CCA's New Chief Corrections Officer: Harley Lappin
A Q & A with the former Bureau of Prisons leader on his new role with America's leading partnership corrections provider
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At CCA, Harley Lappin succeeds former chief corrections officer Rick Seiter.
In June, Harley G. Lappin joined CCA as executive vice president and chief corrections officer. The well-known corrections leader had spent the past 25 years at the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), where he started in 1985. Lappin served as a regional director, warden of two prisons – United States Penitentiary in Indiana and Federal Correctional Institution in North Carolina – and in other leadership posts before being named as director of the agency.
As Director of the BOP, Lappin had oversight and management responsibility for 116 federal prisons, 14 contract facilities and more than 250 community correction facilities. The agency managed more than 215,000 inmates, had a staff of 38,000 employees, and operated with a $6.4 billion budget.
In his first CCA Source interview since joining the company, Lappin talks about his plans with CCA and shares his thoughts about some of today's correctional topics.
How do you envision your role with CCA?
Some people think the chief corrections officer position is unique. However, to me, it only seems natural to have a role that devoted to overseeing correctional operations. One of my goals is to maintain the confidence our staff, in knowing someone manages this area who has gone through the experiences they encounter every day – dealing with inmates and managing difficult situations.
What about your career makes you most proud?
What I really enjoyed the most with the BOP was the working relationship I had with staff at all levels. Our goal was to operate the best correctional system possible. Consequently, we had a great working relationship with each other and pulled together with a common goal and a common mission. Corrections comes down to the people working in the prisons. They are the key. They are the most important component of any correctional facility or system.
How have you seen perceptions of public-private partnerships in corrections change over the years?
When CCA started in 1983 and introduced the concept of correctional partnerships, people felt that there was a sense of competition between companies and public sector institutions. But in the years since then, state and federal governments have benefited. They've been able to reduce overcrowding, cost effectively operate prisons and jails, provide meaningful rehabilitation programs to inmates and more, precisely because of partnership corrections.
So the priority is back where it should be – running safe and secure correctional facilities in the best way possible, not focused on competition. It's incumbent upon us to continue to perform in a way that showcases the quality and soundness of our industry. We are a partner in helping officials carry out their public safety responsibilities.
What is CCA doing really well right now?
CCA has set the standard in partnership corrections, and I would like to see us continue down that path. In my first two months with the company, I've visited eight of our more than 60 facilities. I've been very impressed with our competent staff doing great work. I'm happy to be a part of the company that has placed such an emphasis on providing safe and secure facilities that offer rehabilitative opportunities for inmates. I want to continue building on that.
What are some of the biggest challenges in corrections today?
There are two issues that really concern me – the consequences of limited budgets on the continued operations of prisons and jails at the federal, state and local levels, coupled with a growing inmate population. Growth during a period of diminishing resources makes challenges even more difficult to overcome. You have to make hard choices to develop the same quality services with reduced budgets. I'm concerned you're going to see a decline in the rehabilitation opportunities provided to inmates. However, I certainly believe that the public sector views us as a relief valve to assist them with operational quality and cost effectiveness.
CCA Source Fall 2011