http:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/audio\/2013\/12\/interview-adrienne-poteat-retiring-deputy-director-csosa\/<\/a><\/p>\n[Audio Begins]<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 From the nation\u2019s capital, this is DC Public Safety. I\u2019m your host, Leonard Sipes. The topic of today\u2019s show, an interview with Adrienne Poteat, considered by many to be the dean of the criminal justice system in the nation\u2019s capital. I\u2019m going to briefly read a little bit about Adrienne\u2019s background and we\u2019re going to be asking her lots of questions. Ms. Poteat has 40 plus years of solid, law enforcement experience. In 1975, Ms. Poteat became the first female correctional officer hired in the District of Columbia Department of Corrections. Her career with the DC Department of Corrections quickly expanded from case manager, unit manager, to deputy warden of the maximum-security facility. During her tenure there, this facility became the first to achieve national accreditation from the American Correctional Association. She was promoted to warden of the correctional treatment facility. Ms. Poteat also served as Deputy Director for the Department of Corrections and in this position she had management oversight for a 11 correctional institutions and five key correctional program areas. After a distinguished career with the Department of Corrections, she began working for the US Parole Commission. In 2002 she was selected for her current position as Deputy Director for my agency, the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency and this includes three and a half years as acting director.<\/p>\n
Some of the awards that she has received \u2013 just some \u2013 she received numerous awards for her work, including most recently a 2012 Presidential Rank Award, the 2011 Chief of Police Merit Award, the 2010 Innovative Use of GPS Technology Award and in 2008, the Enterprise Intelligence Award. Adrienne Poteat, Deputy Director for the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, who has now announced her retirement, welcome to DC Public Safety.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Hello Len, how are you?<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 I\u2019m fine. And this is an honor. So many people, when I said that I was going to interview you, as sort of a farewell interview in terms of your announced retirement, I\u2019ve heard so many incredible stories about grit and leadership, you\u2019re knowledge of the criminal justice system. I\u2019m not quite sure I know of anybody out there that I\u2019ve talked to from the law enforcement side to the mayor\u2019s office, to this agency, who just does not have an immense amount of respect for you. That\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Well, thank you.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Is that across the board? That amount of respect, from everybody?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes, it is. I really appreciate it. I really do. It\u2019s an honor and a privilege for people to think so highly of you and respect the fact that you know, some of the work that you\u2019ve done in this criminal justice agency.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 You started off at the very bottom of the criminal justice system. You came in \u2013 at one time, I did not mention this, you worked for a law enforcement agency in Virginia as an intake officer, correct?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 That\u2019s correct.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 And then you went on to eventually become a correctional officer.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Well, before that I was a teacher in Montgomery County, in the public schools, teaching math. Then I started the career with the DC Department of Corrections.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Now you started off, again, at the lowest possible levels, as a correctional officer as I started off as a cadet in the Maryland State Police. We both started off at the lowest possible rungs within the system.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes, I did.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 And through that time, you eventually went from one position higher to the next position to the next position \u2013 I mean, your career steadily rose. Why is that? What was so special about Adrienne Poteat that she steadily rose in rank through the criminal justice system?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Well, I want to believe that it was the fact that I was committed to the work, I enjoyed the work. I valued the people that I worked for, I brought something to the table. I think I had some innovative ideas and creativity. I wanted to make a difference in women in the correctional field and therefore, I think, because of that, I was given opportunities to act in some capacities and was later selected to fill the positions.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 But, you know, I know and you know, that I spoke to lots of women who have been police officers, years ago. Correctional officers years ago \u2013 it was not easy to be a woman in a male dominated field, whether on the law enforcement side or the correctional side. And I\u2019m sure that you won through some problems being the first woman correctional officer. You won through some issues and you won through some challenges.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 It was very difficult. In fact, when I was first hired, being the first female, they didn\u2019t know what to do with me. They didn\u2019t know where to place me, what type of assignments. And so that was a challenge for management. Once they decided that, okay, we\u2019ll put her in the command center, that was the first post they assigned me to, then they wouldn\u2019t let me walk the compound. So which meant I couldn\u2019t even go from the command center, right across to the culinary unit without an escort. That caused a lot of dissension among my fellow coworkers, because they felt like I was a correctional officer like they were, I was making the same type of pay, and I shouldn\u2019t have been treated differently.