BJCC warden outlines successes and goals

 

September 14, 2016

Bill Johnson Correctional Center GED Graduation Class of Sept. 9, 2016.

The Bill Johnson Correctional Center (BJCC) Advisory Board met on Sept. 8 for its regular meeting, which was also combined with its 21st anniversary event. Timeline displays were showcased in the visiting room in commemoration of the event and refreshments were served along with recognition of staff. The BJCC GED graduating class practiced for their ceremony after the meeting, which was held the next day.

The minutes from the last meeting were approved by the advisory board. The board also approved the treasurer's financial report, which stated that the year-to-date balance is $39,745.67 and there has been no activity in the CFO account, nor in the local prison fund account at Community Bank.

BJCC's warden, Janice Melton, spoke about some new things going on right now on state and local levels relating to corrections.

BJCC was able to expand its Northwestern contract and was able to hire two additional case managers and two additional counselors. Hiring additional staff has allowed BJCC to lower the prisoner waiting list from 100 to 0. "It's been a huge success," Melton said.

The new director of the department of corrections has some new goals for BJCC, including having all facilities offering some level of programming. "We are very much in tune with the director's philosphy ... he believes very much in what we do here," Melton said. The director is looking at any changes to make BJCC and other facilities like it, more efficient overall.

The governor of Oklahoma has convened a task force to look at criminal justice sentencing, which may hopefully impact the bed space crisis that is going on at a lot of jails. "The governor seems to be leading that charge, so that's very encouraging," Melton stated.

Todd Holder, who is on the board of corrections, addressed the meeting attendees. "For those of you who are not employees of the department of corrections, you need to be thanking every employee that works for the department of corrections," Holder said, "because they are doing an absolutely phenomenal job with what they have to work with."

He spoke about how rewarding it is to help inmates who have gone through the program and encourages everyone to do the same. "I encourage every single one of you to look at some graduate that's here that needs a helping hand ... it makes a huge difference," Holder said.

 

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