Innovators in Corrections: J. David Donahue

Charles F. Field, Jr.

J. David Donahue, Senior Vice President and President of U.S. Corrections & Detention & International Operations with the GEO Group, the largest for-profit prison operator in the $4 billion privatized corrections market, humbly attributes much of his success to divine intervention and supportive management in both the public and private sector. Case in point: One Sunday morning, following bible study at their church, Donahue’s wife introduced him to a friend whose father just so happened to be the warden of the nearby federal prison. Donahue was in law enforcement at the time. The pay and work schedule was a strain on his marriage. “The warden was soft-spoken and small in stature,” he recalls, “not at all the stereotype of the prison wardens: six-foot-five, barrel-chested, physically intimidating. If anything, he was a buck-fifty in weight and five-foot-seven, with a runner’s build. As we parted ways in the parking lot, he suggested, ‘Well, why don’t you come out to the prison?’”... read full story

Also this week:

• Just Shut Up!
• Nation’s Largest Nonfederal Correctional System Installs Aspirating Smoke Detection in Another Facility
• Train Your Supervisors!
• Mouthy Offenders And Violence