The PA Prisons and Parole Podcast
This podcast blog will highlight news and information from and about the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
With religious holidays for multiple faiths on the horizon, what better time to meet with DOC Religious Services Administrator Rev. Ulli Klemm. Ulli discusses how chaplaincy staff and volunteers encourage faith in our institutions, how they support individuals of all faith and what he’d like to see change someday. Spoiler alert: it’s a surprising answer coming from a former minister.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
On this month’s episode, Parole Manager Penny Sines explains how parole agents help reentrants find success and overcome the various barriers they face upon reentry. Spoiler alert: It’s not like what you’ve seen in the movies. Penny also discusses the new program with local community partners — STRIVE — and shares a memorable reentrant success story.
For more on STRIVE, check out our recent press release.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Welcome to the debut episode of the Pennsylvania Prisons and Parole Podcast! On our first episode, we check in with Tim McKinney, general industries supervisor at the PA Correctional Industries Vehicle Restoration Plant at SCI Forest, and learn about his facility and workers. The Vehicle Restoration Plant held its grand opening on Jan. 26, 2020, and Tim explains how the first two years have been — including the biggest challenge presented by COVID-19.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In this episode, we talk to the PA DOC’s first ever winner of the Staff Innovations Award, Parole Agent Louis Zayon, about his lead in cleaning up a large open air drug market in Philadelphia. We also talk with Stanford University psychiatrist Keith Humphreys about what we know and don’t know on effective criminal justice responses to the opioid problem.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In this episode, a team of Industrial Engineers from Lehigh University (now affiliated with a start-up company called Optamo) talk about the Inmate Assignment and Decision Support System (IADSS) that they built for PA DOC. This innovative system is the first of its kind in the country. We also talk with current and former staff from the PA DOC’s Office of Population Management (OPM), who are using this new system.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download