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Contact: Tracey E. Zeckhausen
Chief of Information and Public Relations: 401-462-2609
For members of the media: Please refer to RIDOC Policy #1.03-01-2 Access to Public Information by News Media Representatives for our official media policy.
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2009 Issues
(Spanish).An October 27, 2009 article in the Warwick Beacon covers the return of former RIDOC employee Dennis Papa - who toured the two facilities in which he spent the bulk of his career on the 50th anniversary of his first day of work. He was joined by another former warden, Ron Brule. Click here to read the story.
Click here to link to a Warwick Beacon story (October 29, 2009) on Volunteer of the Year Mary Lhowe and her work with the Books Beyond program.
Click here to link to a November 1st, 2009, Providence Journal story covering a forum on Rhode Island's justice system at Temple Beth-El at which Director A.T. Wall spoke.
Click here for an article in the Nichols College website about the recent visit of a group of Psychology and Criminal Justice students to our Maximum Security Facility for our S.C.O.R.E. Program.
Click here to link to a national Associated Press story about states letting inmates out earlier to address the budget crisis, which features Rhode Island and the "corrections options" legislation passed last spring.
Click here to link to an article in the October 2nd, 2009, edition of the Jewish Voice & Herald about four Jewish RIDOC employees - Roberta Richman, Ellen Evans Alexander, Sharon Schwartz-Vanderhoff, and Fred Friedman - who have varying leadership roles within the Department.
Click here to listen to a WRNI radio story by Ian Donnis on the indoor prostitution debate.
Click here to read John Hill's article R.I. a leader in drug treatment for prison inmates, from the September 12th edition of the Providence Journal.
An article about showing films to inmates appears in the September 8th edition of the Providence Journal. Read reporter John Hill's account of the security implications for allowing inmates access to movies by clicking here.
Click here to link to a September 3rd article in The Rhode Island Catholic titled Chaplains Bring God to Inmates about Catholic ministries at the ACI. It is the first in a two-part series.
An article about the RIDOC's Rx Benefit Award from the Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute for its collaboration with the URI College of Pharmacy appears in the Spring 2009 edition of CorrectCare magazine. Click here to access it.
A video about Project RENEW in the Barton Street neighborhood of Pawtucket is posted on YouTube and can be accessed by clicking here. RIDOC Probation and Parole Officer Adrienne McGowan is featured in the five-minute video.
The Providence Journal's Mike McKinney has written two recent articles on the RIDOC's monitoring of sex offenders. The first appeared in the Friday, July 24th, edition. Click here to access it. A Monday, July 27th article higlighting the partnerships the RIDOC has formed with other community and law enforcement agencies in its efforts to adequately monitor and supervise sex offenders appears here.
The website AllPawtucket.com, affiliated with the free publication My Backyard, posted a press release and photos about RIDOC's own COSAR - Correctional Officer Search and Rescue team, in its July 3rd edition. Click here and scroll down the page to access it.
The website mesothelioma.com posted an article about the RIDOC's educational offerings on June 18th. Link to it here.
On June 17th, 2009, corrections.com posted the following story about Minimum Security Correctional Officer Michael Maddalena and his volunteer service on the Pawtuxet Vally River Authority and Watershed Council. Click here to read it.
A June 15th, 2009, Kent County Times cover story on Correctional Officer and award-winning body builder Ron LoBianco is available by clicking here. 
Click here to see a Saturday, June 13th article by John Hill of the Providence Journal, Inmates who Better Themselves, about the Education Unit's 2009 recognition ceremonies. Click here for video by Bob Thayer of the Maximum Security graduation posted on the paper's webiste.
Click here to see video footage of the Dolls for Charity project in the women's facility, which is posted on Projo.com under "video."
Click here for a May 15th, 2009, story on the front page of the Providence Journal about art classes led by Marietta Cleasby and the annual inmate art show on display at the Dept. of Administration building downtown.
Click here to link to a story about the collaboration between the RIDOC and the URI College of Pharmacy, which has saved taxpayers $12 million and was recently honored with an award from The Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute.
Click here to link to a profile of the RIDOC's Director, Ashbel T. Wall, which appeared on the front page of the Providence Journal on Sunday, March 7th.
Click here to link to news of the RIDOC winning a 2009 Rx Benefit Innovation Award from The Pharmacy Benefit Management Institute for its collabaration with the URI College of Pharmacy to manage pharmaceutical services for the state's inmates.
Click here for a Providence Journal story on the recently released Pew Center on the States report ranking Rhode Island as 46th in terms of the number of men and women in jail or prison in 2007.
Click here for a front page Sunday, February 24th Providence Journal story on the RIDOC's Internal Affairs and Special Investigations units and their role in investigating crime within the prison system and beyond.
Click here to see Mary Murphy's Law & Order photo essay on the graduation of CO Training Academy class 77 in the Monday, February 2nd edition of the Providence Journal.
Click here to link to a Providence Journal article on the graduation of Training Academy Class 77 on January 16th.
