In 2010, the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC) was in transition. The goal of the newly elected Governor was to enhance public safety with a focus on reducing victimization, improving the outcomes for offenders returning to their communities, and reducing recidivism by strengthening re-entry programs. Thus the Virginia Adult Re-Entry Initiative was established. The Governor searched for a new Director for the Department to further that mission. The question for the a

This is the story of a six-month intervention that enabled the successful handover of a government-run prison in the UK to a private company in 2011. I will be describing the mobilisation phase of privatisation; it is one chapter in a longer story of the transformation of the prison in private hands, and – although I won’t be covering it in detail here – nine years later the collapse of safety and security at the same prison to the point it was returned to government manageme

Like all of the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC), by May of 2121 District 34 (Williamsburg Probation and Parole) staff had been figuring out how to effectively work to protect the community, meet probationers’ needs, and balance very different lives at home for just over a year since the Covid-19 state of emergency had been declared. Children were just returning to classrooms after being homeschooled and staff were hoping to find ways to safely bring probationers in

Sometimes an opportunity presents itself to stand back and take a look at what we are doing and how well we are managing. Such a situation arose when our prison District # 11 Probation & Parole unit was invited to participate with the Department of Medical Assistance (DMAS) on a Support Act Planning Grant. The grant is designed to support DMAS’s work to increase substance use disorder (SUD) provider capacity in the State of Virginia and assist the efforts of the Virginia Depa

Sometimes an opportunity presents itself to stand back and take a look at what we are doing and how well we are managing. Such a situation arose when our prison District # 11 Probation & Parole unit was invited to participate with the Department of Medical Assistance (DMAS) on a Support Act Planning Grant. The grant is designed to support DMAS’s work to increase substance use disorder (SUD) provider capacity in the State of Virginia and assist the efforts of the Virginia Depa

Lots of people facilitate dialogue, but Harold Clarke has made dialogue happen across a whole organization. And not just any organization, but the Virginia Department of Corrections! He is a master of using dialogue to bring about change in an organization. He has achieved this feat not just once, but over and over at the Director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, as well as the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections.