There are 5 training modules, which are self-paced and accessible where there is an internet connection. Volunteers receive training modules via email a month prior to their volunteer dates. The training modules additionally include two quizzes. The Karnes Pro Bono Volunteer Manager finishes training on the ground with volunteers on their first day of volunteering.
If you are looking to prepare for your trip to Karnes prior to receiving the modules, our suggestions for research topics include the following:
- the history of Karnes family detention center, including multiple hunger strikes, reports of sexual assault by prison guards, and lack of adequate medical and mental health care
- the history of the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras from 1900 to the present, including U.S. intervention and exploitation
- the effects of trauma on memory and how to maintain a trauma informed approach in testimony prep when forced to discuss trauma for the sake of a family’s asylum case
- the effects of detention on families, the parent-child relationship, and children
- the effects of secondary trauma and how to make a support plan for yourself as a volunteer
- the relationship between the for-profit prison industry and the immigration detention industrial complex
- positionality theory, intersectionality theory, and critical race theory