Impacts and Innovations: The American Correctional Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic (PID012)

11.45am – 12.30pm EDT, 26 October 2022 ‐ 45 mins

Parallel Workshops

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose a substantial problem for our country’s correctional agencies. Since the onset of COVID-19, practical information about effective responses for correctional agencies has been lacking. Correctional leadership has been forced to innovate to keep their staff and populations safe and ensure continuity of operations. Along with making these modifications, many correctional agencies have seen drastically reduced budgets. With these challenges impacting correctional leaders for over two years, the administrators, staff, and incarcerated populations have been severely affected. In addition to the responsibilities staff are normally tasked with, they were assigned additional duties, as well as required to adjust to major changes in their work environment.
The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) recognizes the importance of understanding how correctional systems across the country are continuing to modify their operations and the outcomes of these changes.

Speakers

Dr. David Pyrooz

Consultant, CNA, USA

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Dr. Meghan Novisky

Consultant, CNA, USA

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Evelyn Bush

Correctional Program Specialist, National Institute of Corrections, USA

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Dr. David Pyrooz

Consultant, CNA, USA

Dr. David Pyrooz is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is also a faculty associate in the Problem Behavior and Positive Youth Development Program in the Institute of Behavioral Science. He received the BS and MS in Criminology from California State University, Fresno, and the PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Arizona State University in 2012. Prior to joining the Department of Sociology in 2015, he was a faculty member in the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University. He was the 2015 recipient of the inaugural New Scholar Award from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and the 2016 recipient of the Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar award from the American Society of Criminology. He is the co-author of Confronting Gangs: Crime and Community (Oxford), the co-editor of The Wiley Handbook of Gangs (Wiley-Blackwell), and the author of a National Institute of Justice white paper on the relationship between gang affiliation and restrictive housing in U.S. prisons.

Dr. Meghan Novisky

Consultant, CNA, USA

Dr. Meghan Novisky is a consultant for CNA and an Associate Professor of Criminology at Cleveland State University. Her research examines the implications of carceral contact for health and well-being, conditions of confinement, and criminal justice policy. Her research has been published in over one dozen peer reviewed journals, including Criminology, Justice Quarterly, Criminal Justice and Behavior, Journal of Criminal Justice, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, and British Journal of Criminology.

Evelyn Bush

Correctional Program Specialist, National Institute of Corrections, USA

Ms. Bush began her career with the Connecticut Department of Corrections in 1975. Initially hired as a temporary employee, Evelyn was promoted to the position of Affirmative Action Officer, then to Personnel Officer. She continued with the Human Resources unit until October 1979. Selected to assist in the integration of women in the male dominated correctional facilities, Ms. Bush accepted the challenge in 1979 to become Connecticut’s highest ranking woman in a male facility with a promotion to the position of Deputy Warden. By 1984, she was the first African- American female Warden of a Connecticut correctional facility and the first Black female Warden in New England. For 11 years, five as Deputy Warden and six as Warden, Ms. Bush directed the operation of an urban correctional center This occurred during the most significant overcrowding lawsuit ever faced by the agency. During her tenure she assisted in the successful ACA accreditation and lead the successful Reaccreditation.

In 1990, she transferred as Warden of the agency’s only DWI unit. Under her leadership, it was named the Outstanding Unit of the Year in 1992. From 1992 to 1995, Ms. Bush served the agency in several significant and unique capacities. To assist the agency in maintaining stability and a positive administrative presence within the Medical Services division, she served as the department’s interim Medical Services Director for nine months. Following that assignment, she co-facilitated the reorganization of the agency’s Operations Division and Support from three to five regions.. Within the next two years, Ms. Bush was promoted to Regional Director and Deputy Commissioner for Administrative Services. In 1995, she returned to her first true correctional passion as Warden where she served at two different facilities for the next six years. On April 1, 2001, Ms. Bush proudly retired from state service.

On April 7, 2002, she began a new career with the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections where she remains currently employed as a Correctional Program Specialist. In her current capacity her focus includes Agency Leadership Enhancement , Evidence Based Women’s Only Leadership programming, Gender Matters in the Management of Incarcerated Women and Security Audits .

Evelyn is a member of the American Correctional Association (ACA), the Association of Women Executives in Corrections (AWEC), the North Atlantic Association of Wardens and Superintendents,(NAAWS) the Academy of Criminal Sciences, Blacks in Government and NAACP.. She has been a presenter/panelist at local, state, national conferences and community forums. Ms. Bush believes in community service and is a former elected Board of Education member, has served on local non-profit boards and is a current member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., a community conscious organization. A proud alumni of the University of Connecticut, Ms. Bush possesses a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Management Science.