Presenter biographies - 5th Conference on Family and Corrections

Ann Adalist-Estrin is director of the Parent Resource Association in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. She is a member of the board of directors of Family and Corrections Network and consultant in the field of families of offenders.

Mary Alley is the parenting program coordinator at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York, Nebraska.

Nadine Anderson and her family have been doing time with her husband for more than 21 years now. They have two sons who have grown up in the visitation park, never having played ball with their dad. They are now young men in their twenties. She is a 39 year old native Floridian.

Donna Bailey is currently the assistant director of Substance Abuse and Correctional Services for Volunteers of America Texas. Her office is located in Arlington, Texas. She is responsible for overview and quality assurance in three large community correctional centers located in Dallas/Fort Worth area. Donna has been with VOA-TX for 16 years in various capacities. From 1983 to 1986, Donna was the program coordinator of the Mothers, Infants Together program, and now is responsible for the promotion of the program throughout the country.

Sandra Barnhill is executive director of Aid to Incarcerated Mothers in Atlanta, Georgia and a member of the board of directors of Family and Corrections Network.

Daniel J. Bayse has over 20 years of experience with inmates and their families. The author of several books, research studies, and programs on inmate family relationships, including As Free As An Eagle; The Inmate’s Family Survival Guide. Bayse is the founder and executive director of Prison Family Foundation.

Moureen Bish has been a caseworker and program director with Families In Crisis, Inc. for ten years. She has extensive experience designing and providing counseling and support services to criminal justice populations and their families. Moureen has earned a degree in teaching from the University of the West Indies and a degree in psychology from Central Connecticut State University.

Cybil Bomberger has been the family counselor for the SCI Muncy Parenting Program for the past three years. Her previous employment with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare has given her broad experiences working with families. Cybil’s parenting groups focus on parent/child bonding and techniques to not only strengthen ties during incarceration but also to prepare the inmate mother for reintegration into the family unit upon release.

Lisa Brett is director of support services with Families In Crisis, Inc. She received her BA in sociology from Fairfield University and went on to receive her MSW from the University of Connecticut School of Social Work in 1994. She has been employed with Families in Crisis, Inc. since May 1994.

Catherine Bruggeman is the coordinator of the Correctional Outreach Program at the Visiting Nurse Association in Omaha, NE. She has had extensive experience in all aspects of community health nursing including maternal/child, school nursing, geriatrics, home health care, and management of communicable diseases.

Candace B. Burch has been innovative throughout her career in the field of education and corrections. She began her career in education in education in 1976. She developed the first Pre-K class for handicapped students in Jackson County, FL. She was awarded for Jackson County’s Outstanding Developmental Preschool Program in 1988. In 1993 Mrs. Burch began a career with the Department of Corrections where she developed the Correction’s plan for the delivery of special education services to Florida inmates as required by federal law. Since 1995, Candace Burch has been the bureau chief of Academic and Special Education of the Florida Department of Correction’s Office of Education and Job Training. She has enabled the department to provide educational programs and services for prisoners.

Ila Waite-Burns graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky in 1976. She moved to the beaches of Florida to teach special education. She taught the emotionally handicapped, severely emotionally handicapped and specific learning disabilities for 14 years. During this time she was a public school teacher and a behavior and program specialist for Inner Harbor Psychiatric Hospital. In 1996, she completed her master’s degree in Counseling and Rehabilitation Services. She is currently the program specialist for the Florida Department of Corrections’ Even Start and the Comprehensive Literacy Program.

Carol Burton, MSW worked as a prevention advocate and clinical social worker for the past 10 years. She is director of Project S.E.E.K., serves as treasurer for Family and Corrections Network board of directors, 98-99, chair of FP/FS, for Genesee Co. Strong Family Safe Children Collaborative, and state conference coordinator of Michigan Association of Black Social Workers.

Karen Bush has been the director of Project IMPACT for the past two years. Prior to her work with IMPACT, she held various clinical and administrative positions in the social services field. Her long-term interests in serving women, children and families have been an integral part of her career.

