Missouri Department of Corrections highlights 24 things they did in 2024

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – Twenty-four accomplishments in 2024 — the Missouri Department of Corrections is celebrating steps taken to fulfill it’s mission to improve lives for a safer Missouri.

Improving lives for safer communities — that’s the goal for the Missouri DOC and in 2o24 the department took steps to encourage rehabilitation and lessen the likelihood that incarcerated people will reoffend once they get out.

Missouri DOC spokesperson Karen Pojmann spoke about three achievements — increasing people’s employability after release; promoting healthy, independent living; and bringing families together.

“I think the general public doesn’t always have a clear idea of the complexity of the department of corrections,” she said. “So it’s nice to be able to provide sort of a review of some of the the major changes and the major accomplishments from the year.”

Pojmann said Missouri started the nation’s first prison-based tattoo apprenticeship program.

“It’s brand new and it helps to give people skills they can use to get jobs after their release, in a field that’s much less likely to have judgments about their past,” she said.

The program incentivizes positive behavior for both people who want to participate in the program and their peers who can pay a small fee to get a tattoo from them.

This also gives inmates a safe and sterile environment to get a tattoo from a real artist, Pojmann said.

The Missouri DOC has been innovating housing with incentive based housing models like the Algoa Correctional Center Honor Dorm where qualifying individuals can live together in unstaffed units.

“We’re really interested in improving the quality of life for people living and working in our facility,” Pojmann said. “So anything we can do to help move that forward, we’ll embrace.”

In June, the team behind the honor dorms were presented with the Governor’s Award for quality and productivity in the innovation category.

Pojmann says they’ve also been bringing families together. The Empowering Dads Embracing Fatherhood program had its biggest turnout yet, with 14 kids and 10 dads spending the day playing on the playground and making holiday decorations.

“It’s really great — especially with kids that’ve been separated from their dads for a long time,” she said. “It’s one thing to show up in the visiting room and sit around a table and talk. It’s a totally different experience to be able to run around and play games and just really connect.”