WHAT IS THE WARDEN EXCHANGE?
Transforming leaders. Transforming prisons. Transforming people.
President Nixon's "hatchet man" Chuck Colson was incarcerated for Watergate-related crimes and experienced firsthand the despair of those behind bars. In 1976, he was inspired to found Prison Fellowship with the mission to help restore lives and families broken by crime and incarceration. Now, with nearly 40 years of access to hundreds of prisons, Prison Fellowship leads the way in programs that help prisoners become productive members of society upon release, ultimately creating safer communities for us all.
The Warden Exchange convenes wardens, deputy wardens, associate wardens, top corrections specialists and subject matter experts in an in-depth, nine-month leadership training program that examines and applies best practices for creating safer and more rehabilitative prisons. Relying on critical thinking, dynamic conversations, and transformational methodologies, the Warden Exchange immerses participants in paradigm-changing sessions. At the core is a belief that allowing for effective moral rehabilitation of prisoners can effective moral rehabilitation of prisoners can activate real change in individuals and break the cycle of crime and recidivism.
In the future, Prison Fellowship hopes to support even more wardens as they become transformational leaders who create safe places of rehabilitation for inmates. Provided additional funding is available for the program, Prison Fellowship aims to accelerate prison culture transformation in hundreds of prisons in the coming years.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
- A revolutionary nine-month training program that equips wardens with transformational leadership skills.
- Weekly dynamic discussions via live video conferences for wardens with facilitators such as business CEOs, Navy Seal Commanders, technology gurus, top corrections experts, academics from Stanford, Harvard, University of Virginia, and others who interact and share their experiences and ideas on transformational leadership, eliminating prison violence, fostering successful reentry and related topics.
- Three in-person residencies in different parts of the country, in which wardens engage in collaborative group exercises and intensive hands-on sessions.
- Inspiration from top corrections experts, including the WE Advisory Panel, on effective moral rehabilitation approaches that transform the hearts and minds of inmates.
- Coaching to create a three-to-five year action plan to systemically transform their prisons.