Sarah Carlson has been employed by the Washington Department of Corrections since 1971. She currently works as a community corrections officer (probation and parole officer) in Shelton. She has a bachelor of arts degree from the Evergreen State College. She is a past member of American Correctional Association and Washington Correctional Association. She is a member of Western Correctional Association and involved in Family Focus, Victim Awareness Education and a MRT facilitator. Her hobbies include crafts, quilting, reading and participating in community activities.

Treva Carroll, M.A. is a deputy probation officer, supervisor, Central Juvenile Hall, Los Angeles County Probation Department. The Los Angeles County Probation Department provides comprehensive assessments, high quality residential care and related services for minors declared wards of the juvenile court and ordered suitably placed outside their home by the juvenile court.

Ruth Cashmere is regional manager for Centerforce in San Quentin, California - a non-profit organization which provides direct services to the families of inmates incarcerated in California state prisons. She is a consultant, trainer, researcher, and advocate.

Elizabeth Cerneach is the director of School Health Programs, Sarpy & Douglas County Community Health Nursing. She is active in Corporate Wellness Programs, Shelter Nurse MCH/MEN Grant Programs, Prenatal and Childbirth Education Program, & Health Maintenance Centers for the Elderly, Family Friends Program, and the Correctional Outreach Program.

Karen V. Chapple has become a recognized leader in alternatives to incarceration, which maintain the family unit. She graduated with a master’s degree in counseling from the University of South Florida and has over twenty years experience in program development and management of non-profit organizations. Ms. Chapple is the statewide CEO of Summit House, which operates three residential alternatives to incarceration for mothers of small children.

Ann Craig is a parenting educator at Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Eagleville, Pennsylvania.

Sharon J. Darcy is executive director of Pathfinders of Oregon in Portland, Oregon.

Barbara J. DeJong is the Women's Support Group facilitator with Prison Fellowship in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Teresa Fitzgerald is executive director of Hour Children in Long Island City, New York.

Donna Flick has been involved in the Project IMPACT program for five years. She began as a part-time assistant, and she is now the full-time center coordinator. Donna brings a lot of enthusiasm to her position and is dedicated to making every visit between mother and child a special one.

Patrice Gaines is a reporter for the Washington Post. She is author of Laughing in the Dark: From Colored Girl to Woman of Color—A Journey from Prison to Power. "Gaines started her adult life as an unwed black mother in prison for drugs: there she would start a long journey back to become a person to be proud of; sparked by a desire to be a good mother for her newborn daughter. Gaines writes of being a black child in America, of lacking power, and of being a black woman influenced by negative forces. She charts a dangerous and common course of diminished strengths, and a strong return from a dead-end life." – Midwest Book Review

Deanna Garrett experienced her eldest son being imprisoned in 1982 for two and a half years. During that time there was no support in the area for families of inmates. Deanna met Verna McFelin in 1989 and became a volunteer for the organization as a committee member, social worker, secretary, group facilitator and is now financial administrator and president of PILLARS. Currently Deanna is a contract tutor and group facilitator of prison programs with male inmates (remandees and sentenced).

Elizabeth Gaynes is executive director of the Osborne Association in New York, New York.

Pauline Geraci is the Literacy Three teacher at Stillwater Correctional, Minnesota and has also taught for the Florida Department of Corrections. She has a B.A. in Elementary Education, an M.A. in Reading Education and is currently pursuing an Educational Doctorate in Educational Policy and Administration. Pauline has presented at several international corrections conferences as well as conferences in Florida and Minnesota. She has also written two grants for projects within a prison setting. In addition, Pauline has been selected as Teacher of the Year for New River Correctional in Florida, and Stillwater Correctional in Minnesota.

Jayne Goldstein has been an associate dean of instruction and student services at Rio Salado College for nineteen years. She has been responsible for college prison programs for six years. Currently she works out of Perryville Prison in Phoenix Arizona which houses 2,700 medium and maximum male and female inmates.

Creasie Finney Hairston is the dean of the Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago. She is an offender-family researcher and advocate. Her major interest is social welfare policies and program that impact the lives of poor women and other oppressed groups. Her articles appear in leading academic journals and in publications for general audiences.

