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energy and wisdom within the community. In contrast, leaving members of the community out of the poli cymaking process leaves them with nothing to do but criticize the decisions and outcomes. 7 Conclusion The exhibits presented in this paper are centered around mass incarceration and are installed at national parks and museums where well-known correctional facilities once operated. Professionals and experts in their fields have provided their input and collected the data they feel is most important to educate on mass incarcera tion and the general need for corrections reform. Correctional practitioners seem to be missing from the invite list in conversations surrounding correctional reform and its presentation in educational media to the public, contrary to what is necessary for proper reform sustainability. In the case of Prisons Today: Questions in the Age of Mass Incarceration , the exhibit highlighting mass incar ceration at Eastern State Penitentiary, there has been a bold move by those at the museum to forego neutrality in the presentation of the source material. Correctional or ganizations are also missing from the list of contributors and source material at Alcatraz Island’s The Big Lockup: Mass Incarceration in the United States . Whether this is by design or due to a lack of collective interest is un known, as only those directly involved in the process of creating these exhibits can know for sure. However, to accomplish true reform, the community needs the efforts of all interested stakeholders. Correctional profession als need an invitation to the discussion to facilitate any meaningful, long-lasting change. Ultimately, they are the individuals who implement these changes and interact with the incarcerated population on the front lines. Cor rectional officers are not solely officers but deserve the title of professional when it comes to discussions of their profession and duty. A factor that can fight against mass incarceration as policy or politics is a robust and active community of criminological experts who are playing a role in establishing policies surrounding incarceration 9 . Professional voices must be heard. It is paramount the public makes and expresses in formed opinions at the end of an educational experience. Community groups, non-profits and advocacy groups

should collaborate with academics and with correctional professionals to deliver accurate and timely information. Correctional professionals must accept the call for part nership and be participative in these efforts. The “visitor” will soon be the “voting public” and the “correctional officer” will soon be the “policy implementor.” The dis cussion is a running dialogue that needs continual input from all stakeholders, or else the conversation stops. Endnotes 1 Nps.gov. 2021, October 28. Alcatraz Island FAQ’s. https://www.nps.gov/alca/ faqs_thebiglockup.htm 2 Frankhouser, Nicole and Ellen Feist. 2017, May 8. Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site wins nation’s highest award in exhibition development and design. https://www.easternstate.org/sites/easternstate/files/2017-05/ESPHS- Excellence-In-Exhbitions.pdf 3 Cloud, David H., Jim Parsons and Ayesha Delany-Brumsey. 2014. Addressing mass incarceration: A clarion call for public health. American Journal of Public Health. 104(3): 389-391. 4 Cops.usdoj.gov. n.d. Community partnerships. Community Oriented Policing Services U.S. Department of Justice. https://cops.usdoj.gov/ communitypartnerships 5 Unodc.org. n.d. Why promote prison reform? United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/justice-and-prison-reform/prison reform-and-alternatives-to-imprisonment.html. 6 Hacker, Jacob S., Paul Pierson, Amy E. Lerman, and Jessie Harney. 2019. Feedback effects and the criminal justice bureaucracy: Officer attitudes and the future of correctional reform. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 685(1): 227-249. 7 Ney, Becki and Peggy McGarry. 2006. Getting it right: Collaborative problem solving for criminal justice. National Institute of Corrections World Wide Web Site. https://info.nicic.gov/nicrp/system/files/019834_0.pdf 8 McCoy, Austin. 2017. Prison guard unions and mass incarceration: Prospects for an improbable alliance. New Labor Forum. 26(1): 74-83 9 Simon, Jonathan. 2012. Mass incarceration: From social policy to social problem. The Oxford Handbook of Sentencing and Corrections.

Courtney McCoy works as a Corrections Sergeant with the Lancaster County Department of Corrections in Lincoln, NE, where she has been with the department for five years. She has taken assignments in shift operations, training, and grievance investigation and is currently a doctoral candidate at Saint Leo University’s

Department of Public Safety Administration. Sergeant McCoy has experience as a field training officer and use of force instructor. Her research interests are in correctional department wellness programs, correctional officer identity, and the impact and role of the correctional officer in the future of corrections. She can be reached at Courtney.mccoy@email.saintleo.edu.

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