Wednesday Series I: Implementing EBP in Community Corrections

George M. Keiser is Chief of the Community Corrections Division for the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), an integral part of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Department of Justice. Mr. Keiser oversees NIC programs and services that are designed to improve policy for and management of pretrial, probation, and parole agencies; residential community corrections facilities; and other community-based corrections programs throughout the U.S. and its commonwealths and territories. NIC’s community corrections clientele includes more than 2,500 probation and parole offices and 1,200 community residential facilities. During his tenure, Mr. Keiser introduced and promoted the concept of Intermediate Sanctions to be used in lieu of automatically violating community placements with a transfer to jail or prison. He provided the vision and direction for the creation of the Interstate Compact for Adult Offenders. The fifty states and District of Columbia, through passage of common legislation, created the authority and structure for the legal transfer of probation and parole cases throughout the country. Mr. Keiser and his staff have advanced the implementation of Evidence-Based Policy and Practice as the business standard for community corrections.

Before joining NIC in 1983, Mr. Keiser served as Deputy Director of the Iowa State Department of Corrections, Division of Community Corrections. During that time, he had oversight responsibilities for the division’s community corrections programming. Earlier positions include correctional officer and institutional counselor at the Iowa State Penitentiary, correctional counselor at the Reformatory for Men, case worker at the Iowa Security Medical Facility, Superintendent of the Iowa State Reformatory for Women, Chief of the Bureau of Correctional Institutions. He was the primary architect of the 1976 “Iowa Community Corrections Act.” The law created multi-county public community corrections agencies governed by boards of directors in the State of Iowa. Moreover, on the subject of community corrections, Mr. Keiser served as a technical advisor to the Iowa Crime Commission.

Mr. Keiser has received numerous awards and recognition including: the Dan Beto Award from the National Association of Probation Executives in 2008, Maud Booth Award from the Volunteers of America in 2002, the Vincent O’Leary Award from the Association of Paroling Authorities International in 1999, outstanding recognition from The American Probation and Parole Association in 1998, the Margaret Mead Award from The International Community Corrections Association in 1996 and the University of Cincinnati Award in 1990. He has a BS in Sociology and Psychology from Iowa State University and an MSW from the University of Iowa.

Before retiring as Director of the Department of Community Correction, Mr. Guntharp served as a member of the Governor’s Cabinet and directed the agency that provides state-wide probation and parole supervision, community correction centers for non-violent offenders and various community correction programs such as drug courts and day reporting centers. His career in corrections began in the early 1970’s in juvenile probation, led him through the correction system to a position of Chief Deputy Director of the Department of Correction and has culminated in his position as Director of Community Correction. He earned a BA in business in 1973 from Arkansas State University and an MA in Criminal Justice in 1990 from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Sally Kreamer is the Director of Community Based Corrections for the Fifth Judicial District Department of Corrections Services in Des Moines, Iowa. Community Based Corrections in Iowa covers pretrial release, probation, parole, pre sentence investigations and residential services to include work release. She began her career as a residential advisor in a work release facility and went on carry a caseload as a probation parole officer, Pre sentence investigator, treatment provider and Supervisor. She has been involved in the implementation of evidence based practices since the early 1990’s having been involved in implementation statewide of cognitive based programs and the Level of Service Inventory-Revised. Ms. Kreamer obtained her Bachelors of Science from Iowa State University and her Master of Science from the University of Cincinnati.

Representative Madden serves as Vice Chairman of the House Committee on Corrections, and also is a member of the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee. Owing to his extensive knowledge of criminal justice best practices and able negotiating skills, Representative Madden has developed and passed key probation and parole reform policies that have saved Texas a billion or more dollars that otherwise would have gone into prison construction, while simultaneously improving public safety by increasing access to drug and alcohol treatment, expanding opportunities to successfully reintegrate offenders back into their communities (through such means as transitional housing), and has participated in ongoing efforts to fix the state’s juvenile justice system.

Representative Madden is in his ninth term representing House District 67 which is located in southwestern Collin County, including parts of Plano, Dallas and Richardson. In 2007, Texas Monthly named him one of its "Ten Best" legislators, primarily for his leadership in overhauling the Texas Youth Commission. Upon graduating from the West Point Military Academy, Representative Madden spent six years in the U.S. Army, and then earned a Masters from the University of Texas at Dallas.