"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." 

A sign in Jeanne Woodford's office reminds her of this advice every day.  Once uttered by anthropologist Margaret Mead, these words reflect the newly appointed corrections director's faith the nearly 50,000 people who work for the California Department of Corrections and her commitment to the department itself.

When Woodford stepped into her new position in February, she inherited a department that had been bogged down by fiscal issues and scarred by scandals, mostly involving the state correctional officers union and "code of silence" among CDC officers during investigations into incidents at correctional facilities.  The department's reputation had been tarnished and its credibility weakened. 

"My approach to it was to look at all those issues and to really look at what we need[ed] to do to address those," Woodford said.  "[We] need to put the right systems in place to let us know when we have a problem so that we can take corrective action before they become huge issues."

One area Woodford intends to focus on is the inmate appeals process, which she hopes to develop into a "meaningful tool" to help ward off potential conflicts between offenders and the department.

Also, Woodford would like to reevaluate the department's organizational structure, which is now regionalized, to see if a mission-based approach might be more effective.

Policy-wise, Woodford is considering whether or not the same rules and regulations should apply to all offenders, even if they are classified in different security levels.  A Level IV inmate, for example, usually has history of crime or violence and a long sentence, whereas a Level I inmate is typically a non-violent, minimum-security offender with about a year to serve.

According to Woodford, the needs of offenders at different levels are varied.

"[With Level I inmates], your policies and procedures need to be really directed toward preparing that inmate for release, usually within a year or less," Woodford said.  The considerations for Level IV, high-risk offenders are different, she added.

Many of Woodford's plans for the department's future have already been laid out, even though she only has a few months under her belt as Director.  Her 26 years of experience with the CDC have helped her to create such a clear, strong vision.

"I started as a corrections officer so I think that gives me the day-to-day operations [perspective]--what it's like to work with an offender," Woodford said.  "I always keep that in mind when we talk about security and policy and procedure," she added.

Woodford began working for the CDC in 1978 after graduating from California State University, Sonoma, with a degree in criminal justice.  Originally, she wanted to work with youth, but financial times were tough in California at that point and many youth programs were being cut.  Instead, Woodford became a correctional officer at San Quentin State Prison.

"When I started in 1978, San Quentin was a very violent place so there were many days when I said corrections wasn't for me," Woodford said. 

Despite all of the violence, prison staff forged on with inmate programming and many offenders still strove for rehabilitation, according to Woodford. 

"I was very inspired by that," Woodford said.  "It really amazed me that people, still, among all that violence, attempted to find ways to [help offenders]."

After working as a correctional officer, Woodford entered the department's counseling series, starting as Correctional Counselor I at San Quentin in November 1983 and moving to Correctional Counselor II and III in later years.

According to Woodford, working in the counseling series helped her to understand how important classification, housing and programming are for inmates and how each of those elements impacts other offenders and staff.

In later positions Woodford held, such as Legal Affairs Coordinator at San Quentin and Program Administrator, or Captain, there, she was able to combine her custody and counseling experience into one job.

"[As an administrator], you see how important it is to think about both sides of the issue--the day-to-day operations [of the facility], the custody and the counseling," Woodford said.

Woodford eventually became Associate Warden of San Quentin, a position in which she took on new responsibilities and faced a different batch of issues.

"In that position, you dealt with the issues of managing the budget for your uniformed staff," Woodford said.  "[You also have to figure out] when you're at home, how do you keep track of what is going on in the middle of the night [at your facility] when you're not there."

Also as an associate warden, Woodford had to become familiar with and make decisions about other aspects of operations, like the kinds of weapons staff use, another issue that she had never dealt with before.

"That [led] me to find experts in [those particular] fields and to listen to what they had to say," said Woodford, who was appointed Chief Deputy Warden of San Quentin in 1997.

As Chief Deputy Warden, Woodford faced the task of marrying inmate programming and staff needs with custody operations.

"You truly had this feeling that you were managing a huge city at that point," Woodford said.

Two years later, Woodford assumed the top spot in that "city" when she became San Quentin's Warden.  As head of the prison, one of her main goals was to increase the community's involvement with the CDC by talking to citizens and making them aware of what was actually going on inside the prison's walls.

"I think that the community needs to be involved in our prisons.  When the community comes in, they get to understand our prisons better," Woodford said, pointing out that having the public and the media come into the prisons can help the department to resolve both external and internal problems.  "It goes a long way to assisting you in breaking issues like the 'code of silence.'"

As a result of her efforts to incorporate the community into the correctional system, three hundred volunteers came into the prison last year, said Woodford, who is proud of that achievement.

"I think that the accomplishment that I've had so far that has meant the most to me was bringing more and more volunteers into San Quentin," Woodford said. 

But Woodford is also truly proud of her efforts to create the Success Dorm program at San Quentin.  Inmates who volunteer for the prison's program agree to live in a special housing area, abide by the rules there, participate in self-help, take part in community service projects within the prison, help to develop their own parole plans and write journal entries at night.

"[The point of keeping a journal is that] you need to take what you learned during the day and absorb that and decide how you are going to utilize that in your personal life," Woodford said. 

With programs like the Success Dorm already in place at San Quentin and an increased community presence there, Woodford left her mark on one California state prison.  Her challenge now is to concentrate on the entire system, making improvements and implementing new programs to carry the department into coming years.

While the task at hand may be great, Woodford is confident that, with some hard work, the CDC's future is promising.

"There are two things that I always try to keep in mind: It's hard before it gets easy," Woodford said.  "Over time, you see that if you just stick with it, things do get better."