A car accident he was involved in nearly a year ago sent Gary Johnson a clear message: life is short.  He has this concept in mind as he is leaving corrections behind - for a little while at least.

Set to retire at the end of this year, Johnson has dedicated much of his life to the corrections profession, starting as a corrections officer for the former Texas Department of Corrections and ending up as the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  Now, as his career with TDCJ is winding down, he will have more time focus on other aspects of his life.  Although he might someday return to work in corrections in some capacity, Johnson said he wants to evaluate where he is in life before making any decisions about his future.

Recently, The Corrections Connection Network News talked with Johnson about the years he spent working in corrections and what he considers to be some of his greatest accomplishments.  He also discussed with CCNN the challenges he has faced over time and what he believes it takes to make it in the corrections field.

Q: How did you find your way into the corrections profession?

Johnson: First of all, I had two grandfathers that worked for the prison system in Texas.  As I was growing up, I became very familiar with being around the prison environment because they both lived in employee housing on prison property (next door to each other), so, during the summer, when I would go visit my grandparents, I would visit both sets of grandparents at the same time.  I was used to seeing inmates around because you had inmates that would mow the yards or deliver different items to their homes.  Over the years, I just [became] familiar with it and I had some other family members that worked for the prison system, also.

When I was a senior in high school, my government teacher had advised me that I might want to look at Sam Houston State University's criminal justice program.  [But], for a couple of years after high school, I went to junior college up in Dallas.  Subsequently, I moved down to the Huntsville area and began attending Sam Houston State University in the criminal justice program while also working for the Texas Department of Corrections, [which later became the Texas Department of Criminal Justice].

So I started out as a corrections officer and going to school at Sam Houston and never left.  I [have been] with the agency ever since.

Q: What different positions have you held working for TDCJ?

Johnson:  I began as a corrections officer.  I have been a mailroom sergeant.  I've been a member of the mail system coordinators panel - we were a panel that reviewed all publications before they entered the prisons.  [We] made decisions about what mail could or could not [go to the inmates].

[I was also a] legal systems analyst.  What [I] really did in the legal department was help develop policy and procedure.

Back in the early days of the Ruiz case, [a long-term court case that caused the prison system to be placed under court-ordered supervision], as things were developing, there were a lot of changes going on.  There had to be policies developed to comply with certain court orders.  I helped develop policies for the system.

I was [also] a compliance officer.  I actually went out to the units and did inspections [and] audits to validate that prison units were complying with various court orders that were issued.  I did that for, I guess, a year or two.

Back in 1985, I was promoted to the position of assistant warden.  I was a senior warden at three different prison facilities and a regional director.  [Then, I became] Institutional Division Director.  Then, in the summer of 2001, I was promoted to my current position of executive director of TDCJ.

Back in 1989, the Texas Department of Corrections was consumed into the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  Then, the Texas Department of Corrections became the Institutional Division.  TDCJ was formed as a result of legislation and, of course, still exists today.  We have about 40,000 employees and we have responsibility for over 400,000 people on probation, 150,000 people that are incarcerated [and] a little over 70,000 people who are on parole.

Q: What are some of the greatest accomplishments you have had during your career?

Johnson: One is [that] I presided over the termination of the Ruiz case.  The Ruiz case began back in the late 1970s and spanned literally three decades.  The Texas Department of Corrections and TDCJ had been under court ordered supervision for 30 years and we were able to successfully terminate that case in 2002.  Of course, I didn't start the motion to terminate - that began when I was prisons director.  I was certainly heavily involved in that [and] when I became executive director, we continued working on that effort and successfully concluded that case, which was really a landmark for the agency to come out of such long-term court supervision.

Last year, Texas was facing a significant revenue shortfall.  Like all agencies in the state, we took a budget reduction.  Our budget reduction was about five percent, which resulted in the deletion of about 1,700 positions.  We reorganized [parts] of the agency and just had to find ways to be much more effective in how we accomplish our mission.  And, although it was a very difficult time period for the agency, it is a time that I think proved be some of my most significant leadership and management challenges.  Also, it just reinforced the pride I have in being a member of this agency because of the way all of the employees really came together during some very trying times and demonstrated their commitment to accomplishing our mission.  They knew that they had to stay focused - that was my job - to really [keep] employees focused on the mission.  There was a lot of turmoil swarming.  Everyone really pulled together and did that.  I believe that in many ways, although budget reductions are painful, we are a much stronger organization today as a result of that process we went through last year.

Q: What are some of the challenges you faced during the course of your career?

Johnson: There have been numerous challenges [for me].  One thing that we all faced [was] in the 90s [when] TDCJ went from incarcerating under 50,000 offenders to, in a period of three or four years, tripling that population, which meant a great increase in the number of staff that we employ.  We had a lot of instability created by that.  When you go from 50,000 to 150,000 offenders, you go from 40 something facilities to 105 facilities and the number of employees you have greatly increases, that is really a challenge to keep it all together.  Obviously you are promoting people at a much faster pace than is normal because of the creation of so many more supervisory jobs.  [For] people that may have not been promoted for a few more years, their promotions [were] accelerating. Expansion of scope, especially in a correctional setting, is a challenge.

