Department of Corrections
Holden Returns to DOC to Head Classification, Population Management

      Frankfort, Ky. (January 13, 2009) – Kentucky Department of Corrections Deputy Commissioner Kimberly Potter-Blair today announced that Paula Foree Holden had accepted a position with the department and would return as Assistant Director of Classification and Population Management.
Holden retired from the department in August after 26 years of service.
In her new role, Holden will monitor and coordinate inmate population and transfer issues in DOC prisons and county jails. She begins her new job on January 16.
      “We are very pleased to be able to bring Paula Holden back to the Department of Corrections,” said Potter-Blair. “We needed an individual with this type of institutional experience and ability to provide the overall leadership and direction for the staff. Holden is also very well respected and liked by the jail and court staffs she worked so closely with for years which will continue to be a tremendous asset in this role.”
     Holden is a 1981 graduate of Murray State University where she majored in Criminal Justice and Corrections. She graduated Suma Cum Laude and was named the outstanding graduating senior in Corrections. While attending Murray State University, Holden completed two intern placements, one with Calloway County Juvenile Court and one with the Kentucky State Reformatory (KSR).
     Holden began her employment with the Department of Corrections at KSR in May 1978 where she was employed as a clerical assistant for three summers while attending college.
Holden began full-time employment as a Correctional Officer at KSR in April 1982.  Holden was promoted to Classification/Treatment Officer in 1983 at Luther Luckett Correctional Complex.  While at Luther Luckett, Holden also worked as an Offender Rehabilitation Specialist and Correctional Unit Administrator I. 
     In January 1993, Holden transferred to Roederer Correctional Complex in the Assessment/Classification Center.  Holden was promoted to Corrections Unit Administrator II and then to Program Administrator of the Assessment/Classification Center.
     In December 2003, Holden was promoted to Deputy Warden III at Roederer and she served in that position until accepting this most recent promotion. She was the 2005 recipient of the “Deputy Commissioner’s Award for Adult Institutions.”
     Holden and her husband Bob reside in Sulphur with their daughter Jordan, a senior at Henry County High School. She is the daughter of the late Nina and Joe Foree Jr. of Sulphur.