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 It\u2019s one of the most difficult jobs on the face of the earth. I\u2019ve spent a lot of times inside of prisons; I\u2019ve spent a lot of time right beside correctional officers, watching what they do when I was with the Maryland Department of Public Safety. It is an extraordinarily difficult job. But as the first woman, you know, you weren\u2019t allowed to do the things that men were supposed to do, you were looked upon a certain way, you were probably looked upon with a certain level of skepticism. How did you break through all of that?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 I believe that you know, I showed the fact that number one, I was not afraid. I was not afraid of being inside the prison system. I was not afraid of working any assignment. In fact, I challenged many of my managers, \u201cJust put me there and I\u2019ll show you what I\u2019m capable of doing.\u201d I was not afraid to talk with the inmates. Because it was the District of Columbia system, we were required to comingle and talk with the clientele, even their families. So it was like management by walking around. They were not locked down, so they were very free to move about the compound, just like we\u2019re free to move around here in the city. Only one facility where they were locked down, and that was the maximum security. So you couldn\u2019t show fear and walk those walks and go into those dormitories and count the dormitories or counsel the offenders. You just couldn\u2019t do that. You also had to have a level of respect. Respect for them \u2013 and you got respect from them. It\u2019s amazing that there was a culture in the institutions where the inmates, if they trusted you, they would look out for you. If you treated them with respect, they did the same for you. If you were honest with them and forthright in the decisions that you made, they respected that. And so I think that\u2019s what I brought, throughout my career. The same type of system, the same type of ideas, the same type of \u2013<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Well, no, the respect for the inmate population and they had\u00a0 a certain respect for you. One of the things that amazes me is that I followed you the last 11 years around this city. Everybody in this city knows you. I can\u2019t go anyplace without people coming up and going, \u201cI know you. Where do I know you from?\u201d And whether it be judges or whether it be from people in the law enforcement side or people in the correctional side, or inmates, former inmates, everybody looks at you with a big smile. The inmates \u2013 former inmates, they all know you. They all look at you, they want to shake your hand, they want to tell you how well they\u2019ve done. You know, it\u2019s amazing that they have this level of respect for a person who used to run that correctional system. That shows something, does it not?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes, it does. And you have to go back and think about when we were working those compounds, or walking those walks, that oftentimes the inmates, they got into trouble, there was contraband, there were stabbings, or assaults, there were encounters that probably they didn\u2019t need to engage in, sexual encounters in the facilities, and people realized that regardless, if they saw me or not, you had to respect the fact that I was a law enforcement official, that I was a correctional personnel and that if you did that in front of me, then you knew I was going to take action.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Of course.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 You also realized that regardless of what type of crime that you committed, regardless of where you were housed, I was going to give you the same respect as though that you were in the community, because I realized, even though that you were inside, one of use could have been inside as well, and I would want my family members, if any of them were locked up, to be treated the same way I treated these men and women that were in jail. And so even now, when I see them in the community, they will come to my office and I remember a lot of them because I had their fathers, their mothers, their sisters and their brothers, and I gave them all the same respect and time of day, regardless.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Well, I\u2019ve also been with other correctional administrators and I\u2019ve been with secretaries of public safety in the state of Maryland, yet nobody that I have been with has received such a \u2013 I mean, the smiles on individual\u2019s faces was amazing to me. I\u2019ve never seen, Adrienne Poteat, I\u2019ve never seen anything like that in my life. So obviously you affected their lives in a very profound way. You were their chief jailer, yet they\u2019re always so happy to see you, so that shows a level of respect that I have not seen in my entire career. I mean, all the rest were male correctional administrators in the past, and we\u2019ve run into people that were on supervision, we\u2019ve run into people who were locked up before, but I haven\u2019t seen anybody with a big smile on their face come over and say, \u201cMs. Poteat! How are you?\u201d I mean, that\u2019s, I\u2019ve always thought that that was an amazing thing, that affect that you had on people. The people that you locked up, the people that you supervised.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Well, I tell you, if I locked them up, they knew why they got locked up, and even I see them now, some of them will tell me, \u201cDo you remember me?