[Also], as I came up as the prisons director in 1996, over the next two or three years, we started to experience a significant staffing shortage.  That has been a significant challenge - to keep all of these facilities operating in a safe way with a significant staffing shortage.

Capacity issues [are also challenging].  Trying to manage a growing population that [expands] beyond our ability to house [them is tough].  [It] is always challenging to find ways to house that population.

For [the] last couple of years, [a major] challenge [has been] to really increase the collaboration and the linkages between probation, incarceration [and] parole because when you look at how the system operates, it's very clear to me that what happens in the community, when it comes to sentencing, when it comes to probation supervision and the revocation process for probation, that all of that has a direct impact on your incarcerated population.  It can grow very rapidly if you don't have the correct [resources] in the community managing that incarcerated population, making sure that we are doing all of the things that need to be done related to reentry.  We have almost 70,000 people a year that exit incarceration in Texas, so it's a significant challenge to try to target those people that are being released every year and target resources in their direction.  When you have people that are being released, [you need to ask yourself]: Have you been able to give them whatever it is that they might need to help them be successful when you move them into parole? Are you providing the right kind of parole supervision for them?  [Are you providing] continuity of care, substance abuse treatment, medical treatment?  One of our challenges has been to bring all that together and really make it a system so that as a person enters the criminal justice system on the front end, there are very clear linkages [set up].

Putting the team together that is very collaborative and truly sees their role as part of a criminal justice continuum and not just a prison [department] or a parole [agency is important].  They look beyond their individual component.

Q: What has been most rewarding about working in corrections?

Johnson: Easily, [the best part of my career has been] the people.  I have had the opportunity over three decades to get to know some incredible professionals in corrections.  I have forged a number of friendships that will last a lifetime.

And I think the opportunity to actually make a difference in people's lives [has been great].  I have had the opportunity, given the roles I have occupied in this agency, to have a significant impact in the lives of employees and the lives of offenders.  I truly understand that when you talk about 40,000 employees, you are not just talking about 40,000 people, [you are talking about those people] and all of their families.  When you talk about 150,000 people who are incarcerated and on parole and probation, the things that we do matter not only to those people, but to literally the hundreds of thousands of friends and family members that they have.

One of the things that means so much to me is when and offenders or [their] family [members] or employees or [their] family [members] are able to tell me that here is what you have done or what you and your colleagues have done that has made a significant, positive difference in our lives.  That makes it all worthwhile. 

There [are] always problems.  The nature of corrections is that you deal with a lot of problems every day and a lot of situations that are not always pleasant to deal with, but if you see your role as truly being a public servant and trying to make a difference in people's lives, then that is one of the most rewarding things for me - to feel like I have contributed in that way.

Q: What advice do you have for people working in the corrections field today?

Johnson: [There is] no substitute for hard work and no substitute for doing the right thing.  There are a lot of things outside of our control in a work environment, in a large organization, especially.  [But] one thing you can always control is how much effort you put into it and if you work hard, if you try to develop your skills, take opportunities for education and do what is right always, even when doing that is always not the easiest path, [you will succeed].

Part of my success over the years has just been the fact that I made sure whatever role I occupied, I did the very best job I could do in that role.  If you do the best you can do in the job you are in, people are going to notice.  People will be your advocate if they know that they are advocating for somebody who is a hard worker and does the right things and has their focus on doing their best they can in the job they're in.  That will always serve you well.

Q: What are your plans for the future?

Johnson: I don't really have any plans.  It feels good to sort of think about just doing something different.  My entire adult life has been spent in corrections.  I may stay in corrections in some capacity.  Right now I want to take some time to assess where I am in life.

There's a lot to do and see out there.  I try to run [a marathon] every year.  Actually, my first marathon was in 1987 [and I have run quite a few of them in cities like] Washington DC, Chicago, New York, Portland, Oregon and Tucson, Arizona.  [I have run] Houston several times, San Antonio and Dallas.  I've done thirteen, I think, so far.  I want to do some triathlons [in the future] and, hopefully, in my retirement, I will be able to focus a little more on that.  I'd also like to do a fifty-mile race and a hundred-mile race. Those kinds of things are things I'd like to pursue on a personal level.  Professionally, I really don't have any plans right now. I am going to evaluate all those kinds of things.

In January of this year, [I was involved in a] head-on collision at 70 miles an hour.  Luckily I walked away with only some broken ribs.  When you see a car come at you at 70 miles an hour and you have that impact, it tends to help you focus in on things that are really important in life and really reminds you how quickly it can all end.  It sharpened my perspective on things.

[Running] helps me get out of bed every day.  I am a goal-oriented person and having a goal out there like a marathon helps me stay in shape.  My dad died at age 39 from a heart attack.  I started exercising then and have been running ever since.

One of things that I've done as executive director is created a wellness program for the agency.  I always tell people that my dad started that wellness program because had it not been for him dying from a heart attack, [I would not be so interested in exercise].  When I came to work for TDCJ - I was running then and as I am leaving I am running.

I am running the New York City marathon in a few weeks.  [In my retirement], hopefully [I will] have a little more time now to do a little more training, which is exciting, too.