As opioid overdoses skyrocket in communities throughout Missouri, the Department of Corrections has to be even more diligent in our efforts to keep illegal drugs out of our facilities.  

Illegal contraband can be deadly. The mere presence of a highly potent drug like fentanyl poses a serious risk to staff, who can unknowingly absorb the toxic substance through skin contact, inhalation, ingestion or contact with a mucous membrane.

Protecting staff, as well as offenders, from dangerous contraband is a complex undertaking, and it’s a team effort.

As options for contraband distribution decrease, offenders can become more aggressive in their efforts to recruit staff into the drug trade. Inexperience, financial hardship, personal crises and other factors can make some staff especially vulnerable to manipulation. You can look out out for these teammates and help steer them down a better path. And if an offender approaches you about bringing contraband in, please report the behavior to your supervisor or other trusted staff member.

Staff who bring or attempt to bring contraband into MODOC facilities not only lose their jobs but also face arrest, prosecution and incarceration. Our investigators work with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to apprehend and convict anyone who brings drugs in and places people at risk.

Protect your facility and your team. If you see something suspicious, report it to your supervisor, or call the anonymous C.L.E.A.R. line at 573-526-7000.

To kick off a packed day of conference sessions, Missouri Department of Corrections division directors teamed up as a panel. Directors Julie Kempker (Probation & Parole), Valarie Moseley (Offender Rehabilitative Services), Susan Pulliam (Human Services) and Travis Terry (Adult Institutions) emphasized that, five years into our strategic plan, we're doing business differently through the power of collaboration — within the department, among state agencies, and with community partners.

Transition Center of Kansas City (TCKC) Superintendent Michelle Tippie teamed up with the Center for Conflict Resolution restorative practices specialists who helped develop TCKC's programming and presented their process for building a successful reentry community. Based on European prison management models, TCKC emphasizes human dignity, normalization, reintegration and dynamic security as residents complete four stages of programming: orientation, discovery, journey and transition. Using town hall meetings and other tools, residents hold one another accountable for their behaviors and work together to resolve conflicts. Along with help in traditional areas such as housing and employment, community partners lead practices such as mindfulness, meditation and yoga. Since TCKC opened in April, three men have graduated and returned to the Kansas City community.

Education Zone Manager Stephanie Thomas and Reentry Coordinator Leslie Kelley highlighted the strong correlation between offender education level and recidivism; the more educated offenders are, the less likely they are to be reincarcerated. Our department continues to expand education offerings. In fiscal year 2022, the department had an average of 2,445 students enrolled in academic programs each month, with a high school equivalency pass rate of 99.8%. About 250 students were enrolled in career and tech education programs each month, earning 603 professional certificates by the end of the year. In addition, more than 700 students enrolled in higher education courses each semester.

Algoa Correctional Center Functional Unit Manager April Vanover described how the creation of an honor dorm at ACC has improved safety, morale, staffing, restorative justice and family connections. In just over seven months, the 62-resident honor dorm has transformed the facility. Within the unit, residents emphasize peace, respect, prosocial behaviors and holding one another accountable.

Residents have logged an average of 145.6 Restorative Justice hours each, compared to an average of 10.6 hours each for general-population offenders. No informal resolution requests or grievances have been filed in the unit, and no emergencies requiring staff response have occurred. Only seven conduct violations have been issued to residents during that time, and most were for incidents reported by fellow residents.

Benefits of the honor dorm, such as family restoration visits held in the recreation yard, incentivize other offenders to seek honors eligibility, thereby improving offender behavior prison-wide. Conduct violations are down by more than 1,000 from this time last year. 

Director of Staff Training and Development Lori Lewis Kennedy teamed up with Nancy Wiley from State Technical College of Missouri to present a staff training innovation. After working with offenders on developing vocational skills and earning apprenticeships, State Tech was awarded a grant that funds training and certifications for corrections staff employed in maintenance and related jobs. Since its inception, nearly 700 staff members have been trained through the program. The grant has been extended through fiscal year 2024.

