PLENARY SESSIONS | 49th Annual Training Institute

OPENING PLENARY

From Prison to Purpose: Why the Badge Matters

June 28 Friday 5:00pm - 7:00pm EST

A cautionary tale unlike any you have ever heard. This is not just a story that every community corrections professional needs to hear - this will change the way audience members do their jobs. Telling people to never give up is more believable and able to be received when it's attached to a real-life story. This is that story. This session will open your eyes and provide true education with a digital video online curriculum audience members can provide to anyone and everyone in their field. Michael DeLeon is a voice rarely heard by law enforcement, yet his is likely one of the most important messages a community corrections professional will ever hear in their entire career. Michael is a recovered addict, ex-offender, former gang member, and a national leader in recidivism reduction, addiction advocacy, criminal justice reform, and most importantly, PREVENTION! Michael delivers a seminar that will be remembered and referenced for a very long time to come.

Michael DeLeon

Founder, Steered Straight, Inc.

Michael R. DeLeon, a successfully acclimated ex-offender who, after 20 years of drug addiction and 8 years of crime and gang involvement, spent 12 years in state prison and halfway houses for a gang-related homicide. Since Michael’s release from prison, he has earned three associate degrees, a Baccalaureate Degree in Business Management, with a minor in Criminal Justice and a CADC Educational Certificate. Michael is now in the process of obtaining his master’s degree in Addictions Counseling at Liberty University as well as pursuing his LCADC.

Michael is the founder of Steered Straight, Inc. A non-profit organization formed in 2007 designed with the intention of carrying a prevention message to youth and young adults regarding the extreme dangers of adolescent drug and alcohol use, bullying, and unhealthy life-choices. He is also a national speaker on the prevention of gang-involvement and criminal activity. Michael spends his time developing Steered Straight by stressing the importance of young men and women making sound, rational decisions in their day to day lives. Michael founded the Project Pride Program while incarcerated in prison. After pitching the idea for this program to then Commissioner Jack Terhune, he worked to develop the message that consequences can be severe and life-lasting. Project Pride, which is still in existence at the New Jersey Department of Corrections, is the largest prison outreach program in America.

Michael has spoken to over twelve million students and young adults as a motivational speaker, delivering evidence-based student programs in all fifty states in America. In 2014, Michael became the #1 booked school presenter in America speaking at over four hundred schools and facilities. He has remained the #1 booked school presenter every year peaking with 708 schools and facilities in 2019. Covid forced Steered Straight to adapt into a fully virtual program for most of 2020 and now Steered Straight is the only fully live impact program and fully virtual impact program providing hybrid and continuing education in both formats in the country.

Learn More About Steered Straight

SATURDAY PLENARY

SETTING A NEW STANDARD FOR COMMUNITY SUPERVISION

June 29 Saturday 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST

Synopsis:
With the support of the National Institute of Corrections and the American Probation and Parole Association, there has been collaboration between a workgroup of community supervision experts from across the country to develop the first National Standards for Community Supervision.

The National Standards will guide community supervision agencies in strengthening and improving services, policy, and practice. They are meant to help spur conversations and guide agencies looking to update their policies or align performance measures with evidence-based practices. The goal of these Standards is to assess and compile research so agencies can implement practices that will support rehabilitation and help individuals on supervision lead productive lives. This session will highlight the subjects covered by the Standards, how the field can access the Standards and provide feedback, and ways to incorporate the Standards into daily practice.

Training Objectives:
Through this presentation, participants will:

1. Learn about the subjects covered within the Standards and the workgroup’s process for determining the topics to guide the field.

2. Examine and compare the areas of supervision practice that have research support and identify opportunities where additional research is needed to standardize common policies or practices.

3. Reflect on methods to disseminate the Standards to the field and ways agencies can implement these Standards into their policies and practices.

PRESENTERS

Valerie Meade

Deputy Director

Crime and Justice Institute

Caitlin Flood

Senior Policy Specialist

Crime and Justice Institute

William Burrell

Corrections Management Consultant

Burrell Consulting, LLC

CLOSING PLENARY

Change Your Walk, Change Your Life: Finding Success After Lock Up

July 1 Monday 11:00am - 12:00pm EST

Known around the country for his dynamic and life-changing best practices, Chef Jeff Henderson illuminates probation and parole officers with proven, high-impact strategies that empower change, inspire fulfillment, and help them better inspire those on the caseloads they manage.

A southern California native, Jeff started his groundbreaking culinary career in the unlikeliest of places – federal prison. While serving nearly 10 years, he would discover a previously untapped passion for the art of cooking after fortuitously landing a job as a cook while behind bars. Using prison as a catalyst for self-transformation, he was released in 1996 and worked his way up from a dishwasher to a cook, and then executive chef of the former Café Bellagio in Las Vegas.