State senator, representatives tour Putnamville Correctional Facility

Warden Brian Smith and the Putnamville Correctional Facility recently welcomed State Senator Philip Boots and State Representatives Tonya Pfaff and Peggy Mayfield, as well as legislative assistants Kayla Owens (Reps. Burton, Stutzman and Zent), Eric Sears (Reps. Steuerwald, Heine and Goodrich) and Ethan Hudson (Sen. Ford), Legislative Member Service intern Alexus Tucker and press intern Charlie Tinkle.

Dave Liebel, John Mather, Hilary Alderete, Sarah Schelle and Jon Ferguson of the Indiana Department of Corrections were also in attendance.

The senator, representatives and staff were treated to lunch provided by the culinary arts program at the Putnamville Correctional Facility, as well as a tour of the facility grounds and residential program dorms.

The first stop on the agenda was the facility education department. The education department is proud to have numerous classes and certification programs, such as welding, culinary arts, Master Student Master Employee and high school equivalency classes.

“The facility educators and case management team work extremely hard on giving every offender the resources needed to live a productive and successful life upon their release,” said Smith. “We have many certifications and vocational programs which have made a positive impacts on the offender’s lives and their success when released.”

One of the residential program dorms the officials visited was Recovery While Incarcerated (RWI). RWI allows for a safe place for offenders to receive treatment for varying addiction related issues. Offenders attend daily sessions with a substance abuse counselor and have group meetings throughout the course of a week. All offenders are given tools that assist with their road to recovery so they may live a sober lifestyle.

“One of the biggest problems in our society today is drug addiction, and our RWI staff does an excellent job giving the offender population the tools to be successful,” Smith said. “With the correlation between criminal behavior and substance abuse, it is exciting to see the progress the DOC has made in addressing such an important issue.”

The visit was finished off with a question-and-answer session with new and veteran staff, in order to fulfill questions regarding past, present and future successes.