During the conference, Probation & Parole District 13 A Unit Supervisor Patricia Allchin was honored with the 2022 Reentry Champion of the Year award for great work in supporting the success of Missourians on probation and parole.

Conference host Area Resources for Community and Human Services, or ARCHS, was recognized with the community partner award.

Debbie Black, Executive I at Western Region Training Center, has been named employee of the month for October 2022.

Black goes out of her way to fill in the gaps and make transitions smoother. Last year the Staff Training and Development team faced a perfect storm of challenges. Staff recruitment was moved under the umbrella of the Training Academy, a key staff member retired, and office managers at the state’s other training centers were out after taking long-term leave or resigning from the department.

Black stepped up to perform extra duties. She took on purchasing responsibilities and budgeting oversight for the eastern region, traveled to Jefferson City to train new staff, and kept the offices running like clockwork. Her initiative, dedication to safety and willingness to accommodate the needs of not only her own team but also other regions’ teams serve as an example to all corrections staff.

Dana Plunkett-Cafourek, the department's Prison Research & Innovation Network (PRIN) manager, has been named winner of the 2022 Edward J. Latessa Practitioner Award from the American Society of Criminology.

The award recognizes excellent social science research conducted in government agencies to help develop better policy or operate more effectively. With a pilot at Moberly Correctional Center, the department works with University of Missouri System researchers to identify innovations that improve conditions for people living and working in Missouri prisons.

The department is streamlining delivery of substance use recovery services for offenders. Gateway Foundation, a long-time contracted substance use treatment and assessment provider, has expanded services to all Missouri Department of Corrections facilities, effective Oct. 14, 2022. In addition to continuing to manage programming at previously contracted sites, Gateway now oversees substance use recovery services at programs previously operated by the Division of Offender Rehabilitative Services (DORS), including Farmington Correctional Center, Fulton Reception & Diagnostic Center, Maryville Treatment Center and Western Reception, Diagnostic & Correctional Center.

Under the new contract, current department employees in behavioral health can choose to either continue employment with the state — keeping current salaries, benefits and positions — or work directly for Gateway and earn competitive salaries and sign-on bonuses. No staff will lose their positions or salaries, and no programs will be closed.

DORS will continue to oversee all health care operations through contract monitoring staff. Benefits of this transition include consistency in programming and use of evidence-based practices; expanded employment options for staff; and more efficient management of operations and resources.

With the move of operations from Western Missouri Correctional Center to Crossroads Correctional Center underway, CRCC recently held a family day to showcase the facility.

More than 300 staff members and their families toured CRCC, taking walkthroughs of housing units, food service, recreation, visiting, and library and education facilities, as well as the guard tower — a favorite among younger visitors.

Staff from Chillicothe Correctional Center and Maryville Treatment Center volunteered to work overtime shifts so that WMCC/CRCC staff could enjoy the time with their families.

These efforts are paying off for the charities we support. Corrections ranks first among state agencies and offices for total amount pledged through paper and online forms and ranks in the top five for the amount raised through fundraising events, such as chili cookoffs, dress-down days, pizza parties, bake sales, silent auctions and the costume-filled competitive Halloween challenge held at Central Office (left).

Central Office fundraisers benefited Healing House and New Beginnings, a faith-based substance use disorder recovery center; Little Explorers Discovery School, a nonprofit child care agency serving low-income families; and The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri, which each month provides food to 100,000 Missourians across 32 counties.

As part of Maryville Treatment Center’s Charitable Campaign activities, campaign co-chairs Brenda Fletchall and Tara Murphy held a silent auction benefiting Voices of Courage, a nationally accredited child advocacy center that serves children and families affected by abuse or trauma in nine counties in Northwest Missouri. During the event, MTC staff raised $1,323 for the charity, and Murphy presented a check to Executive Director Melissa Birdsell this month.

