Sept.
1, 2017
West
Virginia bolsters Community Corrections panel
CHARLESTON,
W.Va. – A longtime Parkersburg public servant and the new
advocate for West Virginia’s 55 counties will help oversee and support
community-based criminal justice programs, Department of Military Affairs and
Public Safety Secretary Jeff Sandy has announced.
Sandy has named Rick Modesitt as the
at-large member of the Community Corrections Subcommittee, while Jonathan Adler
joins the panel as the recently selected executive director of the W.Va.
Association of Counties.
“This often-overlooked component of our
criminal justice system is gaining two valuable voices with these additions,”
Sandy said. “I look forward to working with them and the subcommittee to help our
communities reduce crime and recidivism.”
Modesitt is a businessman who served as a
Wood County commissioner for a decade, and as a two-term House of Delegates
member before that. He was previously with the Parkersburg Police Department
for more than 20 years, retiring as its chief in 1997. He has remained active
in community affairs, including through various nonprofit board, and his
entertainment booking agency covers 15 East Coast states.
Adler, a Weston native, traces his public
service to the administration of Gov. Gaston Caperton, where he was an aide. He
has remained involved in governmental affairs through positions with Columbia
Gas Transmission, CONSOL Energy, W.Va. State University and the state chapter
of the American Institute of Architects. He succeeded a retiring Patti Hamilton
at the Association of Counties in July.
The subcommittee performs a crucial role
as West Virginia communities work together to deter crime and rehabilitate
offenders. It helps them develop, establish and maintain community-based
corrections programs that provide the judicial system with sentencing
alternatives for those adult offenders who do not require incarceration.
The 30 Day Report Centers that serve 51
counties are perhaps the most visible example of this approach. The ongoing
opioid crisis, meanwhile, has served to underscore their importance.
The subcommittee is part of the long-standing
Governor’s Committee on Crime, Delinquency and Correction, upon which both
Modesitt and Adler will also serve. The Division of Justice and Community
Services, which is part of Military Affairs and Public Safety, was created to
staff the committee and its subcommittees.
# #
#