In August, Fred Rosemeyer will receive the 2005 North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents (NAAWS) Warden of the Year Award at the American Correctional Association's annual summer conference in Baltimore, Maryland.  He considers the award to be the "Oscar" of the many honors that correctional administrators can receive.

Rosemeyer runs Pennsylvania's State Correctional Institution at Laurel Highlands, a prison with a unit dedicated to geriatric inmates and those requiring long-term, personal care.  He has worked in corrections for over 30 years, but finds his work at SCI Laurel Highlands to be particularly rewarding because, there, he has an opportunity to see some inmates recover from long-term illnesses, under the care of his staff.

The Corrections Connection Network News recently talked with Rosemeyer about his background in the field of corrections and his upcoming award.

Q: Where did you get your start in corrections?

Rosemeyer: I started my career in 1968 as a corrections officer when I came back from the [Army] in California.  My entire family is [in] law enforcement.  My father was a police officer for 40 years.  I just liked the corrections part of it.  Rather than getting into [it] as a police officer, I fell in love with the career of corrections, working with people, trying to help people reestablish their lives and become a better citizen.  Because of my people skills and my military background, I just thought that corrections, since we are a paramilitary organization, that was what I wanted to do.

When I was in California, I went to San Quentin and Alcatraz and I was studying some corrections courses and got very interested in it.  When I came back to Pittsburgh, [Pa.], which is my home, I began as a corrections officer, [and worked as a CO] from 1968 to 1975.  I worked [my way] up through the ranks to sergeant and lieutenant.  Then, I was appointed director of training and staff development for the DOC in 1975.  I held that position from 1975-1982 and in 1982, I was appointed to the major of the guard, the highest-ranking commissioned officer at a maximum security facility.  In 1984, I was appointed deputy superintendent at a female institution down in Williamsburg.  Then, in 1987, I was promoted to superintendent of that facility.  From 1989-1996, I was appointed the superintendent of SCI Greensburg.  Then, in 1996, I was promoted up to this institution, which is SCI Laurel Highlands.

I started here in 1996 and we converted a former state mental hospital into one of the first long-term care, personal care units in the country.

Q: What makes SCI Laurel Highlands unique?

Rosemeyer: [When] we had the British Broadcasting Company here, they dubbed this prison 'a prison with compassion.'  We take care of really long-term care [inmates], acute medical care cases [and] personal care inmates.  [It's] almost like a nursing home setting.  We have about 55 physically challenged inmates here, mostly all wheelchair bound.  [We have about 900 [inmates] - about 500 general population.

Q: What are some of the challenges of working as Superintendent of SCI Laurel Highlands?

Rosemeyer: The first challenge we had was this was a mental healthcare facility under the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare.  We had to convert it and, [make] an organizational change and a climate change.  [We had to take] the staff from the Department of Welfare and [convert them to] Pennsylvania DOC [staff].  We kept 251 employees and brought our training academy here to this institution and trained our staff for almost eight weeks before we brought inmates into the facility.  The biggest challenge was the organizational change and to change the culture of that staff.  What was very nice about it was that many of my staff were RNs and LNs and they became COs.  It's a nice blend to have that psychiatric background, security and also the medical background.

Q: What are some of the rewards of your job?

Rosemeyer: When we get an inmate here to this institution, [the inmate] is coming from another state prison in Pennsylvania and [is] really critically ill.  To watch that person, because of the medical care they get here, recover [is great].  We have had guys come in here that were really sent here to possibly die that were worked with by the medical staff and lived.

[One inmate] came in as a vegetable.  He was a fairly young guy - only 41-years old.  This was one of the really nice rewarding things that we saw.  Three years later, he's going out on parole.

We have our own physical therapy unit that has [made] great strides working with some of our guys that we get in.  I have seen some of those cases be really rewarding to the staff who work with these guys and see these guys become able to function again.  On the downside of that, because of our mission, we do have people that die here.  We have had numerous people die since we opened [the facility].  That has a major effect on the staff.  We work very closely with the inmates' families, especially if a guy is terminal and up in age.  We are a little more liberal on our visiting policies.  If a guy is in pretty bad shape, the family can come in at any time.  Like I said, the BBC called this institution 'a prison with compassion.'

Q: Why do you believe yoo received the NAAWS Warden of the Year Award?

Rosemeyer: [I think I got the award] because of my staff.  All my career, I have been able to select extremely capable people and train them to be the warden, to be the superintendent, to replace me.  My thoughts are the more people that can do my job, [the better.  [That] is the whole outlook of corrections in this institution - knowing that you can walk away from an institution and your staff can pick right up and take over.  A good example is that the DOC assigned me to Allegheny County Jail this year.  I was there as the acting warden [because of the] sexual abuse of inmates [and other] major problems.  I was there for 10 and a half months.  Because I have excellent staff, I was able to go and do that assignment for and a half months and straighten that place up.

Personally, I would call this the 'Oscar' of the awards for any superintendent or warden, especially in North America.  To me, it's a great honor, first of all, to be even nominated by the Pennsylvania DOC.  I had been the Warden of the Year for the Pennsylvania Prison Wardens Association and I also was Institutional Corrections Professional of the Year for the Pennsylvania Association on Probation, Parole and Corrections.  They were two great awards for me to get here in Pennsylvania, but then to be selected on a national level is just a great honor.

I just want to thank NAAWS for the award [and] for considering me.  I thought it was one of the greatest achievements and honors I [have] ever received.  I have to again say that one of the reasons I got that is for the staff that I have surrounded myself with - extremely capable people and people with great worth ethics.  I have just been very fortunate in my career.

Q: What are some things you like to do in your spare time?

Rosemeyer: I am very active in the community, here in Somerset.  I am on the local hospital board.  I am on the drug and alcohol board at Twin Lakes Center.  [ I am on the] Laurel Arts Board of Directors and [I am on the] Somerset Emergency Management Agency Board.  I try to stay pretty active within my community.

I am married - for almost 30 years - and [I have] three wonderful kids who are all in college at the present time.

I enjoy working in the community [and] paying back to the community, with all they do for us, for the prison here.

Q: What advice do you have for folks starting out in the corrections field?

Rosemeyer: First of all, I would tell them, it's a career, it's not just a job.  There's an awful lot of room for advancement if you are assertive and want to go beyond the normal workday.  There is a lot of advancement as a career.  I would tell a person, if you don't have people skills and you can't get along with people, [don't do it].  [We work with] all kinds of people because the diversity in corrections is unbelievable.  If you do have people skills and know how to be fair and firm with people and consistent, you'll do well in the corrections field.

I tell my new employees that it is important to have respect for human dignity because a lot of our people that we take care of in corrections really were never treated with dignity.  They were failures all their lives - in school, marriages [and]  relationships.  Having that respect for human dignity is noticed by the inmate population.  They respect you for that.