The best way to prevent the flu is to get vaccinated every year. The flu vaccine can not only significantly decrease the chance that you'll get the flu but also reduce the risk of flu-associated hospitalization — as well as the severity of illness  — if you still get sick after being vaccinated.

Need inspiration? Watch Director Anne Precythe get a flu shot from Employee Health Nurse Amy Kitchens.

To get a flu shot, check in with your employee health nurse, or find a vaccine site near you.

PCIS is a three-day intensely therapeutic seminar for first responders who have experienced critical incidents and trauma in the course of their time on the job. PCIS presents an opportunity for participants to share their experiences with like-minded people and to offer and receive valuable support in a way that facilitates normalization and recovery.

Attendees have access to mental health professionals who understand first-responder culture and the unique challenges of the profession.The event provides education on trauma, effective patterns of resolution, and proven treatment strategies that promote recovery and resilience.  

Participants in the first PCIS, held in May 2022, rated the event 9.4 on a 10-point scale and credited the experience with changing, or even saving, their lives.

“Yesterday I would have told you rehabilitation in prison doesn’t exist,” Chef Keith Corbin told residents of the Transition Center of Kansas City (TCKC) last month. “But that was before I walked in here.” He urged the book-talk audience, Kansas City men on probation and parole, to make the most of the opportunity. “You all need to take advantage of this,” the formerly incarcerated Los Angeles restaurateur said. “This program is exceptional.

"You can’t do this on your own.”

A Watts, Calif., native, Corbin was born into a life of drugs and gangs, culminating in a decade of incarceration in the California prison system. Eight years after his release, the celebrated chef owns Alta West Adams, ranked one of the top 17 restaurants in the United States, and is the author of a newly released memoir, California Soul: An American Epic of Cooking and Survival. His story resonated with the audience.

At TCKC, instead of going home to old habits after release from prison or supervision, clients work with reentry professionals on building a new mindset and the foundation for a better life. The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Workforce Opportunities for Returning Citizens (WORC) initiative brought the chef to Kansas City to meet with people involved in the criminal justice system. The chamber provided signed copies of Corbin’s book for TCKC residents and the facility’s library.

In 2017, MCC became the pilot site for Missouri Veteran's Program, which has since been successfully extended to multiple institutions. The program aims to reduce recidivism in the veteran community by restoring honor and means to succeed, providing veteran-specific resources and a therapeutic environment.

MCC's multigenerational group of more than 60 incarcerated U.S. military veterans has established a platoon system, transforming a prison wing into a housing unit that feels like a barracks. Members observe traditional military rituals, such as raising and lowering a U.S. flag daily. The program also includes an honor guard, an elite group that dedicates extra time to perfecting the chain of command and leading by example.

In honor of Veterans Day, offender-volunteers in the Restorative Justice program at Boonville Correctional Center crafted 53 charcuterie boards for the Whiteman Air Force Base Spouses Local Love event in early November.

Spouses of military service members learned how to use the boards for serving appetizers during the holidays.

Cole County Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher recently donated a new cornhole game set to the Algoa Correctional Center Veterans Housing Unit. Artwork on the boards recognizes the service and sacrifices of military veterans.

Games and other activities held for Veterans Unit residents help to build morale and camaraderie among incarcerated Missourians who have served in the United States military.

Missouri state government agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools, employers and other community partners have come together at recent resource fairs at Boonville Correctional Center and Ozark Correctional Center to help prepare offenders for post-incarceration success.

At OCC, approximately 250 residents met with representatives from 18 resource providers who can help with housing, employment, driver’s licensing, family reunification, child support, education, substance use treatment and more.

We're working hard to recruit and retain staff and to make the Missouri Department of Corrections a great place to work. Teamwork is essential to everything we do. It helps ensure safety. It makes us stronger. It even brings a little more fun to our daily jobs.

YOU CAN BUILD RAPPORT.

• Listen to your coworkers, and show empathy.
• Share ideas, and collaborate on projects.
• Work together to solve problems and resolve conflicts.