WHEREAS, Correctional Officers are trained law enforcement professionals dedicated to maintaining safe and secure correctional facilities and ensuring public safety; and
WHEREAS, the duties of Correctional Officers include the supervision, care, and rehabilitation of offenders who have been convicted of a crime and are sentenced to serve time in a local jail, State correctional facility, halfway house, or through electronic monitoring; and
WHEREAS, Alaska’s Correctional Staff support the mission of the department by providing secure confinement, reformative programs, and a process of supervised community reintegration, thereby helping to reduce recidivism; and
WHEREAS, Correctional Officers meet the challenges of their profession with skill, diligence, and good humor. The environment in which Correctional Officers provide their knowledge and skills is one that poses a great potential risk to their personal safety, knowing this potential risk, they continue to meet the high standards set by their profession; and
WHEREAS, as essential personnel, Correctional Officers continue to serve selflessly and admirably in the face of the novel coronavirus pandemic; and
WHEREAS, on May 5, 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed Proclamation 5187 creating National Correctional Officers Week, declaring, “The professionalism, dedication and courage exhibited by these officers throughout the performance of these demanding and often conflicting roles deserve our utmost respect”; and
WHEREAS, Corrections Staff work tirelessly to bring measures of hope to offenders through education, vocational training, counseling, and treatment.
NOW THEREFORE, I, Mike Dunleavy, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF ALASKA, do hereby proclaim May 3-9, 2020 as:
Correctional Officers Week
in Alaska, and encourage all Alaskans to honor these dedicated public servants who strive to maintain a safe working and living environment in correctional facilities around the state.
