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VIRGINIA JUVENILE JUSTICE ASSOCIATION Bringing
together the professionals who touch the lives of court-involved children
since 1966. |
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President ROBERT
BERMINGHAM, JR. Immediate
Past President & Co-Director
of Child Advocacy RONALD
TELSCH Vice
President & Co-Director
of Child Advocacy COLLEEN
FRENCH Secretary
& Director
of Public Relations THOMAS
KEATING Treasurer & MARIE
BRISTOW Capital
District Chair & Co-Director
of Professional Develop. LYNN
DOTSON Northern
District Chair SUSAN
FARMER Blue
Ridge District Chair & Director
of Revenue Maximization KATHERINE
GRIMM Tidewater
District Chair & Director
of Recognition & Awards SAMANTHA
HIGGINS Valley
District Chair & Director
of Membership DOUGLAS
POE Southwest
District Chair & Director
of Practice Improvement TINA
CASPER Director
of Technology GARY
CONWAY Director
of Publications & Advocate Editor PAUL
GREGGS Director
of Program Standards KATHERINE
FARMER Director
of Vendor Relations RICK TEAGUE Scholarship
Committee Chair SCOTT
WARNER Meritorious
Awards Committee Chair LEWIS
WRIGHT Director
of Governance & Bylaws Co-Director
Finance Committee |
PERMISSIONS: News sources and organization are encouraged to
reprint and share the enclosed information and photographs broadly, either in
print or electronically. No prior
permission is necessary as long as the organization is notified and credited.
PHOTOS: (see attached
and embedded photos) NATURAL BRIDGE
JUVENILE CORECTIONAL CENTER HONORED FOR WORK IN JUVENILE
JUSTICE FIELD On November 5,
2009, NBJCC employee, Timothy Turner, was honored for his contributions to
the juvenile justice field. While
attending the 33rd Fall Juvenile Justice Training Institute in
Hampton, Turner was presented the Virginia Juvenile Justice Association’s 2009 Meritorious Award in the Area of
Residential Services. The
following biography was read: “This year’s recipient of the Meritorious
Service Award in the category of Residential Services is a military veteran,
a Mason, a former member of his hometown’s town council, and serves as a
deacon of his church. A talented
singer and artist, at one time he was a state basketball champion. He has
been a VJJA member since he entered the juvenile
justice field in 1984. He began his career
working with children as a part-time child supervisor at the Natural Bridge
Forestry Camp for Boys. He worked his way up from supervising delinquent
youth in the smallest cottage, to a full time position as the staff
supervisor in the largest housing unit at Natural Bridge. From there he was
promoted to supervise the overall operation of the facility as a Shift
Coordinator. Very soon thereafter, he was promoted again to Lieutenant under
the new correctional officer series at the renamed Natural Bridge Juvenile
Correctional Center. Working six years as one of the assigned Shift
Commanders for the center, his expertise in population control, management and
security earned him another promotion to Corrections Captain. He served in
that position of Chief of Security until this year. |
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NATURAL
BRIDGE JUVENILE CORECTIONAL CENTER EMPLOYEE HONORED
FOR WORK IN JUVENILE JUSTICE FIELD
Page 2 of 3
Having started his career part-time
working directly with wards of the state, in June of 2009 he was promoted again. Now
as the Assistant Superintendent for Security, he assumed the duty to
manage the overall policies and procedures that directly affected the wards
living at Natural Bridge. His areas of direct oversight included Security,
Building and Grounds, Food Service, Training, and Safety. Being responsible for
security over a facility with no locked physical barriers and no perimeter
fences is difficult, but he did so during a period in which no wards
escaped. His attentiveness to detail and population management helped ensure
the continuance of a long standing tradition at Natural Bridge to provide the
best possible treatment and education to children in the least restricted
environment possible.
During the years he grew as a
professional, he also devoted his time to his family. From raising two
daughters, to attending the Million Man march in Washington, our recipient now
turns his attention in a different direction. Having accepted more and more
responsibility throughout his career, his professional position abruptly ended
with the closure of the juvenile correctional center he worked at most of his
life. With only thirty days notice to close, he set his own feelings and
concerns aside and charted the course toward closure. He helped successfully
transfer and place all the residents from this minimum security facility, some
back to greater levels of security. Despite the residents’ and staffs’
expressions of personal grief at their lives being interrupted, he helped many
of them accept the change and did so administratively in a manner that
prevented escape by and injury to residents and staff. Assisting his visibly shaken staff, he noted
to one colleague that he could not concentrate on his own employment
circumstance; he had to “help
these young people get through this first.” Few of us are asked in our careers
to close a facility. It is not something taught in college, and unless you are
one of the decision-makers it is not something you can prepare for. Our
recipient had to fall back on his years of supervisory experience, his kind
nature and temperate attitude to see himself and his center through this
agonizing time extemporaneously.
Our recipient lives in
the mountainous town of Glasgow with his wife, Betty, and now enters a new
phase: retirement - with a concentration on his two grandchildren, Josiah and
Leland. Today we present the Virginia Juvenile Justice Association’s 2009
Meritorious Service Award in the category of Residential Services to TIMOTHY E. TURNER.”
Background: Each year the Virginia Juvenile Justice Association recognizes
professionals who have made extraordinary contributions in the juvenile justice
field. Meritorious awards are presented in the areas of: Administration,
Court Services, Residential Care and Community Service. Recipients are
recognized before their peers at VJJA's Fall Juvenile
Justice Training Institute, held annually in November.
About VJJA: Founded in 1966, the Virginia Juvenile Justice Association (VJJA) is an organization comprised of professionals representing court services, the judiciary, indigent defense, detention homes, juvenile correctional facilities, halfway houses, group homes, mental health, education, law enforcement, social work, and others with an interest in youth and family services. The organization is administered by an elected board of directors and is committed to child advocacy and advancing the professional interests and competencies of its members. State and local training events are held, with a statewide conference held annually in November. Learn more at www.VJJA.org.