Corrections_Today_January-February_2022_Vol.84_No.1

nEWS&vIEWS

In Memoriam

“Hutto gave employees the freedom to fail, which also allowed them to fly or excel.” — Helen Corrothers, former ACA President and U.S. Sentencing Commissioner

of America (CCA) now named CoreCivic. CCA was known as “the world’s first and largest for-profit prison operator.” Damon Hininger, current President and CEO of Co- reCivic knew and worked with T. Don Hutto for many years. Hininger said “Don’s career and leadership in advancing our profession is well known and I am grateful for his work, but I am also so thankful for the quiet moments I had with him over the years when he gave me invaluable advise and strong encour- agement when it was most needed.” Don Hutto was a corrections person through and through, he always put staff ahead of any issue. Hininger remembers “watching Don’s body

language when we toured a facility and he seeing correctional officers in uniform was a real treat for me. He would always light up when seeing them and he expressed genuine ap- preciation for their work.” Former ACA President and U.S. Sentencing Commissioner Helen Corrothers served with Hutto in Arkansas. Corrothers said Don Hutto was the person who convinced her to make a career in corrections. Commissioner Corrothers stated “whatever legacy I will leave relative to corrections because of a career with a focus on rehabilitation and public safety, I owe to TD Hutto.” Corrothers remarked that Hutto gave employees “the freedom to fail which also allowed them to fly or excel”. Past President Charles Kehoe, who also knew Don Hutto re- marked that “he was a trailblazer and a person who thought in the future. As Virginia corrections director he encouraged the Virginia Correctional Association to become the first dual chapter in the ACA.” Executive Director James Gon- dles also knew Don well. Gondles said “I first met T. Don, as many persons called him, when he was Virginia Director of Corrections and I was Arlington County Sheriff. We had many state prisoners backed up in the jail and many sheriffs were suing the state. T. Don asked me to

T. Don Hutto ACA Past President 1935–2021 T . Don Hutto served as the 88 th President of ACA. In 1982 he was elected President Elect of ACA and became a president at the 114 th Congress of Correction in San Antonio in 1984. Hutto was a native of Texas, born in 1935. He passed away in October, 2021. Married to Nancy Sue Moore, Don and she had three daughters and several grandchildren. Hutto began his career in cor- rections at the Ramsey prison farm, serving first as a teacher. Later he was promoted to assistant prison warden and warden. By 1971 he was hired by Arkansas Governor Dale Bumpers to lead the Arkansas Department of Corrections. Hutto is credited with beginning many reforms in that department and by 1976 he was recruited to come to Virginia, first to serve as deputy director and then as Director of the Department of Corrections. In 1984 as Hutto was assuming the presidency of ACA, he, along with Tom Beasley and Robert Crants founded Corrections Corporation

T. Don Hutto visits the White House to celebrate the signing of Proclamation 5187, the National Correctional Officers Week Declaration, with then- President Ronald Reagan.

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