Jane Nelson Hall works at Wrightsville Youth Development as a special education teacher. Prior to this, she worked for fifteen years at the Georgia State Prison in Reidsville. For eleven of the fifteen years, she worked as mental retardation specialist, developing and implementing a program for adult inmates with mental retardation. The program was created as part of the Georgia Department of Corrections’ response to a class action lawsuit. It was selected as a model program by the National Institute of Corrections in 1989. She became a special education teacher at Georgia State Prison in 1992. Her job was abolished in 1997. She holds an Ed.D. in Special Education from George Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University.

Merry Hanson’s professional background includes teaching at the University of Portland, project director for the initiation of 911 for the City of Portland, and owner and president of Workforce Development Center, a curriculum development and training company. Dr. Hanson is the author of Pathfinders, a 180-200 hour psychological skill building/cognitive restructuring curriculum. Pathfinders is currently used in every prison in the State of Oregon, in prisons in Minnesota, Idaho, Kentucky and Virginia, alternative schools in Oregon, California, Idaho and Washington and in Juvenile Detention Centers in Washington and California. In conjunction with Sharon Darcy, she founded Pathfinders of Oregon, Inc., in 1993. She is director of training and operations for this organization and operates Workforce Development Center.

Nancy J. Harm is an associate professor at the School of Social Work, University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Prior to obtaining her doctorate in 1989, Dr. Harm spent 20 years in direct social work practice, including director of a domestic violence program, correctional administrator and practitioner in the mental health field. Her teaching areas are practice, gender dynamics, and domestic violence. Her research interests are women offenders and domestic violence.

H. Jennifer Hartman is assistant superintendent, educational programs, Los Angeles County Office of Education, the nation’s largest regional education agency. Dr. Hartman’s agency serves L.A. County, the most populous county in the nation, with more than 9 million residents, including 1.5 million students in 81 school districts.

Kathy Hessler has been an English teacher in Vermont for 26 of the last thirty-one years she has lived in her adopted state. She has a variety of teaching experiences including junior high school, high school, and a community college. For the last 11 years she has been at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility in South Burlington, Vermont, where she teaches English review classes, basic reading and writing classes, and social studies classes. Her undergraduate degree is from Eastern Michigan University and her master’s degree is from St. Michael’s College in Vermont.

Anita Hufft is a psychiatric clinical nurse specialist and nurse educator whose specialty is forensic psychiatric nursing and correctional health care for women. She is the program evaluator for the Kentucky Girl Scouts Beyond Bars Program and provides consultation, staff training, and nursing health promotion services to the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women. She is dean of the Division of Nursing, Indiana University Southeast and lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Avraham Hoffmann is founder and Director General of Israel’s Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority (PRA). He has developed innovative rehabilitation programs for inmates and their families and has published articles on most of them. Among these programs are the Students-Inmate Shared Housing Program for young released inmates, and the Triangular Program: Treating the Inmate, his children and wife.

Ed Hostetter is director of research for Prison Fellowship Ministries in Washington, DC and a member of the board of directors of Family and Corrections Network.

Ann Jacobs is executive director of the Women’s Prison Association, a nonprofit agency that provides advocacy and direct services on behalf of women in the criminal justice system. Ms. Jacobs worked for four years in the Office of the Mayor of New York City on alternatives to incarceration and a range of public safety issues. Her background includes adult and juvenile justice and pretrial services.

Toni Johnson has been a social work practitioner for over 20 years. She is currently on the faculty of the School of Social Work at the University of Texas, in Austin, TX. Her responsibilities include supervising a unit of social work interns serving parolees and their families through the Family Support Program for Ex-offenders. She has presented nationally and internationally on the topic of social work in the criminal justice system. She received her bachelor’s degree from Cameron University in Lawton, OK and her master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin. She is licensed by the state of Texas as a Licensed Master Social Worker with Advanced Clinical Practitioner recognition.

Jo Jorgensen has been the director of college programming at the Arizona Center for Women, a minimum security prison in Phoenix, Arizona, for the past nine years. Prior to this, her community experience included ten years as a parole officer and after care counselor. Her "Parenting at a Distant" program recently received the American Association of Women in Community Colleges award for outstanding programs for women.