\u201d And I may not remember who they are and they\u2019ll even tell me the good stories or the bad stories and some of the bad stories are, \u201cYou know, you sent me behind the wall.\u201d And my question to them, \u201cDid you deserve it?\u201d And the answer was, \u201cYes. You also told me I would never come out on the compound because of what I did. And I never came out.\u201d I said, \u201cSo did I keep my word?\u201d And they go, \u201cYes, you did.\u201d So that\u2019s being honest with them. You know the consequences of what you do. Or you get those that will tell you, \u201cYou don\u2019t know how you helped me.\u201d And a lot of times, I don\u2019t remember. I really don\u2019t. But it could be something very small and probably insignificant to us, but it meant a lot to them. The fact that you took the time out to talk to them, to listen, to help them, to guide them, to treat them with respect, to treat their families with respect, and to mentor them, if possible. If they needed a job, I could direct them somewhere where they could get a job. If they needed counseling somewhere, I\u2019d pick up the phone myself and find a program for them; then and even now. Because I feel like I\u2019m not going to ask anybody to do anything different than what I would do. So regardless of my position, they are still human beings and they still need to be treated as such and I\u2019ll help them all.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 The correctional system, whether it\u2019s the District of Colombia, whether it\u2019s Maryland, whether it\u2019s any other correctional system in the country, is one of the hardest systems you can possibly imagine. People have no idea as to how difficult it is to run correctional systems. It is enormously difficult. People have no idea \u2013 when you\u2019re walking that tier, it\u2019s you and hundreds of inmates. It\u2019s not, you know, a dozen correctional officers, it\u2019s not 24, it\u2019s you and you alone walking that tier and you\u2019ve got hundreds of correctional, hundreds of inmates around you. It takes a certain amount of moxy to do a job as a correctional officer; it takes a certain amount of moxy, if I can, to be the first female correctional officer.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Well, you know, walking the tiers, you\u2019re right, you walked by yourself. You had an officer that was at the end of the tier that would basically be your backup.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Right.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 But I would go from cell to cell. I would ask them how they\u2019re doing. I would speak to them, and if they had an issue or a problem, I\u2019d write it down and I\u2019d let them know I\u2019d get back to them. Wouldn\u2019t promise to get back to them that day, but I would. And that meant I would come back to that same cell block and give them the response. Maybe not that they wanted, but at least they knew I listened to them, I heard them, and I responded to their issues. And I did that on a regular basis. And so therefore it wasn\u2019t hard for me to walk the tiers. Now, were there occasions where you walk it and you get name-calling? Oh yes. I mean, I was no different than anyone else. But I tell you, sometimes when some of those offenders would call me out in my name or say things that were disrespectful, the other inmates on the tiers would straighten them out.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 That\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Because they would let them know, \u201cNot her. Because this woman is here to help us.\u201d And so that\u2019s what I got in some of those cell blocks.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 So you eventually started going through the levels of management within the correctional agencies, within the District of Columbia, steadily going up in terms of rank. Now, why was that? How as that? The average person who enters the criminal justice system does not have the, you know, go to the next system, go to the next level, go to the next level. There are people like me that become public affairs person and you stay in public affairs for 30 years. You steadily rose throughout the ranks. There is something in you, there\u2019s some secret sauce, there\u2019s some level of intelligence, there\u2019s some level of determination. What made you constantly rise through the ranks to eventually become warden \u2013 I mean, that\u2019s an amazing accomplishment \u2013 and then Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Corrections? And you oversaw 11 institutions. That\u2019s an amazing transformation to go from walking the tiers to being in charge of 11 correctional institutions.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Well, Len, I\u2019ve got to admit, it was not easy. I did not just automatically get promoted. There were a lot of stumbling blocks that I faced along the way. Many times, when I apply for jobs, I was not selected, even though I may have done well at the panel and the panel members had told me that I was the best candidate, but what it did, it never made me give up. Regardless of what the obstacles were, I was determined that it was not going to deter me from doing a good job and from keep trying and for my perseverance, I felt, eventually, when it\u2019s my time, then I\u2019ll know it. Then I\u2019ll get that job. So if I got turned down three, four or five times, I never stopped, and that\u2019s what happened. Eventually there was some jobs that I served in the capacity of. A good example is deputy warden. Well, for almost four or five years, I acted in that position, but I was never promoted in that position. And so that was a position I skipped over and it was not until later on that finally, I got the opportunity to become warden.