Click here to link to a January 14th Channel 10 story on Belgian Malinois "Robbie," the newest member of the RIDOC K-9 Unit. Print coverage of the story on the All Pawtucket All The Time website can be accessed by clicking here.
Click here to link to a December 22nd article in the corrections.com ezine about corrections professionals doing volunteer/charity work. Probation and Parole Officer Heidi DuPerry and her work with the Special Olympics is featured.
Click here to link to a December 22nd Law & Order photo essay by The Providence Journal's Mary Murphy on the Holidays Not Forgotten Program at the RIDOC where volunteers purchase gifts for the children of incarcerated parents participating in the Parent-Child Visitation Program.
Click here to link to a December 8th Providence Business News article on hiring ex-offenders written by freelancer Mary Lhowe, who covered the recent event co-sponsored by the RIDOC, RIDLT, and the Family Life Center.
Click here to link to a December 6th Providence Journal article, Residency Limits on Sex Offenders Questioned, in which Director A.T. Wall is quoted.
Click here to link to a December 6th Associated Press story on the Rapid Repat program in Rhode Island.
Director A.T. Wall was named 2008 Outstanding Corrections Director by the Association of State Correctional Administrators at its November meeting. Click here to see coverage of his award in the corrections.com ezine on November 24th. His award was also covered by Syscon's Market Intelligence Digest on November 28th and by the Cranston Herald on November 27th.
Click here to link to a story on employer event the RIDOC cosponsored with the RI Family Life Center and the Dept. of Labor & Training on November 13th at the Providence Biltmore. The article, by Andy Smith, appeared in the Jobs Section of the Providence Journal on Sunday, November
Click here for a November 23rd story by the Providence Journal's Amanda Milkovits on the victim impact classes being offered at the ACI through Family Service of RI..
Click here for a November 24th Law & Order photo essay by Mary Muprhy in the Providence Journal on Special Investigator Joe Forgue, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.
Click here for a November 21st article in the Pawtucket edition of My Backyard about Director Wall's recent award from the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) as Outstanding Corrections Commissioner in the Nation.
Click here for an October 19th article in the corrections.com ezin about the RIDOC's Victim Impact Classes for offenders.
Click here for the October edition of the Community College of Rhode Island's newsletter, Currents. Go to page 5 to see an article about Bill Tribelli, who prepares RIDOC inmates for careers in culinary arts.
Click here to read an article in the October 30th, 2008, Brown Daily Herald about the new Brown Education Link Lecture Series.
Click here to read an article in the October 15th edition of the North Providence Breeze about RIDOC employee Jerry Masso's colleagues coming together for a motorcycle ride in his honor as he battles cancer.
Click here to link to Mary Murphy's Law & Order photo essay in the Monday, September 29th RI Section of the Providence Journal on ACI Catholic Chaplain Maria Garombo.
Click here to link to columnist Bob Kerr's piece on retiring Capt. Arnold (Andy) Anderson from the September 19th edition of the Providence Journal.
Click here to link to in the Providence Journal on Saturday, September 13th about the new Probation & Parole Office, co-located with the District 2 Providence Police Department substation, in the Urban Leauge building on Prairie Street.
The Tuesday, September 2nd edition of the Providence Journal includes a feature on now retired ACI Librarian Joan Boucher. The story appeared on the front page of the Rhode Island section. You can link to it here.
The Pawtucket Times' Donna Kirwin wrote about the August 14th Open House at our Pawtucket Probation and Parole Office. Access her article from the August 15th edition of the Times, Re-entry Council Links Post-Prison Services, here.
The Beacon Newspaper's Joe Kernan's article, A Dangerous Way to Make a Living, in which RIDOC Chief Inspector Aaron Aldrich is interviewed, appeared in the July 30th edition of The Cranston Herald and Warwick Beacon. A .pdf version of it is available by clicking here
Channel 10's Barbara Morse Silva did a "Health Check" spot on the exercise and nutrition program in our Dorothea Dix Women's Minimum Security Facility on Friday, July 18th. Click here and scroll down to Lockup Shakeup to watch the video.
Mary Murphy's Law & Order photo essay in the Providence Journal's Monday, July 21st edition focuses on the High Security Center. Click here to see the brief article and photo.
Mental illness and incarceration is the topic of a front page story in the Sunday, July 20th issue of the Providence Journal by G. Wayne Miller. The article follows the story of longtime RI inmate Ginger Collins. Video and photos from her personal album are included on the projo.com website. Link to the article by clicking here.
A story on 45-year RIDOC veteran CO Lloyd Hedges appears in the June 19th edition of Corrections Connection.. Click here to read it.
A story on the "Books Beyond" program which connects incarcerated parents to their children through audio recordings they make of themselves reading books to their kids is featured in the June 15th article in corrections.com's ezine. Link to the article by Ann Coppola here. The Providence Journal's Bob Kerr's May 14th column focused on the program as well. Click here to link to his story.
Click here to see the Providence Journal's Mary Murphy's Law & Order photo essay of June 9th, on the RIDOC's CERT Team.
