(MCKEAN COUNTY, Pennsylvania: May 8, 2023): District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer would like to recognize our area’s Corrections’ Officers during this Correctional Professionals Week.

Corrections’ Officers are a vital partner to a successful prosecution.

Police investigate and charge offenders; the District Attorney’s Office prosecutes offenders; and a Judge sentences offenders.  But the task of punishment and rehabilitation of offenders is placed in the hands of Corrections’ Officers.

Whether a sentence be a short-term period of incarceration or a sentence of several years, Corrections’ Officers are in a unique position to identify the necessary restrictions and appropriate treatment for each individual offender.

They are required to maintain peace among the violent; meet force with force when necessary; and maintain security for their co-workers, other offenders, and society – all with the ever-present threat of violence looming.

Each member of our local law enforcement community is vital to our safety - police, probation and parole, and corrections – and they promote the local criminal justice system at each stage – investigation and arrest; incarceration; and supervision.

Corrections’ Officers are vital to that system but their work is unseen by the public.  That is so because they are able to protect the security of their facilities and others in their facilities without notice by – and without disruption to – the communities.

I am honored to recognize those who work in corrections - Officers at the McKean County Prison, Potter County Jail, Warren County Jail, FCI-McKean, and SCI Forest State Penitentiary.

Merely by going to work, they face harm and death at an alarming rate and their sacrifices should not go unrecognized.  We thank them for their sacrifice.

On behalf of the McKean County District Attorney’s Office, I am honored to recognize Correctional Professionals and personnel.– Stephanie L. Vettenburg-Shaffer-District Attorney