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Topic of today\u2019s show, an interview with Adrienne Poteat, who is again, as I said at the beginning of the program, considered by many to be the dean of the criminal justice system for the nation\u2019s capital. Adrienne, I want to go on a little bit beyond the correctional system, but before going a little bit beyond the correctional system, again, you were one of the first females. There are all sorts of females that I have had as personal friends throughout my career who have been in corrections, who have been in law enforcement. And they\u2019ve told me that the level of sexism was horrendous. You were also a black female. So were there issues of race that you had to confront as you went through all of this?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes, yes there were.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Tell me a little bit about that.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 There was sexism because of me being a female.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Right.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 There was racism. When I started in the Department of Corrections, it was predominately white. Most of the staff were ex-military or they were family members of other members that had been there, in the system. And so there were, for the majority, there was a level of respect from my supervisors. There were occasions where I faced discrimination and I had a supervisor and I give him the utmost praise today. And I\u2019m going to tell you who that person is.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Please.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 His name was Thomas Gatos. Thomas Gatos told me, when I came to his shift, \u201cI don\u2019t want any women on my shift and I\u2019m going to make you quit your job. You\u2019ll be gone before I am.\u201d And I smiled to Thomas Gatos and said, \u201cI\u2019ll be here when you\u2019re gone.\u201d And so I was determined to show him that I can do this job. And I don\u2019t care where you place me, then I\u2019m going to do a good job. He would send me places like go to inspect the water tower, where I had to go in the tunnel and the tunnel was below ground, as you know, with the rats and the roaches. \u201cIf that\u2019s where you want me to go, then that\u2019s where I\u2019ll go.\u201d When we had escapes, he sent me out on the chase in the tic field. But I went, and if I had tics on me I pulled them off and I kept on going. Today, when Thomas Gatos retired, Gatos said to his constituents, \u201cIf anybody face any harassment and discrimination, it was Adrienne Poteat, and I have the utmost respect for her.\u201d And I told him, \u201cAnd I have the utmost respect for you, because you made me strive harder to prove to you that I could do this, and believe it or not, when he applied for a job, he had me as a reference.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 That\u2019s an amazing transformation.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 It was.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 All right, so what I\u2019m hearing in terms of the smiles that I get when I\u2019m walking down the street with you, going to a community function with you, and the people that were locked up under your systems was your dedication to treating them as an individual. The level of respect that I hear from other members of the criminal justice system, I\u2019m assuming that respect was for your obvious courage in terms of doing what it is you did. Your ultimate lesson in terms of not just being a female, not just being an African American female, but being in the criminal justice system, starting off at the lowest levels, rising to the highest levels. Your ultimate lesson to others who contemplate a career in criminal justice, who are already in criminal justice, what would you tell them?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Well, there are several lessons I would give them. Number one, working in a dominant male environment, you\u2019ve got to understand, going in, that you\u2019re going to face some challenges. Number one, you\u2019re not wanted. Number two, you\u2019re not appreciated, and number three, and they often felt that women ought to be secretaries. You know, there were certain positions that were designated for women and it surely wasn\u2019t in the correctional arena and it surely wasn\u2019t wardens or deputy wardens. I think today you find more females in higher positions than you did then, but the women had to be determined, number one, that they were coming in to do a job, and not sleep their way to the top. I mean, I think that was important. The other thing that they had to come with confidence and ethics among themselves and they had to come with the determination that \u201cI can do this.\u201d But you have to be committed to doing that type of work.\u00a0 You\u2019ve got to be a strong individual that regardless of what comes at you, that you\u2019ll find a way to overcome whatever it is and to move forward. You can\u2019t let people stagnate your growth and regardless of how many times that you apply for something and you don\u2019t get it, you don\u2019t give up because surely enough, someone will come along and they\u2019ll see \u2013 \u201cThis individual is what we\u2019ve been looking for. This person has overcome a lot of obstacles and challenges, this is the type of person that I want to lead.\u201d And so the other lesson that I would say is just, drive hard. I want you to be a \u2013 you know, just like driving a car. Almost like speeding. Don\u2019t go too fast, because sometimes when you go too fast you can fall off the track, but if you pace yourself and learn everything that there is to learn, you\u2019d be surprised what you can accomplish. I took it upon myself not to wait for others to teach me. I would go and ask them, \u201cLet me see what you\u2019re doing. Or let\u00a0 me do that.