Click here to link to an article in the Reentry Policy Council's newsletter titled Vermont and Rhode Island Enact Initiatives to Increase Public Safety and Reduce Corrections Spending.
The relationship between the RIDOC's Probation & Parole Unit and the Providence Police Department's District 7 substation is highlighted in Greg Smith's May 19th article from the Rhode Island Section of the Providence Journal, "Keeping a Close Watch." Click here to read about this important partnership.
Mary Murphy's Law & Order photo essay in the Providence Journal on May 12th focused on the relationship between the RIDOC's Kent County Probation & Parole Office and the Warwick Police Department. Click here to read it.
Director Wall appeared on Channel 12's Newsmakers on May 11th, where he discussed CO recruitment, the Zero Fatalities Project, and more. Click here to link to the episode.
The Providence Journal's Jobs Section editor Andy Smith's May 11th article, "Corrections Department seeks new recruits" can be accessed here.
Click here to link to an article co-written by Director A.T. Wall and Chief of Information and P.R. Tracey Z. Poole titled Parternships with Local Law Enforcement and Community Agencies: A Critical Component to Successful Prisoner Reentry, which appears in the April 2008 issue of the ACA's magazine, Corrections Today.
Channel 12 did a story on contraband, featuring the work of our Special Investigations Unit, at the end of April.
The Interrupted Life conference held at Bryant University on April 10th, 2008, was featured in a Providence Journal article by columnist Bob Kerr and in a story by reporter Tom Mooney and in a feature by corrections.com's Ann Coppola.
The annual inmate art exhibit in the Department of Administration rotunda was covered by the Beacon Newspapers in April.
The dedication of the Habitat for Humanity Women Build home at 815 Potters Ave., Providence, was covered by Channels 6, 10, and 12 and the Providence Journal. The project was also covered by Providence Business News at the time of the wall raising.
The relationship between the Warwick Police Department and the RIDOC's Probation & Parole staff was covered recently in the Warwick Beacon.
The Providence Journal's Law & Order photo column has covered the following DOC-related topics in recent months: the Father-Child Visitation Program, the Plate Shop, Video Court, CO Armand Frechette, the NEADS Program.
The CCRI Construction Technology Class received a great deal of media attention including articles in the Providence Journal's Jobs Section, the Providence Business News, corrections.com, and a report on Channel 12.
Team Gorman, formed in support of CO John Gorman at Intake, was featured in corrections.com, an online magazine covering national corrections stories, and on Channel 6.
WRNI (Rhode Island's public radio station) reporter Nancy Cook did a five-part series "Doing Life on the Installment Plan, which aired March 26th-30th, 2007. To listen, click here.
Click here to link to an article by Jon Baker in the February 8th edition of the Woonsocket Call and Pawtucket Times on a visit to the program by students from Cumberland and Lincoln's SADD groups.
Click here to link to two Westerly Sun article on the Zero Fatalities Project, one covering the Chariho HS visit in January of 2009 and one covering the Westerly HS visit in May of 2008.
Click here to listen to coverage of the Zero Fatalities Project by Steve Klamkin on WPRO Radio. To access coverage on the WPRO website, click here.
Chief of Information and Public Relations Tracey Z. Poole discusses The Zero Fatalities Project in a radio interview with Leonard Sipes, Senior Public Affairs Specialist with the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) on "DC Public Safety." You can access the interview by clicking here.
The Zero Fatalities Project was covered by a July 7th story in Corrections.com, the largest online community for corrections, which can be accessed by clicking here. The Westerly Sun published an article on the ZFP on May 25th which you can link to here and the Warwick Beacon's published a story on the program on May 13th. Click here to link to Megan Fraser's story. The Cranston Herald's editorial, A Time to be Sober, referred to the program as well.
The kickoff for the Zero Fatalities Project was covered in an article by Amanda Milkovits on page 1 of the Providence Journal on April 23rd, 2008.
Click here to link to the Today Show piece on former RIDOC inmate Andres Idarraga and his inspiring journey from prison to Brown, and now to Yale Law School. The show aired on Friday, September 12th.
Click here to link to a story by Tom Mooney in the June 10th edition of the Providence Journal about the inspiring message of Dr. William Cosby to inmates graduating and receiving certificates at the John J. Moran Medium Security facility. In the Journal's June 9th edition, Mr. Mooney wrote about ex-offender Andres Idarraga and his inspiring message to inmates receiving degrees and certificates. Click here to link to the Idarraga story. Today at Brown features a story on Andres Idarraga which can be accessed here. The New Haven Register's June 17th story about Andres can be accessed here. Coverage Dr. Cosby's visit, appeared in the June 9th edition of the Journal's blog, projo.com, as well. Click here for that story. Here's a link to Channel 12's coverage of Dr. Cosby's visit, which includes the extended version of his speech. Channel 6's story can be viewed here. Channel 10's video coverage is no longer available online.
Click here to link to a DVD about the Prison Pup Partnership Program filmed at the John J. Moran Medium Security facility.