073 - Dean Williams ”Hope rising in prison” pt. 1

There's something about a leader who has the ability to change the hearts of skeptical people even in the heardest situations.  On Today's episode, Alan sits down with Dean Williams, who is the Executive Director of Corrections for the state of Colorado. Dean has spent 35 years in the justice and public safety sector. He led Alaska's unified correctional system that includes small community jails, large prisons, probation, parole, and a pre-trial enforcement division. I was hired to make extensive reforms within the prison system and initiated major changes to improve safety. Dean also led new efforts to reduce the high recidivism rate in Alaska. Dean has extensive experience in juvenile corrections as well and initiated reform efforts to curb the school to the prison pipeline issue. Dean recently took over the Colorado Department of Corrections and is deeply honored to now serve the good people of Colorado.  Dean has a tough job, from stewarding a 1 billion dollar budget to overseeing over 6,000 employees and 20,000 men and women who are in the custody of the Dept. Of Corrections.  In part 1 of our two-part series dean shares his approach to leadership and how he is bringing form, and as a faith leader how he is sowing seeds of hope and redemption within the prison system. Dean discusses normalization efforts being implemented within the prison system and why this shift is so important.    Connect with Dean LinkedIn With(in) Podcast Episode 1