulative, and graded in complexity. At the beginning of the training year, interns primarily observe supervisors’ work and provide services jointly with a supervisor. However, as interns feel more comfortable and display increased competence, they are able to work more independently. Though the program’s primary training method is experiential, interns’ training is supplemented by their individual and group supervision as well as didactic seminars. Interns receive, at a minimum, four hours of supervision each week from a licensed psychologist. Two of these hours are individual, while two are provided in a group format. All formal supervision is provided by a licensed Psychologist and licensed supervisors maintain overall clinical responsibility for the clinical work completed by interns under their supervision. Interns are also expected to attend two hours per week of Didactic Seminars and participate actively. Didactic trainings are provided by supervisors and other psychologists on staff, mental health professionals within the agency, and staff from other disciplines within the agency. In addition, the BOP Central Office staff provide training to BOP Psychology staff and interns, accessible via BOP computers (WEBex) as well as via video teleconferences with all BOP internship sites across the country.
The Internship Program at FCC Victorville is structured according to the requirement that all interns receive 2,000 hours of clinical training throughout a 12-month period. All interns are expected to complete three four-month rotations (Correctional Psychology, BRAVE Program, and Trauma Treatment). Interns gain experience at three of the four institutions on the complex (USP, FCI-I, and SPC). This assures exposure to a continuum of psychology services ranging from outpatient services through residential treatment programs, affords opportunities to work with both male and female populations, and offers the intern familiarity and experience for future work with any security level and a wide-range of presenting problems within a generalist training context. Throughout all rotations, interns participate in learning activities that include direct observation of the rotation supervisor, live supervision/observation of intern's clinical work, review of all clinical documentation, and assigned readings.