2017 Award Winners

Founders Award: Sally Barry

 
Sally Barry is the Director of Probation Services for Lebanon County.  She received her Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and her Master of Public Administration degrees from Pennsylvania State University.  She has been active in the criminal justice field for over 23 years.

Her experience includes a variety of duties related to community-based corrections including offender and personnel management, policy development and a commitment to criminal justice system improvement initiatives on both the local and state level. She began her career as an intern in Lebanon County working there until she accepted a position in Dauphin County. She would later find herself back at Lebanon County where she eventually became the Director of Probation Services in 2012.

During her career, Sally has been part of the United States Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, she has implemented or supported the several Evidence Based Initiatives in the adult and juvenile units such as the use of a validated risk assessment tool, DUI Court, Pretrial Services, Adult Day Reporting Center and Juvenile Day Treatment Center. 

From 2012 through 2015, Sally served as President of the Pennsylvania County Adult Probation/Parole Chief’s Association.

In addition to participating in various state and national professional affiliations, she was appointed by Governor Wolf to serve on the PA Justice Reinvestment #2 Initiative as the representative of PA County Probation and Parole Departments.  She also serves as chair of the State Evidence Based Practice Probation and Parole Committee.  She is an active member of the Council of Chief Juvenile Probation Officers and the Juvenile Chiefs Executive Board where she serves as the Chair of the By-Laws Committee.
 
 
Carl Robinson Award: John E. Wetzel

John E. Wetzel is the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections

Secretary John Wetzel is widely recognized as one of the top leaders in corrections today.

With more than 26 years of experience, Secretary Wetzel’s career began in Lebanon County (PA) as a corrections officer in 1989. Since that time he has worked at both Berks County and then Franklin County, where he would go on to become Warden in 2002. During his time in Franklin County, he developed a day reporting center, established a jail industries program and initiated several programs targeting improved services for mentally ill offenders, not the least of which being a certified peer specialist program in 2006.
 
Secretary Wetzel is a national consultant and speaker, whose areas of expertise include staffing, vulnerability assessment, mentally ill offenders, developing employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated offenders, population management, mitigating impacts on the families/children of incarcerated individuals and effecting system change.
 
He began his career with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania when he was appointed to the Board of Pardons, by then-Governor Edward Rendell (D). As the Board's corrections expert where he subsequently led a change in the pardons process, resulting in an increased production of the Board while alleviating an elevated waiting time for applicants.
 
In December 2010, he was selected as the 11th Secretary of Corrections for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by then-Governor-elect Tom Corbett (R). His tenure there saw an elimination of a 24-year average growth of 1,500 inmates per year, presiding over the first population reduction in PA in over four decades. Additionally, he oversaw the restructuring of the community corrections system, the mental health system and a re-engineering of internal processes to yield a more efficient system of program delivery.
 
In January 2015, Governor Tom Wolf (D) asked Wetzel to continue as the secretary of corrections.
 
He is a member of Harvard’s Executive Session on Community Corrections, which is a joint project of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).  Consisting of 30 of the leading policymakers, practitioners and researchers from across the country, the intent is to shape the meaning and future of community corrections policy in the United States. The Executive Session will develop best practices and thinking for professionals across the public safety and criminal justice spectrum. 
 
Secretary Wetzel has been selected as the vice chair of the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center’s Executive Board and is a member of the Colson Task Force on federal prison overcrowding. In May 2016, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania presented to him an honorary doctor of laws.
 
Sal Russoniello Award : Joseph Rinaldi 

Joe is the current President of the Middle Atlantic States Corrections Association.

Joe has dedicated the last 30 years to the community of West Chester County, New York.

He began as a Probation officer in 1987, where he was involved in the Special Operations Unit, DWI Unit and Gang Intervention Unit. He eventually found his passion in training Officers in Defensive Tactics, Firearms and the Fundamentals of Probation and Peace Officer. He would subsequently become a Program Coordinator for Training and Staff Development and also the Director of Community Service-Alternative to Incarceration Program and the Property Control Officer.

In his role as Program Coordinator for Training and Staff Development, he has been instrumental in the development and implementation of a comprehensive staff training program. He also oversees the development, planning, evaluation and coordination of all training programs.

In 2011, Joe received this same award for the contributions he has made to the community as a whole. In addition to his other duties, Joe is currently an adjunct Professor at Iona College, teaching criminal justice courses.   
 
Harold Miller Award: Robert McCullough, III

Bob has been involved in Corrections and Probation and Parole work for the last 40 years.

He started his Law Enforcement career at the Lycoming County Prison in 1978, and was assigned to the Alternatives to Prison program. He would eventually become a Resident Supervisor before becoming the Program Coordinator for the Friends of the Court Program. In 1980, He would leave that program to accept a Probation Officer position. He would rise through the ranks, becoming a Casework Supervisor and eventually Chief in 1993.

During his time with Lycoming County, Bob would receive numerous awards and accolades including receiving the Lycoming County Leadership Award in 2006, being appointed by Governor Edward Rendell to both the State Council for Interstate Adult Offender Supervision and the Advisory Committee on Probation from 2004-2009. He was also appointed by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman to the Judicial Security and Emergency Preparedness Committee from 2004-2009. Bob retired from Lycoming County in 2009.

In 2012, he became the Executive Director of the County Chief Adult Probation and Parole Officers’ Association of Pennsylvania.