Valdimir Joseph is the founder and executive director of Inner Strength, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia. Through encounters with homelessness and gang life, he founded Inner Strength to help young men reach their full academic and social potential.

DonnaMarie F. Kaminsky is an international lecturer, trainer, educator and author with years of insightful, versatile experience in theology, religious education and family ministry. Her background includes working with community leaders, teens and children in a multitude of socio-economic environments across the United States and in several foreign countries. She came to the U.S. Probation Office specifically to research and coordinate a program that would help the families of federal prisoners. She developed the Family Bridges program (which is still in development). DonnaMarie is currently developing a similar type program in the U.S. Probation Office under the title of Pre-Release Services.

Pam Katz, Esquire, is an independent consultant. She previously worked as staff and as consultant to Women’s Prison Association. Ms. Katz specializes in the law as it relates to child welfare and welfare reform. She is the author of "Breaking the Cycle of Despair" and other publications that outline more effective strategies for dealing with mothers who are involved in the criminal justice system.

Marie Kenyon, J.D. is a member of Mothers and Children Together, a group who advocate on behalf of incarcerated mothers and their children. This includes lobbying at both state and national levels, conducting children’s trips to the prisons, educating the community on the issues and conducting an annual rally in cooperation with Justice Works.

Debra Key is the executive director of Parents and Children Together (PACT), Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas, a non-profit agency committed to preserving and strengthening families in crisis due to incarceration. PACT provides parenting programs at FMC-Fort Worth; FMC-Carswell; FCC-Coleman; USP-Atlanta; and TDCJ. She has authored two books, "Parents Behind Bars" and the "SKIP Curriculum for Elementary Age School Children". She also co-authored "A Child Serving Time on the Outside." She is often a guest editor for the Family & Corrections Network Report.

Ann Kinkor, M.A. is coordinator for parent education, educational programs (special education, juvenile court and community schools, alternative education), Los Angeles County Office of Education. She believes and supports research study findings that schools which support strong comprehensive parent/school/community involvement efforts are more likely to produce students who perform better than identical school programs.

Shirley R. Klein is an associate professor in the Family Sciences Department at Brigham Young University. Her scholarly areas of interest include understanding and strengthening at-risk families and providing educational opportunities for strengthening families. For the past 15 years she has supervised university students as family life educators at the Utah State Prison.

Keith A. Koenning is chief probation officer for the United States District Court Northern District of Ohio. He recently authored "Supervised Release Violators and the Comprehensive Sanctions Center in the Northern District of Ohio," for the Federal Sentencing Reporter and co-authored "The Comprehensive Sanctions Center in the Northern District of Ohio" for Federal Probation.

Barbara Goldenberg Libov is a licensed clinical psychologist from St. John’s University. Dr. Libov developed and implemented the Abuse Treatment and Prevention Program at St. Mary’s Children & Family Services, a residential treatment program for adolescent sexual offenders. As clinical coordinator, Dr. Libov conducts group, individual and family therapy, supervises trainees, and teaches a biweekly seminar on adolescent sex offenders.

Beth McLean, M.S.S.W., L.S.W., has been with Philadelphia Society for Services to Children since 1984, as both a social worker and supervisor. She has been the program supervisor for KIDS’n’KIN Muncy since the program began in November 1991. Ms. McLean has previously presented on the topic of children of incarcerated mothers at the Family Resource Coalition conference.

Verna McFelin’s husband was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 1983. Verna was left with four young children and no one to turn to. Moving from one end of New Zealand to the other and back again to be near him — "eight moves and 10 school uniforms in five years" was one change. Coping with the anger, grief, shame and loneliness was another. Verna’s own experience convinced her of the need for an organization which would support families who have a loved one in prison. In 1988, she set up PILLARS (Prison Inmates, Loved ones Linked As one to Renew Strength) in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Joan Mohler has been a classification counselor for 3 years, formerly a unit officer (5 years) and unit Sgt.. (5 years) at a male medium custody institution. She served as co-facilitator of Family Focus Group for 3 years and facilitator for MRT for 3 years. She is active in church, serving as organist and Sr. Warden.