\u201d Which meant I wanted to do the job that you\u2019re doing and I want to learn it on my own. I\u2019d read the policies and procedures. I\u2019d take on tasks no one else wanted to take on. I\u2019d follow behind people. I would seek out good mentors and I would take something from everybody else that I want to pattern behind.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Where did that drive come from?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 I\u2019m just a determined individual. Both my parents are like that, so I think I got it honestly.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Well, but that\u2019s the point, it came from your parents?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 I mean, there\u2019s a certain drive, there\u2019s a certain level \u2013 I mean, corrections is hard. Being a law enforcement officer is hard work, let alone the circumstances that you came up in. I mean, you know, didn\u2019t you say to yourself halfway through or a quarter of the way through, your first week, \u201cOh, what the heck, go back to teaching. This is ridiculously difficult, I could be teaching in school.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes, I did. And it\u2019s funny that you ask me that. My first week on the job there was a stabbing. And in fact, it was a hatchet killing. They chopped the man\u2019s face off and put him back in one of the dormitories and my supervisor told me, \u201cYou need to go to the infirmary and investigate and ride with the ambulance to the morgue and I said, \u2018I\u2019m not doing that.\u2019\u201d You know, that was my first case of insubordination, but I knew I could not ride with a dead body. And so you know, I\u2019m saying, \u201cWhat am I doing here? Is this what I signed up for?\u201d But I got myself together, I did not go to the morgue, but after that you know, there were several assaults that took place, but I was able to overcome and deal with the situations at hand. But just imagine a woman, first time, and you see that. No.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Right, okay, so it came from your parents?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 That drive, that determination, that willingness to take on assignments nobody else wants to take on, that willingness not to back down, that came from Mom and Dad?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 And they\u2019re the ones who instilled you with these values from the very beginning?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 They sure did.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 And those are the values that you\u2019ve carried with you throughout the entire criminal justice system?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes, and my mother is a peoples person, very much so. She was almost like a socialite to me. She just enjoyed being around people and helping people and she was a teacher, a kindergarten teacher. And my father was in the Law Enforcement Arena and it\u2019s almost like Secret Service, so I guess I got a little bit of both of them in me.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 But the drive \u2013 I mean, the drive is extraordinary. I mean, to go through what you went through and never to give up and never to back down, again, that had to come from your mother and father. The compassion you had for the inmates and their families, that had to come from your mother and father. So it sounds like you had a heck of an upbringing.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes, I did, but you also needed the support from the family, because believe me, my parents were very cautious. They were very concerned about me working in the prison system.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 I would have been!<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Because they hear all kinds of rumors and they always said, \u201cWell, I hope nothing happens to my little girl.\u201d So you can imagine being the only child at the time, and you know, you\u2019re working in a all-male dominated facility and seeing stories on TV or you know, what\u2019s going to happen, but I had the family support and I\u2019d always tell them, \u201cI\u2019m okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 You came over to the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, our agency, in 2002 as Deputy Director. You were the first deputy director?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes, I was.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Okay, so you\u2019ve been deputy director the entire time and you were acting director for three and a half years here, at the agency.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 That\u2019s correct.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 And so we\u2019re \u2013 for people who may not \u2013 we are a federal parole and probation agency providing services to the District of Columbia. So it\u2019s an entirely different world to some degree, to go from mainstream bars, institutions, maximum security, to parole and probation. What was that transformation like?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Well, this was an easy transformation for me, because if you go back over my work history, I have worked every facet of the criminal justice, from pretrial to the end. So because I have done that, it was very easy to understand and know what goes on at every step of the way, so that once it got to the parole or the probation area, then a lot of these individuals, I\u2019ve had in the juvenile system, in the adult system.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 I conducted their hearings, parole hearing. So it\u2019s not much that they can\u2019t tell me that I don\u2019t remember. And they\u2019ll tell me I have a fantastic memory. I can tell them about, you know, \u201cI remember your father, I knew where you lived, I knew your girlfriend that visited you. I remember who your wife was and I know your children.