Corrections_Today_Summer_2025_Vol.87_No.2

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working ” (p. 136) and, eventually, a more feasible arrangement was made when the Department of Mental Health ceded its operation entirely to DRC. This facility later became accredited by both American Correctional Association (ACA) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organization (JCAHO). This book would be beneficial to aspiring correctional managers and executives, or required reading for senior leadership training programs Other initiatives from this perspective included a program to address traffic safety that included too many entities (Highway Patrol, Department of Transportation, academia, etc.). The problem was solved with the creation of Ohio Traffic Safety Council, through a Governor’s Executive Order, to provide a more coordinated approach. A similar approach was used to address the difficulty of dealing with cyber-attacks: the Governor, through an Executive Order, created a “Cyber Security Strategic Advisor” to achieve a unified approach. The old maxim that someone needs to be in charge holds true. Another area where Director Stickrath’s leadership traits and accomplishments are prominently displayed in his memoir is in his practitioner-researcher collaboration, two groups that sometimes have mutual contempt for each other. Historically,

corrections has had a “fortress mentality” and gaining access to correctional facilities to conduct research is difficult for a variety of reasons (Bosworth et al. 2005). Stickrath’s association with several colleges and universities in Ohio is a model for all states to emulate. He collaborated with the late, great Professor Ed Latessa, an evidence-based research giant in corrections, from the University of Cincinnati, to evaluate DYS: “Ed and his team had access to very rich, Ohio indigenous data with which they developed OYAS, the Ohio Youth Assessment Systems” (p. 72). Based on this assessment, low and moderate-risk offenders were more appropriately placed in the community. Also, the pioneering work of the late, distinguished Professor Simon Dinitz from Ohio State University on the distinction between “madness and badness,” an ever-continuing distinction that currently plagues corrections, informed his views on mental health issues in corrections. Even the current Winter edition of Corrections Today has an article on one of the many permutations of this topic (Aufderheide, 2025). When he was Superintendent at BCI, his collaboration with Bowling Green State University (BGSU) was nothing short of remarkable. He reflected: “I believe our alliance with BGSU, the integration of the crime lab into academic life of the university, and the research component with the Center can serve as a national model.” (P. 155). Even a Master of Science degree in Forensic Science was developed with this collaboration. Stickrath had similar collaborations

figure out where the protests were occurring and what groups were involved” (p. 117). After a distinguished 43 years in public service to the State of Ohio, Director Stickrath retired in 2022. However, Governor DeWine selected him to chair the Ohio Casino Control Commission, a post criminal justice retirement and part time position. He has now added gambling regulations to his already impressive resume. Conclusion and Analysis Tom Stickrath’s career in Criminal Justice is largely that of senior leadership over multiple governmental agencies in Ohio. I suspect he is being humble when he attributes his remarkable career success to being “in the right place at the right time to get many of my appointments” (p. 168) . Clearly, six governors and an attorney general (who later became one of those governors) in Ohio were confident in his leadership abilities to carry out their respective visions. His leadership traits and accomplishments are on full display. Several specific areas are evident throughout his memoir. One is the frequent use of the leadership adage: “When everybody is in charge, no one is in charge” (p. 136). When an approach to a task is too fragmented, there is a need for a more coordinated effort to achieve success. For instance, the dual responsibility of managing a facility (the Oakwood facility) that housed mentally ill convicted offenders by both the Department of Mental Health and the DRC “wasn’t

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