Awarding CCA Ambassadors in the Community

Kit Carson Correctional Facility honors local supporters

How do you thank community leaders who help correctional facilities and their neighbors find common ground?

At Kit Carson Correctional Center, presenting those leaders with a formal award is one way to express gratitude.

"When I first came to KCCC as warden in 2000, I started building relationships with key business and community leaders in the area," says Hoyt Brill, warden at Kit Carson. "I started a public relations committee made up of community members. We began meeting quarterly to discuss facility happenings and community relations."

Brill was pleased by the public’s receptiveness to the idea. They wanted to be involved and had the community connections to build momentum.

"Once the public relations committee was going strong, I realized just how committed and dedicated these members were to the prison and Burlington," Brill explains. "Their communication with the community was of great value."

To show appreciation for their efforts, Brill established an annual recognition known as the “Kit Carson Correctional Center Citizen of the Year Award” four years ago.

"We’re very proud to be associated with the people selected as ‘Citizen of the Year,’” Brill says. "They have been our cheerleaders and groundbreakers. These people – more than any other factor – changed the perception of the facility and CCA in Colorado."

The public relations committee now has 10 members who help select the award recipient each year.

"The award is not strictly for committee members," says David Saffer, Kit Carson vocational instructor and public information officer. "Three of the four have been from this committee. Anyone in the community or county can receive the award."

Nominees must serve as a “moral compass” for the facility in the community, promote Kit Carson’s economic impact and help the facility in its endeavors to be a good neighbor. Nominees cannot be facility employees. Winners receive a commemorative plaque, and their photo is placed in the warden’s office on the “Wall of Fame.”

This year's “Citizen of the Year,” announced in November, is Bette Bailly, owner and operator of local radio station KNAB. "She has used her station's airtime to interview personnel at key times to let the public know what's happening here," Saffer says.

But the award does much more than honor local leaders.

"This award has caused our committee members to be more active in attending meetings and sharing positive information about CCA in the community," Saffer says. "Staff members are encouraged that people they know well are a positive influence for the facility in this community. It truly does bring the community and facility closer together in many ways."