\u201d So a lot of that has helped me in this particular position.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 We\u2019ve only got a couple of minutes left in the program. This is going by like wildfire. So after all of that, your lessons, personal lessons that you\u2019ve given in terms of the larger lessons, in terms of the criminal justice system. So after 40 plus years in the criminal justice system, starting off at the lowest levels to the highest levels, what do you have to tell the rest of us in terms of the criminal justice system?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Criminal justice system is wonderful.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 To me it is. It\u2019s something that I enjoy; it\u2019s something I have a passion for. It\u2019s something that I really hate to leave because I\u2019ve just committed and have that drive for it. And I can imagine, once I step out this door, I\u2019m still going to get calls from offenders saying, \u201cCan you help me do something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Oh, there\u2019s no doubt in my mind, there\u2019s no doubt in my mind about that.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 And I\u2019m going to have to tell them that I\u2019m retired. And I can hear them now, \u201cI know, but you know somebody that can help me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 But the average person, after spending that much time in the criminal justice system were sort of exhausted by it. I mean, you\u2019re not. You\u2019re very enthused about it. So what does the criminal justice system mean to you?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 This has been my world. I\u2019ve known nothing else but that. You think, for 40 some years, I grew up in the criminal justices system.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Yes, you have.<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 And so if I were to go out here and do something else, they\u2019d say, \u201cWhat else could you do?\u201d All I know is law enforcement.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Right?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Will I stop working? No. I will probably venture out and do something else, probably still connected to this type of work.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 But is it a fact that there\u2019s a certain level within the criminal justice system that needs drive and compassion and justice and equity that you\u2019re taking a system that most people see as a fairly harsh system and turn it into something else beyond the stereotype of the criminal justice system?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes, it is, because sooner or later, a lot of these men and women are coming home. And there are so many barriers that they face. Number one, having a number. Number two, some of them being a black \u2013 whether black Hispanic, or any other nationality, the fact that they\u2019ve got a charge on their record and so with the obstacles in the community like housing and employment, it\u2019s very difficult for them to get jobs. It\u2019s very difficult for them to secure adequate housing because it costs too much to live in this particular area. They\u2019re competing with folks like you and me for employment. So I feel like we have a responsibility, because these are our sons and daughters, our fathers, our mothers that are coming back home, that deserve a second chance. And that\u2019s why I like the fact that they\u2019re doing so much towards their reentry, because they need to start that in the criminal justice system, while they\u2019re incarcerated, so they\u2019re prepared better once they come out under our supervision.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Just a couple seconds left. So the final word that you have is justice and equity and compassion within the criminal justice system and it\u2019s possible to do both?<\/p>\n
Adrienne R. Poteat:\u00a0 Yes, it is possible to do both and don\u2019t give up on them. Help everyone because even though you can\u2019t help everybody, there\u2019s somebody that you can make a difference for and I believe that as true correctional professionals, that\u2019s the business that we\u2019re in about helping.<\/p>\n
Len Sipes:\u00a0 Adrienne Poteat, it has been an absolute honor to work for you throughout the years. Ladies and gentlemen, the interview today, Adrienne Poteat, Deputy Director, right before her retirement form the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency. Ladies and gentlemen this is DC Public Safety. We appreciate your comments. We even appreciate your criticism and we want everybody to have yourselves a very pleasant day.<\/p>\n
[Audio Ends]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Welcome to \u201cDC Public Safety\u201d \u2013 Radio and television shows, blog and transcripts on crime, criminal offenders and the criminal justice system. The portal site for \u201cDC Public Safety\u201d is http:\/\/media.csosa.gov. Radio Program available at http:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/audio\/2013\/12\/interview-adrienne-poteat-retiring-deputy-director-csosa\/ [Audio Begins] Len Sipes:\u00a0 From the nation\u2019s capital, this is DC Public Safety. I\u2019m your host, Leonard Sipes. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audiopodcast","category-criminaljustice","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pBoKk-hP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1106,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1105\/revisions\/1106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media.csosa.gov\/podcast\/transcripts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}