Marilyn Moses has been a social science program analyst with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), U.S. Department of Justice since June 1991. In 1994 Ms. Moses was recognized by the American Correctional Association with their "Best in the Business" award for creating the "Girl Scouts Beyond Bars" program and her work on behalf of children whose parents are in the criminal justice system. Ms. Moses is currently the chair of the National Working Group on Children, Families and the Criminal Justice System.

Jim Mustin is the president and founder of Family and Corrections Network. As Virginia Coordinator for REAL JUSTICE, Jim is developing restorative justice conferencing programs for youths in four Virginia localities. He recently retired from the Virginia Department of Corrections where he worked as a family counselor in the Virginia Beach Juvenile Court and a training supervisor for offender treatment programs at the Academy for Staff Development. He lives with his wife, Ellen in Palmyra, Virginia.

Gretchen Newby is the program director, Friends Outside National Organization where she is involved in several programs: Las Comadres Program, a unique state licensed foster care program for babies born to women incarcerated in state prison;, Creative Conflict Resolutions, an intensive group rehabilitation experience for violent offenders in state and federal prison, and for delinquent and at risk youth; and The Parenting Program, a parenting education program for incarcerated, court-ordered parents that addresses their special needs and issues. The curriculum has been adopted by the California State Department of Corrections for use in all state prisons, beginning January 1998.

Patricia O’Brien is a social worker and assistant professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work, University of Illinois at Chicago. Patricia’s major practice experience is in the area of domestic violence. She became committed to understanding the issues that affect women in transition from prison when working as an advocate for an inmate who had been incarcerated after being convicted for the homicide of her abusive partner.

Matt Oliver is currently a senior at Brigham Young University. He will be graduating in August of 1998 with a psychology major and sociology minor. His career goals include obtaining a doctorate degree in clinical psychology and conducting research in the areas of family and marital violence and treatment outcome assessment.

Susan Phillips, LMSW, is employed by Centers for Youth and Families in Little Rock, Arkansas. She is responsible for developing services for children whose mothers are incarcerated. In addition to creating direct services, Susan is also involved in research, public policy analysis and is the coordinator for efforts in Arkansas support of the national Mothers in Prison, Children in Crisis Campaign.

Martha Raimon, Esquire is coordinator of the Incarcerated Mothers Law Project, Women’s Prison Association. Prior to joining WPA, Ms. Raimon coordinated the Family Court Initiative and Pro Bono Legal Assistance Network (C-PLAN) for the New York Office of the Public Advocate. She was also director of the Brooklyn Legal Services Corp. Family Law Unit and a lawyer in private practice.

Graham Reddoch is executive director of the John Howard Society of Manitoba. He has a longstanding interest in issues related to crime prevention and prisoner families, and is a founding member of the Canadian Families and Corrections Network (CFCN). Under his leadership, the John Howard Society purchased a building dedicated to restorative justice, known as the Justice Resource Centre, and developed a number of programs based on restorative justice principles, including Restorative Resolutions (non-prison sentencing alternatives), and Restorative Parole.

Brenda Rich, M.S.W., L.S.W., has been with Philadelphia Society for Services to Children since 1989, as both a social worker and supervisor. She currently co-leads the therapeutic children’s group with a family therapist, as well as providing in-home services to the program families.

Sister Elaine Roulet, a Sister of St. Joseph, Brentwood, Long Island has been the recipient of many awards and citations, including the Wonder Woman Award, the Eleanor Roosevelt Community Service Award, the President’s Volunteer Action Citation and the Decade of the Child Award. Sister Elaine has worked for over twenty-five years at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility as the Director of the Children’s Center. The Children’s Center is a national model for services for children of incarcerated women. She was the founder and executive director of Providence House, Inc. There are seven Providence Houses that provide homes for women on parole, battered women and homeless women. She was also the founder of Hour Children, whose purpose is to aid the children of incarcerated women.

Carl Route is CEO and co-founder of the National Association of Previous Prisoners. He is an advocate and researcher for restoration of rights of ex-convicted fathers and men and consultant trainer for prison ministries. He is also a board member with Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers.

