Department of Corrections
Department of Corrections presents 'Commitment to Corrections' Award' to Dismas Charities' Jan Kempf

Department of Corrections presents
‘Commitment to Corrections’ Award’
to Dismas Charities’ Jan Kempf

Cookie Crews named Warden of the Year; Renee Maness takes Probation & Parole Supervisor of the Year honor

     Frankfort, KY – The Kentucky Department of Corrections honored Dismas Charities’ Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer Jan M. Kempf with the agency’s top award on Monday. The 2007 Lucille Hurt Robuck “Commitment to Corrections” Award is presented annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to the Department in the past year.
     Under Kempf’s leadership, Dismas Charities has branched out from residential community corrections to other human service needs including a program where hot meals are served to at-risk children three times a week, mentoring services are provided to high-risk adolescents, taking guns out of the hands of children, and offering shelter to refugees. Started in 1964 with one community corrections center in Old Louisville, Dismas Charities now has 25 programs or offices in Kentucky, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.
     Also honored at the awards ceremony was Cookie Crews, who was named Warden of the Year. Crews, who is currently warden at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women in Pewee Valley, has served at the top post at two other state prisons.
     Renee Maness was named Probation & Parole Supervisor of the Year for the Department. Maness, a 17-year veteran of the Department and the Division of Probation and Parole, was promoted to District 1 Supervisor in September 2005.
      The “Rookie of the Year” award, presented to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding job performance in the 12 months or less since becoming a DOC employee, was presented to Probation & Parole Officer Candy Bingham. Bingham is an officer in the District 15 office in Cattlesburg and is credited with saving the life of a three-year-old child earlier this year who was choking on a piece of candy.
     And the top awards, “Commissioner’s Awards,” were presented to:
George Glass, Assistant Supervisor Probation & Parole District 1; Randy Wright, Senior Captain, Western Kentucky Correctional Complex; Angela Tolley, Deputy Interstate Compact Administrator, Probation & Parole, Central Office; Linda Ison, Policies and Procedures/Accreditation Manager, Little Sandy Correctional Complex; Robbie O’Brien, EMS Director, Kentucky State Reformatory.
     (A complete listing of the awards and photos of the top award winners can be found on the Department’s website at http://www.corrections.ky.gov/about/employees.htm )