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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 27, 2004
CONTACT: Michael Winder, SD DOC (605) 773-3478
Volunteers, staff receive honors from Department of Corrections
Pierre, S.D. - The South Dakota Department of Corrections recognized volunteers, community groups and staff members for their service at recognition banquets in Chamberlain May 24-25.
Those receiving volunteer awards include:
Wally and Pat Steele, Rapid City
Karl Jegeris, Rapid City Police Department Direct Intervention Program
Chaplain Jan Voelzke, Yankton
Pastor Michelle Bradley, Pierre
Don Klassen, M-2 Coordinator, Sioux Falls
Father Bernie Ashfield, Sioux Falls
Pastor Dave Christensen, Sioux Falls
Chaplain Regan Beauchamp, Sioux Falls
Mary Montoya, Sioux Falls
Wally Steele is the West River coordinator of the DOC Foster Care program. His wife Pat works with the Court Appointed Special Advocate program in Rapid City, but also volunteers to help Wally train prospective foster parents. She recently helped a girl in the foster care program that suffered from a childhood injury that caused blindness and discoloration in one eye. Due to Pat’s persistence, an optometrist and an eye surgeon in Rapid City volunteered to make a special contact lens for the girl to match her other eye and a pair of special glasses to protect her eyes.
In his capacity as Juvenile Detective for the Rapid City Police Department, Jegeris developed and implemented his Department’s Directed Intervention Program to provide mentoring for juveniles in the DOC system. Jegeris has actively linked the efforts of the Police Department and DOC Juvenile Community Corrections, including the sharing of information between the departments, assisted Juvenile Corrections Agents (JCA’s) in locating and transporting DOC juveniles who had absconded from supervision and assisted with home searches and curfew checks. He also coordinated the Rapid City Police Department school liaisons for curfew check ride-alongs with JCA’s to facilitate communication and knowledge sharing between the departments.
Pastor Voelzke leads a worship service at Mike Durfee State Prison for the Full Gospel Church, an inmate congregation that she founded eight years ago and serves as pastor. She also holds a worship service at the South Dakota Women’s Prison once a month, teaches six different classes for inmates throughout the week and provides Christmas Sacks for inmates at the Yankton Trusty Unit. Voelzke is also the chair of the chaplain advisory board that encourages communication between religious volunteers and the Department of Corrections.
Pastor Bradley is the pastor of the Church of Hope, an inmate congregation at the South Dakota Women’s Prison in Pierre. She conducts church services and bible study groups, counsels inmates and helps maintain the inmate library. She began her volunteer work with the female inmates before the Women’s Prison opened in 1997.
Klassen has served as the coordinator of the Man-to-Man (M-2) program at the South Dakota State Penitentiary for 25 years. The M-2 program pairs inmates who may have little or no outside contact with family or friends with volunteers from Sioux Falls and the surrounding communities. Klassen also received national recognition for his work as a recipient of the President’s Volunteer Action Award citation.
Father Ashfield has served as the Catholic priest at the Penitentiary and Jameson Annex since 1997. He has provided many activities for the Catholic inmates including Mass, bible study, Catholic Inquiry and Stations of the Cross during Lent. He also is the coordinator of the Residents Encounter Christ program, which is held three times a year.
Pastor Christenson began serving the Saint Dysmas Church at the Penitentiary in 2000. He leads bible study, has organized a choir, leads weekly church services for inmates and has implemented Easter sunrise services and Candlelight services at Christmas. He also played a significant role in the re-furbishing of the Penitentiary chapel.
Beauchamp is the volunteer chaplain for the Prison Lighthouse Fellowship, an inmate congregation associated with the General Baptist Conference at the Jameson Annex of the Penitentiary. He has worked with DOC since 1991. Beauchamp maintains the chapel library at Jameson, leads bible study groups and a choir and also teaches guitar lessons to inmates. He also coordinates the Prison Fellowship program that meets twice a year at the penitentiary.
Montoya has volunteered her time to work with inmates at the Penitentiary for the past 15 years. She assists Native American inmates arrange Pow Wows, spiritual conferences and visits with medicine men and spiritual advisors. Montoya also works with the Family Connection, which provides a place for inmate family members to stay when they come to Sioux Falls.
Staff members honored include:
Chief Warden Doug Weber, South Dakota State Penitentiary, Sioux Falls
Doug Herrmann, Director of Juvenile Services, Rapid City
Joe Hockett, Parole Agent, Winner
Brenda Hyde, Case Manager, South Dakota Women’s Prison, Pierre
Al Mudder, Prison Shop Foreman, Mike Durfee State Prison, Springfield
Terry Romkema, Prison Shop Foreman, Mike Durfee State Prison, Springfield
Deb Boddicker, Senior Correctional Officer, South Dakota State Penitentiary, Sioux Falls
Weber worked his way up the ranks at the Penitentiary from correctional officer to training specialist and to associate warden for security. He was named warden in 1996 and Chief Warden for the state’s adult prisons in 1999. Governor Mike Rounds recently announced that Weber will serve as Interim Secretary of Corrections when Tim Reisch begins an 11-month leave of absence in July to attend the U.S. Army War College.
Herrmann has worked for the DOC for the past eight years, starting as the superintendent at the Living Center at Custer. He served as superintendent of the Custer Youth Corrections Center for several years and was named the Director of Juvenile Services in 2001. He also worked at the State Training School for two years. Herrmann has been instrumental in implementing the Performance Based Standards project at the STAR Academy and implementing and managing the DOC’s Foster Care program. Doug also designed and implemented the program changes at the STAR Academy to create programs that best address the needs of the youth committed to the DOC.
Hockett worked as a parole agent for nearly 24 years before his retirement last month. When he first started, his coverage area included from Shannon County to Charles Mix County and from the Nebraska border to Pierre. He developed many strong working relationships with law enforcement agencies and service providers in the community.
Hyde has served as case manager since the Women’s Prison opened in 1997. Her original caseload was 140, but over the years it has more than doubled. Her position has grown to include more responsibilities in regard to classification, scheduling and developing parole plans as well as supervising the prison embroidery shop.
Mudder and Romkema both received employee recognition awards for their work on a mobile lab trailer for the Department of Health. The 53-foot long trailer features a 35-foot long self-contained laboratory. The mobile lab can be used in the case of a public health emergency such as a disease outbreak as well as provide on-site training opportunities for other laboratories in the state. Inmates worked a total of 10, 879 hours on the trailer. Instructors put in an additional 1,952 hours on the project.
Boddicker began her correctional career at the Penitentiary in July 1997. During that time, she has received eight letters of commendation, a certificate for outstanding performance and was named Employee of the Month in December 2003. She recently received the ‘Outstanding Officer Award’ from the Sioux Falls Morning Optimist Club as part of their Respect for Law week.
Each of the award recipients received a plaque in appreciation of their work with the department.
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Pictures of the winners are available at http://www.state.sd.us/corrections/PR5272004DOCAwards.htm
or by calling Michael Winder at 605-773-3478.