 Wednesday, I had the pleasure fill in for John as your President. We welcomed a long-time friend and colleague of mine, Dr. Mark Foxall, to our club. Dr. Foxall presented information about his job as the Director of Corrections for Douglas County. He is the warden of the largest corrections center in the state of Nebraska, the Douglas County Corrections Center, which currently houses over 1,400 inmates. Currently, 211 female inmates are housed in the corrections center; an all-time high.
Mark and I were recruits together in the police recruit class for the Omaha police department, starting December 16, 1980. After 6 years, Mark took a different career path. In addition to his corrections center job, he is also an adjunct professor at U.N.O.
In addition to his challenges with the criminal inmate population, his facility is home to the largest mental health facility in Nebraska. One problem is that the facility was never built or designed to be a mental health facility. There is a severe shortage of facilities available to treat the mentally ill and the homeless population who are in this area. The corrections center seems to be the last resort.
His largest challenge is to help others in the criminal justice system identify alternative sentencing methods, apart from the hardcore offenders.
We received some very welcome news from Cella Quinn. She is planning on attending Rotary in two weeks. She has been battling some nasty health issues and thankfully she is winning!
We are looking to identify any members who are WWII or Korean War Veterans. If you happen to be one or know of a member that is on, please let Leigh know at Director@omaharotary.org.
There is no meeting next week. Enjoy Thanksgiving! See you in two weeks.
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