SCI Spotlight: Forest and Mercer

Our year-long tour around the DOC continues as we learn about two rural facilities in western PA: SCI Forest and SCI Mercer. The episode kicks off with SCI Mercer Superintendent’s Assistant Nikki Franz discussing the facility’s history and unique features and programs—including its Veterans Service Unit, which recently became an official American Legion Post. Later in the show, SCI Forest Major Jennifer Alexander shares about the facility’s Vehicle Restoration Plant and other vocational opportunities for inmates, as well as the staff culture and relationship between the facility and community.

Video on the PA Correctional Industries Vehicle Restoration Plant at SCI Forest: https://www.facebook.com/CorrectionsPA/videos/333013635666455

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Episode 7: PA DOC Corrections Innovation Day

On July 31, 2024, the PA DOC, along with Penn State University, hosted their first ever Corrections Innovation Day.  The event brought PA DOC staff from various levels and types of positions together with a large group of academic partners in order to brainstorm around innovative and testable solutions to some of the department’s most important issues, such as recidivism reduction, in-prison violence reduction, restrictive housing reform, and staff wellness. In the special episode, you’ll hear a report from various participants at this event.  A special thanks to Arnold Ventures for sponsoring the event.

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SCI Spotlight: Fayette and Muncy

This month, the PA Prisons and Parole Podcast visits one of our most unique facilities and one of our newer facilities in SCI Muncy and SCI Fayette.

SCI Muncy Deputy Superintendent for Centralized Services William Frantz kicks off the episode by discussing how the history of the facility impacts its current layout as well as the main vocational opportunities available to its incarcerated population. Later in the show, SCI Fayette Superintendent Tina Walker joins to discuss the first 20 years of Fayette. She also discusses the PA Correctional License Plate Factory and the reaction among its workers about Pennsylvania’s new plates.

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Episode 6: Risk & Needs Assessment, part 2 (Jason Stauffer )

In the second part of this month’s series, we talk with Jason Stauffer, the PA DOC’s Supervisor of Assessment and Classification Services.  Jason talks about his background in corrections and assessment, how the PA DOC uses risk and needs assessment, and specifically how the PA DOC uses their new Strong-R assessment instrument.

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Episode 5: Risk & Needs Assessment, part 1 (Dr. Zach Hamilton, Sean Hosman, and Marjorie Rist)

In the first part of this month’s series, we talk with the team at Vant4ge, a company that produces a correctional risk/needs assessment tool called the Strong-R.  We discuss what risk/needs assessment is, and also discuss its importance in the corrections field.  The Vant4ge team talks about what new developments are happening in the risk/needs assessment industry.

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