Corrections_Today_Spring_2026_Vol.88_No.1

EXECUTIVE OFFICE

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PAST PRESIDENT’S CORNER

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Past President’s Corner Richard Stalder, ACA’s 96 th President and Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, (Retired)

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About Richard Stalder Richard Stalder began his career in corrections while a student at Louisiana State University in 1971. He served in various roles within the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections until he was appointed Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections where he served from 1992 to 2006. Stalder was an active member of the American Correctional Association with positions on the Board of Governors, Delegate Assembly, various committees and as ACA President from 1998-2000.

ACA Accreditation The Louisiana Experience By Richard Stalder O nce upon a time there was a prison in North Louisiana, the David Wade Correctional Center, (DWCC). In 1987, it was a 1,000-bed medium/ maximum custody prison. The facility, constructed in the early 1980s, had been under federal court

supervision — acknowledged by the state through a mid-1970s consent decree — since it opened. I served as Warden of the facility from 1987 to 1992. Relative to the consent decree, the Department had few op tions when it acquiesced to the

supervision of the federal court. It was seen then as the only way to get money to upgrade the system. The principal target was the large penitentiary at Angola, which had yet to emerge from a long period of difficulty. The consent decree ultimately swallowed all facilities

Corrections Today | Spring 2026

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