While many believe our job is to simply supervise prisoners, our most serious responsibility is to protect the public from criminals by effectively keeping them in custody or under supervision.
Public safety is our number one mission.
Many people are affected by what the Department of Corrections does or fails to do. Anyone who receives a product or service from the department or anyone who is affected by our success or failure is a stakeholder. Our primary stakeholder is the public, especially victims of crime. Because the department supervises so many criminals, their victims are sometimes overlooked by the system. Soon after being appointed Secretary, I gave new emphasis to victims by establishing a toll-free hotline.