Warden Beau Sneddon sits at his desk in his office at the Butler County Prison on Wednesday, March 13. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Warden Beau Sneddon said he was aware of the struggles Butler County Prison inmates face when they are released, but recently he saw firsthand the challenges that come post-release.

Sneddon experienced a reentry simulation — a more than hourlong participation exercise put on by the Pennsylvania Association on Probation, Parole and Corrections — at a conference last fall, and hopes to bring the program to his team at the Butler jail later this year.

“It gives people a different perspective about going through the system,” he said. “It really effected me and helped me understand.”

The warden was tasked with navigating reentry like a recently released prisoner during the simulation, where actors enforced rules put in place to mimic what a former inmate might experience in the real world.

There, Sneddon came face to face with the difficulties of surviving with limited resources.

According to Sneddon, the group running the exercise assigns everyone a character with a name, age, part-time job and a certain amount of money. In his case, he had $200.

The instructions for the simulation are given quickly and with little explanation, which Sneddon believed was intentional. Then, participants had four 15-minute periods of time to accomplish tasks similar to what a newly released prisoner would have to accomplish. Each 15 minutes represented a week.

“There were a bunch of booths,” Sneddon said. “Each one represented something you had to do — therapy, transportation, prison, employment, etc.”

Upon the completion of a task, a supervisor would initial the participants’ papers. The problem was, there were many obstacles faced when trying to accomplish the tasks.

“The first couple minutes it was fun, but then it became stressful,” Sneddon said.

He described having to wait in long lines at certain booths, which was part of the design. He also described actors who portrayed disgruntled employees who would complicate the ability to accomplish tasks on time.

“I cheated,” Sneddon admitted. “I found a loophole, and I’d pay (other participants) $50 to falsify employment documents. It was the only way I could finish … The pressure got to me.”

One booth was considered a “treatment center,” according to Sneddon, and getting to it often meant waiting in a long line.

At the end of the line, they gave you a random piece of paper with a scenario, which added to the stress of the long to-do list for your character.

“I actually got a probation violation. It said I caused a disturbance in a treatment meeting,” he said.

The experience was followed by a debrief session with participants, describing how their character struggled.

Sneddon said it brought him to a empathetic conclusion.

“Over the years, I was kind of hard on people, saying ‘What do you mean you couldn’t?’” he said. “It’s harder than we think.

“There was this realization in the room that it’s one step below impossible.”

The simulation, for Sneddon, highlighted the need for big changes to happen in the reentry system, but he admits he’s not exactly sure what that entails.

What he does know is that he and other prison supervisors are planning to have the simulation group travel to Butler, and provide the training for his staff, probation officers, court administrators and others.

“We’re hoping to get it in this fall,” he said.