Dottie Schell, RNC, is the family service specialist at Family Planning Council in Philadelphia, PA. She earned her diploma in nursing from Montgomery Hospital in Norristown and is certified in childbirth education and obstetrics. She supervises the Parenting Education Program in three County Prisons. She serves on the Professional Advisory Board of the March of Dimes and is past president of The Pennsylvania Healthy Babies Healthy Mothers Coalition

Joan Segars has been the abuse counselor for the family violence component of the SCI Muncy parenting program for the last three years. Her background with the bail fund and adult probation offices in Philadelphia have prepared her to work with incarcerated women who are victims and want to change their lives and the lives of their families. Joan holds a B.A. degree in criminal justice from Temple University.

Lauren Shapiro, director of the Family Law Project for Brooklyn Legal Services (BLS). Ms. Shapiro also founded and directed the BLS HIV project and has represented and supervised attorneys in hundreds of family court cases.

Charles Sullivan is founder and executive director of CURE, (Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants), a national organization of families of prisoners, former prisoners, prisoners and concerned citizens. CURE’s purpose is to reduce crime through the reform of the criminal justice system (especially prison reform). CURE has 10,000 members and chapters in most states.

Maisha Sullivan is deputy director of Safe and Sound in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Michael Supancic is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Southwest Texas State University. His research has appeared in Criminology, Sage Criminal Justice System Annuals, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency. His research interests include juvenile justice, the family and corrections, and the emerging role of the independent sector in criminal justice policy.

Patricia J. Thompson is an associate professor at the College of Nursing, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She served four years in the United States Army Nurse Corps. Reserve and has over 20 years experience as pediatric nurse practitioner and educator. Her research interests are pediatric nursing and parenting.

Mary Tripp started working for Corrections Education in Vermont in 1990. She came with a bachelor’s degree in English and had been a family educator in the Greater Burlington area for eight years. Her first duty in Corrections Education was with the incarcerated youth, under 22 years of age. She was responsible for identifying, assessing, and placement of the youths in an educational program. After 3 years, she sought her teaching license through Trinity College and did her student teaching at the Chittenden Correctional Center. She is now a licensed academic instructor within the program. She teaches a variety of classes including English, math and parenting.

Carol Valley is a native of Washington State employed at Washington Corrections Center, Reception Center as office support supervisor. She is co-facilitator of Family Focus Group and a member of the Wellness Committee. Active in community with Juvenile Diversion Program for 2 years and Al-Anon Family Groups for 5 years, she spends her spare time with family and doing outdoor exercise.

Ted Wachtel is the director of the Community Service Foundation (CSF) which initiated REAL JUSTICE, a restorative response to crime and wrongdoing. CSF provides education and residential services to troubled youth in southeast Pennsylvania. He is also the co-author of TOUGH LOVE.

Khatib Waheed is executive director of St. Louis Community Partnerships, St. Louis, MO and nationally known trainer in issues of diversity, community building and Afro-centric program design.

Rosaleen Wilcox, has been the executive director of the Simon of Cyrene Society, for the past 5 years. The agency has been providing programs and services to inmate families and loved ones for the past 18 years. Rosaleen is an experienced public speaker, who’s insight and compassion for the families of those incarcerated can shed great light on needs.

Barbara Wilson, M.S. is a teacher on special assignment for Family-School-Community Partnerships Program, Juvenile Court and Community Schools (JCCS), Los Angeles County Office of Education. As one of the largest, fully accredited court and community schools programs in the nation, JCCS plays a leadership role in providing neglected and delinquent youth an exemplary academic curriculum and a wide range of support services.

Melinda Yowell has worked with the State Correctional Institution at Muncy since 1986. Prior to her parenting program director position, she was a corrections counselor and an education counselor. During previous employment, Ms. Yowell gained experience as director of a women’s shelter, manager for an educational consultant firm, and director of a day care center. She holds a B.S. degree in education from Penn State University. Ms. Yowell has been responsible for the development and implementation of the SCI-Muncy parenting program.

Family & Corrections Network
The Fifth North American Conference on the Family & Corrections