On September 22nd and 23rd Parole Board Chairs and Releasing Authority Directors from around the United States and Canada gathered in Louisville, Kentucky for the Association of Paroling Authority's Annual Chairs Meeting/Training. The participants were treated to a combination of facilitated discussion and educational sessions made possible by the generous support of our colleagues and partners at the National Institute of Corrections and the National Parole Resource Center.
The sessions were facilitated by Tom von Hemert, a criminal justice planner from Charlottesville Virginia. The meeting began with a rousing keynote address from APAI President Charles Traughber who used his 40 plus years of correctional experience to put today's budget crisis in context. He reminded the participants of the need to be constantly striving to tailor our practices to those that have been found to work by the evidence and research that currently exists.
The participants then spent some time in small groups discussing the specific issues that they are facing in their agencies. This discussion was meant to create an environment throughout the rest of the meeting, both in session and out, in which the participants could make use of the over 500 years of criminal justice experience that was present amongst the 22 participants.
Cathy Banks, Correctional Program Specialist, from the National Institute of Corrections discussed the current state of affairs at NIC concerning parole, including the current development and pilot testing of a curriculum for training new board chairs. The participants were treated to examples of some of the innovative and thought provoking segments NIC now uses to train new board members.
The participants then heard about a joint initiative of APAI and the Association of State Corrections Administrators (ASCA) to develop a set of principles to guide productive collaboration between state correctional agencies and paroling/releasing authorities. ASCA executive committee members AT Wall , Director of Corrections in Rhode Island and Brian Fischer, Commissioner of Corrections in New York State, discussed ASCA's interest in developing these principles. APAI Executive Committee members described the history and process of this initiative. There was a period of open discussion for the participants to air their views on the draft set of principles. The group was then guided through a series of exercises designed to "test drive" the principles; to see if they could be translated into achievable and measurable action steps.
The next morning the participants heard from noted Canadian researcher Dr. Ralph Serin of Carleton University. He shared the latest news about his criminal justice decision making lab and the promise that holds for parole practitioners. He discussed the latest research relevant to parole decision making and unveiled the research he is going to conduct in two US sites, Ohio and Connecticut.
In the afternoon Peggy Burke updated everyone on the latest activities of the National Parole Resource Center, including the selection of four learning sites; South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Connecticut. She shared with us the 10 practice targets that these site will be focusing on and which the Center as a whole will promote and encourage.
Finally the participants received an inside view of the operations of APAI and all that we have to offer member agencies and practitioners. The chairs were challenged to support APAI and assist us in ensuring the sustainability of this organization.
In addition to the wealth of knowledge that was shared, the participants experienced the warm southern hospitality of the Kentucky Parole Board made possible by Chairman Verman Winburn, Southern Regional Vice President Caroline Mudd and the staff of their Board.
Be sure and stay tuned for upcoming announcements about the 2011 Chairs meeting.
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