WITNESS
Kathleen M. Dennehy is the Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Correction, an agency that employs over 5,000 staff, operates 18 correctional facilities, has an annualized budget of approximately 435+ million dollars and an inmate census of over 10,000.
Ms. Dennehy began her career with the Massachusetts Department of Correction in 1976 as the Records Manager at MCI Walpole, the state's maximum-security prison for men. Over the course of her career, she has also worked at various facilities including the department's reception center for male offenders at MCI Concord, Old Colony Correctional Center, at the Training Academy as the Director and at MCI Framingham as the Superintendent. In 1994, Ms. Dennehy was promoted to Associate Commissioner. In 1997, she advanced to the rank of Deputy Commissioner and in 2003 was appointed Acting Commissioner of the Department of Correction. In 2004, Governor Romney appointed Ms. Dennehy as Commissioner of the Department of Correction.
Ms. Dennehy is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wheaton College where she majored in Government. She received her Masters in Public Administration from Suffolk University's School of Management. In 1998, she was elected to the Board of Directors for the Correctional Association of Massachusetts. In 2002, Ms. Dennehy was the recipient of the Massachusetts Correctional Association's annual "Jim Justice Award" for her commitment to professional excellence. Ms. Dennehy is a member of the Association of Women Executives in Corrections, a member of the National Commission for Accreditation in Corrections, a part time faculty member in the Masters in Criminal Justice Program at Curry College and a consultant for the National Institute of Corrections.
Back to Witness List
|
STATEMENT
A system permeated by a code of silence reinforces negative behaviors in inmates. As my boss, the Massachusetts Secretary of Public Safety, Edward A. Flynn, is keen on saying, "inmates leaving a correctional system should know that there was a moral order in their universe while incarcerated." We know that many offenders go through life believing that rules and laws don't apply to them. If the system in which they are incarcerated lacks integrity and moral order, their notions regarding law and order are simply reinforced. I am of the strong opinion that corrections staff should be the very best people inmates encounter as we may be the first individuals they are exposed to who do respect rules and laws. We should be role models of positive behavior. If staff don't follow the rules, there is no hope for intervention or for changing inmate behavior in the long term.
For years, training has encouraged the "us vs. them" mentality for the purpose of ensuring that proper boundaries are understood and maintained. However, this way of thinking leads to the dehumanization of inmates, inmate families, visitors, volunteers, advocacy groups, treatment personnel, and so on. It is a difficult line to walk. The need for boundaries is imperative, yet the consequence of dehumanization is catastrophic.
As we've emerged from a decade where the mantra had been about being "tough on crime," we realize that the failure to operationalize what that meant for staff has led to an environment where the often conflicting goals of corrections-deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation and punishment-have gone out of balance. People are sentenced to prison "as punishment,"not "for punishment." Some staff lose sight of that. In combination with the code the consequences of failing to operationalize our philosophies and approaches can be serious.
Excerpted from a written statement submitted to the Commission
Download the complete written statement
Note: Some witnesses submitted documents in addition to the written statement they prepared for the hearing. In most cases, those documents are not available on the Commission's web site.
|
|
